The Enlightened Ego - Solving the Problems of Awakening pt.1

Originally posted by LifeIsEnergy
reply to post by ChaosMagician

 

I feel what you are saying, you speak a lot of truth and offer a lot of honesty in this post. But I worry you are focusing on everything but your Self, be it; concepts, ideas, other people's projection, trying to enlighten others who aren't willing or ready... all of this seems to be distracting you and creating anger and frustration for you. Passion can be a good thing in moderation, but too much can quickly throw you off balance and delude your original intentions. You seem to have a good heart, maybe you should just let go of the whole idea of awakening, of what is intrinsically right and wrong, of these deeper concepts for awhile and find some inner peace, then you might clear your mind of these problems. Try not to think to hard about anything for awhile. If that is too difficult, and it is for many of us, try focusing in on your breathing, or go outside and just listen to the birds and the wind without judging it, just listen. There is no rush to save yourself or others my friend, rushing will only make things harder.

Peace my friend.

I don't understand where you are getting this at all. I am not focusing on anyone's awakening. I want these people out of my life altogether so I don't have to deal with them. I have to deal with this very carefully so that I don't fall into depression because of it and you think i am focusing on awakening?

I don't understand what you are saying at all.
They only reason I even mentioned awakening is because these people are obviously NOT awake.... because they are blind to other people's feelings. They simply don't care. they simply lack compassion and because that effects me, I have to combat the depression it brings... to not think about it. I have to deal with this everyday and you are accusing me of focusing on something.... that's pretty well a slap in the face.

Originally posted by Mike.Ockizard
Interesting post. And on some level it's true, but...

I struggle with this whole enlightenment thing. Do we have a purpose here? Is it a single purpose? Is becoming enlightened something that is the purpose for just some of us?

On top of these questions, I often wonder if seeking to become awakened or enlightened is counter productive. According to some belief systems, it's not something to search for because it's right under our noses.

I don't doubt the phenomena of someone becoming enlightened, I just wonder if it should be our focus. People say that we choose our experiences to work out issues during our spiritual growth process. To me that says that some may have thier final purpose, to become enlightened, while others have some pre-requisite issues to work on. How can you "skip a grade" and become enlightened if you still need true understanding in other areas like compassion and understanding?

There are times I want to be enlightened but there are others when I question whether it's my time. I may want to incarnate some more for other experience. After all, this reality is quite a ride!

Like I said, I don't doubt that some are ready to take the final step in the process and thus the OP gives a piece of the puzzle, I just doubt it's really something that everyone is ready for.

You gave some excellent insights and pose some great questions. It seems you have a very good understanding of this whole thing already, and are in the right mind frame to continue fulfilling your destiny, whatever that may be. You are right, fundamentally there is nothing to search for, it is already here, but because most of us have gone through a lifetime of conditioning within our societies it is a search in the sense that we must sift through all of this rubble to find the diamond that lays hidden from our sight. The rubble is the hindrances that we have accumulated throughout the years, the excessive desires, the attachments, the illogical thinking, and the diamond is the realization of the Self that is rid of these hindrances.

You are right, this is quite a ride and the most important thing is to enjoy it without destroying too much of it along the way so others who are to join the ride next can enjoy it also. I mainly wrote this OP for those who are already on the journey of searching through the 'rubble' to find their awakening. Some people are not enjoying this ride so much anymore, they have seen and experienced enough of it already and are ready to get off now but have accumulated so many 'bad' experiences that it is very difficult to 'slow the train'. So as you said, it may not be time for some people to get off the 'ride' and that is ok, and it may be time for some others to take the 'next step' and this thread is meant to partially help them with that in whatever way it can. Who knows, maybe the latter of the two will get off the 'ride' and can clear their 'slate' so they can hop back on and enjoy it better. Or maybe there is something else they are moving towards, either way I truly believe it will work out in the end for all of us as it should.

I begging by telling you I'm not sorry....

Awakening is the greatest Lie.. the biggest excuse... the greatest hoax ..

People aren't asleep ... They are in denial, and that's a very different thing.

There is no blinder person than one who refuses to see, and that is a matter of choice not a sleep problem.

I do not judge options, choices and I also do not judge my lack of compassion for people that choose not to see.
Make no mistake, I do my best to help those in need, not because they had it all to make different choices but because they had not many choices or no choice at all, given by birth, chance or fate.
They have it all and choose to not to see .. .... no compassion.

No.. I do not feel superior, but, I can't feel compassion for people that refuse to see what's in front of them. They choose not to see and if they suffer by the choices they make ... i'm completely indifferent to them. I feel sorry for their children that will suffer the consequences of volunteer blind parents, uninformed decisions, irresponsability and lack of action.

I'm responsable for my decisions, the choices I make, and believe me I'm not taking the easy pass. It is a very lonely pass, others look at me or you as a freak of nature, a person with the need to be different, a rebel and a threat ....
A price I was willing to pay, now I'm immune to it. I'm not sorry or feel any regrets, I feel proud and It gives me strength and determination to be faithful to myself. I do not need any acceptance from others, I do not try to impose my beliefs on others, My points of view, interpretation of facts or judge others options, but I will never accept anything just because everyone else does, because it's common knowledge or because it's socially, politically correct and popular.
I do not judge others. I take full responsibility for my actions, atitudes, options, decisions and so do they...
Those that I see at work, my neighbours, my familly, those that i know to have access to information at a distance of a click, that could make a difference but refuse to do it ...... can burn in hell ... but for that matter so can I (lol)

They aren't asleep... they are Indifferent ... till "bad luck" knocks at the door..

All the best...

reply to post by ChaosMagician


Hey man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to "slap you in the face", I was only trying to help but obviously misunderstood you. From what I gather you are saying is that you are tired of other people projecting their beliefs onto you, when they are, in your opinion, very misguided and full of hate? And you want them out of your life because it is making you depressed? Is that correct?

If so, I do understand why that would make you depressed, and I have felt this same way before because of other people projecting their ignorance and hatred onto me. But you know what I realized? I didn't have to be around these people if I didn't want to but for some reason I thought I did, whether that was because we shared common interests or friends and so we were always around each other, or because I worked with them or went to school with them, or because they lived in my neighborhood or community... but in reality when I looked deeper into this problem of mine, and that's exactly what it was, a problem of mine not theirs, I realized I didn't HAVE to do anything. I didn't HAVE to share the interests or friends they did, there are many of those in the world. I didn't HAVE to work or go to school in the same place as they did, I could of easily quit and found another way to make a living or learn what I wanted, which I did many times. I didn't HAVE to live in the same neighborhood or community as them, I could of easily moved, which I did many times. I realized it was my attachments to these things, to these commonalities, that was allowing for this to happen, and if I were to let go of these attachments these problems disappeared along with them.

Now here is something you may not like to hear right now, or be ready to hear, but looking back in the end I realized I could of easily let go of the attachment to my disliking of their opinions and projections, and could of easily remained were I was, around them, and be at peace. Actually I should not say easily, because that is difficult and takes some practice and insight into rather complex realizations, but nonetheless there is always a way out. It all depends on whether or not you are willing to sacrifice your desire to feed the ego, whether or not you are willing to do whatever it takes to overcome this problem of yours, because that's what it is, a problem of yours.

Peace my friend.

Great thread, I have been through everything you wrote. Its mostly because I read about these things and then they slowly fade from my mind and slowly and deteriorate back to an egoic state.

I just want to point out that not ALL depression can be fixed with just this shift of thinking on an individual level. However in psychology there is something called Mindfulness Based Therapy which is based on eastern culture of meditation and they take a small group of individuals with mixed diagnosis of anxiety, depression etc. Within twelve sessions a very high percentage is "cured" of their tainted state of mind and they are less likely to relapse compared to other therapies/drugs. So meditation HAS validity whether it is doing it at a personal level but I think even more power in this group based approach.

In my psychopathology class we will be having a speaker who specializes on eastern based approach to medicine and its approach to people with various disorders. I hope to report on this after the lecture!

This is one of those posts that hit home for me. It took a minute to sink in. I read this thread yesterday, and after reading started to meditate on the idea of ego. I had never looked at it in the way you explained.

Take for instance the "enlightened ego", when I was discussing with a friend of mine the other day about some new and interesting things about life I have discovered. I got a feeling while talking about it, that even though he was listening and acknowledging what I was saying, I truly felt he didn’t give a s@#!. After the conversation I felt that I might have said something wrong.

I wanted to help and possibly shine a light on something he might have missed, but in reality I was feeding my own personal ego, and telling myself how I have reached a certain level in life and how enlightened I am now. What a bunch of crap! This is not what will make one feel whole, but instead does the exact opposite. It will make you feel empty. Always searching for something, when all you need is already there. Thank you OP. I drove to work this morning in awareness of my own ego. Gave many thoughts on how to avoid feeding my ego continually through out the day, and instead feeding my own personal soul. I am thankful. I AM.

PS. I am looking forward to your next thread.

Originally posted by LifeIsEnergy
reply to post by ChaosMagician

 

Hey man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to "slap you in the face", I was only trying to help but obviously misunderstood you. From what I gather you are saying is that you are tired of other people projecting their beliefs onto you, when they are, in your opinion, very misguided and full of hate? And you want them out of your life because it is making you depressed? Is that correct?

If so, I do understand why that would make you depressed, and I have felt this same way before because of other people projecting their ignorance and hatred onto me. But you know what I realized? I didn't have to be around these people if I didn't want to but for some reason I thought I did, whether that was because we shared common interests or friends and so we were always around each other, or because I worked with them or went to school with them, or because they lived in my neighborhood or community... but in reality when I looked deeper into this problem of mine, and that's exactly what it was, a problem of mine not theirs, I realized I didn't HAVE to do anything. I didn't HAVE to share the interests or friends they did, there are many of those in the world. I didn't HAVE to work or go to school in the same place as they did, I could of easily quit and found another way to make a living or learn what I wanted, which I did many times. I didn't HAVE to live in the same neighborhood or community as them, I could of easily moved, which I did many times. I realized it was my attachments to these things, to these commonalities, that was allowing for this to happen, and if I were to let go of these attachments these problems disappeared along with them.

Now here is something you may not like to hear right now, or be ready to hear, but looking back in the end I realized I could of easily let go of the attachment to my disliking of their opinions and projections, and could of easily remained were I was, around them, and be at peace. Actually I should not say easily, because that is difficult and takes some practice and insight into rather complex realizations, but nonetheless there is always a way out. It all depends on whether or not you are willing to sacrifice your desire to feed the ego, whether or not you are willing to do whatever it takes to overcome this problem of yours, because that's what it is, a problem of yours.

Peace my friend.

that's merely a matter of common sense. Do you really think I try hanging out with people who are like this? I thought I made it pretty clear that I try to avoid people like that so that I don't have to be effected by their inner problems if it doesn't concern me. That is what I ALWAYS do and I promise you, I am an expert at avoiding people. I spend the majority of my time alone. i am not the type of person who needs to be surrounded by anyone.

Here's the thing you don't understand and I didn't want to get into it because it is not important.... or at least i thought it wasn't bu i didn't realize that people would be jumping to conclusions.

I live alone.
I pay my own bills.
My job is a nasty, unsavory labor position.
I am looking for another job in a scarce job market.
I actually thought I had something better in the bag but that fell through only feeding my feelings of helplessness and wishing I could escape this reality altogether.

The people I have been talking about is 1) My boss 2) one of his employees who he is trying to screw that is playing with him to get what she wants. 3) another employee who is a drunk/cokehead/methhead best friend of his who always gets away with laying out of work and breaks into people's houses 4) another employee friend of his who will do anything he says and who is the wife of a mutual friend and they act like they've had a "thing".


...and I have to work with all of them and if I don't, guess what? No roof over my head.

Do you think I actually TRY talking to these people? I used a term earlier.... "interjecting"
I didn't use that term just because I like the way it sounds. I don't have to even be part of the conversation to hear their crap.... all i have to do is be walking by and them say it loud enough so i can hear it... which happens often.... not to mention that I have to do what I'm told and i CERTAINLY don't to rehash all the crap that has happened since I started working there. It is crap that most people would not believe. It is crap that you would make you never want to touch anything in a public restroom again... or any napkins on any tables in any bowling ally... ever, much less wipe your mouth with them. As an employee, I'm lucky if I get paid before their coke dealer does because he has first priority apparently. I have never seen them actually do coke or anything but i have seen them act all jacked up and they lie like cokeheads and try to not pay people and talk about partying constantly... and they have no excuse for that because I know how much their contract is for. I know how much he gets paid before he pays his people and I know how many people he has. I also know he is constantly borrowing money and he shouldn't have to be doing that... not that he knows how to add or anything.

Seriously, helping people is not belittling their circumstances when you don't know what they are. How is that good at all? Face it... there are some situation in life which a person cannot control at all. If anyone disagrees, tell that to any one of the recent earthquake victims who have lost their entire family. Life just sucks some times. my life could be much much worse which is why I don't QUIT my job before finding another one.... but seriously, if people weren't such self serving assholes, the world would be a much better place. the concept of being a loving person is not hogwash, it is something that we should be taught from the time we are little instead of all the egotistical competition

That is the only point I am trying to make and so far i have had two people tell me.... "you know what, maybe it's just you and I can fix that by assuming i know exactly what your situation is about".... in so many words.... and they don't even know what it was I was even trying to say but somehow it winds up being all my fault anyway no matter how hard i try.

Talk about ego?

I've got people lined up with the solution to my problem before they even know what it is!

This world is so backwards.
I wish I could just float away like a cool breeze on a summer day.
All I see in most people is just broken mismatch pieces who LIKE being broken, who LIKE misunderstanding everything, who LIKE creating conflict and confusion, who LIKE misjudging people as quick as they can.
What am I supposed to do with all this broken crap? I can't do anything with this. I have been trying all my life to mend some semblance of sense together in life and it is just not in the things I would hope for it to be in.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


I think it is important to realize a few things about this.

First, when a person begins to rise to an awareness of truth, they soon realize that they are drifting away from the masses of others around them. The errors of self that are eliminated within the person begin to be revealed in others. This is why the Bible says not to judge your brother. We are each living on a scale of truth like degrees on a thermostat. For everyone that is lower on this scale than me, there are many that are higher. Patience is the key. This is also why it is difficult to share the awakening with those who are asleep. Have you ever tried to wake someone from a deep sleep to tell them something amazing? What is their reaction? "Leave me alone, I'm sleeping!" This is just the reaction you will get from others who are still asleep. The key is being gentle and taking time. Seeds grow, but not if they are over-watered or blasted with sun light. If this happens, they wither.

The second problem is this: When a person awakens to truth, they transform from the object in the material world to the subject of the new reality. A walking subject can be mistaken for this "Enlightened Ego" that you are speaking of. The person is not actually displaying an ego. Their conduct, words and choices are speaking the subject by the way they live and communicate. This then becomes a mirror reflecting the light straight in the eyes of those who see their lives expressed in the material reality. Light blinds the person who has been asleep. Again, our awakening in the morning is the strongest parable we have to describe the process.

If you are reading this thread, you may be asking, "What are all these people waking up to?" Here is the answer in the simplest terms possible.

Truth is three: Faith, Hope and Love. You can read about this in a few paragraphs HERE. Once you realize that love is the point of life, you see that all souls on the earth, although expressed in a variety of bodies, are all one. Oneness is another aspect of awakening. LINK

Another key concept that is hard to take hold of is transmigration. This is a truth that has been fought by the church since it was declared a heresy by Justinian in 545 AD. We have been here before. Our souls are baptized into the water of the body until we have sufficiently developed to the point of finding love. The dove of peace (Holy Spirit) greets us when we wake. From this point, we are born again into the Spirit. LINK We are the roots of the tree of life below. What we do here creates the tree above. This is the tree of life and the earth is the garden of our development, where God planted us. We walk with or against God in the Garden. He always walks with us. The flaming sword that protects the tree is bias. Bias is hatred and emotion. Once the negative emotions are defeated (Defeating Satan), then Atonement happens. This is At-One-Ment. You are at one with the whole in love. You are awake.

This is the start of the process. From here, you transition into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is already here. The Bible is our guide for this process. It is only readable if you are awake or on your way to becoming awake. The Holy Spirit can only read it to you as you are ready. Loving God is the first step. Loving your neighbor (even your enemy) is the next step. These steps are the primary keys to removing the flaming sword of bias from the tree of life.

reply to post by ThisIsMyName


Cool! Definitely report back to us on that speech. I have studied some western psychology myself and am familiar with Mindfulness Based Therapy. That is basically a westernized, watered down clinical establishment form of Buddhist Vipassana Meditation and tries to awakening the subject to the Self. It is meant to aide the subject in realizing his/her inner Self through meditation practices with guidance by the practitioner who plays the role of a Guru, but without all the stereotypes that westerners like to place on the idea of a Guru. In fact, this idea of "shifting the way one thinks" as a means to overcome depression, as you said, has been common throughout western psychology for some time. People like Carl Rogers and his client centered therapy which focused on allowing the subject to work his/her way to realizations of the self and thus become more in tune with the Self, Abraham Maslow and his Humanistic psychology that spoke of Self-Actualization, and Fritz Perls and his Gestalt therapy that tried to help the subject get in tune with the Now and thus realize the "Whole" of their reality or the Self, come to mind.

I must be honest though, and this may be a egoic judgment on my part, but while studying these ideas of western psychology I couldn't help but feel like they were coming to realizations that people in the east had came to thousands of years ago. It felt like they just watered the easteners theories down and packaged them with different names. It doesn't take any of western psychologies validity away, and again this may be judgmental of me, but I would rather learn about the mind, or the methods in which to better understand my own mind, from those who have been studying and teaching such a subject for thousands of years, versus the couple hundred of years it has been seriously studied in the west. I mean western psychology wasn't even considering the validity of emotions until a little over a hundred years ago with William James, and even then they only had a very rudimentary understanding.

Anyways, thanks for the input and I look forward to hearing about your class.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to post! I found it very informational and helpful and I look forward to seeing the threads you are going to post! S + F!

reply to post by ChaosMagician


Well why did you post your problems in this thread if you didn't want anyone to offer you some advice? You're right, I jumped to some conclusions because this is an internet forum and communication isn't always the easiest thing on here, as you can tell. But I didn't do it to judge you, that is your own projection of my intentions. I feel for you man, trouble in the work place, especially in this market, is a terrible thing. Anything I say you will probably feel I am attacking you or judging you, and that obviously is not what you need. I guess I don't know what to tell you but try to keep your head up and do the best you can with what you got.

Good luck friend.

PS. Hey maybe you would like to read this book called "Leadership and Self-Deception" by the arbinger institute. It explains much of why the work place can be a living hell and offers very easy but insightful methods of solving this problem. After reading it you may even want to give it your boss as a gift. I can't imagine he could read this book and not change the work environment that you guys are suffering in, it will mostly likely hit him like a ton of bricks!

reply to post by SuperiorEd


A lot of good stuff you've added my friend. I will look over some of the links you have provided for us. Thanks!




P.S. to All: I have learned a lot from you guys/gals already in this thread, many of you seem to be very wise and humble, and even more importantly many of you seem to be open to the consideration that you may have been "enlightening you ego's" instead of your sense of Self, as I have. The journey moves forward.

Originally posted by SuperiorEd
reply to post by LifeIsEnergy

 

This is the start of the process. From here, you transition into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is already here. The Bible is our guide for this process. It is only readable if you are awake or on your way to becoming awake. The Holy Spirit can only read it to you as you are ready. Loving God is the first step. Loving your neighbor (even your enemy) is the next step. These steps are the primary keys to removing the flaming sword of bias from the tree of life.

edit on 21-5-2011 by SuperiorEd because: (no reason given)

Yes, in order for the bible to have meaning for you you have to WANT to read it. In order to understand others, you have to WANT to understand them. To open yourself up, to accept them.
I have wanted so badly to understand others. It started just because I was interested, i was enthusiastic. then it turned into a *need* because knowing others will often leave a person confused. (Face it, people are often confusing)

Now the interest is fading.
Not only is it fading but I seriously SERIOUSLY doubt my capacity to have bonds with any other human outside of my family and close friends. I totally agree that seeing things in others is depressing. It is VERY depressing... so depressing that I'll take a depressing solution above it.... isolation.

There are sick, sick people in this world. There are even those washed sparkly clean in all ways on the outside but on the inside sell off another to silent misery because they know they can and this is the way of the world and the silent never had a voice anyway. Until everyone can forget their status and put themselves in the position deemed low by society, how will there ever be compassion? If there isn't compassion then someone will always be inflicting pain and that pain will just cycle and cycle.

Originally posted by LifeIsEnergy
reply to post by ChaosMagician

 

Well why did you post your problems in this thread if you didn't want anyone to offer you some advice? You're right, I jumped to some conclusions because this is an internet forum and communication isn't always the easiest thing on here, as you can tell. But I didn't do it to judge you, that is your own projection of my intentions. I feel for you man, trouble in the work place, especially in this market, is a terrible thing. Anything I say you will probably feel I am attacking you or judging you, and that obviously is not what you need. I guess I don't know what to tell you but try to keep your head up and do the best you can with what you got.

Good luck friend.

The reason you didn't understand is because I DIDN'T post my problems because it wasn't pertinent. What I wanted you to do is to take me on my word that I know about my own situation. My understanding of my own situation, I did not foresee would be second guessed by anyone who thought they had a better understanding of my own personal situation than me, which I did not go into detail about because I did not think it was important to the main point and I was not asking for advice on. I didn't need for anyone to understand my full details except the simple fact that "hey, some assholes at work have me down and are hating on me" in order to make point that hating on people is actually more common than people realize and that it blows. People don't realize where they are directing their hate and god only knows what they are thinking about but they do it because they aren't paying attention or they don't care or whatever.... or they are letting their ego talk or act first.

Even in small ways it's a bad foundation to build upon and that is why when people are very indirect when spreading all the wishy washy love around, maybe what they are saying is don't be a dick. If people who don't like hearing all that crap looked at it from a working example viewpoint, maybe they could consider that it's not just for the mush value.

because that would really make the world a better place, you know?

If people would snap out of it and quit being #ing dicks but the ego will make one jump at the opportunity to do just that.

This was more about that concept than my personal issues but thanks for caring.
I thought my point was pretty clear but it just goes to show.

This is part of dieing to self. You will first need to crash to the bottom of the self in order to rise, like the phoenix, from the ashes. Christ descended first and then rose. Unless you take each of the areas of your consciousness and eliminate the baser aspects, you cannot reveal the subtle. This is the refinement process of metal. This is also the refinement of mental. The words are similar. Alchemy is the process of transforming base metals to the subtle essence. The essence is where you find Christ, the philosopher's stone.

Awakening is a progression. Once you find love fully, people and circumstances will not affect you as much. This type of loathing is not for the object you see. It is the subject they express. This is a good thing. Just remember not to step on the object. Speak to the subject. Love the object, not the subject they express. Hate never dispels hate. Only love dispels hate.

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. I took the day off work to drift around the city nearby. I set out to follow synchronicity. Before I left, I was filling my tank with gas. A text hit my phone from my assistant at work. His wife was using his only car and he asked me if I could give him a ride from one part of town to the next (on my day off). This changed my plans, but the aim of the day was to follow synchronicity, so I followed.

I decided give him a ride, but I also stopped to get us both breakfast. As I was paying for the meal, he texted me and said, "Never mind. My wife is here." Again, I just went with the flow. I ate my breakfast as I was traveling to the city. When I got there, I stopped to find a homeless persons. I rolled down my window and said, "Hey, I bought you breakfast." He was so thankful that it almost brought a tear to his eye. We sat and talked for 45 minutes about life, how to love others and about several topics concerning his struggles on the street. We were both enriched. I did my part to help him wake up a bit.

I next went down toward the mall. I noticed a street lady pushing a cart on the sidewalk. It was starting to rain and she had a newspaper over her head. I did a u-turn, pulled over and gave her my umbrella. She was very thankful and went on her way.

When I arrived at the mall, there was an older lady, clearly confused, desperately searching for her car. It was raining and she was overwhelmed by her problem. I took her in my jeep around the entire mall until we found her car. She never once questioned her safety when I offered her a ride. Why was that? She could read the object by the subject I expressed. After we found her car, she asked if she could pay me. Of course, I declined. She told me that I was an answer to her prayer. As she was in the mall, she prayed that someone would be there to help her out.

That was my day yesterday. I don't say this to brag. I only reveal this as an example of what it means to love unconditionally. God offers his grace to us without question. Grace is unmerited. We do not deserve it. I woke up to my day with a specific purpose of following where God would lead. All a person needs to do is live life this way each day. There is no reason to judge another person. Just love and go on walking with God in the garden. As you make your plans, realize that God will have other plans. Just go with his flow.

Originally posted by ChaosMagician

Originally posted by SuperiorEd
reply to post by LifeIsEnergy

 

This is the start of the process. From here, you transition into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is already here. The Bible is our guide for this process. It is only readable if you are awake or on your way to becoming awake. The Holy Spirit can only read it to you as you are ready. Loving God is the first step. Loving your neighbor (even your enemy) is the next step. These steps are the primary keys to removing the flaming sword of bias from the tree of life.

edit on 21-5-2011 by SuperiorEd because: (no reason given)

Yes, in order for the bible to have meaning for you you have to WANT to read it. In order to understand others, you have to WANT to understand them. To open yourself up, to accept them.
I have wanted so badly to understand others. It started just because I was interested, i was enthusiastic. then it turned into a *need* because knowing others will often leave a person confused. (Face it, people are often confusing)

Now the interest is fading.
Not only is it fading but I seriously SERIOUSLY doubt my capacity to have bonds with any other human outside of my family and close friends. I totally agree that seeing things in others is depressing. It is VERY depressing... so depressing that I'll take a depressing solution above it.... isolation.

There are sick, sick people in this world. There are even those washed sparkly clean in all ways on the outside but on the inside sell off another to silent misery because they know they can and this is the way of the world and the silent never had a voice anyway. Until everyone can forget their status and put themselves in the position deemed low by society, how will their ever be compassion? If there isn't compassion then someone will always be inflicting pain and that pain will just cycle and cycle.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


Good Op. Indeed, many do confuse the ego playing at enlightenment and seizing upon some actual "awakening of self" as its own for really enlightening self. In fact, I would say that is the majority.

If you are "seeking" enlightenment, you are suffering from "enlightened ego" syndrome. The self doesnt seek enlightenment. It already is. Only the ego can and will seek it, and it can never actually have it.

Sometimes I am so grateful for the kindness of strangers compared to people I know.

There is an elderly woman in a nearby store who I often see who told me "it's always good to see you" and an Indian man who always remembers me and is so nice.

We're all in one big pond. Every stone we cast out creates a ripple. Those nice comments are tiny, but the ripple the create changes you forever. It is always amazing how far reaching one act of random kindness can be. We never know.

Originally posted by ChaosMagician
Sometimes I am so grateful for the kindness of strangers compared to people I know.

There is an elderly woman in a nearby store who I often see who told me "it's always good to see you" and an Indian man who always remembers me and is so nice.

Originally posted by ChaosMagician


If people would snap out of it and quit being #ing dicks but the ego will make one jump at the opportunity to do just that.

Only your ego cares if someone criticizes you, or even remembers you, or if they say kind words to you. Instead of trying to control the egos of other people, which is a losing proposition on all levels, work on increasing awareness of your own and what it does, and how it reacts, and why.

Before Enlightenment, Chop wood, Carry water.
After Enlightenment, Chop Wood, Carry water.

Be at peace with yourself and it will shine within others, there is no universal enlightenment.