Sunmaster

Yes, I promised a drawing to a close friend. It includes several things of his life and his beliefs. During one of our last conversations, he told me he believes that consciousness is a byproduct of the brain, which I completely disagree with, of course. :-) From there the idea with the brain in the 'brain-o-matic' machine, trying to extrapolate life's secrets.

Thank you, appreciate it. How have you been?

All the best Hummin!

Out of curiosity, which posts grabbed your attention? What was the topic?

Why is it pointless? You asked a question and I offered to answer it. Let's first get something out of the way and say what God is not. God is not an old guy sitting on a cloud or some far away heaven. God is not an elephant-headed deity. God is not an extraterrestrial being. And no, God is not a flying teapot or spaghetti monster either. What is God then? We can not really know God unless we become one with him/her/it and experience it directly. But even if we don't ever reach that point, we can still learn about God by looking at ourselves and ask ourselves a simple question: Who am ? Maybe you are tempted to say that you are the body. In that case we have to make an important distinction between the subject (the observer) and the object (that which is observed). We say "I have a body" or "My leg hurts". So, the body is the object and the I is the subject. This already proves that the object is not the subject, therefore the I can not be the body. Then you will probably say that the I is in the brain...in the mind. Again, we can say "I have this memory" or "I am tired/upset/happy". And again, we can distinguish the I (subject) from the memory (object)....and the I having the experience of being tired, upset etc. So, the real I (you) is not the body nor the mind. It is not the ego (insert your name here). It is the observer of the body-mind. Here is were it gets tricky. Spiritual wisdom says that the real "I", your true identity is beyond the body-mind. This identity, is in direct connection with God and if you are able to really know yourself, you will automatically know God. "Know thyself and you will know God". The how-to can be discussed if you're interested. To summarise: God is not someone or something out there, far away in the distance, nor far away somewhere in the future. It is here, right now, and you, me, everyone and everything are perfect expressions of it. The only thing that keeps us from realising this fact is our own limitation. But this limitation is not insurmountable. Sooner or later the tree will bear fruits, the flower will blossom. We can not force it, but we can provide the best circumstances and help the process by giving nutritious soil and clean water. In the same way, we can do a number of things to support the process of awakening. Your second question: What is it supposed to do? Exactly what it is doing now. Writing these words, reading these words and everything in between, performing this cosmic dance. I hope this can be of value to you.

Let's not get off on the wrong foot guys. I will try to answer your question shortly, once i pass the checkin at the airport.

Just a quick hello to all atheists, materialists, believers and knowers. Here are 3 drawings I made in the last few months. Take care ????

If you speak of a creator, then you must speak of that which is created and the means by which it is created. These 3 things always go together. But these distinctions only make sense in a world where linear time plays a role, the material world, where there is an apparent beginning and an apparent end. Imagine a world where time is irrelevant. In that world it would be impossible to distinguish the start of something from its end, because they would both be happening at the same time, in an eternal now. From that point of view, the question of who created the creator wouldn't make any sense. So, while the concept of a God is rooted in dualism (I'm here and God is there), there is also a non-dual Ground of All Being from which everything else rises. Ramana Maharshi calls it the SELF. Our individual self is a part of it. The only obstacle that (seemingly) divides us from the SELF is our limited knowledge. Not intellectual knowledge, but knowledge based on direct experience. Enlightenment is just that, the total realisation that we are indeed the SELF. And what does that mean in terms of the creator? It means WE are ultimately the creator of everything. And by "we" I don't mean the ego driven personality, but our true identity, which is the SELF. The implications are fascinating. We create the concept of God and project it outwards, as if it were separate from us. So, when we pray to God, we actually pray to an aspect of ourselves. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It also means that me, you and everyone else are manifestations of that same SELF and that the separation we see is an illusion. Imagine what the world would look like if we could realize that!

The more I learn, the more I understand that there is nothing to learn. We always think we need to "get something", experience something, do something, understand something to become whole. There seems to be always something missing, out of our reach....and one day, hopefully, we will reach it and be happy. But this is not so. In fact, it is so much simpler than that. Wholeness is ever-present and it's only our inability to surrender to it that prevents us from seeing this. Once you realize that wholeness is not something you have to gain or work for, but something you only have to allow to happen, you will find freedom. The Self, our true identity, is like a cosmic magnet. It pushes from the outside (through pain, sorrow, unpleasant experiences) and pulls from the inside (through intuition, a calling), asking us to go within and to remember our true nature. The illusion of free will is the illusion that we can somehow escape this attraction. Ultimately though, there is no turning away from our true nature. You cannot be something else than what you are. You may delay it for a while, fighting against the pull, but the attraction of this magnet will never stop and is greater than any other force.

100%, Hummin. ????

What?! A whole minute? Must be a new record! ????

"Free will" is connected to that, but I wasn't referring to it specifically. In my opinion, if you want to find the root of all the problems we are facing as a society right now, it is necessary for each one of us to look within. By doing so, you inevitably discovery your true identity and gain a much wider understanding of your place in the world/universe. If you don't do that, you will continue to identify as the limited ego construct and believe that you are nothing more than the body. In essence, what I'm trying to say is that it's the narrow view of materialism that is holding us back. It's like owning a Ferrari and believing that you can only drive it in first gear. But that is not so. There are a lot more gears you can use!

As long as the average person believes that life is something that happens to him, that he is a victim of circumstances, that he is somehow separated from everything else, as long as his ego dictates who he is...then yes, life will be pretty awful for him. This is the normal way of life of the vast majority of people, and we can see how dysfunctional this way of life is. It's not even a question between atheism vs religion. It's more than that. It's a question about the inevitable human evolution of consciousness. For now, a tiny minority of less than 1% are spearheading this change, but I'm confident it will grow until it becomes the new normal. Probably not in this lifetime though.

Or c) "God" exists and there is a reason for everything, regardless if we can see/understand it or not.

That's the big question. A question which everyone should find out by themselves.

Exactly, it's a part of who you are, so what is the other part?

I don't think the ideas are abstract at all. You have an ego, right? Can you step back and see it as a "thing", observe it, describe it? How it was created, built...brick upon brick when you were a child? If you can observe it, doesn't that mean that you are indeed something else? If there is the ego and there is an observer, doesn't that mean that identifying with the ego construct is far less than you really are? It's all very practical.

Have you ever been diagnosed with bipolar disorder? ???? Your posts go from one extreme to the other and after all this time, I still don't know where you actually stand. And regarding the post you quoted....if you consider that the best quote of the thread (the small part you've followed so far), you either have very low standards, or maybe you meant it ironically. ???? I sincerely hope it's the latter.

Psychedelics ARE nature.

It's nothing new. Psychedelics have been used privately for a very long time to heal, but only recently under scientific supervision. They have a very high success rate in curing heavy drug addiction and depression. In the 60s, before they were banned, LSD was used on prison inmates. Something like 60% turned their lives around and had no further issues with the law. It's completely irrational to have such an effective tool and not use it.

Yes, i believe we talked about dreams on a few occasions. I had a couple of dreams that helped me sort out stuff in the waking world. I also had several lucid dreams, but it takes a lot of effort and discipline to be aware that I'm dreaming.

It implies absolutely nothing because gurus are not promoting the use of drugs.

I would like to add to this part. The point of Eastern philosophies is not to "destroy", or "getting rid" of the ego. The ego is a tool to interact with the material world. The point is to not identify with the ego construction. Meditation helps doing exactly that. What happens when you dis-identify with the ego? You learn that the outer ego is not who you are. You learn that it is only a part of the real YOU. The real problem is believing that the outer ego is all you are. "For are you aware that as soon as you obliterate one ego another will arise?" What makes you believe that? You don't obliterate anything. You simply break the tyranny that the ego holds on you, telling you "you are this and that and that's all you are", and you make your true identity shine through. The outer ego is recognized as what it is: a tool, a useful construction. The usefulness of this construction depends on the beliefs it is built upon, like you always say. "And even of preventing man from rising above himself in this "god forsaken existence" into some blended oneness existing in some unknown medium of bliss." If the outer ego is left unchecked and you identify with it, the result is that you don't see the connection you have with the inner world and thus don't see that the worldly personality is only the tip of the iceberg. Dis-identifying with the outer ego is therefore necessary to blend with the Oneness, which brings bliss. Basically, you re-identify with something bigger, deeper and more true than before. This is what I tried to show with my latest drawing. The outer ego is only the tip of the iceberg. The subconscious is under the waterline and is rarely explored. If it were, it would become obvious that there is much more to us than what we can see on the surface and we would recognize that we and everything is connected. Meditation helps in this process of recognition, cracks open the silver screen upon which our lives seem to play out, and exposes the underlying forces from which everything arises.