Daemon

Am I correct instead in understanding that you're here in search of a guru (amongst the users of this bulletin board) to teach you spirituality (on the recommendation of one of the existing users of this bulletin board)? ☮️

Hi Kat! Who is your master? ☮️

In your opinion, which (by now) you should have realised is both meaningless and valueless (to me). ☮️

That's why I have you on ignore most of the time. Perhaps you'd be kind enough to return the favour in future and stop attempting to misappropriate and misrepresent comments directed to someone else (whose contributions I enjoy reading)? ☮️

In your opinion. ☮️

You are trying to play your usual game against someone who appears to me to be extremely unusual. You are being annihilated (merely in my opinion). If this was translated to real life, I'd not be laughing. ☮️

No. What I'm seeing is that you're being skillfully and systematically dismembered. ☮️

@Stosh Do you not realise that you're metaphorically (and persistently) breaking your own fingers here? ☮️

In my opinion you're attempting to reuse what I wrote in shorthand for someone else in the context of my assessment that she understands the subtleties (subsequently explained to you and which, in my opinion, you have either failed to grasp or decided to ignore). ☮️

Your first factual inaccuracy (the foundation upon which you've attempted to present the remainder of your other misrepresentations and argumentative opinions as facts) is to state that I've labelled people as "passive aggressive". In fact, I haven't labelled anyone as passive aggressive, I evaluate certain observable behaviours (like ad hominems) as being active aggression. I evaluate other behaviours as being passive aggression (and I don't place a value judgement on making value judgements myself, as in some circumstances, I find it useful like labelling mountains as being mountains. I also use software features that enable me to avoid using my thumb to scroll past some user's contributions and thereby to use my time more effectively and efficiently). You're particularly mistaken in imagining that I take ad hominems personally. Why would I when I don't know any of you personally? You are all strangers (similar to characters in a book or a film) who may or may not not be delightful people in real life. I have no way of knowing (with certainty) without meeting you in person. ☮️

Outstanding précis Michael! (@Michael Sternbach) ☮️

I'm not placing any value judgment whatsoever on aggression (either active or passive) or seeking to debate (to prove) anything. I'm merely discussing observable behaviour with another user (mainly observable ad hominem behaviour) and sharing both my opinion & the method that I usually employ to deal with it with it with that user (whose contributions I find generally both interesting and illuminating). ☮️

Good move! I've noticed that this diagnosis is usually deployed on bulletin boards as an ad hominem by actively aggressive users. The remainder of the deployments are almost invariably the projection of the passively agressive. Many of the aggressors on bulletin boards display both actively and passively and, to be clear, neither active nor passive aggression is something I've noticed emanating from you. For me, me ad hominems are an invaluable indicator on bulletin boards and the reason that I usually put another user on ignore on this bulletin board. I find passive aggression on bulletin boards more difficult to spot. There's further useful advice in the link that you provided for anyone having to deal with real life scenarios. ☮️

This symbol to which you refer is not the "peace" symbol it is the sigil Algiz (reversed), which carries a more profound and nuanced meaning. As I previously attempted to convey, please accept my apologies for my original misunderstanding, which led to my mistake in contributing to this topic. Peace and Goodbye, ☮️

Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to put together this thoughtful and nuanced response rex. I'm going to honour that by taking the necessary time and by making the necessary effort to respond to this with the considerable respect that it deserves. ☮️

I'm not one of those advaitins or neoadvaitins nor am I interested in debating any religious philosophy (as opposed to practical philosophy), let alone this non-sense about the duality or the non-duality of "Consciousness" over which these Buddhists and Hindus seem waste their lives dueling, as you put it so elegantly. However, although "Consciousness" is clearly somewhat complex, I'm forced to agree with you that anyone who's rendered unconscious probably wouldn't be suffering anything at all, let alone existential angst. Apologies for the confusion that I seem to have introduced to this topic. I will now leave you in Peace. ☮️

Maybe you could find some religious cult that would help you to convince yourself to believe you that don't exist? Perhaps that would be the easiest way for you to escape your own specific angst? ☮️

One of the ways in which you might be able to escape the hall of mirrors into which you seem to have been led by the hubristic folly of spiritual teachers is to examine the entirely dualistic simplistic folly of it more closely. The false dualistic axiom is: 1. I have fee will or 2. I do not have free will How could it be any more dualistic than that with one polarity existing to the exclusion of the other (like left/right and up/down)? One way in which you may succeed in escaping from this purely intellectual trap into which these "teachers" have fallen themselves is to allow yourself to resonate between those two polarities until the two opposing thoughts (merely beliefs rather than the complex nondual reality) cancel each other out. If that doesn't work for you in a couple of days, there are lots of other ways out and you can PM to explore a more personalised escape route in the unlikely event that doesn't free you from this dualistic advaitin (and neoadvaitin) non-sense. ☮️

Is the intellectual (therefore dualistic) classification of nondualistic (complex) emotions (and other even more profound complex underpinning feelings) as being either positive or negative (as opposed to being more profoundly informational than dualistic thoughts) at the root of all existential angst? ☮️

Excrement is a creation of nature and wonderful in its own right. I still flush it down the toilet rather than leaving it to stink and create disease. ☮️

Because they desperately need to convince others that they're special because they need disciples. Without followers they are nothing. How can any of them be a teacher if they don't have (needy) pupils? ☮️

I'm really surprised to see that several contributors to this topic seem to be very clear about the centrality of the spiritual practice of shining the Light upon themselves and the vital importance acknowledging that (as mature adults) they are responsible for their own feelings. Unfortunately, toxic religion (as opposed to true spirituality) and toxic societal conditioning means that the vast majority are trapped into positions of being unable to hear their own true feelings and so they're unable to respond healthily and authentically. This means that what's usually observable is reactions of virtue signalling and of blaming others for how they themselves actually feel (scapegoating) because most are no longer able either to contact or to accept their own feelings. This, coupled with the underlying feeling of impotence that it generates, is probably the root cause of why most people seek out positions of power over others and the majority of the observable abusive behaviour on this bulletin board. ☮️

As I said, An introduction to active listening (from 1974). It's my view that, unfortunately, it's impossible to duplicate the experience of hearing and being heard by others in writing or in a video or even via videoconferencing. Regarding our group practice, the same appears to hold true. However, it seems that group practice held via videoconferencing may sometimes act as an attenuated substitute, although, it appears that most would need to have attended at least one our meetings or that of one of various similar groups (for example, a gathered[1] unprogrammed[2] Quaker meeting) prior to being able to duplicate some of that experience via video linkage. Having said that, please note that, like the Quakers[3][4], we do not consider that any form of transmission of the Light takes place from person to person (as we also hold the view that the Light is always present within everyone). The effect of our group practice is probably that it provides the opportunity for a synergistic resonance to take occur between the participants. Please note also that, unlike the Quakers, we do not necessarily base our Paths upon the teachings of the Nazarene[5], neither do we speak during our practice, nor do we have a hierarchical (patriarchal) organisational structure. Please note also that this is not an official viewpoint as everyone is different, so we have many different viewpoints and or community is founded in our group practice, as I've said previously. ☮️ Footnotes [1] For example, one individual's viewpoint (although not the way I'd describe it) http://www.tractassociation.org/tracts/the-gathered-meeting/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers#Unprogrammed_worship [3] Some of us also regularly attend Quaker meetings, although none of us are members. [4] I was informed that our Path probably predates not only the Quakers but also the Nazarene. [5] However, many of the Quakers I know are not Christians either.

In hindsight, perhaps a better analogy would have been a bolt instead of a key together with an acknowledgement of the fact that sometimes (or perhaps even often) bolts can be a bit tricky to shift and the detainee may need a bit of convincing that they're entirely capable? ☮️

For the record, the cell door can only be locked (or unlocked) from the inside (and fortunately, it's not possible lose the key). ☮️