dwai

I think that is what leads to "misery" - because people want things to go the way they would like things to go. They don't accept the comings and goings of things/events/feelings of "good" and "not good". There is an inherent resistance to the departure of the "good" and aversion towards the "not good". This is what The Buddha called "dukkha/vedana". A perpetual state of discontentment/dissatisfaction that becomes a chronic cycle of craving and aversion. "Coping" alright might be the case on the surface, but dig a bit deeper, and all these things are building up, little by little for most people I encounter. If it was any different, people would be happier across the world, and there would be far less conflict and suffering. That is not the case, and has not been so in the past few hundred years at least.

I echo that -- selfless service is both a major component as well as an outcome of nondual realization. One cannot do selfless service without compassion and love. When you know that you are not a limited body-mind entity, I've written a pretty lengthy article on the subject of nondual realization/awareness and love -- https://www.medhajournal.com/non-dual-awareness-is-without-attributes-but-what-about-love/

I like @silent thunder’s proposal of wearing a kilt. Though it might be a bit warm for the southern Indian climes. So the loincloth might be better suited there. Scotland mystics please wear kilts. American ones can opt for buckskin or denim. Australians can refer to their local native elders for guidance.

Get with the program buddy. We already established that nondualists may use those pronouns.

There are many ways to realize the Self. There are four types of jnanis recognized according to Advaita traditions. Ramana was one of the four. Here “type” is with reference to the nature of the mind of the transactional individual who is awakened.

He wore a loin-cloth - they were not diapers. In India they are called “langoti” or “kaupinam”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaupinam A lot of celibate sadhus wear them. Also, there was a period right after his enlightenment when he spent extended periods of time in nirvikalpa samadhi at the foot of the thiruvanamalai temple. He was oblivious to his body. At times ants and other insects started to eat his body. So when the devotees at the temple discovered it, they would tend to him. They would feed him when he came out of samadhi. Later on, he climbed up the arunachala mountain and lived in a cave. Eventually his followers formed an ashram for him, and a community of disciples formed around him.

Those are our pronouns - “us/we/ours”. 👀

Give it time — we’ll all end up in diapers, getting our tushies wiped, being bathed and fed (if we’re lucky). We started that way, and we will likely end that way. What we do in the middle parts is relevant. The question is, are we going to be equanimous or miserable. And don’t ask me who “we” are. All things that begin, have an end. We are all born with a terminal condition called life after all.

I have a friend whom raccoons love apparently. He talks to them lovingly, gives them food, and protects them. They bring him gifts (acorns and such) and don't mess with his home. Not everything has to be a battle.

I didn't mean that everyone thinks like that all the time. Most people suffer because they discover the limitations of their body/mind/intellect etc and thus they are dissatisfied (which over a prolonged period of time, gives rise to suffering). Their misery (dukkha) is interspersed with momentary pleasures. That is life for I would say 90% of the people. Would you disagree?

This point needs closer examination. Who we really are has nothing to do with evolution or time. Ignorance is precisely that — we think of ourselves as limited (miserable) beings who are caught in a cycle of ______ (fill in the blanks with evolutionary process, karma, etc etc). But we are not.

Pratibhasika satya

Fear is a direct result of the ignorance about our True Nature. To protect the body etc doesn't require fear - it requires alertness/being present. In fact, in situations where one's life (say) is truly under threat, the perception of time and space changes dramatically. Everything happens in slow-motion, and there IS no fear as it is occurring. Anyone who's been in a car crash or similar life-threatening experience (I have) can corroborate this -- similarly to other situations which pose existential threats. The fight-or-flight response kicks in after the event has occurred when the mind has had time to process what happened. Being fearful doesn't protect you, or improve your chances of survival. Other kinds of fear reactions are a result of the ego being threatened, and are mental responses, after the fact. Mostly the kind of situations where one would go through "what-if" and "if-this, then-that" type of analysis in the mind. Usually, people aren't aware of it - they feel "Afraid". But the fear is a response to perceived/hypothetical threats, not a real existential challenge. This fear response is a direct result of the mistaken identification with the personality layer that is perceived as being "threatened". Even ideas can cause this reaction. Only, the choice one makes consequently is that of "anger" or "outrage" etc (we can even see that on display on this very forum).

Whence

Boo Yaaa

We/Us/Ours ?

To be able to move like this, the mind must not grasp onto anything. This is taught in tai chi as well - one of the things my teacher told me is to not “try to do something”, but remain present and “things will happen”. This was the yin approach to tai chi. Not to will application of tai chi into situations, but let the situations give rise to the application of tai chi. The non-grasping mind (or no mind). This is what the internal martial arts are so good at — if one can give up their dogged stubbornness and attachment to ideas, thoughts, concepts, and outcomes.

duality appears within the nondual. It is not an either-or proposition. There is nothing to escape from. The liberation spiel is only for stubborn dualists.

What can you DO to realize something? It is a recognition/understanding. Is any "action" needed to recognize something? What one CAN DO is prepare their mind. That's all that is needed.

Non-duality cannot be practiced. It has to be realized. Practices are always dualistic. Even those that seem non-dualistic.

Neither. We are awareness itself. These body-minds are names and forms appearing and disappearing in Is-ness.

There is no reason or purpose. Only appearances in awareness. Is-ness of, existence of, are all predicated on existence or “Beingness” itself. Existence is awareness itself. So yes, is-ness is nondual. All “things” have “is-ness”, names and forms. Most people only see names and forms, but ignore the is-ness. They see beginning and end of forms and assume that isness is transient. But it is not.

That is dualism. Whenever you say “think, feel, do, know” that’s all in the domain of duality. There is no awareness merging into oneness of all. Awareness IS. That’s all there is. Oneness, manyness, noneness, all are appearances in awareness itself.

Sometimes we need to do the wrong thing to get the right outcome