Nikolai1

A forum isn't a courtroom so a ban doesn't need to be legally justified. A forum is like any other social community. If you don't fit in you'll be ostracised, in this case by banning. Why a person gets ostracised can't be formulated. To fit in is an art form, you have to play by rules that are unspoken. If you annoy people here you'll be banned as well, people have been, though it is rare. If you have a history of bans you certainly need to look hard at your own behaviour.

Thanks to you all. Yasjua talked about returning to music, art, meaning, relationships. For me I'm pretty sure that won't happen. This is why my future is hard to envisage. I won't go back to all that stuff. Even philosophy which has been my main passion seems completely unable to give me anything I need. Th great philosophers know nothing I don't know myself, the great artists see nothing I don't see. I don't need them now, and I won't in the future. So what comes next? My mind can't even conceive it which is why I wonder if I'm close to death. But I have no desire to die and aren't remotely suicidal. Maybe my heart will just stop beating - this would be a rational outer outcome to match the inner death that seems to have occurred. The worlds activity is geared towards things I neither want nor need. I therefore cannot remotely conceive anything that is worth willing. And when you don't have.a will, when there is nothing to aim for, there is no future that can be imagined. I feel like I mliterally forced to live in e moment because the future is a blank. I hope some of you can relate to this. Don't confuse it with depression. Depression is a very different thing altogether. I read he article that soaring crane posted and the only similarities are memory loss, which for me, is made worse by a weird flattening in time. I sometimes can't distinguish between yesterday and last year. If something good happens I don't care, if something bad happens I don't care. I am immune to suffering, and to pleasure. The depressed person is only immune to pleasure. Maybe this is the best most obvious difference. Apathy, listlessness and I profound inability to understand the world, the future, and your own place in it - this is e dark night of the soul.

I guess for me depression is a time of suffering, something undesirable that you want to recover from. The dark night, and the phase I'm going through isn't really like that. Its just an absence of will, of inspiration, and a feeling of very deep alienation from pretty much every human being. Its very lonely, but not painful. In fact, there is a very deep sense of peace underneath at all and a frequent sense of beauty. And like I said, unless I talked about it, no-one would realise what I'm going through because its pretty much invisible on the outside. Those who have close dealings with me will notice that I'm quite apathetic and pretty much incapable of making decisions. As for therapists, well I have no need or desire for one, and I know in advance that they couldn't possibly help - unless they were dishing out shaktipat.

Is there not a more specific interpretation of this eclipse amongst astrologers? Is there a consensus?

OK, but depression is a time of real pain and suffering, and in depression its very hard to live life as normal. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the dark night of the soul - the deep inner dryness, but which doesn't prevent you from your daily business and others might not even realise there's something wrong with you.

This is law of attraction again

3bob Neti Neti is a mere teaching. It is what teachers say in desperation to anyone who tries to find realisation in any particular place. The teacher may find himself saying Neti Neti for eternity and yet still it is a verbal distinction - an attempt to logically negate the particular.

A cheap shot! Do you know why I might say something like 'I don't need a brain'? Do you know how anyone could say something so outrageous?

No we wouldn't.

Logically speaking, yes, the ego and the true self are polar opposites. In fact, each is defined through contradistinction to the other - like up is defined by down, or right by left. But in real life experience this logical split is nowhere to be seen. We are not living through the ego one moment, and from the higher self the next. Each moment is the same. Spiritual realisation is realising without a shadow of a doubt that the divisions that make sense logically, have no meaning in experience. Realisation is realising that we were always realised! The ego, our individual self, is another fine example of our spiritual grandeur. Each moment is an enlightenment moment. Nothing is excluded. There is nowhere to go, nothing to do. At first this is a seriously depressing prospect, but we have to stick with it. Imagine the average Christian being told that they are already saved, that Jesus has atoned, that there is nothing else they need to do. They'd hate you for saying it! What would they do with themselves? Well were all in the same boat.

Only because you can't

The brain is just another fleeting moment of Mind

Hi Perceiver There is no clear cut distinction between ego and true self - spiritual growth is simply the morphing of the ego into a sense of self that is wider. more peaceful, more wise. So in that sense the ego never disappears. In your example. both of these different desires for a girlfriend are egoic, insofar as they are less than enlightened. But, I agree, that the second desire is characteristic of more spiritual wisdom than the first, But it is still the case that there comes a time when you are left with absolutely no need for anything on the outside - whether it be wise soul mate, a Ferrari or a line of coke. It is from this perspective that, as you say: One thing that often occurs to me is that the feeling of deep spiritual peace and joy is exactly the same as what we often get in the everyday world. It is like our egoic pleasures are just briefer lasting precursors to true pleasure, which comes regardless of anything on the outside to cause it. So that begs the question: who is it that recognises all these pleasures? This is the true self, that sees the spiritual in all things, and to whom no pleasure could ever be considered wrong, harmful or unspiritual. So, to sum up, we can argue that all external pleasures fall short of enlightenment and that when we have enlightenment we are satisfied, Or, we can argue that all external pleasures are already being enjoyed by our enlightened self. Which is true? Well, all I can say from personal experience is that as we grow spiritually are desires change. It is a psychological truth that we cease wanting what we once wanted because we no longer need what it had to offer. Not that the former pleasures were wrong, but just because they don't work for us anymore.

We all have our own battles to fight in life. For some, it seems to come very naturally to find work, get a flat, live a conventional life. It wasn't hard for them to do, it therefore required no particular merit, and wasn't in any way a battle. Such people shouldn't congratulate themselves, and shouldn't criticise others whose life has gone differently. We all have our battle, but few ever face up to it. I think Dreambliss is facing his own battle, his time has come. I find his writings inspiring and exciting, and I am glad that he takes the time to tell us all about it. edited to add: We all do things in a different order. People who on the outside might seem unaccomplished as the world judges, are often very rich, balanced and mature on the inside and have a mastery over themselves that others only have over their finances, children, subordinates at work etc. All they need to do is let their outer circumstances to become stable and autonomous so that they stop disturbing the inner security. But these people who work on the inside first are rare. More common is for people to sort their outer circumstances out first, and then develop emotional mastery in older age as they confront death, illness, physical deterioration and boredom. To the inside first type, these sixty and seventy year olds seem to be walking up for the first time to issues that they themselves had addressed in their twenties or even teens. I think lots of people here will relate to that feeling: of being in a sense older than all the older people around them.

So to acknowledge truth spells death for the false self? And this makes us afraid. I think if we continue to avoid the final truth our lives became so empty and meaningless because the truth inside us knows that the world is not enough for us. We reach a point where we no longer fear death because there is nothing left to live for anyway. Maybe this is the moment when we can acknowledge truth without fear, without even the care for our death. Does anyone willingly confront truth? Or must our lives be a living hell before we will be forced to do so?

We can't help identifying with the NPC we have always identified with. It takes us along time to lose interest in that guy, and it's hard to let go of him. A halfway stage is to take interest in other 'past' selves, but in the long run we have to lose interest in these too.

The important thing here is that the OP understands the fundamental rationality of his actions, especially if the photos really are unrecoverable. In reality it doesn't matter much whether the photos survive or not. The kind of person who has transcended the false egoic self may have cupboards full of photo albums, but he won't have the slightest desire to look at them. An elderly man, sat in his armchair looking at the photos of the times when he was young, when the kids were young is clearly such an inveterate old sinner that nothing could have stopped him from being so. His vulgarity causes hm to open the album; it does not occur to him not to. To take a photo, to document the moment, is always a defence against impermanence. It is a defence against the unbearable transience of eternity. We imagine we take photos for future pleasure, but in most healthy souls that future never comes and the photos get neglected. No, to take a photo is a present moment attempt to assuage a present moment angst. The most effective photos at easing angst include ourselves as subject. Photographic art of say a beautiful landscape is effective for more people though powerfully effective for none. But even the landscape shot tries to fix a moment of beauty unnecessarily. To the healthy soul, beauty is omnipresent and there is no sense or purpose to any kind of photo. The great spiritual teachers of history have always struggled with th all too human desire to capture and fix the eternal. Before the photograph the means was graven art and the eternal was God. To depict God was always viewed as spiritually harmful. In the present day we must confront the same issue. To photograph ourself is sin itself. We must understand the vulgarity that lies behind the desire and overcome it.

I think you performed one of those instinctive acts of wisdom, that you haven't consciously understood at the time. The photograph is a permanent manifestation of your false identity. Its sheer existence is a threat to your real self, or your soul. This is why you destroyed them. A wiser person would never have allowed the photo to be taken in the first place. Many children are instinctively camera shy. You are now feeling the pain of ego loss, which is the basis of all true renunciation. The benefits of what you have done will only slowly accrue, but in the future you will understand with perfect clarity why you did something so reckless but so brave. Unfortunately, our egoic selves are not only enshrined visually in photographs, but in our relationships with other people, with our jobs, the organisations we associate with. When we lose these the pain and fear is even deeper. Judging by your behaviour with the photos there might come a time when you abruptly sever links with people and things you love. Other people do not act so suddenly, because their instincts aren't so powerful, so they therefore go through a period whee there egoic attachments undergo slow death. All the best to you

Hi all, So I was woken up in the early hours, wondering if the baby was actually crying or would go back to sleep. In a dream I kind of saw an object, it was lozenge shaped and looked like a double-size cod liver oil pill. But suddenly I saw that time was a feature of this object, just like its strange shape. Really quickly a series of insights came to me: A lot of this a kind of dimly knew but I've never felt it before so deeply and vividly. I hope you enjoy it. We imagine that time is something that is always elapsing, yet this is a total illusion. We imagine that time is some kind of container in which all the events occur one by one by one. This is also a total illusion. If I look at the face of my friend I sense time. My witnessing consciousness 'remembers' events from the 'past'. But the past is a present time sensation. Time cannot be sensed at any other time than now. The idea that things 'were' or 'will be' is a total illusion. Time is just another object of the senses. it is like a smell. It wafts before our mind and we register it, but there is no permanent time scheme, just as there is no permanent smell scheme. Both come and go. Our error is that we superstitiously place the mental senses (like time) above the physical senses. We imagine that the physical sensations occur one by one within a higher sequence of continuous time. in truth, time itself is just another of these sensations and should not form the basis of our worldview. Perceptions of time are at the same level as the perception of smell. The only possible rational worldview is the reality of the witness that sees all these sensations come and go - the witness to whom even our own own egos are just another transient whiff of time. Our ego comes and goes and then returns one second later so absolutely transformed that it is not a returning but a completely new coming. The witness is the totality. We feel it in its entirety eternally. The universe is a distinctly lesser reality which arises and passes in an instant and never looks the same way twice. There is no universe outside of our perception. All there is to get, we get. The idea that the universe was created in its entirety either by God, or in a Big Bang is ridiculous superstitious nonsense. When we think such a way we are failing to look reality directly in the face. To realise that time is now is the same as realising that all of space is here. When you understand time you also understand space, which is based on the same type of error. 'Another place' is just a mental sensation felt right here on this spot. So there is no other place than here, and no other time than now. And yet the moment you try to reify this here and now with the senses you have fallen back into superstition. The inly cure to superstition is to realise that the only time and space is who you actually are in the deepest sense of your own reality. The world and the ego are a most shoddy one-dimensional metaphor for who you are actually are and what actually is. For me these ideas are beautiful and incredibly uplifting. They give me such a satisfying sense of truth and I hope they do for you too. Best wishes, Nikolai

. I'm sure DreamBliss pheromones are strictly legal

Science is fine, just so long as we don't start believing in it too much. So we can talk science as much as we like as long as there is a part of us that is fully aware that science can NEVER communicate anything other than falsehood. That science has never and could never approach reality itself. That we always need to go BEYOND. Then, so long as we're clear on this, we can start talking science - and it will be enjoyable and beautiful and poetic. Science, when taken too seriously, becomes something very vulgar, and the speakers turn into fundamentalist monstrosities. But then the same happens in art, religion and philosophy. I know this is pure heresy in this day and age. But I'm not afraid to talk heresy in the name of truth.

Wow Yasjua - that was amazing. And you put into words something that I've notice myself. I fully agree with the LoA principles. In fact,they express and contain everything I feel I have learnt in life. But I rarely if ever use them. I wonder what more I want in life and my mind draws a blank! I just notice them happening! This is why I often say that trying to use the law to gain specific ends can be a risky behaviour because when you are so attached to an outome there is also fear that it won't happen. I would hate it of anyone starts to doubt the law because they feel they have tested it and it hasn't worked for them. I also find dream bliss very inspiring to read...but I'm torn what to say because there is lot of fear in him about other people's reactions and the law won't fix that..rather the fear will block the law

When you're a loveable person, you'll notice and love yourself for it. Then people won't take advantage because you have self esteem not to let them. It's not a hard formula. Don't boost yourself up and put others down; don't boost others up and put yourself down. Summed up as: stop thinking about it so much and just be.

Hi Owledge, When I read all the material on this sad story I came out with the feeling that you had acted so inappropriately that this must certainly be a pattern in your life. Now I don't know you at all, so its only guesswork. But the psychologist in me feels that you probably go through life aggravating people, or at least frequently find yourself in controversies. You were very out of order. Maybe you have noticed this yourself? that your social relations don't go smoothly. Which is why you've come up with this idea that huge swathes of the population feel threatened by your courage to take the difficult path, which is the path of being nice and not egotistical. Your social relations will never go well unless you learn to accept people exactly as they are, and to not judge them either in your own thoughts or words. By accepting people, you won't feel this 'them or me' attitude which leads you to what looks to me like excessive self-bolstering displays of ego and self-aggrandisement. The trouble is, it takes strength to renounce the false strength of ego-aggrandisement and to send it out instead to others around you. What's harder is that you have an intellectual superiority over nearly everyone which everyone sees and can't in all good faith deny. But you need to accept your gifts, and at the same time not feel like you merit them. Fortunately for you, you haven't developed the pattern of habitual self-deprecation. But you still need to find strength from somewhere and I can think of no better way than your sincere spiritual practice. Be ambitious in this. Go for the top. Try to find your true immortal self which is so grand and will feel you with so much gratitude for life that you cannot help but be humble in the face of it. Then you'll learn what has been always been the case. Lovable people get loved.

Hi Yasjua Yes you think. And when we are thinking we aren't looking directly, unless we are looking at the thought and not what the thought is about. Never in your reality have you seen your endocrine system. And yet you are willing to subjugate the whole world to this imaginary concept which you have never seen. The psychological and emotional consequence is that you feel like you are looking at a secondary reality, in your words, "just looking at the content or reflection of our nervous system." NO! Ignore your dumb science and look directly at the primary reality. I agree that science is poetic. But art ceases to lose its appeal if we can't keep in mind that the art is just art. Imagine going to a war movie and we were lost in it so much that we came home with Gulf War Syndrome and had to go to therapy. Science is nice, but it needs to be kept in its proper place. It teaches us nothing that we can't discover directly and concretely within ourselves. To go the scientists for answers is like going to a mirror to check if you are angry. If you only know your own anger as the frown on your reflected face then you have no choice, but it helps to be told that there's a better way. Maybe. But what do you see your eyeballs with? What sees another's eyeballs? What reads the words of a man who has cut open eyeballs on his slab and drawn the structures and convinced us al that this is the organ of our seeing? Go direct to the seeing. Then you will know without a shadow of a doubt that the eyeball is nothing other than a kind of metaphor for vision. A trope that we all believe in. A kind of clay effigy that represents the True Seeing - that Seeing that is no more to do with eyeballs than it is to do with elephants. OK, now realise that the eternal universe emerges from You, and that the several billion millennia are just moments - or this moment - in your mind that is beyond the infinite. all the best, Nikolai