The Harsh Reality of Awakening

[johndoe2012]

14 hours ago, lifeforce said:

I feel at home in nature, and in relative solitude, but I experience a massive disconnect from humanity. It's like there's a huge gap between myself and the rest of civilisation.

 

I am not the best at creating connection but when I am most successful I ask questions about other people's interests, lives etc, being curious and open about how the conversation will go and also feel a sense of joy of the spontaneity appearing in front of me.

 

Also noticing where I feel blocks in conversations which I then can work on later. 

 

The harshness you feel, which is revealed in the title, is a disconnected aspect of yourself you can meet with love and awareness to melt and dissolve over time. Then reality will appear less brutal and more loving than it appears today. 

 

 

[lifeforce]

13 hours ago, ilumairen said:

This disconnect sounds similar to what you're ascribing to others.

 

Not really, even though it seems like that. The device addicts usually have 1000's of virtual friends, and probably a lot of real-world friends, with whom they can post/share pictures of every single hour of their existence, however banal and mundane. I have no desire whatsoever to interact with such people.

[lifeforce]

14 hours ago, ilumairen said:

Maybe give it a try, and see what happens?

 

I'll pass on that thanks. I know I see the world in a different way from yourself, but to be honest, I actually feel happy that the blinkers have been removed. Fake sincerity is not my thing.

[lifeforce]

10 hours ago, welkin said:

 

I feel similarly.

 

Don't get discouraged, there's nothing wrong with anything you're feeling or doing. All you need to do is observe those feelings and thoughts. If this is a phase, it will pass. Though you can stay there if you choose to as i have many times. be careful.

 

Just like we had to learn since childhood how to become brainwashed monkeys who can interact easily with others by conforming, we can relearn a new way of interaction stemming from who we now are or becoming. No one said it's easy. 

 

Don't be harsh on yourself if you try to communicate with people and you get a bad response. Don't be harsh on yourself if you don't smile at someone. Don't be harsh on yourself for not knowing what to do. You'll figure it out, without anyone's help or perception, because you're the only one knows your own consciousness in relation to this world and consciousness of others. Test everything like a game from the perspective of love. Don't play the game everyone is playing.

 

I realized I don't hate people. I hate having to create a specific action in order to get a specific reaction. Meaning, people are too numb nowadays to see intention, they only see specific actions they've attached their own intentions to. As if an action doesn't start with an intention and can have a multitude of them and ways of performing the same thing.

Btw, if you observe or talk to homeless people, they are very interesting. Highly intelligent, and maybe even more aware than regular people. They seem to be waiting for something or have chosen themselves not to be a part of this fucked up reality.

 

Going to the park to meditate next to the peace of the homeless

 

 

This is a fantastic post. Thanks for your thoughts.

[rideforever]

Many great teachers died in their 30s.   

Soldiers died at 17.

Even Kings and Emperors.

There are many opportunities, amongst the noisy and smelling zombie phone watchers.

We will all die, as well, picture that.

There are many bad things here, but ... still many good things to be done.

[lifeforce]

30 minutes ago, rideforever said:

There are many bad things here, but ... still many good things to be done.

 

Great words, thank you.

[lifeforce]

Applying the awakening process to my own life, means chipping away at old, outdated dogma that have no business cluttering up my life in the first place. It means I don't need to fit in to any one scene, or to think of reality in the same way that everyone else does. It means I need to figure shit out for myself whatever the consequences.
Otherwise I would just be parroting what my parents told me, which they were told by their parents and so on. Figuring out my own laws, my own rules and my own regimen is equivalent to standing against the collectivist dictatorship we like to call society. I don't have to fight it, loathe it or in any way seek to destroy it. All I need to do is say "I'll figure it out for myself, thanks!" and interact with whatever and whomever I find to be rewarding.

Edited June 17, 2019 by lifeforce

[Stosh]

If phones provide the food that these brains crave ; Is there a chance that its not a bad thing , but a good one? We-They, choose it , they can have it 'On Demand', they can reserve their privacy , postpone annoyances , manage their affairs , be entertained , and so forth. For someone who wants to get away from the insanity , it allows some connection anyway. 

Yeah it has changed interactions, and there is indeed an upheaval going on because of this invention, but I can do no more than guess at where we will end up. Certainly many of the old paradigms and basic social issues will have to be revisited. 

Things society thought resolved. 

[Walker]

17 hours ago, lifeforce said:

 

It's hard not to think about this stuff when you're out and about, especially in towns and cities. For example, yesterday the wife and I popped into Starbucks. I got the seats, while Mrs.Lifeforce went to the counter to order the beverages. As I sat down and looked around, every single person sitting in Starbucks, with the exception of myself, was staring at their phone. It was like I could feel the screen glare from all these devices, draining the place of any positive energy. Coffee shops used to be places of conversation, quiet contemplation, or just watching the world go by. Today they are places where phone zombies plug into a world of megapixels and they can give a thumbs-up to a photograph of a plate of someones food.

 

The last sentence was hilarious. The fact that hundreds of millions of kids are gonna grow up hunchbacked with iPad-irradiated genitals, porn addiction, post-natal acquired autism, diminished creativity, and weird-ass compulsions to photograph food and "like" everybody else's food photos is un-hilarious.

 

I use no social media (except for this site, which I've actually made real-life friends from, in addition to countless enemies, most of whom I have vanquished using my tremendous qi powers) and I never find myself feeling like I'd have a better life if I had a little page where I could let people know I just ate a sandwich and plan to go poopee within the next five or six hours. I meet random people on the street, in stores, in classes, wherever on a regular basis. Partly I think that's because not having my nose up Mark Zuckerberg's proverbial ass all day has left me with the time to work on old, bad habits (which predated social media for me) like shyness, fear of rejection, cantankerousness, aversion to small talk, reluctance to smile, fear of looking stupid, etc. All that took time, but was worth it. I can understand why a lot of people retreat into their phones, but it's a pity that so many people practically come to live through them.

 

However, I gotta add that while I can relate to your comment to up to a certain degree, I spent the last three days in a huge auditorium where well over 1,000 people sat paying rapt attention while Tsoknyi Nyima Rinpoche offered subtle body teachings. It was easy to find warm, open people to chat with during breaks and on the way to the subway afterwards, and I only saw one douchebag playing with his phone the whole time. As he was in front of me and I was forced to see him compulsively checking on his CCTV monitoring station to see what his dog was doing (I did not realize people did this... fucking hell) and peruse shopping websites, I felt compelled to firmly tap him on the shoulder and show him my wrathful deity face. The second time it worked, although he responded with a dramatic pouty offended face haha. No idea why he would pay $60 bucks to stare at live video of his dog while some Tibetan guy speaks about the importance of not living in your head, but whatever, not my problem. The other 1,000 people there were great. There are still plenty of people around who are in various stages of "waking up," or at least not being too asleep.

[ilumairen]

4 hours ago, lifeforce said:

 

I'll pass on that thanks. I know I see the world in a different way from yourself, but to be honest, I actually feel happy that the blinkers have been removed. Fake sincerity is not my thing.

 

From where I'm sitting it looks like a shift in paradigms.. 

 

What does awakening mean to you, and how is it meant to be understood as presented in the title of this thread?

 

BTW I didn't realize you'd have to fake sincerity to hold a door open for someone or share a smile with a stranger. 

[Stosh]

digitalmarketinginstitute.com

 

"The United States ranks 24th in the world in average social media usage time at two hours and one minute while Canada is placed 30th at one hour and 48 minutes. 

 

Over the last decade or so, social media has evolved from a way to communicate with long lost friends to the ultimate method of seeking anything informational. Whether it's for business, news, marketing or just fun, people worldwide are utilizing social media for various meaningful purposes. Though it is more accessible everywhere than ever before, some countries and regions access certain platforms more than other channels. 

Reviewing statistics outlining such usage is a fantastic way to inform your international digital marketing strategy. Improve the way you promote over social media and grow your market by understanding which countries use which social platforms.

 

Which Countries Use Social Media the Most?

 

Have you ever been curious as to which country is the social media kingpin? Well, in Manila, social media seems to be the main thriller. As of 2018, the Philippines has the highest social media usage rate in the world, according to the 2018 Global Digital Report. That is a title the country has also held for the last two years.

Users in the Philippines spend an average of three hours and 57 minutes every day on social media. That is nearly one-third of the time they spend on the internet daily (nine hours and 29 minutes), ranking the Philippines second worldwide for internet use next to Thailand. You'll find 67 million residents in the Philippines using Facebook while another 10 million surf Instagram. Over  10% of social media users take to YouTube in the southeastern Asian nation as well."

[ilumairen]

5 hours ago, lifeforce said:

 

Not really, even though it seems like that. The device addicts usually have 1000's of virtual friends, and probably a lot of real-world friends, with whom they can post/share pictures of every single hour of their existence, however banal and mundane.

 

So they're attempting to connect. 

 

5 hours ago, lifeforce said:

 

 I have no desire whatsoever to interact with such people.

 

And you're setting yourself apart. 

 

(Nothing wrong with either imo - just an observation regarding what you've chosen to share.)

 

What are your thoughts on appearance and emptiness?

[rideforever]

Unconscious ego people are not benign, they are dangerous, because they are not really unconscious but they have a "false consciousness", something negative in their head, and they hurt others.  Damaged parents raised damaged children, they damage their children after birth.   Others use emotional victimhood to spread their misery to those in their circle.   Even speaking to some people can leave you with a headache as part of their unconsciousness disease enters your headspace energetically.

To the point where you might call it a disease, Wetiko perhaps, some parasite.

 

So ... to live here, one has to know that, and disconnect from it, to have no illusions.

But you can also forgive everyone, and be kind to them ... although I read recently that you should should be kind by carrying some of their heavy load for them.   They appreciate that.   But on no account ever explain to them what the problem is, or they will turn on you and hurt you.

It is not common for you to have a good opportunity to expose your inner truth; for most people you meet it is not appropriate.

 

Nothing is for free, people run around today with their digital toys imagine that heaven just landed in their lap.

But in fact staring at the technology saps your soul, your lifeforce, it is draining.  Out of your eyes your soul is being drained, and in the end you will die here, consumed.  I'm very much afraid that is a fact.

 

So ... it's a very uneasy place.

But still you could be working as child labour in a brothel or in a mine, you could be starving and dying in a famine.

It is a good place to make rapid spiritual progress.

There is an art to live in such a strange unreal world, but I think by the end you are sick of its insincerity and confusion.

 

Those who are very unconscious, think they are conscious.   They have heard all the spiritual words, but assume that they are conscious.   They will attack anyone different.

Then there are some people who are relatively sound and in a good place inside.   

But due to the damaged culture, they will start to question themselves.

It is a real madhouse (maya), and very dangerous actually.   

One must protect one's sanity and consciousness in a robust way.

 

Today I thought that technology is a sign of degeneration, people have lost the language of nature, of feelings, of love of consciousness and started to make things that make them feel safe, a sort of fake shield, made of technology.   And that it will end in destruction.   And then a million years will pass and another creature on earth will have its golden moment in the garden of eden, before it loses its way, eventually it will be so disconnected from everything that it will make "technology" until it blows itself up, and the earth is quiet again for another million years.

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by rideforever

[ilumairen]

5 hours ago, lifeforce said:

Applying the awakening process to my own life, means chipping away at old, outdated dogma that have no business cluttering up my life in the first place.

 

Thank you for this explanation; it helps me to understand where you are coming from, and what you're referring to when you use the word awakening. 

 

5 hours ago, lifeforce said:

It means I don't need to fit in to any one scene, or to think of reality in the same way that everyone else does. It means I need to figure shit out for myself whatever the consequences.
Otherwise I would just be parroting what my parents told me, which they were told by their parents and so on. Figuring out my own laws, my own rules and my own regimen is equivalent to standing against the collectivist dictatorship we like to call society. I don't have to fight it, loathe it or in any way seek to destroy it. All I need to do is say "I'll figure it out for myself, thanks!" and interact with whatever and whomever I find to be rewarding.

 

[Jadespear]

I read an interesting concept from a taoist once on morality.  The concept was that the more alike we are to something else, the more we relate to that thing and therefore feel connected to it, this relationship was termed "psychodynamics".  For instance a human being feels that it is wrong to kill another human being in cold blood or if can be avoided, but he does not feel that same sense of morality towards a bug, a rock, or a tree..... simply because he does not identify as close to them as he does other human beings.  If you reflect on it it kind of makes sense everywhere --- animals care more about themselves than you, bacteria and viruses do not care about you at all.  I don't know if this concept is absolute, however it does make sense and does create a kind of balance in the larger picture of life itself; each species and variety of life shares a closer connection to it's fellows, therefore each part of life protects itself and therefore the whole of life has the best chance of continuing on...and evolving into higher forms of embodied intelligence, ( Light Instilled Forever Energetically ) aka. L.I.F.E.

[Jadespear]

On 6/16/2019 at 2:59 AM, lifeforce said:

I found this quote today and it sort of sums up my current view of life:

 

"Morality depends on social interests. Natural law doesn't give a shit"

 

The world we find ourselves existing in really doesn't give a shit, not one bit. All the religions and spiritualities in the world today tell us lies. Utopias don't exist. Humanity's masses are walking around in their own little bubbles staring at their smartphones 24/7. As soon as people have to wait in a line/queue/pick their kids up from school - out comes the smartphone. Families out in restaurants, each member with their own virtual world not communicating with each other. From the real world to the virtual in a nanosecond. It really saddens me to see this.The more I observe human behaviour, the more I despair. Transhumanism is here now, and has been for years. Who needs robotic implants when the world is addicted to technology ? I have no desire to wake up the majority of humanity, it's beyond help. Kali Yuga is playing out before us, just as it needs to, naturally.

Awakening is a very lonely place, believe me. Even when you're surrounded with people who love you. 

The world is a beautiful place only people fuck it up.

 

Actually I think morality is an extension of the natural order that has preferences based on intelligence assimilating itself and forming opinions based in time and space that coincide with life forms whose existence is perpetuated as self awareness of their own identity and the identity of others perceived  Hence; anything that identifies as something permanent or even temporal and seeks to continue itself or it's goal will choose a course of action to that end.  Therefore morality is a course of action some choose to take, immorality is another.  "natural law"--- what does that even mean?  Nature has laws like all the laws of physics, why do you think these things exist? :::::::::::: To give us the means to experience. 

 

...I actually like smartphones and not having to have stupid fake interactions with people who I don't give a shit about... I think it's progress towards a utopia.  Utopia to me means life lived on my own terms, without the need to interact with idiots.  I'd much rather live in a world dominated by free thinking technological robots than by tyrannical slave driving capitalists ( the past ).  

[bax44]

Some in this thread claim people who walk around looking at their phones etc are looking for “connection”. The type of social media connection and the Like is about a vapid a goal as I can imagine. And I’m not being a hypocrite because I’ve caught myself way more than I’d like to admit engaging in that behavior. It is extremely draining and unnatural in my opinion. Just from my own experience when I fast from my phone I feel way different, in a good way.

Edited June 17, 2019 by bax44

[ilumairen]

4 minutes ago, bax44 said:

Some in this thread claim people who walk around looking at their phones etc are looking for “connection”. The type of social media connection and the Like is about a vapid a goal as I can imagine. And I’m not being a hypocrite because I’ve caught myself way more than I’d like to admit engaging in that behavior. It is extremely draining and unnatural in my opinion. Just from my own experience when I fast from my phone I feel way different, in a good way.

 

It depends on the interaction. Yesterday I spent about an hour messaging with my dad who literally lives a thousand miles away. And because of this, and the time my step brother spends online maintaining his connection to my step mom in spite of a distance of more than a thousand miles, I'm unwilling/unable to write off all online communication as "vapid".  

 

I simply do not know what any person I see holding a phone is doing with said phone, and, for me personally, it would be presumptuous to assume I do.

 

[bax44]

3 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

 

It depends on the interaction. Yesterday I spent about an hour messaging with my dad who literally lives a thousand miles away. And because of this, and the time my step brother spends online maintaining his connection to my step mom in spite of a distance of more than a thousand miles, I'm unwilling/unable to write off all online communication as "vapid".  

 

I simply do not know what any person I see holding a phone is doing with said phone, and, for me personally, it would be presumptuous to assume I do.

 

 

Right . That’s why I specified social media type interactions in my post. I would not like being presumptuous either but judging from what I see in My small social circle in general people do spend some time on interactions such as you described but the majority is pretty blatantly mindless facebooking, Twitter/Instagram surfing.

[silent thunder]

Phones are tools.  Like a knife, or a pencil.

 

I am conversing with a dear friend daily/regularly, trying to aid him in fielding his emotions and thoughts as he transitions through a painful divorce.  The stakes of this conversation, taking place for about a year now, has evolved our friendship from one of workmates who had a lot in common... to one of deep abiding kinship.  Texting is the majority of our communication.  We work freelance and often work together, but also go for months without seeing one another.  A verbal conversation is now always an option.

 

We talk when we can, but much of this conversation has played out through texts.  Due to the nature of the topic, it's not always possible to talk without affecting others in the home environment, texting is a wonderful option.  Allows as well, for the formation of thoughts intact, without interruptibility.  I suspect thinking shifts with the mode of communication.  Mind operates differently in writing than speaking for me.  

 

 

Tao is present in all things, yet indistinguishable.

 

Meaning is what it is in my mind, provided by the storyteller. 

The storyteller defines what means what according to the story created from the stimulus.

 

I have developed cherished friendships all across the globe due to this dao bums interface, so like my phone, but larger.  How i use a tool seems to determine its nature.   This seems exemplified at how often many other objects are transformed into hammers when a hammer is needed.

 

Does the knife cut?

Does the pencil draw?

 

without the hand applying pressure directed by Mind?

 

What cuts?  Knife?  Mind?  Hand?

Knife never cuts itself it seems.

 

Pencil can't draw itself.

 

from where does meaning arise?  what is the source of the story we live?

Edited June 17, 2019 by silent thunder

[Spotless]

We are more driven by trance than ever before - But we are actually less in allegiance to it than ever before. We are addicted to our mind loops and the radio stations of our minds - but we are far less in allegiance to - a King - and Employer - a Career - a Tribe - a Religion than ever before. Obviously there are exceptions everywhere but for vast populations across the globe your allegiance to someone or some group is not as necessary for survival as it used to be only a century ago and the further back one goes in history the need for alliance increases exponentially.

 

 

We are in general far more peaceful and far more able to change if we wish to change. (obviously there are exceptions all over the place).

 

We are also both far more isolatable and far more accessible than ever before - we can hide from exposure and "live" in the "radio" stations in our mind free of contrary input - BUT - we can also access the world and have interchange with practically anyone everywhere.

 

Science and Spiritual Practice are increasingly finding common ground.

 

The Harsh "Reality" of "Awakening" is a great deal less harsh than the Reality of relative consciousness identified and in full willfulness, competition, righteousness and blind certainty. The very harsh reality in the relative of fear of a thousand futures and reluctance based on the fog of the past and pain and nails buried in our hands and feet and the spikes in our hearts - RELEASED a thousand fold upon Awakening.

 

The "Harsh Reality of Awakening" is only truly harsh if arrogance has taken hold and one is looking down from an assumed high ground. It is true that what was once one's place in the noise of things is no longer the trancer that it once was.

 

[lifeforce]

Another thing which revealed itself to me, is that the practices and teachings that I used in order to initiate the awakening process, came from many traditions, religions, societies, communities and spiritualities. I've sat with highly realised 'masters', crossed hands with extremely accomplished martial artists and fighters, read the works of guru's, saints, prophets, monks.

In the end though, I've dropped them all. My individualistic, independent mindset has no room for others. None. It despises the very thought of the herd mentality and group-think. Social situations to me are bothersome, boring and reek of the stench of conformism.

Head-nodding and passively agreeing with 'the group' makes me feel physically ill. I've only ever known this anarchistic way since birth. It's been my modus operandi whatever situation has arose. Inevitably, this has led to conflict, especially where authority figures are concerned, but I point blank refuse to be moulded into someone's version of 'me'. 

The motto I live by, and always have as far back as I remember is: There Is No Authority But Yourself.

[doc benway]

Awakening is a progressive thing, it doesn't stop with the realizations expressed by the OP and other posts on this thread.

There can be experiences or perspectives of awakening that bring us to a place of frustration, intolerance, aversion towards a 'lesser' level of being that we perceive we've risen above. This can be a painful place to be but it is also an opportunity to come to terms with that very aversion. Know that it is just a perspective.

There can be experience and perspective that is quite the opposite. A direct experience of the connection of all life, all sentience, so powerful that one is overwhelmed by unconditional love and compassion for that which once elicited aversion. The danger here is one of attachment to that perspective, reification of that experience. It's every bit as much an obstacle as the ignorance.

Can we take each of these perspectives as our path, integrating and reconciling the seemingly paradoxical truth of each on its own merits? And can we find inner peace in the face of these and all other circumstances that challenge us in both positive and negative ways?

That's at least how I attempt to navigate the path.

[Spotless]

It appears that “Awakening” is in the context of the original post a reference to optional perspectives - (individuated singularized resistance to be more exact in this case)

 

A process to be initiated and evolved.

 

A definition adopted by many but not a reference to the Awakening spoken of by the great spiritual teachers and sages. It is more a reference to what is described as “Yoga” in the West vs Traditional Yoga from India.

 

Perspective calisthenics are fun and useful - as a bird moves from one limb to another.  And transcendence within perspective is just this - and it is capable of tremendous flexibility or rigidizing upon one’s severity in judgements. 

 

The nature of Awakening is the falling away of perspective and position - however - those words might imply some bleached dough

with no yeast - it is quite the opposite.

 

It is certainly true that Awakening is not some final end point to transformation.

 

 

  

Edited June 18, 2019 by Spotless

[silent thunder]

So grateful for the conversation.  Reflects many facets of my mind gem recently.

 

that which is harsh... why is it harsh?  what makes it so?

is it harsh because it is actually harsh?  objectively?

is it harsh because my story about it tells me it is harsh?

is it harsh because it is not how my story says it could be, or should be?

is it harsh because it differs from the story i wish it was instead?

 

what is harsh?

 

ETA:  sincere open questions... nothing serious... no hard answers implied or even sought... just chewing bones.

Edited June 18, 2019 by silent thunder
clarify intent