We are all deluded

[Aquarian]

Copied from this thread (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=439358#post439358). Discuss.

There is no shame in being deluded. We all are. I strongly doubt there is a single person on this board who can reliably tell truth from delusion in these subtle matters.

[psychoslice]

What do you mean by deluded, in what way are you thinking about ?.

[Native spirit]

:confused: In what way are we deluded and why?



Namaste

[Sarian]

Expound on "delusion in these subtle matters" please.

My first thought was that I thought in some ways we are all 'deluded' this is true. Look at all the various things we believe in. Read through all these boards and threads and what each person believes in. All varying views, some of us agree to another, others we strongly disagree, or somewhat...but who's to say what is truly the truth? We don't know. Even things that I feel strongly about, do I know for sure it's truth? no, but it resonates within me, but that doesn't mean it's truth.

So, again, what are the subtle matters you speak of?

[silent whisper]

deluded by the illusion of dellusion perhaps..........that can be a shame.

[Animus27]

There is no shame in being deluded. We all are. I strongly doubt there is a single person on this board who can reliably tell truth from delusion in these subtle matters.
Come again? Vague post is vague. :tongue:

[Aquarian]

Sorry I thought delusion was well enough known. :smile:

There are perhaps two meanings. Sarian expresses the first well -- simply that anyone who states anything about the subtle realms as fact is deluding both themselves and everyone else.

The subtle realms includes the astral realm, metaphysics etc.

I'll explain the second meaning here.

The story goes that an archangel separated from God and liked it. His name was Satan. As the archangels manifested the world, Satan co-manifested it in a way that he could stay separate. For reasons I don't quite understand, he created delusion traps for all lesser beings within it. The first one was the Tree of Knowledge (actually the Tree of Delusion).
We became more and more ensnared in Satan's webs of delusion until we ended up reincarnating on planet Earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_(illusion)

As far as I can tell, all suffering is through delusion. Behind each bad feeling, I can perceive a misunderstanding stored in people's aura, that when resolved, resolves the bad feeling. I believe this to be the fundamental process behind all effective clearing techniques.

The whole of the Mahabharata is supposed to be an allegory for one's personal struggle to discern truth from delusion.

So, according to these people (Yogananda included), these two meanings are one and the same. We are so bound up in our delusions, and living on a planet where 99.9% are highly delusory, that truth is remarkably difficult to recognise.

[Shabby]

I have been called worse : )

[Silver]

Maybe the confusion is the link you gave is to a single post, not the whole thread that you referred to, if I'm not mistaken...

[Animus27]

Sorry I thought delusion was well enough known. :smile:

There are perhaps two meanings. Sarian expresses the first well -- simply that anyone who states anything about the subtle realms as fact is deluding both themselves and everyone else.

The subtle realms includes the astral realm, metaphysics etc.

I'll explain the second meaning here.

The story goes that an archangel separated from God and liked it. His name was Satan. As the archangels manifested the world, Satan co-manifested it in a way that he could stay separate. For reasons I don't quite understand, he created delusion traps for all lesser beings within it. The first one was the Tree of Knowledge (actually the Tree of Delusion).
We became more and more ensnared in Satan's webs of delusion until we ended up reincarnating on planet Earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_(illusion)

As far as I can tell, all suffering is through delusion. Behind each bad feeling, I can perceive a misunderstanding stored in people's aura, that when resolved, resolves the bad feeling. I believe this to be the fundamental process behind all effective clearing techniques.

The whole of the Mahabharata is supposed to be an allegory for one's personal struggle to discern truth from delusion.

So, according to these people (Yogananda included), these two meanings are one and the same. We are so bound up in our delusions, and living on a planet where 99.9% are highly delusory, that truth is remarkably difficult to recognise.
Delusional towards what? You are relying on religious allegories to base up your premise of delusion. But what if they are the deluded ones? How can you measure delusion? By what can we know what we know what we know?

[psychoslice]

Yes we are all deluded when we think what we believe in is true, we can never know the truth, we may experience it, in fact we are it, but yes, if we think we know it and can talk about it in beliefs and concepts, again we are deluding ourselves. But when we realize this, then no we are not deluded.

[Xan]

It's good to recognize that one is deluded and not knowing the truth of themselves.

In fact, this self-honesty is often an important first step on the way to becoming free of the delusion of separation.... as well as false notion that no one is free of it.

It happens. We can and do wake up in our true nature. More now than at any time in history.


Xan

[Swami Chihuahuananda]

As I heard once and repeat often , veils are our friends. We only see what we are able to see . If we were asleep and then exposed all at once to the infinite energy of the all, we would explode in an instant . The vast and terrible unmanifested Godhead that scared the bejesus out of Arjuna as Krishna revealed it to him , the light of a million suns , infinite bliss , a dream with energy like an ocean of orgasms in every cell .... anyone who's had a glimpse of anything like that, like the real , indescribably magnificent nature of what really is , what we really are, understands that we aren't quite designed to fully experience that all the time in these bodies . So in that way we are deluded, to the extent that we do not experience that fully all the time . That's what veils are for , so that we can function in the world. It's a natural mechanism . Veils are our friend .

:glasses2:

[Swami Chihuahuananda]

Yes we are all deluded when we think what we believe in is true, we can never know the truth, we may experience it, in fact we are it, but yes, if we think we know it and can talk about it in beliefs and concepts, again we are deluding ourselves. But when we realize this, then no we are not deluded.

Yep, to see that is to be able to see beyond it. :cool:

[Neville]

I know definately that the things I know in all certainty to be true , might not be true. I think that might qualify me to join the deluded club.

[Mountain-Goat]

Sorry I thought delusion was well enough known. :smile: Everyone has their own perception regarding reality.
The meaning of delusion being one of the elements of reality.
What delsuion means to you may not be what it means to another.

As far as I can tell, all suffering is through delusion. Then so too is pleasure.
But for some reason, all the proponents of illusion, delusion, ego/mind is the problem theories only focus on pain and suffering, all that is bad.
I was deluded in believing my wife loved me, I enjoyed my time with her.
If she remained in her delusion and i in mine, we would have stayed together and I would have enjoyed the experience till the day i died.

[Seawolf]

Copied from this thread (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=439358#post439358). Discuss.
It's better than being diluted! :tongue:

I love the idea that we live in an illusion and are deluded! It places everyone on the same level. It gives us an opportunity to try to find out who we are. It gives us an opportunity to love the illusion instead of identifying with it.

Then it gives us the opportunity to have the illusion that we're better than others who identify with the illusion, and then to work on that. I see it like gym. If you accept the illusion and work with it, you can get strong.

[BlueOwl]

Deluded? Well I am having a lot of fun being deluded so it's all good lol :D

[Swami Chihuahuananda]

It's better than being diluted! :tongue:

I love the idea that we live in an illusion and are deluded! It places everyone on the same level. It gives us an opportunity to try to find out who we are. It gives us an opportunity to love the illusion instead of identifying with it.

Then it gives us the opportunity to have the illusion that we're better than others who identify with the illusion, and then to work on that. I see it like gym. If you accept the illusion and work with it, you can get strong.

Right, I don't see it as the enemy. Each step along the way we become clearer and clearer by seeing more and more things as they really are. It doesn't have to be a battle anymore ; it's just moving through stuff, always moving through ...why not enjoy the view ?. :D

[Aquarian]

As far as I can tell, all suffering is through delusion.Then so too is pleasure.
How do you figure?

But for some reason, all the proponents of illusion, delusion, ego/mind is the problem theories only focus on pain and suffering, all that is bad.
I was deluded in believing my wife loved me, I enjoyed my time with her.
If she remained in her delusion and i in mine, we would have stayed together and I would have enjoyed the experience till the day i died.
You don't believe you have an immortal soul then?

But you're right, some delusions protect us from other painful delusions - if we can sustain them.

[Enya]

No, there is no shame in being deluded or in realising one is so... where the trouble starts is when another insists that one person's truth is delusion and thus implies they are somehow berefit or lesser because of this.
The use of the word 'delusion', which is defined as a false truth or belief in spite of all evidence to the contrary, allows this mis-conception to be planted.

[Nada]

We are delusional to think
That we are any better than
A little bug crawling across

Our lives are nothing better than a bug
If we don’t act any better

We are delusional to believe
That our lives are eternal because
This may be it, no more and no less

The real truth is, for most
Eternal life is detrimental to all

We are delusional to think
That we are more loving, truthful, loyal, faithful, sacrificing
Than all others

There are more loving found among other creatures
The nature itself is the real truth
My dog alone is more loyal than any human
More creatures are faithful and sacrificing than anyone of us.

Yes we are delusional

To think that
We are above all

So we can justify our living.

[Westleigh]

As far as I can tell, all suffering is through delusion. Behind each bad feeling, I can perceive a misunderstanding stored in people's aura, that when resolved, resolves the bad feeling. I believe this to be the fundamental process behind all effective clearing techniques.


I liked this remark, Aquarian. I identify strongly with it, as my spiritual path has consisted mostly of working out these misunderstandings one by one. :smile: Upon discovering that any negative reactions, emotions, or thoughts we have are due to faulty processes, much like a buggy computer program, we can find and fix them, and change our experience of life to such a massive extent that it is almost unrecognisable.

Alternate Carpark, those who say only negative emotions are delusion are doing so because they believe that joy and gratitude are the natural state of our spiritual being. While we move through our life experiences, habits of negative thought and emotion get piled over this natural state, thus obscuring it, and by erasing them we find it again. I think most of us can agree that our moments of happiness and pleasure are in the moments we relax and let go of the cares of the world, and feel connected to our fundamental nature.

[Swami Chihuahuananda]

No, there is no shame in being deluded or in realising one is so... where the trouble starts is when another insists that one person's truth is delusion and thus implies they are somehow berefit or lesser because of this.
The use of the word 'delusion', which is defined as a false truth or belief in spite of all evidence to the contrary, allows this mis-conception to be planted.

Yes, I'd say that's a better way of saying it, what we're talking about, using another word besides 'delusion'. 'Illusion' is more like it , as we labor under the illusion that the world is what we are told by society , culture, etc., and
what our physical senses tell us it is, with their incomplete perceptions.

D

[Aquarian]

I liked this remark, Aquarian. I identify strongly with it, as my spiritual path has consisted mostly of working out these misunderstandings one by one. :smile: Upon discovering that any negative reactions, emotions, or thoughts we have are due to faulty processes, much like a buggy computer program, we can find and fix them, and change our experience of life to such a massive extent that it is almost unrecognisable.
Human bugs are easier to find than computer programming bugs. Bad feelings flag them up every time.

But fixing them is a bit more difficult. Human bugs get shrouded in a dark, anti-change, auric bubble that must first be dispersed for as long as the 'code' takes to be replaced.

[Miss Hepburn]

Well, I still say if, "God were a Diamond in the Sky --- some look at "It" from the bottom right...some from the mddle and some from the top left...whatever ---it's all the same thing -multi-faceted...so if someone says "God" is a Man with a white beard...ok.

And another says "He" is a Spirit that comes over them and opens their mind to insights beyond imagination and another says "He" is like a littleboy...what do I care - He is all things to all ---the Cosmic Shapeshifter.

One can say whatever and for them that is the way It is.

Delusion is putting any limit on this ''thing called God and His Creation ".

Whatever -you think 'He'
is; a Blue Boy with a flute, fine.
You think He's a guy with a beard and a Son - fine....
you think He has Angels or Bhoddisattva's around Him - fine -
you think He is the Divine Mother ---the Virgin Mary or Kali, fine.

This Being is you or this Being is outside of you to be worshipped...
There is a Divine Plan, there is no Divine Plan...there is time, there is no time...
There is an afterlife or there is no afterlife...

Who cares?

Just open to this Divine Presence however It manifests to you at whatever stage or season of life you are in or whatever culture you are from.

It is all things to all.



W-h-a-t-e-ve-r...

Don't worry, be happy, enjoy...be nice to others.


(I really like your Avatar, Nada.) :smile:

[Swami Chihuahuananda]

"what -EVER " :D . That sums up a whole lot of verbal wrangling and gets right to the crux of the biscuit, or whatever . Given the context, it could be
the truest word ever spoken . I can even picture a God (which I do or do not believe in ....whatever :cool: ) saying that to him/her/it self , looking at all of us and listening in on our convoluted conversations :
"What EVER ! (roll eyes , lol ) " . :thumbsup:

[BlueSky]

Well, I still say if, "God were a Diamond in the Sky --- some look at "It" from the bottom right...some from the mddle and some from the top left...whatever ---it's all the same thing -multi-faceted...so if someone says "God" is a Man with a white beard...ok.

And another says "He" is a Spirit that comes over them and opens their mind to insights beyond imagination and another says "He" is like a littleboy...what do I care - He is all things to all ---the Cosmic Shapeshifter.

One can say whatever and for them that is the way It is.

Delusion is putting any limit on this ''thing called God and His Creation ".

Whatever -you think 'He'
is; a Blue Boy with a flute, fine.
You think He's a guy with a beard and a Son - fine....
you think He has Angels or Bhoddisattva's around Him - fine -
you think He is the Divine Mother ---the Virgin Mary or Kali, fine.

This Being is you or this Being is outside of you to be worshipped...
There is a Divine Plan, there is no Divine Plan...there is time, there is no time...
There is an afterlife or there is no afterlife...

Who cares?

Just open to this Divine Presence however It manifests to you at whatever stage or season of life you are in or whatever culture you are from.

It is all things to all.



W-h-a-t-e-ve-r...

Don't worry, be happy, enjoy...be nice to others.


(I really like your Avatar, Nada.) :smile:


If everyone thought this way...what would follow is this:

"And then there was peace on earth":angel1:

Bless you...................James

[Xan]

Unless it interferes with one's functioning in life, which is diagnosable delusioning,
the process of growth and discovery means seeing through our delusions and limited views
into a higher level of understanding and experiencing and is our next truth.
Later on we see through that too into something more, and that delusion lets go into another level yet and on.....


When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

- Corinthians I 13:11-12


Xan

[Swami Chihuahuananda]

Unless it interferes with one's functioning in life, which is diagnosable delusioning,
the process of growth and discovery means seeing through our delusions
into a higher level of understanding and experiencing and is our next truth.
Later on we see through that too into something more, and that delusion lets go into another level yet and on.....


When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

- Corinthians I 13:11-12


Xan

We called that pictures of reality being allowed to be dismantled and reconfigured at progressively higher and higher levels. You say tomayto, I say tomahto :D

[Perry J]

The tree of knowledge was ”forbidden” because it opened us up for the “knowledge of good and evil”. This is the duality consciousness, and the delusion begins here.
The duality consciousness must always see two polarities in everything (like good and evil, right and wrong…). And we identify ourselves in this state of consciousness. This false identification is what we call the ego.

[Miss Hepburn]

The tree of knowledge was ”forbidden” because it opened us up for the “knowledge of good and evil”. This is the duality consciousness, and the delusion begins here.
The duality consciousness must always see two polarities in everything (like good and evil, right and wrong…). And we identify ourselves in this state of consciousness. This false identification is what we call the ego.

I know, right?

It is so cool to remember this throughout the day - it changes so much ---what was
once thought of as "bad" is ''nothing'' - it just "is".

To me the basis of the Buddhist's detachment teachings - observe -
do not see up or down, good or bad...it can be pretty trippy
when one really practices it ----my friend does ---and
when he walked into a room once a friend said, "Is he retarded?"

I said, "No, he's just spiritual, so is a bit 'out there' in a neat way."
She immediately understood and liked him when he
came over knowing this about him.

[athribiristan]

Copied from this thread (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=439358#post439358). Discuss.

Admitting that you are deluded releases you from delusion. The opening of the 3rd eye enables one to see Truth. Delusion is but one of many distractions the we must learn to see past. It is a symptom of the Ego's innability to admit that it might be wrong about something. A willingness to be wrong is a tremendous help in seeing Truth. And while I don't claim to be infallible, I can absolutely claim to see a great amount of Truth regarding these 'subtle matters'.

[Mountain-Goat]

Alternate Carpark, those who say only negative emotions are delusion are doing so because they believe that joy and gratitude are the natural state of our spiritual being.
Yeah, it's quit evident they think this. Denying that which they don't like about themselves.
If denying that which they don't like about themselves helps them to be positive, then go for it.
But if another proclaims this is the truth about reality, I will question that, especially when they presume to speak for me by using "we" instead of "me" or "I".
While we move through our life experiences, habits of negative thought and emotion get piled over this natural state, thus obscuring it, and by erasing them we find it again. I think most of us can agree that our moments of happiness and pleasure are in the moments we relax and let go of the cares of the world, and feel connected to our fundamental nature.
I for one don't agree with that theory.
The more i care for the world, the less negative I am.
How can one erase that which doesn't exist?
How can a person be disconnected from their natural state...if it's their natural state, they cannot be disconnected from themself.
Not aware, yes, obscured, yes, being ignorant of self, yes...but disconnected, no.

Why are habits of negative thoughts and emotions regarded as delusions and not habits of positive thoughts and emotions.
They are both thoughts and emotions.
They both come from the same source, the mind and heart, the soul, the consciousness of a person.

This whole "Only good is real, bad is illusion" theory does not add up for me.
Might as well say right is real and wrong is illusion.
Or light is real, dark is illusion.

Now matter how loving I am, I look inside and I can see I am still capable of hating.
I just choose not to engage those programs.

I have yet to see a person who proclaims love is all there is or their true nature is love, actually be pure love.
Until then, those claims are not fact to me.
It's just another concept\theory\belief\idea regarding reality.

Worth exploring, but I'm not going to mindlessly believe it.

[Mountain-Goat]

One can say whatever and for them that is the way It is.
Delusion is putting any limit on this ''thing called God and His Creation ".

Whatever -you think 'He'
is; a Blue Boy with a flute, fine.
You think He's a guy with a beard and a Son - fine....
you think He has Angels or Bhoddisattva's around Him - fine -
you think He is the Divine Mother ---the Virgin Mary or Kali, fine.

This Being is you or this Being is outside of you to be worshipped...
There is a Divine Plan, there is no Divine Plan...there is time, there is no time...
There is an afterlife or there is no afterlife...

Who cares?

Just open to this Divine Presence however It manifests to you at whatever stage or season of life you are in or whatever culture you are from.

It is all things to all.

One can say whatever and for them that is the way It is.
Delusion is putting any limit on this ''thing called God and His Creation ". Just like you have done here...
Just open to this Divine Presence however It manifests to you at whatever stage or season of life you are in or whatever culture you are from.

It is all things to all.
Claiming god is all things to all is why there is no peace on earth.
One group believes god is this and another believes god is that...then comes the fighting because of disagreement.

[Mountain-Goat]

The tree of knowledge was ”forbidden” because it opened us up for the “knowledge of good and evil”. This is the duality consciousness, and the delusion begins here.
The duality consciousness must always see two polarities in everything (like good and evil, right and wrong…). And we identify ourselves in this state of consciousness. This false identification is what we call the ego.
It was forbidden because the gods didn't want thier creation to be like them, knowing good and evil.
That should be enough to get the spider senses tingling.

Also, if humanity evolved without any understanding of good and evil, right and wrong,
we would kill each other and feel nothing.
We would kill each other as easily and non emotionally as breathing.

Without the knowledge\understanding of good and bad, right and wrong, we would not evolve as a species or as individuals to choose to do good.

Peace flows through the world when each person chooses to be loving instead of unloving.
And one can't be loving without the knowledge of what loving and unloving is.
It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not the knowledge of just good, or the knowledge of just evil.
It was the knowledge of both, thus allowing choice.
Freedom...the freedom to choose.

Perhaps the suffering people experience is their self condemnation\self hatred via the bad they have done(bad according to one's own evaluations).
People are free to love or hate, and perhaps self hatred perpetuates unloving thoughts and actions towards oneself and others
thus perpetuating the self hatred that perpetuates the unloving thoughts and actions to ward oneself and others.
It all bolis down to the choices self makes each moment according to one's knowledge of good and bad.

My duality is not a problem. My inability to choose correctly is the problem.
Lack of self mastery derived by lack of self knowledge and inner dysfunctional thinking derived by wounds accumilated throught life.
Having knowledge of good and bad is not the problem, not being able to choose good is the problem.
If I always choose good, knowing bad is not a problem.

[Aquarian]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif][SIZE=3]The tree of knowledge was ”forbidden” because it opened us up for the “knowledge of good and evil”.
I'm not sure if you agree or not with Yogananda who said the Tree was a metaphor for sensory pleasure created as a distraction from God by Satan.

[SoulSparkles]

I may well be deluded! My truth is real to me, but I wouldn preach it to others as each finds their own truth I believe. We live in a world of illusion, people who believe in what the media tells them are deluded in my eyes, as much as I may be deluded for talking of spirits and other realms. My truth is real to me but Im open to be proved otherwise...does that make me deluded or just open to possibilities based on the experiences ive had?

Namaste
SoulSparkles ;-)

[Aquarian]

And while I don't claim to be infallible, I can absolutely claim to see a great amount of Truth regarding these 'subtle matters'.
In my ongoing quest to improve the accuracy of information on this forum, can you add your method to this thread?
www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6446

[...if you haven't already. I'm paying a fortune for internet through my phone so haven't checked]

Sometimes people spread truth on this forum. Sometimes they spread delusion.

Helping us vs potentially damaging us

Ultimately, it would be great if members linked to their intuition methods in their sigs.

[Miss Hepburn]

I'm not sure if you agree or not with Yogananda who said the Tree was a metaphor for sensory pleasure created as a distraction from God by Satan.
Well, that really came from Sri Yukteswar's detailed explanation of that whole Garden scenario in 'The Holy Science' (I think that was it)

What an explanation!

Explaining that the tree was a metaphor for the tree of the human nervous system.
At the center of the garden are the sexual organs - Do not eat of this fruit, guys...because when you do you will be like the animals - procreating like the animals - lowering your energies and your potential to those chakras, changing the Game. Snake being the kundalini energy, etc.

Puts a more logical spin on that Adam and Eve story.
("Eat of this fruit Adam..." wink.)

My paraphrase, naturally.

I don't believe in the tale of the Garden in the way it is told in the Bible nor Original Sin, btw, Aguarian, since we are just meeting. :smile:
Hope it was ok I butted in.

[Perry J]

I'm not sure if you agree or not with Yogananda who said the Tree was a metaphor for sensory pleasure created as a distraction from God by Satan.

I certainly do. The delusion is a distraction from God, which also is the false identification in the duality!
You could see the distraction in a simpler way - as a distance. In the duality consciousness we see the world outside of us, at a distance from ourselves. Yet, we often (typically) see the outside world as the true Reality. But the true Reality is within you.
Satan, on the other hand, does everything possible to keep us in the duality consciousness! And to convince you that the outer world is more powerful than you, and even that you should fear it.

[Xan]

Religious people like Yogananda, as brilliant as he was, interpret metaphors according to the beliefs they were taught. The rest of have more individual projections on them. Either way, whether our view is delusional or not is relative.

Going around trying to correct other people's delusions is delusional in itself. Like, "Who appointed you the Delusion Police?"

The delusion here is that falsity and negativity lies in others, avoiding what is in ourselves... which is the only place where delusions can be let go and the Truth discovered.


Xan

[Humm]

Religious people like Yogananda, as brilliant as he was, interpret metaphors according to the beliefs they were taught. The rest of have more individual projections on them. Either way, whether our view is delusional or not is relative.

Going around trying to correct other people's delusions is delusional in itself. Like, "Who appointed you the Delusion Police?"

The delusion here is that falsity and negativity lies in others, avoiding what is in ourselves... which is the only place where delusions can be let go and the Truth discovered.


Xan


Tolerating abuse doesn't make a board tolerant, it makes a board abusive.

But on Yogananda - I think he served a very important function as a bridge from the old religion of Christianity to the new religion of Christ consciousness, and New Age spirituality in the spirit of inclusiveness.

[Xan]

I love Yogananda and have gained from his wisdom, but I don't take any human's interpretations or teachings as the ultimate Truth.

In fact, experiencing the Truth itself is no idea and no philosophy, but the pure silent whole presence within and around us... now.


Xan

[Humm]

I love Yogananda and have gained from his wisdom, but I don't take any human's interpretations or teachings as the ultimate Truth. [.....]

Xan
You are wise. :smile:

[Swami Chihuahuananda]

One of my all-time favorite lines came from an old drunk, not even about anything spiritual at all.

"Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see ".

[skygazer]

I hear you, Aquarian, and sympathize with your "we are deluded"...
thing is, it's quite the challenge to discuss it, the moments of clarity are few and far between, and the result, (or is it a consequence??) of that delusion is denial. Know what I mean?

[Aquarian]

I hear you, Aquarian, and sympathize with your "we are deluded"...
thing is, it's quite the challenge to discuss it, the moments of clarity are few and far between, and the result, (or is it a consequence??) of that delusion is denial. Know what I mean?
I think so. It is obvious to all that we are not right about everything but society strongly programmes us to find this and similar notions threatening.

There are many interesting reactions and opinions here. Sadly, I'm still reduced to typing replies on my phone.

[Perry J]

I love Yogananda and have gained from his wisdom, but I don't take any human's interpretations or teachings as the ultimate Truth.

In fact, experiencing the Truth itself is no idea and no philosophy, but the pure silent whole presence within and around us... now.


Xan


Wonderful.

[merrie]

I think when we get to the point of thinking, "Is that all there is"? we feel a separation within ourselves. It's playing in our minds that all we believe is not true (to us) It creates an empty void. We may feel lost within.

I feel at these times we need to reconnect with ourselves. I call this a "Spiritual Hug" Fortunately, we have a place, here, to express our spiritual feelings.

[merrie]

I think when we get to the point of thinking, "Is that all there is"? we feel a separation within ourselves. It's playing in our minds that all we believe is not true (to us) It creates an empty void. We may feel lost within.

I feel at these times we need to reconnect with ourselves.