Feel like a slave to my own brain.

[Jyotir]

Originally Posted by Strangerthanfiction

Hi everyone. How are you all doing? Hope you have a great day.

I will try to not make to many threads but i feel like i'm at the point in life where i really question what should i do with my life? How should i behave to best express love to my surrounding and heal the world aswell as myself?

Here's a thing i deeply wish to get advice on so that i can continue my journey:

1. Spiritual Knowledge: I've absorbed a lot of information from the internet about spirituality but the question is am i doing self harm to me when i dwell constantly on existential questions and try to find the answers to different spiritual questions i have? I want to understand it all. I'm googling and trying to put all pieces together so that i get even more knowledge. However it affects my health negatively because i think so much. I've somehow come to believe that getting spiritual knowledge is important on earth for soul growth. But could spiritual knowledge in the case of soul growth be more about knowledge on how to develop spiritually? Because the answers to spiritual existential questions isn't always easy to find out the truth about and in my honest opinion hasn't made me grow much spiritually.

So is spiritual knowledge more about understanding spiritual techniques, spiritual practices, how to manage them and how to help others? Instead of knowing the supposed truth about spiritual questions which doesn't even make much sense why i should spend my time on. I don't regret having googled spiritual questions but is this what my life is about? Is my life about finding out the answers to spiritual questions? i hope it isn't.

I want to grow spiritually. I want to be happy. But i'm in a prison in my own mind. I've enslaved myself.

Anyone has an opinion or advice on this matter? Please help. This has been going on for so long. Can someone give an advice? Any intuitive answer?

PS: Really feel ashamed that i write this thread because it feels like all i do is ask questions and complain about my life.

You should not feel ashamed. This is a common problem and even the greatest of spiritual masters have gone through this passage. The complaining is another story and is removed by simply replacing it with dedicated cheerfully persistent action.

Most of your OP deals with the informational, conceptual, theoretical, mental, intellectual “knowing” of spirituality which is necessary on some level to gain conceptual orientation and a general outline of purpose and involved principles, etc. There is nothing wrong with this. It is necessary, but it is also not complete and therefore cannot by itself effect the necessary changes (that's where the frustration comes from).

Real genuine Spirituality requires the integral transformation of the entire being - not just a mental or intellectual “understanding” of spiritual concepts. This is a big hurdle, a continuous dilemma and difficult because human beings are predominantly mental and intellectual in their nature, and there is a great tendency to remain in the mind-loop. But mind by nature is not capable by nature of transforming the being - in fact it is perhaps the biggest problem in doing so.

Spirituality not only has to be mentally understood in order to determine:
why do this, how to do this, what are the likely outcomes, what are the likely difficulties and anticipated corrections, etc. first as abstraction - but then to become meaningful and effective this has to be applied and practiced, experienced, and assimilated within the unique individual being as progressive and permanent transformation. This takes time, patience, detachment, discrimination, and a host of many attributes and qualities that must be deliberately cultivated and developed according to the chosen means...and practiced.

One traditional way to tranquilize the superficially active mind is meditation. Meditation is crucial and why it is prescribed in many traditions as foundational. When one meditates, the “monkey mind” becomes subordinate to a profound peace, the descent of light and clarity of deeper intuitive knowing that permeates the entire being, and this begins to effect changes that are then tested in practical activity within life experience. Gradually there is a progressive change as that light is increasingly retained and utilized.

A conscious deliberate program of consecrating the entire life to spiritual purpose is the only effective way to accomplish the spiritual transformation, which is not simply information, or one of many subjects of intellectual interest. It must be a comprehensive invocation of the divine, and comprehensive orientation of devotion, discrimination and service to the divine in all thought, intention, action, and interaction, becoming fully integrated within the entire being.


~ J

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Strangerthanfiction

Here's a thing i deeply wish to get advice on so that i can continue my journey:

1. Spiritual Knowledge: I've absorbed a lot of information from the internet about spirituality but the question is am i doing self harm to me when i dwell constantly on existential questions and try to find the answers to different spiritual questions i have? I want to understand it all. I'm googling and trying to put all pieces together so that i get even more knowledge. However it affects my health negatively because i think so much. I've somehow come to believe that getting spiritual knowledge is important on earth for soul growth. But could spiritual knowledge in the case of soul growth be more about knowledge on how to develop spiritually? Because the answers to spiritual existential questions isn't always easy to find out the truth about and in my honest opinion hasn't made me grow much spiritually.

So is spiritual knowledge more about understanding spiritual techniques, spiritual practices, how to manage them and how to help others? Instead of knowing the supposed truth about spiritual questions which doesn't even make much sense why i should spend my time on. I don't regret having googled spiritual questions but is this what my life is about? Is my life about finding out the answers to spiritual questions? i hope it isn't.

I want to grow spiritually. I want to be happy. But i'm in a prison in my own mind. I've enslaved myself.

Anyone has an opinion or advice on this matter? Please help. This has been going on for so long. Can someone give an advice? Any intuitive answer?

Spirituality is actually very simple and can be summed up in three words: Be Here Now.

But the intellect steps in and makes it all complicated. So many teachers, so many practices, so many techniques, so much information to absorb. And yet the goal of all these practices and techniques is to let go of everything (including the intellect) and simply be here now.

If you are confused then look to Ramana Maharshi. There is only one question to be asked - Who am I? This question may also be expressed as "What am I?" and "Where am I?"

Because when we look within to identify the "I" then we find that the "I" does not exist. In the absence of the "I" we rest in the Self.

You say that you are a prisoner in your own mind. We experience the mind as a succession of thoughts. Be vigilant and do not allow thoughts to arise. Rest in that space between thoughts. When we stop giving energy to our thoughts they wither away. In the absence of thought there is no mind, there is only the Self.

Finally a couple of quotes from Ramana:

The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts have their root in the I-thought. Whoever investigates the True “I” enjoys the stillness of bliss.

There is no mind to control if you realize the Self. The mind having vanished, the Self shines forth. In the realized man, the mind may be active or inactive, the Self remains for him.

You are the Supreme Being, and yet thinking yourself to be separate from it, you strive to become united with it. What is stranger than this?

Peace

Strangerthanfiction:

I cannot endorse Jyotir’s response enough.

Peace,

Jl

Originally Posted by Strangerthanfiction

Thanks Tuesday. But i feel like i can't let go. I try to fight it but its impossible. Its been going on for so long, since i was little. I feel dissatisfaction and suffering if i let go. I want to know, to understand, to have a set of ideas of which i believe i know the answer too. I'm in such mental pain. I want to flee the matrix of which i'm trapped. I feel like i can't because i haven't succeeded this far. What could i possibly do to overcome this? The dissatisfaction and unhappiness in me is so strong if i stop trying to find the truth because i am not satisfied until i believe i know the answers.

Meditation, but it has to be in earnest and requires dedication, daily practice and practice as intended. Give it two months and see how you feel. If you notice improvement give it another couple of months and if you still feel it's moving you forward keep it up. After six months you should start to notice a real improvement.

Instructions for Calm Abiding. It's a fundamental mindfulness practice and if you give it a chance I think you'll be rewarded.

https://www.vipassanaforum.net/meditation/Shamatha.pdf

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

You shouldn't be feeling ashamed to open yourself up to Self-Inquiry, but tell me honestly...has any of that knowledge you have thus far accumulated answered any of those existential questions you have or has it just created even more questions?

I feel as if I can help you out here because I am a veteran of being a slave to my own mind...it is a curse.

We have been conditioned since birth to place much emphasis on gaining knowledge because we tend to associate our sense of identity with how much we know and then tend to follow Rene Descartes "I think, therefore I am" but to be more than what we believe ourselves to already be, means thinking more...until we start thinking about our thoughts...then we start thinking about the fact we are thinking about our thoughts...and so, we distract ourselves by learning more, so that our minds have more fodder to chew when we get bored of knowing what it is we only think we already know...yeah, it is painful.

We learn trigonometry in school...has any of us ever used trigonometry in our day to day lives? What was the point of learning it only to say "I know trigonometry"...or "I can speak Latin"? so beam me back to the Middle Ages so I can speak to others in Latin...but I digress.

There is only one way out for those of us who are a slave to their brains.... meditation!

You have all the answers within you....answers to questions you haven't even asked yet and it is only through having no thoughts that you can find them...but it isn't easy and takes about 3 months of daily practice... resisting the temptation to read up on the latest advancements in Neuroscience or Quantum Field Theory, learning what the best solfeggio frequency is to auto tune the throat chakra or wondering if celery juice has any real health benefits. The internet can give you anything you ask for...often in many contradictory ways, so after reading a few articles on any particular subject, you are none the wiser anyway and end up just believing what resonates best...with you but still fails to answer your initial questions or deeply satisfy in any way.

Just sit and focus on your breath or on a candle and let the thoughts arise and pass by themselves...just watch them but try not to get hung up on any particular thought...of course that is bound to happen, so then just bring your awareness back to your breath or a candle whenever you notice you are thinking about your thoughts and start over again.

You can picture yourself sitting in a movie theater...observing your thoughts like projections on the screen of your mind...frame by frame.

Over time you will notice that your thoughts aren't a continuous stream...there is a pause between each thought...ever so brief and fleeting...try to let your awareness rest within this pause...it isn't easy and it takes practice.

After a while, your mind becomes the slave of consciousness itself...it is like taming a disobedient puppy.

Good luck with it.

And this.

If you can’t discipline yourself, then find a monastery or retreat center where the companionship of spiritual practice will help you find your real center.

Jl

[Molearner]

Originally Posted by Strangerthanfiction

I want to grow spiritually. I want to be happy. But i'm in a prison in my own mind. I've enslaved myself.

Anyone has an opinion or advice on this matter? Please help. This has been going on for so long. Can someone give an advice? Any intuitive answer?

Strangerthanfiction,

Feel like a slave to my own brain......and so is everybody. But you are actually a step ahead of most people because you recognize it.

Let me briefly explain. If you have heard of the creation story you will notice "that God made man in his image and likeness". Now the scriptures also inform us quite clearly that God is a spirit. So man was originally like God...a spirit being. This means without a body and all its various organs(flesh, blood, heart, and especially brain).

Now due to the Fall.....the second creation story tells us that man was created as a living being......meaning as we are now....with flesh, blood, heart and brain). The chief function of the brain is to process sensory information and then transmit signals to other parts of the body. One might hypothesize that the brain is the mother of duality. It makes us aware that we are separate from others and see things in a dualistic manner(good/evil, beautiful/ugly, right/wrong etc. etc.) This becomes a source of torment for everyone and they search for coping mechanisms(meditation, escapism, etc.)

Now the spiritual is without these encumbrances.....pure spirit is without brain. Stuck with our brains we can at least use them to be aware of what should logically be deemed spiritual. This awareness is a valuable tool because with any spiritual impulse it helps you to realize that it came from the spirit and then you can seek ways and means to intentionally welcome the spirit into your life and be able to realize that which comes from the spirit. The most obvious examples might be love and intuition....trust both.

If the mind/brain is given free rein it will attempt to process sensory input to a dualistic paradigm and when and if this happens you will indeed remain a slave to your brain.

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by Strangerthanfiction

Hi everyone. How are you all doing? Hope you have a great day.

I will try to not make to many threads but i feel like i'm at the point in life where i really question what should i do with my life? How should i behave to best express love to my surrounding and heal the world aswell as myself?

Here's a thing i deeply wish to get advice on so that i can continue my journey:

1. Spiritual Knowledge: I've absorbed a lot of information from the internet about spirituality but the question is am i doing self harm to me when i dwell constantly on existential questions and try to find the answers to different spiritual questions i have? I want to understand it all. I'm googling and trying to put all pieces together so that i get even more knowledge. However it affects my health negatively because i think so much. I've somehow come to believe that getting spiritual knowledge is important on earth for soul growth. But could spiritual knowledge in the case of soul growth be more about knowledge on how to develop spiritually? Because the answers to spiritual existential questions isn't always easy to find out the truth about and in my honest opinion hasn't made me grow much spiritually.

So is spiritual knowledge more about understanding spiritual techniques, spiritual practices, how to manage them and how to help others? Instead of knowing the supposed truth about spiritual questions which doesn't even make much sense why i should spend my time on. I don't regret having googled spiritual questions but is this what my life is about? Is my life about finding out the answers to spiritual questions? i hope it isn't.

I want to grow spiritually. I want to be happy. But i'm in a prison in my own mind. I've enslaved myself.

Anyone has an opinion or advice on this matter? Please help. This has been going on for so long. Can someone give an advice? Any intuitive answer?

PS: Really feel ashamed that i write this thread because it feels like all i do is ask questions and complain about my life.

As the source seeking, you reach markers where the knowledge seeks you to develop it as yourself. So this is where the lived experience comes in handy. Overloaded in one way will begin to understand itself in need of balance. The whole life experience is inclusive in spirituality, so chilling out, watching a funny movie, exercising, walking in nature, support all you’ve come to know this far. Slowing down, stoping to smell the roses, reading a non spiritual book. All this is living and blending the spirituality, the quest, in balance.

If you only feed your body tomatoes, your body in time will scream for more, variety, more nutrition.. Your organs do the same. Your body is a interconnected mechanism, everything works together. The external is the same. It supports our interconnected unified vessel.

Thanks everyone for all your very thoughtful answers. Very deep and wise.
I will use this thread to return to and look back at these answers if i need further guidance. The guidance in these answers will help me a lot. I noticed many of you talk about meditation so i'll begin doing that and reach the space between my thoughts (its worth all the time it takes to achieve that). But i still feel i must think sometimes for the sheer enjoyment of thinking, but not in this type of obsessive way that i do now. I'll report back when i notice progress in my meditation. I'm also glad that i have so much support. It warms my heart.

Originally Posted by Strangerthanfiction

But i still feel i must think sometimes for the sheer enjoyment of thinking, but not in this type of obsessive way that i do now.

There's nothing wrong with thinking...

https://youtu.be/5TeWvf-nfpA?list=PL...PNokg&t=227 0

It might not be a bad idea to watch the whole video. It's a secular perspective on mindfulness meditation but I think it's a valuable view and compliments the spiritual view.