People free of suffering

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

In my view, there’s nothing wrong with duality. We learn rapidly by immersion in this realm of contrast. This is what we signed up for.

Sans thought, in silence, ego fades. Awareness yet is and if we remain still, free from fear and desire, attention animated in quietude, we recognise our true essence in singularity ~ living light in ineffable peace.

Unseeking Seeker,

Contrast, of course, is the focus of ego. Love, on the other hand, seeks common ground not looking for opportunity for judgment. To say that ego fades and deem that to be good seems to indicate the inherent danger of the ego. Finally singularity speaks more of non-duality rather than duality IMO…..

Originally Posted by sky

Who benefits 'First' when you forgive others, I personally think it's the one who forgives, letting go of resentment and anger is beneficial for our health. I see it as a gift to ourselves....

Sky,

While those are both important I would say that letting go of judgement is paramount……maybe just semantics ?……..:)

[Unseeking Seeker]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Unseeking Seeker,

Contrast, of course, is the focus of ego. Love, on the other hand, seeks common ground not looking for opportunity for judgment. To say that ego fades and deem that to be good seems to indicate the inherent danger of the ego; finally singularity speaks more of non-duality rather than duality IMO…..

What would you say is the reason we choose to shift from singularity to duality, when in the light of Self, we are complete, at peace, pure awareness minus identity, with no doing needed to be done?

[Maisy]

My life has quite a bit of suffering and wow, some people have far worse than me. One person I know is in crazy pain, intense migraines, neck pain, tmj etc everyday. Sure is not fair or equal.

[sky]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Sky,
While those are both important I would say that letting go of judgement is paramount……maybe just semantics ?……..:)

I personally believe in 'righteous judgment' which shouldn't be let go but used in a wholesome manner...

[OldChap]

Originally Posted by Maisy

My life has quite a bit of suffering and wow, some people have far worse than me. One person I know is in crazy pain, intense migraines, neck pain, tmj etc everyday. Sure is not fair or equal.

This beautiful planet could be said to be a school of learning or perhaps more accurately a school of remembering for humans.

Everything that happens in our personal life has the singular purpose of helping us to learn and expand our wisdom. Nothing is ever random, coincidental, lucky, or unlucky.

But being here in the human form that is purposely dumbed down spiritually to very low wisdom to start, by design we don’t see the bigger picture yet. And so it is natural for us to get angry, complain, blame, and judge each other.

What if there are very benevolent reasons why the one you know is going through so much pain.

Perhaps by having lived through so much different body pains in this lifetime will inspire that person to return as an exceptional medical doctor with deeper understanding and much greater compassion to provide better care to the patients with similar pains.

Another reason could be from a religious perspective. What if that person’s suffering will push that person’s loved ones to seek the love of God with more urgency and vigor for calming comfort, hope, and benevolent guidance to faster heal the one in pain.

And so many other reasons including karma that uses synchronicity to arrange for that person to experience the body pains he caused others earlier in this or past lifetimes, and then learn to not make the same mistakes.

Just to be clear, karma is not a system to reward or to punish. Rather karma is one of many beautiful divine guidance systems to nudge us back onto the good path to love when we veered off it from free will exploring and not knowing any better yet. A wise person said karma is to assisting us to finish the unfinished business or unfinished energies created in this or past lifetimes.

[OldChap]

Originally Posted by Cribbage1952

The first step is to forgive those who hurt us. Forgiveness. Or at least Tolerance. Because there is a quotation "Resentment is a poison you feed to yourself in hopes that it will hurt somebody else."

Forgiveness would imply we judged and hated something first, and then forgive.

Wouldn’t it be better to just not get our buttons pressed so easily instead because then there is no judgement or resentment, and hence no need for forgiveness.

[OldChap]

Originally Posted by Molearner

… The mention of ego is significant because it traps us in duality. To believe in eternal life one must embrace non-duality…..the ultimate duality is to speak of life and death…..there can be no death in eternal life.

Perhaps the ego and duality should not be seen as being bad.

We are here as humans in this very unfamiliar low vibration part of reality in which separatism, evil, and malice will be prevalent and dominate.

The ego brilliantly serves to keep us out of danger and to stay alive for us to carry out what we came here to do by instilling in us fear, envy, hoarding, selfishness, vengeance, hierarchy, and supremacy.

As we return here many more times and gain greater benevolent maturity and wisdom, we then could push the ego to the background and focus more on bringing forth front and center our true divine nature of love.

And because this world and us at large are still at the infancy of spirituality, the ego can not be completely eliminated as danger still exists.

As much as many want to be spiritually perfect, we have one foot in this world and the other foot wanting to step into the spiritual realm of love.

Hence, it is best we do practical spirituality or balanced spirituality. A bit of ego is still needed.

Like the ego, duality is also much needed while we are at the infancy of spirituality. Duality is one of many beautiful divine guidance systems set in place to help us make better choices that align with love.

Death is not what many think it is. Being the stubborn creatures that we are comfortable in our ways and unwilling to change, the life and death cycle system allows us to return in a new young healthy human body to improve on what we had done in earlier lifetimes or to try something completely new while still at the infancy of spirituality and learning.

Interesting fact, the further we move along the spiritual path to love the longer we will live.

Eternal life is an interesting subject. When our corporeal body expires a big part of our energy that some call the Soul, or Spark, or Light, or Love merges with that of what some call God, or Creative Source, or the Universe, or with everything.

A very small part of our energy will remain here as our own personal energy packet that will be picked up when we return as humans to continue with our human adventure.

What we truly are when not human have always been divine and eternal.

And while in the human form, be very grateful for the experience because a lot of effort and coordination work were needed for us to be here as humans, and a lot of time and intricate design were needed to get this planet to be as beautiful as it is now for our comfortable habitation.

[Maisy]

Like I said I have a friend who is in major pain and suffers everyday. She has been to 100's of doctors and tried 100's of medications had all the tests known. She still suffers severe migraines everyday. Nausea off the charts, dizziness, pain etc. While the effects of karma may be to teach something, to me, to those suffering in such a way, it is a punishment. In this life it is severe punishment. Especially when others have no such pain in their lives.

It's easy to say well it's to learn and all good etc when one is not suffering in that way everyday. In the big picture yes maybe they chose that themselves in the astral world to experience and grow in some way. But in this life in that body it is as bad as anyone can imagine. It will feel like a punishment to one suffering in such a way. To me, it is a horrible way to promote some kind of spiritual growth. Buddhist's don't believe in God and maybe this is one big reason not to. How could a God be good to use such a barbaric way to induce spiritual growth?

This is one reason of many I don't believe a God made earth or our bodies. I believe in a source above all, like a "God" concept, but I believe all on earth is made by flawed us in astral form. I think we need more intelligence in the astral world where they make human bodies etc. The system seems barbaric to me in many ways. No need to for children to suffer etc. Better ways to teach one to evolve in consciousness in my opinion.

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by OldChap

The ego brilliantly serves to keep us out of danger and to stay alive for us to carry out what we came here to do ...

I think a lot of people tend to conceptualize or imagine the ego as a thing that acts. The "person." I think most of the "pro" ego people are assuming this or thinking this way. One person posted attributes of the different ways an ego can be, flexible etc. Imagining ego's can be good or bad, healthy or unhealthy etc.

In my thinking most of this is non-sense. An ego to me is not a "thing." It is a particular relationship between a consciousness and it's content or conditioning. The relationship is one of identification and enmeshment.

Only one thing in us is conscious. I think it can be called the "true self." It's
me in other words. That which is self aware. It is really awareness itself. That which perceives and experiences. The "center" to which all content is fed. Conscious awareness or "me" is merged with a human body and it's brain.

I would not say it's an ego keeping us safe and doing the rest of it, it's the brain. The brain is doing billions of calculations a second to be a self. Once we learn something it becomes an automatic process for the brain. I don't think some "imaginary ego" is doing anything. But the brain becomes conditioned. It can take over functions once learned, like avoiding fire, snakes, opening doors, walking, all repetitive movements really. One does not even have to be aware to eat an entire plate of pasta. The brain handles the movements of the arms and fingers etc to grab the fork and put the food into the mouth. As a baby we have to consciously learn these things. Once learned it becomes an automatic thing the brain does.

If we are identifying with our content and conditioning, our bodies, our habitual thoughts etc, that is what acts. That is not an ego as the thing that acts. The action takes place automatically. We are on auto-pilot. We act and react according to our thoughts and conditioning. That action, of identification with content, I call ego. Ego to me is not a self. How can it be it is not conscious! Only one thing is conscious. Me! To imagine there is a "soul" and then a me that has it is delusional to me. To imagine there is a me and it has an ego is the same delusion to me. It is imagining two entities or awareness's in us. Conscious awareness cannot be split. I am it, the only it. I am not also a soul or an ego. If I have something it is not me.

True" flexibility" to me comes through the awareness we are not our thoughts and conditioning. Then we "act" freely and not as our conditioning. Otherwise to me, all action is basically a result of our conditioning and content. The brain does all action on auto-pilot in other words using all of our learned content. To me it's not that an "ego" is good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, it's simply one has been conditioned in different ways. Change occurs when the true self, conscious awareness, applies self awareness to how one acts and thinks etc. One is not making changes to an ego, an imaginary self, one is making changes to ones content and conditioning consciously. Changing ones relationship with it. Then if we are unconscious or not "awake" or self aware, that improved content or understanding may act better. I think it's always the conditioned brain acting unless we are transcending it in the now through higher awareness.

The true self is always learning and increasing understanding and this affects content and belief etc. Freedom from conditioning is not a function of identifying with it. It's being aware one is not it. We are never anything else besides what we are, the true self. But we can be passive and "asleep" and let the brain and conditioning be us. We are like background accepting that as the only reality. Or we can be awake and transcend our conditioning which will change our content in various ways. We are in a very complex relationship with our brains! I suppose one can call our content an ego. But is probably the interaction between what we are and our content that results in something like "flexibility." The true self is awake all the time to some degree. Then we can examine and be open to other thoughts and ideas and beliefs. To question our own.