Life is...

[Pluto]

Life is... what? Good? Bad? Sublime? Dreadful?

No, Life is. That's the whole philosophy, if it can be called that. It can be rephrased thus: existence exists.

So how is it useful or practical to know that existence exists? Because our immediate compulsion is to add to it. Perspectives, opinions, viewpoints, ideologies. Cognitive frameworks. Note that each view was not with you upon birth. None of them will be relevant after death. Thus, none have any more value than a leaf blowing across the street. What remains throughout is only the empty, invisible, indeterminate background, forever just out of the reach of the intellect. The eternal stillness of existence existing.

Even the adventures of the greatest ruler. The narratives of the mightiest religion. People with such extreme passion that they would kill or die for their beliefs. It makes no difference; all are just passing clouds, endlessly vanishing into the ether. Like light flickering over a cinema screen, nothing really happens.

Therefore, to deeply understand that 'life is' is to initiate an implosion. Like Socrates, it becomes clear that we know nothing. It is obvious that 'all things vanish into the Tao'. Every belief is in the process of perishing. Every lifeform is in the process of dying. Every religion is decaying. Every culture is on the way out. Yet none of this is really happening.

Then it gets personal. "I am that I am" is the only true statement of identity. Anything trying to be definable, specific, comprehensible or enduring is merely another short-lived mental phantom; a wave of thought dissolving back into the ocean of consciousness. Nationality, gender, species, achievements, lessons learned. Each is made of a substance called nothing. Not only are identities futile ghosts, but even the very person at the centre of the adventure is empty, too. It's worse than death; it's realising that you were never born.

How many seconds will it take until the mind fills in the terrifying void with an objection, an opinion? Anything to restore the thought-based human identity. Believing in thoughts switches on the projector and activates the familiar comfort zone of identity, but the price to pay is both delusion and suffering. Events that are not happening, for no one.

 

[WAITING TO DIE]

I suffered ego-death after an intense meditation practice at a retreat.
I realise that I don't exist, because the thing that makes ME is just a collection of different biological processes thoughts and perceptions.

 

[username8888]

Life is... what? Good? Bad? Sublime? Dreadful?

No, Life is. That's the whole philosophy, if it can be called that. It can be rephrased thus: existence exists.

So how is it useful or practical to know that existence exists? Because our immediate compulsion is to add to it. Perspectives, opinions, viewpoints, ideologies. Cognitive frameworks. Note that each view was not with you upon birth. None of them will be relevant after death. Thus, none have any more value than a leaf blowing across the street. What remains throughout is only the empty, invisible, indeterminate background, forever just out of the reach of the intellect. The eternal stillness of existence existing.

Even the adventures of the greatest ruler. The narratives of the mightiest religion. People with such extreme passion that they would kill or die for their beliefs. It makes no difference; all are just passing clouds, endlessly vanishing into the ether. Like light flickering over a cinema screen, nothing really happens.

Therefore, to deeply understand that 'life is' is to initiate an implosion. Like Socrates, it becomes clear that we know nothing. It is obvious that 'all things vanish into the Tao'. Every belief is in the process of perishing. Every lifeform is in the process of dying. Every religion is decaying. Every culture is on the way out. Yet none of this is really happening.

Then it gets personal. "I am that I am" is the only true statement of identity. Anything trying to be definable, specific, comprehensible or enduring is merely another short-lived mental phantom; a wave of thought dissolving back into the ocean of consciousness. Nationality, gender, species, achievements, lessons learned. Each is made of a substance called nothing. Not only are identities futile ghosts, but even the very person at the centre of the adventure is empty, too. It's worse than death; it's realising that you were never born.

How many seconds will it take until the mind fills in the terrifying void with an objection, an opinion? Anything to restore the thought-based human identity. Believing in thoughts switches on the projector and activates the familiar comfort zone of identity, but the price to pay is both delusion and suffering. Events that are not happening, for no one.

Yes. Living on lentils and non voluntarily water only fasting due to the food shortages thought me more than ten thousand mindless quotations about life.

Life is nothing but pain and afterlife is either eternal painless existence or eternal painless sleep.

 

[Lys_C15H25N3O_d3]

life is a bus stop..


i always missed the bus, waited minutes that looked hours, got late for things, ruined everything

However, here it DOES give a second meaning though.

 

[Left]

 

[real person]

definitely dreadful

 

[Forever Sleep]

All true but do you or will you care if you spend your whole time thinking about this and starve to death? The universe won't care if you starve to death. The course of human history or world history won't likely change much because you starved to death. It will still be painful for you though. It might still upset the people around you.

I don't know. I've just never found the bare basic fundamental thoughts all that comforting really. I guess I can feel free to fail at the really difficult stuff at life. The universe doesn't care that I got a D in my mock Geography exam once long ago. Still- it will directly affect me if I don't find a way of supporting myself financially. It wouldn't comfort me much if I became homeless that none of it actually mattered in the grand scheme of things.

Sometimes, I wonder if the grand philosophers were either very rich or maybe on some other level and managed to do without food or shelter or- managed to become numb enough to work 9-5's and become inspirational thinkers after that. I guess they can manage without even basic comforts. Wasn't Eckhart Tolle homeless for a while? It's certainly impressive. I don't think a spiritual or philosophical convinction could stop me feeling cold, tired, scared and hungry which would then make me think that life was shit.

 

[Pluto]

Wasn't Eckhart Tolle homeless for a while?

Yes, the story goes that he spent 2 years sitting on park benches.

Following his awakening, Ramana Maharshi was found in a dark basement with insects crawling all over him. He wasn't even able to eat without help. Yet he was fully conscious and in a state of bliss. The vast majority of awakenings are far less sudden than these, so normal functioning can be maintained.

 

[doneforlife]

All true but do you or will you care if you spend your whole time thinking about this and starve to death? The universe won't care if you starve to death. The course of human history or world history won't likely change much because you starved to death. It will still be painful for you though. It might still upset the people around you.

I don't know. I've just never found the bare basic fundamental thoughts all that comforting really. I guess I can feel free to fail at the really difficult stuff at life. The universe doesn't care that I got a D in my mock Geography exam once long ago. Still- it will directly affect me if I don't find a way of supporting myself financially. It wouldn't comfort me much if I became homeless that none of it actually mattered in the grand scheme of things.

Sometimes, I wonder if the grand philosophers were either very rich or maybe on some other level and managed to do without food or shelter or- managed to become numb enough to work 9-5's and become inspirational thinkers after that. I guess they can manage without even basic comforts. Wasn't Eckhart Tolle homeless for a while? It's certainly impressive. I don't think a spiritual or philosophical convinction could stop me feeling cold, tired, scared and hungry which would then make me think that life was shit.

Bingo.

I had once read a post that showed earth , then other planets , then the milky way , then other galaxies and so on. The point was to highlight that how small we are and how small our problems are in the grand scheme of things . I wanted to say to the OP , if a small ant bites you right now , the entire grand scheme will get wiped out from your headspace and all your brain will register for the next 5 min is immense pain. All you will want is to get rid of that pain. It doesn't matter what happens post death. It doesn't matter if in the grand scheme of things everything is worthless. What matters is PAIN. Emotional and physical pain. And my only job is to protect myself from it.

 

[Travis]

Life is dying in slow motion. The speed depends on how much you are suffering.

 

[everydaythesame]

Repetitive.

 

[albert_camus]

Weird and absurd

 

[Pluto]

 

[cattail9]

Waste of time

 

[idelttoilfsadness21]

Full of idiots and a delusion of opportunity if you don't recognize your confidence soon to abandon the tomfoolery

 

[BreakBone2BreakBond]

Good aul' eastern mysticism always explaining away irreducible subjective states like suffering. The odds of anyone on this sub ever attaining Mahasamadhi, immolating themselves without moving while full lotus or disemboweling themselves with honour is zero. I would love to genuinely know how I can overcome all suffering and die like a Stoic not regarding cleanliness or the dignity of any particular method but it seems like some thread has been lost that tied us to past masters who had that level of mastery over their lives. Today it just feels like spiritual writers write in the genre of spirituality, they (today's spiritual writers) write a kind of fan fiction for mysticism or peddle ersatz enlightenment but in actual fact it's been decades (probably thanks to globalism) since we've had anyone of the meditative calibre who has been the true embodiment of spiritual mastery and can leave their body at will.

 

[BreakBone2BreakBond]

Good aul' eastern mysticism always explaining away irreducible subjective states like suffering. The odds of anyone on this sub ever attaining Mahasamadhi, immolating themselves without moving while full lotus or disemboweling themselves with honour is zero. I would love to genuinely know how I can overcome all suffering and die like a Stoic not regarding cleanliness or the dignity of any particular method but it seems like some thread has been lost that tied us to past masters who had that level of mastery over their lives. Today it just feels like spiritual writers write in the genre of spirituality, they (today's spiritual writers) write a kind of fan fiction for mysticism or peddle ersatz enlightenment but in actual fact it's been decades (probably thanks to globalism) since we've had anyone of the meditative calibre who has been the true embodiment of spiritual mastery and can leave their body at will.

Update. I apologise for being grouchy, thousands of hours of sitting meditation only ever gave me hemorroids. I have enormous respect for Spiritual practices especially when some of the happiest people on earth are monks or yogis living close to poverty or at least owning nothing.

 

[bobblong]

"To be, or not to be, that is the question".

By William Shakespeare
(from Hamlet, spoken by Hamlet)

 

[Pluto]

Update. I apologise for being grouchy, thousands of hours of sitting meditation only ever gave me hemorroids. I have enormous respect for Spiritual practices especially when some of the happiest people on earth are monks or yogis living close to poverty or at least owning nothing.

I appreciate your honesty. In a similar way, I have backed off from the topic and stopped making these sort of threads.

I feel like I ultimately put in a massive effort but failed to make any meaningful progress. When I fail at things, which has unfortunately happened in many other areas of life also, I tend to just bury them and try to forget about it.

Even worse is seeing outsiders and newbies to the spiritual world (e.g., many of the contributors on places like Reddit) who have all had profound experiences, often spontaneously, or as a result of minimal and amateurish research into Eastern practices. That is all it takes to initiate a genuinely fruitful search for timeless truth, which I have failed to do even after nearly 30 years.

One of the many nondual teachers that I sometimes follow recently made a video which argued that serious trauma can be a deal-breaker for the awakening process. This explains a lot and is in line with my experience, but it is not good news. Given that my trauma has proven basically impossible to manage in any way, I realise I'm defeated on this endeavour for all practical purposes.

Even then, there are those who argue that that very state of defeat and giving up becomes a catalyst for a major revelation. (After all, the seeker is itself a false identity that needs to be seen for what it is, rather than being given what ever state of enlightenment it wants.) Or that the suffering, such as the famous awakening of Eckhart Tolle, at some point bursts the bubble of the ego. Well, apparently not for everyone. And besides, by that logic, regular suffering people should be awakening left, right and centre, which is not what we see.

So hopefully that explains my retreat from making threads on this subject matter. But as always, happy to engage if anyone wants.

 

[BreakBone2BreakBond]

I appreciate your honesty. In a similar way, I have backed off from the topic and stopped making these sort of threads.

I feel like I ultimately put in a massive effort but failed to make any meaningful progress. When I fail at things, which has unfortunately happened in many other areas of life also, I tend to just bury them and try to forget about it.

Even worse is seeing outsiders and newbies to the spiritual world (e.g., many of the contributors on places like Reddit) who have all had profound experiences, often spontaneously, or as a result of minimal and amateurish research into Eastern practices. That is all it takes to initiate a genuinely fruitful search for timeless truth, which I have failed to do even after nearly 30 years.

One of the many nondual teachers that I sometimes follow recently made a video which argued that serious trauma can be a deal-breaker for the awakening process. This explains a lot and is in line with my experience, but it is not good news. Given that my trauma has proven basically impossible to manage in any way, I realise I'm defeated on this endeavour for all practical purposes.

Even then, there are those who argue that that very state of defeat and giving up becomes a catalyst for a major revelation. (After all, the seeker is itself a false identity that needs to be seen for what it is, rather than being given what ever state of enlightenment it wants.) Or that the suffering, such as the famous awakening of Eckhart Tolle, at some point bursts the bubble of the ego. Well, apparently not for everyone. And besides, by that logic, regular suffering people should be awakening left, right and centre, which is not what we see.

So hopefully that explains my retreat from making threads on this subject matter. But as always, happy to engage if anyone wants.

I loved your awakenings thread Pluto, I read that a few weeks ago. I have complex trauma and the worst aspects of it are addiction, some complicated health problems (that thankfully aren't a hindrance to attempting suicide) and a heightened sense of persecution at the hand(s) of a malevolent God (irrational I know, but that's trauma for you!). Today I've been really feeling a gladdened sense of impermanence and have been feeling an unusually kind (for me) trust toward the so-called moral arc of the universe, I grew up in a mostly white area currently undergoing a huge demographic change, and I just thought today while out on a walk isn't it so fantastic that so many people all at once see life for the suffering that it is and have opted out of reproducing and then the immigrants who have come to my first world country will someday see life for the suffering that it is and then opt out of reproducing and then there will be no one and there will be no suffering and ignorance will finally be defeated. We can always hope that our meditation efforts have in fact taken years off our lives but because we're not yet old we haven't experienced the fruit of our labours (and we'll also one day be thankful for the gifts that all those spiritual teachers have bestowed on us). I suppose the spiritual path would be the coolest thing on earth if young adults and teen/child prodigies were all able to just sit full lotus and opt the f**K out of here with just a couple of years practise ~1500 hours of meditation lifetime total, a paltry sum I'm sure we've both long since surpassed.

 

[AjolaX]

"Life is life, na naaa na na na..."
Sometimes there's a little bit of sense in song lyrics... Life was never meant to have a special deeper sense or be analysed to it's deepest cores! It's meant to be lived...
Kind regards, AjolaX