Faith

😂 Good luck to you. Hope you find a better one. 💓

Question: "Is pure awareness the basis of non-duality? In pure observation everything just is, without judgement. Is that the principle behind non-duality, or is there more to it?" Ryna: "It is not Pure Observation. Observation would suggest an observer, and if there is an observer then there is a observed. Hence Duality. The awareness people experience is the awareness that is reflected in the mind as a concept. This is the state of being aware or the spacious observer that appears in the space of perception of the mind. This awareness is the observer, and it purely observes. However, this Awareness isn’t it, because when you go into deep sleep it is gone. This awareness is actually a very subtle identification and the last hurdle that one has to jump over. What one is looking for is a background existence. This background existence is not perceivable, or conceptualizable, it is No-self or Absence. It is neither emptiness nor void, Awareness or Consciousness. It is it’s own, and only felt through being it, no words can define it, they can only act as pointers. When the agency of an observer or awareness falls away there is left this background, some call it “What is”, or Pure Being or Existence. It is what encompasses all, when one ceases all identification with all concepts, one will realize this background. Once this is realized then all collapses, and one straddles the line between non-existence/existence, No-self/Self, non-duality/duality. All appears as emptiness, but also as forms. There is no Inherent self in any one thing. It is all one self or all is dependent co-arising with each other. It is a dance of form and formlessness expressing the nature of this Pure Existence, but this Pure existence has no conceptual form, so you cannot call it formlessness or form, non-duality or duality, it is beyond all these concepts. There is no knowing in this state, all identification ceases, and existence is spontaneous. It is purely just Conscious existence. In Vedanta it is described as Sat-Chit-Ananda. Sat is Existence. It has no agency, identity or form, it is purely existence. Chit Is Consciousness. Consciousness is the Shine of existence, it is the knowing or awareness aspect of it. The only thing this aspect can know or be aware of is it’s own existence, but it’s existence is purely without any set form. So what becomes known and perceived is expressed as Ananda, or Bliss. This bliss is the waves of existence, and these waves gets reflected in the mind as Life. So all phenomena like objects, trees, emotions, sky, the sun, are all Ananda or Bliss. When understood and experienced as one whole then that is the true non-duality, however we cannot call it non-duality because it is beyond that concept, we can only use non-duality as a pointer to it." Author- Ryna Som

3 min, 57 secs

There is no distance between the one that's seeking and what they are looking for (the sought), meaning you are what you're looking for, awareness/consciousness. Just like the wave is the ocean and the ocean is the wave, there's no space or distance between the two.

@Phil Yes, and now he spells out "sought", so there's no misunderstanding! 😂

I appreciate the deer that come to visit.

The seeker "is" the sought.

👋

It's the selfing that points to/implies that there is a sense of self. The identification as a self comes after the selfing.

@Blessed2 "We see the activity of what we're not, from what we are." ~Paul Hedderman

Yes, they are free. I've been listening to him for years. I never did a zoom, but I know he takes donations only, if one wants to donate to him, as it's not required.

Just remember while meditating that you aren't the meditator. 😉 It's the one that's meditating that thinks it will get something from it, then judge that something as good or bad. Just notice this...

That's one part of the mind judging the other part of the mind, good thing you're neither. You're the seeing of the thoughts, but taking yourself to be the policeman when you feel bad and judge the action figures behavior. It's a losing battle, because it's 2 aspects of the same mind at war. Make a change or don't, but stay the observing, don't become the observed. If that makes sense.

It's actually true the way its seen here also. You don't need Jim Newman telling you anything.

@Orb Sometimes you need to be willing to do what scares you to get better.

@Orb Suicidal ideation can be the fever for depression signaling you need help, now. I'd heed the warning. 💙 I tried, but too late and from the wrong doctor (pcp) when I needed psychiatric help. I had one last stressor and got pushed over the edge. Seek help now and stop thinking you can do this yourself. That's my advice.

@Orb Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. * From a suicide attempt survivor 09'

Yes, prayer can be good for the mind. Faith has a very destructive mental process, it is cunning and can torture me/her, but what calms it down to barely anything is knowing Im not that. I'm not the thinker. I'm awareness of thinking. There is no thinker. Negate the "I" that's currently making you miserable and see it for what it is. When you negate Orb what's left. That's the real you.

That's probably because it was the mind that had the insight after the epiphany or whatever and anything the mind holds will come and go. The mental process claims any insights it can and proclaims "it" had an insight. When this happens the true insight is lost and mind takes over.

If you mean you hate all the business classes and you are in a business degree that does seem like a problem. If you are just having trouble with some individual classes, then that's different. You can hate individual classes and get through it to the main goal, but if the main goal no longer makes sense then you have some soul searching to do. I certainly don't know what's best for you. You'll have to feel your way through this one. I had to take 2 chemistry classes for my degree, so I took double, excelerated chemistry during a summer to get it over with. The class was beyond hard and I cried a lot (17 yrs ago now) about it. I had to do tutoring after every class. I hated it, but to reach my goal it was necessary and all the tutoring paid off.

I've done a ton of studying in my years and it's not the studying (or any action) that can make you miserable, but your thoughts "about" the studying that can. If you believe that studying is hard and terrible, then this is your starting point when studying and it probably gets worse from there. Which will lead you to feel bad while studying and cause more thoughts that you hate it. See the problem? It is possible to see this and decide to go into feeling/thinking neutral about it and just sit down and study. Loving it may never happen, but accepting it as necessary can, therefore ending the misery surrounding it.

I mostly wear Jimmy Choo right now.

I think it was Mooji that said something like, "I am" is like a door that can swing outwards towards "I am" this or that, or swing inwards towards "I am" awareness, consciousness.

@Phil Thank you!