Reasons for not engaging on this (or any other) forum

[Lotus]

1) I enjoy life outside of forums way more. 

 

2) After having read/listened to a lot of spiritual teachings, pointers & trip reports, I can‘t see them anymore. Everything‘s been heard in one way or another and it becomes tiringly repetitive and boring. Be it Eckhart Tolle, Sadhguru, Abraham Hicks, Phil, Adyashanti or any other spiritual stuff. From time to time it‘s great, but certainly not when it‘s chronic. 

 

3) Might be projection on my side, but there seems to be a lot of arguing on who‘s right and who‘s not. Or what‘s right/true and what‘s not. I don‘t want to engage in those kinds of convos, as I don‘t even care about the concepts in the first place. 

 

4) Posting seems to perpetuate a discordant identity. Again, probably projection on my side. It‘s either the ID of someone knowledgeable in spirituality or the ID of someone seeking help or the ID of someone having mystical experiences. The root cause of that ID is not the forum, but thought identification. Yet, engaging on a spiritual forum seems to keep the ‚spiritual ID momentum‘ up. I‘ve noticed that staying away from engaging in forums makes me think less about the above stuff, thus making it easier to let go of the above identification. Even this post creates a further layer of identity.

 

It‘s beautiful to read how people here are healing, though! 🫶

[Mandy]

How would you like it to be? 

[Lotus]

@Mandy

 

When I‘m not engaged I kiiinda don‘t care. So I don‘t have a preference. 

 

„How would you like your factory farmed meat served, sir?“

 

„Not at all, sir.“

 

Not saying that this forum is comparable to factory farming. 😂

[Mandy]

@Lotus If what you don't want is factory farmed meat, maybe what you do want to visit a local organic farm with u-pick raspberries in season. So what more specifically do you want when it comes to the forum? 

[Lotus]

@Mandy I don‘t know. Literally nothing comes to my mind, which I‘d want, in regards to this forum.

[Lotus]

There are a lot of things I want outside of this forum, such as a Fender Rhodes. But that‘s already in my vortex. 😌

[Joseph Maynor]

It's like learning to play Jazz, you want your teacher to be better than you are.  Ditto for forums.  There should be something about it that makes you feel and think like you can learn and grow there.   And that's going to depend on the person and where they are on their path.  And then I would say put your ego in check and limit your time on the forum too.  Don't live on a forum, I think that's a trap.  But log in a couple times a day, resonate with it, and read and post a few insights.  But it depends on how new or how advanced you are in a certain area.  When you're advanced probably you should be spending less time on a forum.  Teaching others is all well and good, but you've got to focus on living your life well primarily, and that happens offline for the most part.

[auroraskye]

100%  agree that this has generally been the case for me too.

People sometimes wonder why I have so little interest in discussing spirituality (especially IRL), when it brings me so little gratification to do so when it's been a HUGE part of my life. Though often, especially at the beginning, I did not choose it.

 

For #3, I basically see it all as "spiritual politics". Terms like "God" and "enlightenment" (sub with "being awake" or "God Realization", etc.) are mainly reduced to political terms, like deciding who gets to decide what one term means and how other people are allowed to legibly use it. I sub to this perspective: if you claim to be "God" (and other people agree with you or look to you as an authority), practically speaking, you're just the most powerful "person" on a  social hierarchy. Likewise, this position tends to come with a lot of baggage and roles adjacent to it: critics and debunkers, followers, black sheep, etc.... and it seems like there are always people available and willing to step into these roles, yea?

 

On this level, I see it as a sort of social game... and personally, not a very fun or satisfying one to partake in. On another level, I think it's important for people to learn how to speak to each other better, by learning to listen and tune into each other better. This must be done somewhere... and sometimes (well, often), ideal venues for doing this simply do not exist, because realistically that requires exceptional leadership. Personally: I try not to critique people too hard in a way that I suspect is personally beyond their means, let alone beyond my means. It just goes to say: it's real easy being a critic, and much harder to become one's own ideal manifestation of one's values. (But not that criticism shouldn't be "allowed", I just considered it questionable, impractical, and self-indulgent in many cases, often not done in good spirit, and is likely often a distraction to boot.)

 

And personally, I do care about these concepts on a social level, but that's basically it. For myself: I don't wanna play. Certainly not for fun and not to pass time, anyway. "Politics" makes no difference in my own personal practice.  And anyway, learning and observing is very different than perpetually opening your mouth on impulse, damn the consequences to yourself or to the group...

 

I've found #4 to be true as well, but at times I've also found it to be a useful practice to be expressing myself in a public space. I've had a lot of practice keeping things almost entirely to myself, so going in the opposite direction was helpful for me. (At least for a time.)

 

Not writing about things and processing at a mental level in a rote way can be time and energy consuming, and depending on your objectives, also profoundly unproductive. It depends what you want and need out of it, I think.

Edited December 3, 2022 by auroraskye

[Joseph Maynor]

@auroraskye 👍I feel this way too.  That's why I like this forum, people say things that are congruent with where I am in my work.  I feel like there are people very advanced here.  I appreciate the gentle, polite vibe as well.  When you get wise in an area you become more gentle because you're no longer trying to establish yourself.  And the desire to teach subsides too because often the desire to teach is the ego trying to advance from student to teacher further in that establishment quest.  So it's lots of students often teaching to establish themselves.  When you're there, you're there -- that neuroticism to dominate and one-up others is less prevalent.  When people are hostile or acting above their pay grade in a community, you just leave.  No need to fight them.  It's like fighting an ignoramus, it's not wise.  It does nothing but frustrate you and the ignoramus and everyone else watching.  So, I avoid people who are toxic now.  It just causes me to feel bad or hurt.  And that's not my pain to bear.  I'm under no obligation to help someone who thinks they know better than me and doubles-down on that.   I just say more power to you and let them be and I go about my work on something else.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Joseph Maynor

[Phil]

“When two or more gather in my name, there I am.” 

- Ye-asy

[Space4This]

You're being harsh on yourself.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Space4This

[Lotus]

On the other hand, it's nice to have the opportunity to be around here, ask questions and engage a bit, if it's wanted. Lotta goodness flowing here. 🙂