Intellectual Practices for Spirituality

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Live life as if no one has free will:

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Live your life as if NO ONE has free will.  If only one alone exists, how can there be free will? If no one has free will, then what is there to take personally? Will you get angry at someone for being the way they are? Is it their fault their brain is wired differently than yours? Is it their fault if they've been through different life experiences than you, which made them become the way they are? If you start to see everything unfolding as a divine expression, rather than individuals who are in complete control over what they do, what judgement will you have towards all of God's creation? How can you react harshly if you're not taking the outcomes of life too seriously as if it was completely real? Now, does this mean you don't act? Certainly not! Because even when not acting, it is not your will! You continue acting as you normally would, but you DON'T *REACT* inside.  This will also change the quality of your actions and align it with more goodness.  If you keep this intellectual knowledge stable in your mind and be mindful of this as you move forward with your life, you will start to cultivate non-attachment. There is less attachment to good and bad outcomes.  There is also less attachment to the results of your actions.  There is less resistance as you flow through life. Stress levels will begin to go down as the mind becomes more calm. There is less agitation, and more indifference and equanimity. This is a huge purifier for the mind. The moment you take someone's actions personally (including yours), you're succumbing to the delusion of the false self who thinks it's in complete control over what it does.  You will have no choice but to suffer as a result.  Applying this practice will loosen the grip of identifying strongly with the false self.  You have to keep this knowledge stable at all times and constantly remember it when you slip, the more you surrender to life's unfoldment. The ego will try to deviate or deflect this knowledge of purity because it doesn't align with its purpose.  So it will want to forget about it all together and convince you inside that it's a waste of time.  This means, you have to keep reminding yourself and bring yourself back to the inner space of peace where there is no judgement nor reaction.  Doing this will keep you zen and you will see/feel the profound change within.  

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Analyze what you really are:

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Imagine sitting down and holding a flower. Ask yourself: is there a flower apart from the seeing of that flower? In other words, Is there an object or something that says “hey I’m a flower” apart from the actual experience of you seeing the very flower? When you see the flower, all that you experience is seeing the flower. There’s no object apart from the experience of you actually seeing It. You can’t see it and there be on top of that seeing, a separate object apart from that seeing. This means, we have no experience of the flower apart from the senses of that flower.

 

Reflect on that for some time and you’ll realize that all you’re experiencing is seeing the flower, not an actual object. In other words, you seeing the flow is happening in your vision. There is nothing external from it.

 

Now let’s go deeper. Is there any seeing apart from awareness? You have awareness of seeing the flower. Is that seeing, apart from the awareness of you seeing the flower?

 

The experience of seeing is actually IN awareness. If there is no awareness, then there’s no seeing, if there’s no seeing, then there’s no experience, if there is no experience, then there is no flower.

 

There's not even the experience of even thinking that an object is separate from yourself. The illusion therefore exists to trick you to make you think objects are apart from you.

 

All that is happening is consciousness experiencing consciousness. An illusion that tricks you into believing you are separate from everything else that is not you.

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Don't think unless you absolutely have to:

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Most people ask, how can they perform actions without thinking thoughts? The problem with this statement is that one assumes they own the body and mind and therefore believes that they control the actions made by the body and mind.  In truth, your true nature does not control anything.  It simply observes and nothing more.  Furthermore, many don't believe that it's possible to act without thinking.  They try to perform self-inquiry and are not successful because they are still attached to the character that is performing the inquiry.  As a result, this leads to the seeker experiencing a suppression of the body while inquiry is performed. And so they don't believe that it's possible to not think while the body still continues to operate.  This only shows that one is not prepared to do the inquiry just yet.  

 

You must not jump from A to Z without going through the rest of the alphabet.  A purified mind is absolutely necessary which is why practice must be relentless.  Do not believe that you have to all of a sudden go without thoughts, especially when you have an overly active thinking mind.  First, perform your practice this way: 'Do not think, unless you absolutely have to'.  This will prep you so that when you do come to a point where you're not thinking as much, then you will truly know how to perform the inquiry correctly and 'not think' while you are still engaged in action. This will then avoid the suppression of the body and you will truly know how to not think while you continue to be engaged in life.  Trying to perform self-inquiry prematurely will not be fruitful.

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Look at life as a video game:

 

Look at life as a video game.  If you do this, things will not be that serious. Everything is just an experience of something that you're not.  What you really are, is already here, which by default makes everything (even out there) perfect. Though spiritual practice aims to produce moksha, or conscious abidance of your true nature; because your true nature is already free, there is absolutely no need to worry!  Keep this piece of knowledge stable in your mind and you will naturally let go of the ego which tends to make things more serious than what they actually are. 

 

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The Now Moment and the series of snapshots:

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What you're aware of in this very second is a snapshot of knowledge.  This knowledge is immaterial, yet when your awareness is immersed in it, intelligence of the snapshot enables you to perceive it as an actual thing.  For instance, if in this very moment, you're aware of watching your computer screen, you believe there to be a hard physical screen that is sitting on the table in front of you.  This table is held in your house that is located in your city, which resides in a state, that is part of a country on this planet.  This is just one of the many planets in this solar system.  You can keep doing this on and on.  This is the illusion! In truth, what you're aware of is immaterial and not even there.  It is just a snapshot of knowledge.  Knowledge is immaterial; it is not a tangible thing. It is similar to you having knowledge about something in your dream, when nothing even takes place in specific location since it's all happening in your mind!

 

In one precise moment, it is one distinct snapshot of knowledge, or in this case, a snapshot of knowledge about seeing a computer screen. In another moment, it is a snapshot of knowledge about a computer screen that is not in the same location, because you turned away.  These snapshots are all distinct and are innumerable! There are infinite snapshots of knowledge about anything that can possibly be conceived.  What you're experiencing is a portion of those snapshots giving the illusion that motion is happening and that time and space are real. So even this concept of you being a body that is going through this spiritual journey is a deception, because you are just a series of distinct snapshots of knowledge. Yet, the journey of snapshots needs to unfold for us to reveal the nature of the snapshots. These snapshots are revealed in samadhi, where one intuitively knows that their true nature is that which witnesses the snapshots.  Without the snapshots, only Brahman remains.  With the snapshots, Brahman is a witness.  Identification with the snapshots, Brahman is now a Jiva.  And here you are, seeing a series of snapshots containing knowledge about a computer screen!

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Thoughts are not inside the physical head:

 

Don’t perceive yourself as the body that has thoughts in your head, as if there is an actual physical head. This will only perpetuate the illusion of you being the physical body. In truth, mind is what projects the body so the body is just an experience that seems physical, but which is truly an immaterial mind that is enabling it to be experienced that way. See yourself more as a mind that projects the body and this body is something that is truly not yours. If this is embodied more in your living, then you can see how the mind itself is also not yours, because in truth, it is only awareness that knows the mind. The mind is therefore seen as just an appearance that’s happening with awareness as it’s only substratum. If you see yourself as just awareness, and that everything that is happening is just a reflection of this awareness, then in truth, there is no body that has thoughts in the head. There is only the thought of the mind that appears in awareness! So how can you arrive at this truth if you continue to believe in the existence of the hard physical body that has thoughts inside the head, when the body itself is a thought? You need to reverse the way this belief is held, and look at things from the top-down instead of the bottom-up. The body is at the bottom, with awareness at the top. This means awareness is fundamental and where it all starts. The body is not where it starts. So reverse this line of thinking and look at all things as thoughts in awareness because in truth there is only awareness. 

 

Stop believing you are a body walking through space and time:

 

There is no such thing as space and time. Space and time is actually just a projection that is an appearance and is a constantly a singularity. It is no different than the space and time appearance that is seen in your dream or on a TV while the TV is always constant and still and unmoving. This means you awareness is projecting an appearance of movement but while being completely still at all times since it’s truly non-local. If this is the truth, then what you see in the projection is the appearance of all that exists. And what is no longer observed, slips into non-existence. Just like a TV that once showed one person, and then shows another person somewhere else. The first person no longer exists from awareness' point of view. Everything that is seen as an object continuously falls into non-existence, while the unmoving and unchanging awareness remains constant and the only truth that is alive at all times. The appearance that appears to be constantly changing is just an illusion. It makes you believe that you are actually walking through space and time because it feels that way. The senses which is a function of the projection, enables you to perceive and experience as if there is actual space and time when there really isn’t. It is just a deception. So if you continue to live life and entertain the belief that you are walking through space and time, then you will keep affirming the existence of the human body and the identification with it will be sustained and therefore perpetuate samsara or the experience of falsity.  You have to constantly recognize in your experience that all you ever have is an unmoving and unchanging awareness that is always non-local, and that this is all that you have.  It is simply projecting an illusion that seems to appear as if it’s moving, when it’s not. Note: The projection doesn't mean something is being projected outward as if outward contains space. Furthermore, everyone’s awareness is that same awareness and is non-different from THAT. The belief of other people and things, is just a thought you hold in awareness since awareness is all you ever have. You need to kill this conditioning and hard coded belief for you to experience the truth of what truly is. 

 

Stop believing that the waking state or the body is real when you return from the dream or deep sleep state:

 

In Vedanta, the three states are equally unreal. This means that the waking state when you hold the experience of the physical body, is just as unreal as the dream state. However, even though many people understand this in Vedanta, they don’t act like it. They still come out of the dream state, and believe “oh it’s just a dream” and then continue with life while believing the physical state is real and act like the dream was fake compared with their current state in the physical body. Vedanta says that the true reality is the awareness that is aware of all the different states. That awareness is the real you. So why are you taking the physical state more serious than the dream state? It only suggests that you are taking the physical body to be your real identity and therefore you are still succumbing to illusion which will not help in revealing freedom.  You have to constantly see yourself as the awareness that is aware of all states, and constantly recognize that this awareness is the real you. Don’t affirm the reality or the physical body and see it as something more real than the dream state. You have to see them literally as the same. This is not an intellectual understanding. You have to literally live like this with conviction to ultimately transform you. If you continue to see the physical body as more real than the dream body, then it only means you are not truly putting this knowledge to use, and therefore still succumbing to ignorance. 

 

The body is not a solid entity, it’s a culmination of snapshots that forms its illusory solid existence:

 

Since there is no space and time, then where can the physical and tangible body exist? Where can this physical body be held? If there is no such thing as space and time, then it only means that the physical body is not really physical because it cannot be stored anywhere. What appears to be physical is just a series or culmination of snapshots. Look at each moment that you are aware of right now in this precise present moment as a snapshot. A snapshot in this precise moment can be awareness of having a thought, while seeing the body in front of a table that is perceived in a particular away. That specific snapshot is all that exists from its perspective. It has no relation with any other snapshot. But the next snapshot can be a similar snapshot but with a slight distinction that is unnoticeable. The next snapshot is again similar from the prior but with a slight unnoticeable distinction. This allows there to appear as if there is movement, similar to a cartoon that unfolds when you turns a bunch of pages (snapshots) and see the character move as if it’s moving through space and time, but in truth is always still since the pages don’t move from one place to another. The unfolding of snapshots is simply the projection that runs and appears as if it’s moving, though it’s simply happening in non local awareness, since the truth of the snapshots or the substratum upon which gives the snapshots existence is awareness only. This means that there is no physical body that’s out there. The body is just a series of snapshots that gives the illusion that there is an actual entity that is solid. But the body in truth, is made up of an astronomical number of snapshots that forms its existence. How then can you take this body to be yours? If you believe it’s you, then you make up many different versions of you and your movement! If there are many astronomically different versions (snapshots), then which one is exactly you? What is the real you? Contemplate on this. 

 

There is nothing outside of you:

 

Things only appear to be outside of you because the senses make you believe that you are a tangible entity that can feel and see things as if those things are separate from you. But if you remove the illusion of the senses in spiritual practice which is known as sense withdrawal, then you see that it was only the senses that was perpetuating the illusion, making you believe that it was real. In other words, you see that it wasn’t, and you were just being fooled or deceived. It’s just the play of the senses that enables an illusion to make it feel as if it’s real so consciousness can experience life in a very deceiving manner while always maintaining it's non-dual essence.  But truly speaking, there is nothing outside of you. There is only non-local awareness. So all characters, objects are not real. They are just appearances inside the screen of awareness, much like characters inside of a TV. The truth is that the characters only exist inside the TV so the TV must the only truth. Every character only believes they are the character, but in truth, they are all just that one singular awareness. All characters are sharing that same awareness but only believes they are the character among other characters each holding a different awareness. The moment you begin to believe and keep affirming that there is truly nothing outside of you, is the moment you stop clinging to deceptive things and start to hold onto the only truth, being awareness. Stop giving into the illusion that things exist outside of you, because in truth, THEY DON’T. Why continue to be tricked over something that is technically not there? See it as your very self and act with that understanding. Continue to do this and this acting will help renounce the doer-ship of being attached to the actor!

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