Internalize This Paradox... or Seek Higher Power?

Angelman wrote: ...I would teach that all ego's will let you down again and again, especially the one nearest to you- yourself !,
Unconditional love is a spiritual quality and so trying to apply it to the ego will always be difficult because one is real and one is an illusion ! you choose what you are and this choice creates or destroys the void you speak of.
The world is perfect for each and every one of us to see what we are creating of ourselves and to see and experience what we are created of and from already -love- unconditional love.
Heres a book I penned you might like the have a look at, 'The Art of Inner Peace'
www.paulwilliams.ie/Books/The%20Art%20Of%20Inner%20Peace.pdf
Happy Every Day
P

Thank you.
Your book looks really interesting - I look forward to reading it.
I noticed in the beginning you discussed illusion.
I think this realization that everything is illusion is what I still haven't gotten over, even after a couple of years of realizing it. I'm just not sure where to go from here.

I don't believe that we ever spiritually arrive... To our dying days, we will be works in progress.
But I do believe that just as we progress intellectually, we can get better at creating & maintaining good spirits. As a friend says, "Functional illusions are priceless." (What are functional illusions - is what I'm trying to figure out.) Managing paradoxes is tough... and it's never-ending - at least while we are living in this temporary, illusion based life.
Like you implied - egos will let us down - including & especially our own.
Yet, the tool by which we live is our ego.

Hi Kerry,
Thank you for sharing your experiences in feeling empathy so deeply.
You make me wonder how much of it is spiritual & how much is psychological.
I imagine both.

I've always been very observant & sensitive - as a young girl, very shy.
I'm no longer as shy (forced myself to be social) - but still am introverted. Being around people tends to exhaust me because I feel everything. I notice body language - nonverbal communication more than words (in person of course).

The blessing in this is that while I am realizing the not-so-pleasant aspects of everyone (including myself) - I am also realizing that what others think of me is also illusion in many ways, so I don't give it as much weight as I did before. Yet, I still feel codependent - so not only do I absorb everything - but I also feel responsible to help or correct. I need to learn to let it go - as someone suggested.

There's the balance again - of caring about others, & being a little vulnerable to be open... while having boundaries & realizing a part of you is sacred, or rather exclusively you, no matter what happens in less controlable aspects of your life (others).

Gooseone wrote: This kinda translates into not knowing how i seem to know anything yet when something becomes clear i will act upon it and not hesitate to die doing so while at the same time being aware that i could be totally wrong about everything.

Exactly!

Faith!

I see faith & love as inseparable...
Love is resonating, hoping & striving for what is best, through trial & error - active faith.

It seems that to seek the best - most enlightened choices - it would require a belief or faith in a principle beyond ourselves. I can see why people resonate so much with Jesus, Buddha or other human icons... It's easier to resonate to a personification of spirituality, than just abstract spirituality. It probably doesn't matter too much what we believe in, as long as we believe & that our belief (spirit) is strong in a productive way.

While reading some of your comments, I happened to come across this quote that fits...
"The key to intimacy is the commitment to honesty and to the radical forgiveness necessary in order for honesty to be safe." -Marianne Williamson

Amore wrote:

Angelman wrote: ...I would teach that all ego's will let you down again and again, especially the one nearest to you- yourself !,
Unconditional love is a spiritual quality and so trying to apply it to the ego will always be difficult because one is real and one is an illusion ! you choose what you are and this choice creates or destroys the void you speak of.
The world is perfect for each and every one of us to see what we are creating of ourselves and to see and experience what we are created of and from already -love- unconditional love.
Heres a book I penned you might like the have a look at, 'The Art of Inner Peace'
www.paulwilliams.ie/Books/The%20Art%20Of%20Inner%20Peace.pdf
Happy Every Day
P

Thank you.
Your book looks really interesting - I look forward to reading it.
I noticed in the beginning you discussed illusion.
I think this realization that everything is illusion is what I still haven't gotten over, even after a couple of years of realizing it. I'm just not sure where to go from here.

I don't believe that we ever spiritually arrive... To our dying days, we will be works in progress.
But I do believe that just as we progress intellectually, we can get better at creating & maintaining good spirits. As a friend says, "Functional illusions are priceless." (What are functional illusions - is what I'm trying to figure out.) Managing paradoxes is tough... and it's never-ending - at least while we are living in this temporary, illusion based life.
Like you implied - egos will let us down - including & especially our own.
Yet, the tool by which we live is our ego.

That sounds very wise to me, and i have little to add.
"walking the razor's edge" and some profound Zen sayings ( something with "Brahman alone is real ..bla bla ) sum it up and point to that also.
Seeing your honest replies here actually, well ...uhm....i am lost for words actually...
..............
Well i tried to put something coherent down but i failed miserably, thank you for being you or
something
It seems you are well on your way and the only thing that would keep you from following the right
path ( if such a thing exists.) would be you doubting yourself and taking in external advice where it's
not needed.
Thx.

Hello Amore,

I think it is very important that we feel safe, at all times.
Because we are.

Only from a position of safety can we love, and view the world without being disabled by fear.

Sounds very glib doesn't it ?
Yet I think we can feel the truth of it, whilst not having a rational understanding of the situation.

For me, it was something I read, which had the effect of assuring me of my ultimate safety.
It was like coming home - when I'd forgotten I had a home. Things fell into place, linked together, and I knew where I was.

"I do not have a soul -- I am a soul. I have a body."

The words of C S Lewis were the catalyst for this sudden reaction; they will never leave me.
This seismic shift in my centre of gravity has continued to amaze me as I slowly discover the landscape of my new situation.
Though far too complex for my comprehension, I can, and do satisfy my curiosity with parables.

Reincarnation is such a parable, and globally quite a common one in countries where materialism and spirituality are on a more even footing than in the "developed" world. To see myself as having more than a single life, as being more than just an isolated speck in time, enables me to deal better with the content of this life, as well as see it from a much wider perspective.

Once this new world had opened slightly, I found that I could recognise signs of it everywhere. The Hindu Vedas, the philosophy of the original Australians, and those who roamed the plains of ancient America, the modern findings of the quantum physicist, and some of the mediums who channel the thoughts of the dead -- disparate though these sources are, the same ideas appear.
Each culture has its own interpretation, and though the words vary, the tune remains the same .....

I am spirit -- pure consciousness. I create my own "reality" with the physical senses possessed by the body I inhabit. I am part of the collective consciousness from which the world I know continually emerges. Every atom of my body has its own sentience, as well as sharing the common. Nothing is inanimate; the world lives and breathes as a single entity, and as countless life-forms.
I have no real boundaries, and the only things I can lose are illusory.
Everything is sacred. I am safe.

I still feel the pain when I've hurt someone I love, the fear when the rear tyre of my motorcycle slips on the autumn leaves, the frequent dread of physical decline -- that's only human.
Fortunately I am not only human.

It may be something completely different that gives you safety Amore, the end result will, I think, be similar.
From one indestructible soul to another - greetings.

Gooseone wrote: @ Angelman

Uhm , i actually wrote it down incorrectly.
I meant that "unconditional love" is one side of something which is very much part of duality.
Although a human experience is inherently one made possible through ego, seeking purpose
and meaning and finding it in unconditional love and consciously making a choice to pursue
that road is not much different from seeking gratification in materialistic pursuits or having a
preconceived believe system.
There is nothing wrong with it, yet claiming it to be an inherent reality or something different /
more spiritual then what most people do strikes a wrong chord.
If you would use the concept "unconditional love" as a definition to describe something which
is generally indescribable it would not strike a wrong chord.
That which consciously makes a choice in a human experience, owns feelings and seeks
purpose and meaning is just plain vanilla ego.
Again , nothing wrong with dressing it up a little.

If i were at a crossing where one path had spikes on it and the other had a smooth flying carpet ride waiting , i'd surely choose the flying carpet.
Yet any hardship i might have endured has ended up in an experience wherein there seems to be no ability to want anything anything other then what is.
(This does not include food preferences, or any other simple material preferences which are still present due to my being a product of my environment and having a human experience because of that. By "want" i mean being convinced that reality needs to change to suit me better.)
I actually don't really know how i function, or how / where the urges to respond / act come from.
Yet i tend to be aware of where not to go and instantly suffer if i ignore that intuition.
Also the reasons why i am doing things ( if there are any ) usually become clear only looking back."Blunt honesty" is the willingness to bite the dust if i become aware afterwards that i have been a self delusional fool and taking responsibility for what felt like the "right thing"at a given time.This kinda translates into not knowing how i seem to know anything yet when something becomes clear i will act upon it and not hesitate to die doing so while at the same time being aware that i could be totally wrong about everything.

Unconditional love is a feeling, a state of mind / being and as such it cannot be realistically described with words as it is only through personal experience will one know it. However descriptive words are needed in order to inform or share the possibility to others who may be interested in seeking , this is direction not belief.
Duality only applies to the outside world of illusion, within the self there is just you and your feelings, just the one, but which one is a matter of choice, the spiritual or ego.

The human experience is an illusion, and it will end just as all dreams end, this is truth ,
When one spends all their time being human and little or no time being spiritual, they don't suddenly become enlightened and spiritual when the dream ends, no matter what "most people" are doing.
You are born alone, you feel and think within yourself and when your dream ends it only ends for you, this is truth, whether is strikes the right or wrong cord is neither here nor there, it doesn't change it.
Most people? (And I use this term very loosely only because it has been used above) who claim to be any way spiritual do this via one religion or another (86% on a google search). All the major religions practice adoration either to statues or/and images of different deities or to an outside god “up” in heaven or paradise, and all subjugate themselves by way of praying too, pleading/bargaining with and begging from, and giving thanks and gratitude too, all in a state of mind called hope and faith and so reinforcing a belief in separation.
If by me saying that this god thing is a feeling and inherent within, and not separate from ,as religions would practice, strikes a wrong cord well so be it, I’m not seeking popularity! And just for the fun of it- Who or what do you mean when you say “most people”?
You don’t make a conscious choice to be human, that choice has already been made and that comes complete with a bucket load of feelings that do not exist as real within the oneness of unconditional love. The only choice that can really be made is to return to oneness, not choosing oneness but ego, is not making a choice it is simply reaffirming what has been chosen. This is cause and affect.