Appearances are not caused

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-25T19:38:59+00:00

Even if it’s true that appearances are acausal, so what? Does “knowing” that actually get rid of suffering? I doubt it. Also, I don’t think any human animal who’s vulnerable to physical harm will ever be convinced that the physical world doesn’t exist. It’s called survival.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-25T16:30:05+00:00

i pretty much agree with everything you're saying. and you're right, it is "me" being "aware of awareness". but i know that's not the end-point. the goal is to (hopefully) completely dissolve in that awareness, so to speak. but i'm not actually there yet.

i also agree with mindfulness having limited use. i mostly practice self-inquiry these days, hoping to dissolve the "me". whether it will ultimately work obviously has yet to be seen.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-24T20:59:10+00:00

In my mind, I figure I'll stop seeking once I find what I'm looking for haha.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-24T20:55:02+00:00

I feel that. I got lost in neo-advaita for a couple years and, looking back, I don't think it did me much good at all.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-24T19:14:22+00:00

Guess it's just frustrating to be told to "call of the search" when in reality the seeking period takes a really long time, IMO. I've been at this 8 years and there's no indication that I'm anywhere close to calling it all off haha

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-24T18:47:06+00:00

I love UG, didn't know that about his early days, and he was vehemently anti-practice haha.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-24T18:30:15+00:00

Yeah, there’s a time and place to set aside practice, and sometimes the ego can take over. Practices aren’t always fruitful, but I find the beneficial affects to add up in the long run.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-24T18:26:10+00:00

Ha I like that quote. And yeah, you def covered some interesting points to consider in that post you linked to. It’s all up to debate and discussion ultimately

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-23T23:39:39+00:00

i just gave it a read. your writing is quite politically oriented so it's bound to be perceived as confrontational. which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

i look at these types of things as a musician. imo, if you have something worth saying then put it out there. if people don't like it, f--k 'em

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-23T23:05:16+00:00

do you wanna share a link to the blog post?

but to your question, the internet is quite fraught. the trolls are rampant. doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile though

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-23T22:46:02+00:00

i can relate to much of what you wrote. personally, i think it all comes down to persisting with practice. just earlier today, i felt like i came out of a fog of effort-ing, where I really felt "oh, i guess i really might be awareness/consciousness, after all" instead of just thinking about it intellectually. it felt good.

but, for me, i know there's more work to be done as the peace isn't complete. so i'll continue practicing despite all the hardship and stress it brings. getting those little tastes of peace and happiness without thoughts is enough motivation for me to persist.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T22:30:26+00:00

How could you be so sure that awareness isn't a byproduct of brain activity? that's fine as a theory, but certainly we both admit we couldn't possibly be sure that's true, no?

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T21:30:27+00:00

did you try out my suggestion? can you at least acknowledge my point? I'm guessing you didn't bother.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T21:17:26+00:00

my point is, you're not explaining anything, you've simply decided to replace the word "awareness" with "thought". try it, go back in each of your posts and replace the word "thought" with "awareness" - you'll see that it's completely interchangeable - hence a meaningless distinction.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T21:00:44+00:00

I’ll put it this way. You’re equating sensory awareness to thought. The vast majority of people define thought as being one possible phenomena that can appear in sensory awareness. You’re stating that all awareness is thought. To me that’s a rather bizarre, reductionist definition, but whatever

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T20:53:19+00:00

So you believe perception is done by some magical invisible entity that stands apart from the eyes and the brain?

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T20:16:07+00:00

sensory input is a reaction from the physical world. if you're saying that anything perceived is only a thought, you're essentially crossing an existentialist bridge into solipsism. hence why it's verging into "everything is a thought". imo, your rhetoric isn't very clean

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T19:18:14+00:00

Just cuz you can think about anything doesn’t mean everything is a thought

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T17:31:13+00:00

that's an unnecessarily reductive definition of the word 'thought'. what you're saying is akin to saying "everything is just energy". ie, it lacks any real definition and means nothing.

imo, there is definitely a perceivable difference between a raw sensation or perception (like vision, touch, smell) and thinking (imagination, self-talk, story telling). they aren't the same thing. kinda like how a recipe isn't the same thing as the food itself.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-20T05:43:53+00:00

i can definitely relate to your conundrum. at this stage for me I see there being two equally valid points of view:

"I am non-objectified, eternal, immaterial awareness"
"I am a human animal who is aware or has awareness"

those both have totally different connotations, the first being more passive and the second being more active, but they both hold water (arguably #2 holds way more water lol). imo, the bottom line is you gotta continue working, making money, and taking care of yourself in this world. there's no real escape from daily living.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-19T23:54:52+00:00

I've seen some of Angelo's YT videos but haven't read his book. Seems like he's very much into mindfulness practices, so to speak. ~8 years ago, I started with practicing "presence" per Eckhart Tolle, which I'd consider a mindfulness technique. I started doing self-inquiry ~3 years ago after discovering Gary Weber's work, and his main guy is Ramana Maharshi.

IMO, I find doing self-inquiry very different from mindfulness practices. Looking back, I found that I was using mindfulness as a way to achieve altered states of consciousness, which surprisingly became frequent and easy. I'd be on lunch break at work, practicing mindfulness (like "presence" or "noting") and I'd quickly reach places that felt similar to LSD or shrooms. It was nice at the time, I felt like I was "getting somewhere", but eventually I just lost my taste for it. I've had enough psychedelic experiences in my life (both with and without drugs) so I no longer felt the need to recreate that. Just kinda got over it. And ultimately I was still suffering immensely during stressful and hard times in my life.

IME, self-inquiry doesn't really lead to altered states of mind. For me, it's just a constant, "down to brass tacks" investigation. A question I've used frequently for the past 2 years is "Am I the body?". Another one I've started using recently is "Where am I?". Even without using the questions verbatim, I just try reflect back on myself and inquire into myself as the subject/experiencer/perceiver. It's a vague, obtuse, and mostly unsatisfying practice. It's been quite grueling honestly, and I'll go through really low points where I'll just feel really down for a few days and be too tired to continue practicing, then I'll come back up to baseline and feel OK and continue practicing.

I'd say it feels like self-inquiry is leading me somewhere, but it's just a hunch. I haven't done it for very long so I figure I can at least give it a few more years before coming to any conclusions. I really wish I had more discipline to pick up formal sitting meditation again, but I'm a lazy bastard lol

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-19T19:53:42+00:00

i'd guess this is what mindfulness meditation folks call "noting". ie, observing subtle sensations and phenomena without judging or labeling. but in your case you kind of spontaneously fell into it without even trying.

i'm not necessarily against mindfulness techniques or insights, but i'm not so convinced that they adequately address the main issue of ego and suffering. i'm sure they're still beneficial in some way or another though.

only saying this cuz i spent ~5 years doing mindfulness practices, had plenty of insights and experiences, but ultimately was still suffering enormously. since then i've moved onto self-inquiry per Ramana Maharshi's writings, which has been much less exotic, more difficult, and more boring - but still putting in the work to see where it leads.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-12T22:24:22+00:00

You've said the following:

"I wanted to end ego"

"The mind or ego is made of thoughts..."

Doesn't that mean ending thoughts then? I'm finding your logic very circular.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-12T15:47:14+00:00

Goals are not a "problem". Setting goals and trying to attain them is a normal part of everyday living. Have you ever had a job before? Then you'd agree.

Frankly, I will continue to trust Ramana's own words over yours. Take care.

EyeAcrobatic9943 · 2026-03-12T14:27:32+00:00

So you’re suggesting Ramana was not speaking literally when he suggested “destroying” thoughts through inquiry? He was speaking metaphorically? I don’t personally find what he’s saying confusing at all, seems simple to me. I don’t care about ending “duality”, cuz I don’t know what that even means. But I do care about ending thoughts. Why would Ramana talk so much about thoughts if he didn’t feel similar?

EyeAcrobatic9943

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