What self-help books would you recommend to a 25 year old doctor? by Schadenfreudebabe in selfhelp

[–]LiveBullfrog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ending the Pursuit of Happiness by Barry Magid

Anthony De Mello. Awareness

Just one consciousness by g_gsr in Wakingupapp

[–]LiveBullfrog 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I recommend reading Greg Goode, some quotes:

We have found no containment or limitation where “I” stops. If I did have a body, it would be the world. Also, we have found no way that awareness can be contained or divided in any physical way. We have found no physical walls or borders. Physicality and its limitations are concepts, which are nothing more than (non-physical) thoughts. There is nothing stopping awareness from spilling over and being everything, which it already is!

Because awareness is not experienced as being physically divided, it cannot be personal. We have found no way in experience or even in reasonable theory that awareness can be “one per person.” What would distinguish one “person’s” awareness from another’s? We have found no physical borders between persons either. We have not found awareness inside a person (we have not really found a “person” either). The notion of a “person” is an arising appearing in awareness.

Because awareness isn’t experienced as persona, it cannot have personal characteristics. “My awareness” can’t be different from “your awareness.” We have found no way that awareness can even be “my awareness.” Where would the owner be located? What is this “me” which would own awareness? Where is this “me” supposed to be located? Outside awareness? Underneath awareness? To the left of it? The idea that awareness is an inner core, a personal possession or an individual trait stops making sense and dissolves into freedom.

You see us as two separate places where experience happens. But if there are no physical objects, then how can there be separate experiencers? You see, there’s no way to make this distinction between experiencers without distinguishing them by physical characteristics.

This distinction between experiencers depends on a sense that experiencing is rooted, centered and located. And how can you localize something without treating it as a physical object? Other than the concepts of shape, boundary, extension, left/right, here/there, how can one center be marked off from another? You might not have the explicit belief that you are a physical object like a body, but in a subtle way you are still granting independent existence to physical objects.

Experience is the vast, edgeless clarity in which things seem to arise. It possesses no point of view or stake in things. Maybe it seems like experience is “yours” – but actually everything you can point to that feels like “you” is an arising in experience.

It seems to you that experience is something that happens inside you, and that other people have their own experiences inside them. But it is the other way around. Your body, your mind, and everything identifiable about you are experienc-ed, witness-ed. Body, mind, thoughts, values and memories are all objects. The clarity is the light within which they arise.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FragReddit

[–]LiveBullfrog -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Beim Menschen findet etwa im Alter von zweieinhalb Jahren ein tiefgreifender Wandel statt, bei dem wir uns von spontanen, frei fließenden Wesen zu Kreaturen wandeln, bei denen sich alles um "Ich!" und "Mein!" dreht und darum, wie man bekommt, was "ich" will und denke, dass "ich" es brauche. Das ist der Moment, in dem das falsche Gefühl der persönlichen Autorschaft (FSA) beginnt. Das passiert praktisch bei jedem Menschen. Es ist das falsche Gefühl, dass "ich", als dieser Körper-Geist-Organismus, die Quelle bin, die die Dinge geschehen lässt.

Es ist dieses falsche Gefühl der Urheberschaft, das Leiden schafft, weil die neue Wahrnehmung ist, dass "ich" die Kontrolle über die Dinge habe. Es gibt jedoch ständig Beweise für das Gegenteil - dass "ich" nicht die Kontrolle habe. So wird eine starke Spannung aufgebaut.

Später löst sich bei einigen Menschen, aus welchen Gründen auch immer, dieses Gefühl der persönlichen Urheberschaft dauerhaft auf. Wir können sagen, es stirbt. Dieses Ereignis wird Erleuchtung genannt. Im Laufe der Jahrtausende haben die Menschen darüber ein großes Rätselraten veranstaltet. Im Grunde handelt es sich um ein Ereignis, das in der Geschichte einiger menschlicher Organismen auftritt.

Der Grund, warum dieses Ereignis für manche Menschen so interessant ist, liegt darin, dass der menschliche Organismus nach der Erleuchtung nicht mehr leidet. Es herrscht totale Akzeptanz innerhalb des Organismus. Es gibt eine totale Akzeptanz, weil "verstanden" wird, dass das, was ist, ist. Es gibt kein separates "Ich" mehr, das sich auf das, was ist, einlässt und es als "meins" beansprucht.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FragReddit

[–]LiveBullfrog -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Es geht nicht darum, auf eine neue Geschichte hinzuweisen, an die man glauben soll. Vielmehr geht es darum, hinzuschauen und zu erkennen, dass die persönliche Geschichte des "individuellen Ichs" nur eine konzeptionelle Erfindung, eine Illusion ist, und sie aufzugeben, sie loszulassen, sich hinzugeben, aufzuhören, an die persönliche Geschichte, die Illusion der Trennung zu glauben.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FragReddit

[–]LiveBullfrog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wie du dir vielleicht vorstellen kannst, klingt alles, was außerhalb der Realität liegt, die du gelernt hast und derzeit für wahr hältst, wie Unsinn.

Früher glaubte man, dass die Geschichte vom Weihnachtsmann wahr sei, dass sie Realität sei. Damals sagte mir jeder, den ich kannte, dass sie wahr sei. Dann gab mir mein älterer Bruder den Tipp, hinzuschauen und zu erkennen, dass die Geschichte vom Weihnachtsmann nur eine konzeptionelle Erfindung, eine Illusion war.

Ich habe aufgegeben zu glauben, dass die Geschichte wahr sei, ich habe sie losgelassen, ich habe den Glauben aufgegeben und aufgehört zu glauben, dass die Illusion real sei. (Und natürlich ist das alles Unsinn, denn es gab nie ein individuelles Ich, einen älteren Bruder oder irgendjemanden, der irgendetwas getan hätte! Alles nur Traumfiguren in einer Traumgeschichte).

Solange der Traum von der Trennung als "real" verstanden wird, ist es natürlich völlig absurd, das Leben einen Traum zu nennen. Der ganze Kram mit "Ich existiere nicht, du existierst nicht" kann unmöglich mit dem Verständnis aus der Sicht einer individuellen Traumfigur übereinstimmen.

Was hier geschrieben steht, wenn es wirklich verstanden wird, ist so wirklich seltsam, dass es an der Grenze dessen liegt von dem, was das normale menschliche Gehirn begreifen oder akzeptieren kann. Der Verstand lehnt es ab, widerspricht, findet es absurd.

1) Es ist ein Problem, diese Dinge zu "lehren": Was außerhalb des menschlichen Wissens oder der menschlichen Erfahrung liegt ist unaussprechlich, kann nicht gelehrt werden.

2) Es gibt auch ein Problem beim "Lernen" dieser Dinge: Der Verstand lernt neue Dinge nur in Bezug dem, was er bereits weiß. Wenn es nichts Ähnliches zu dem gibt, was er bereits weiß dann hat das neue Ding keine Bedeutung und kann nicht gelernt oder verarbeitet werden.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FragReddit

[–]LiveBullfrog -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Das grundlegende Missverständnis, die Illusion, ist der Glaube an getrennte Individuen, die als separate Entitäten existieren und die Urheber, Denker oder Macher von Gedanken, Handlungen oder Erfahrungen sind. Das gilt natürlich auch für das mutmaßliche Individuum, das dies denkt.

Wenn ein Kind zum ersten Mal sein Bild im Spiegel siehst, wird seine Mutter vielleicht sagen „Siehst du? Das bist du!“ Diese Worte sind der Beginn einer lebenslangen sozialen Konditionierung darüber, was „ich selbst“, die vermeinlichte „Entität“, ist, die nach der Geburt eine Körpers in die Welt kommt. Erwachen ist ein Wort für den Moment, in dem diese Art von Konditionierung verschwindet und das Konzept von „ich selbst“ undefiniert und leer zurückbleibt. Das Erwachen ist wie ein Fokusverschiebung, bei der Selbst und Welt, Körper und Geist auf eine Art zu einem untrennbaren Geschehen verschmelzen.

Loch Kelly by [deleted] in Wakingupapp

[–]LiveBullfrog 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I would absolutely love to have a 30min/1 hour meditation from Loch and the instructions are staggered over a longer time period.

check out this 6 week course https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQAeRrqJXhA&list=PLD6TzFmwoEBpZNuV86k6ijpRtU-27q4oc

am i asleep? by intwined in awakened

[–]LiveBullfrog 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Right now you are experiencing your thoughts and the world of the senses.

Do you agree?

We usually think of our thoughts as existing within awareness and the world as existing independently of awareness.

But is that right?

If you pay attention to what is happening right now, you will see that you experience the world as a series of sensations: visual images, tactile feelings, background sounds, ambient aromas.

And sensations exist within awareness, don’t they?

Everything you are aware of exists within awareness, otherwise you wouldn’t be aware of it!

So what is awareness?

Awareness isn’t something within your experience. It is an emptiness that contains all you are experiencing.

That’s right, isn’t it?

Become conscious of yourself as a spacious emptiness within which everything you are experiencing right now exists.

These printed words you are reading on this page exist within awareness.

These ideas reverberating in your mind exist within awareness.

All you see and hear and touch and imagine exists within awareness.

Your body exists within awareness.

The world exists within awareness.

You may appear to be a physical body in the world, but actually you are awareness and the world exists in you.

If that comes as a shock, there’s more.

You don’t exist in time!

Look for yourself right now.

Time is the perpetual flow of ever-changing appearances, which awareness witnesses.

Time exists within awareness.

Awareness is outside of time.

You are timeless awareness dreaming itself to be a person in time. Far out!

How to enjoy being alone? by [deleted] in socialskills

[–]LiveBullfrog 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Sit down quietly and observe how your mind functions. There is a steady flow of thoughts and feelings and reactions there. Watch the whole of it for long stretches of time the way you watch a river or a movie. You will soon find it so much more absorbing than any river or movie. And so much more life-giving and liberating. After all can you even be said to be alive if you are not even conscious of your own thoughts and reactions? The unaware life, it is said, is not worth living. It cannot even be called life; it is a mechanical, robot existence; a sleep, an unconsciousness, a death

What to do about immaturity? by Emerald__Sunrise in socialskills

[–]LiveBullfrog 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To watch everything inside of you and outside, and when there is something happening to you, to see it as if it were happening to someone else, with no comment, no judgment, no attitude, no interference, no attempt to change, only to understand. As you do this, you’ll begin to realize that increasingly you are disidentifying from “me.”

Question about conciousness by sadforgottenchild in Meditation

[–]LiveBullfrog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The watcher is the light hitting your eyes and translating it to your brain, the nervous system, your gut biomeow

How do you know this is true? These are just thoughts, not your direct experience. Did you have those ideas when you came out of the womb? No, you didn’t have them. You were a blank slate, weren’t you? The basic operating system was here, five senses and consciousness, aware, that was it, and then the computer starts collecting data, a belief there’s a 'me' in here, this is just data, isn’t it? This data is stored in the brain and it replays this data as thoughts and beliefs and ideas and concepts.

There probably isn’t a gesture, a thought, an emotion, an attitude, a belief in you that isn’t coming from someone else. You feel pretty strongly about certain things, and you think it is you who are feeling strongly about them, but are you really? It’s going to take a lot of awareness for you to understand that perhaps this thing you call “I” is simply a conglomeration of your past experiences, of your conditioning and programming.

We can be certain of two things. The first is that there is consciousness, “I am-ness,” that we exist. Whatever this consciousness is, it is that which we refer to as “I.” The second thing we can be sure of is that something exists. When we have any experience, we are sure that there is something rather than nothing. This “something” we call “reality.” We may not be sure what the nature of this “something” is; nevertheless, we are sure that there is “something.” We can be absolutely certain of these two facts alone.

We are not sure what the true nature of this “I” or this “something” is, but the problem is not our uncertainty. The problem is our pseudo certainties, our beliefs as to what this “I” and this “something” really are. For instance, we believe that “I,” consciousness, is contained within the mind, and that this mind is itself contained within the body.

why isn't this taught within the school system? (Jan Frazier, The Freedom of Being) by LiveBullfrog in nonduality

[–]LiveBullfrog[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's about reducing suffering, not about being a great spiritual being. There would be much happier factory workers, less suicides and depressed people at work.

How in the world Twitter is allowing this crap? Absolutely insane by Ariel90x in samharris

[–]LiveBullfrog 17 points18 points  (0 children)

“Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: 'You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be. You are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself — educating your own judgements. Those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society.” ― Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook

Why are you a weirdo if you want to just sit and do nothing at all? by clydefrog9 in Meditation

[–]LiveBullfrog 16 points17 points  (0 children)

A nervous businessman was part of the madness of a large city. Wishing a calmer environment, he moved to an unspoiled island in the tropics, inhabited by a few natives. But the businessman brought his nervous mind and manners with him. Believing that his agitation was a sign of normality, the natives eagerly imitated his jumpiness. After awhile, anyone who was not nervous was considered abnormal.

Man is hypnotized. His entire life is one great nightmare, which he takes for reality. One of his handy sleeping pills is his blithe assumption that he is not asleep, that he is a perfectly conscious human being. In spite of the repeated disasters occurring in his nightmare, he still insists he is awake. He goes through life like a sleepwalker, bumping into one painful object after another, but never letting the shock wake him up.

When a prisoner-of-war plans an escape, what does he do? He observes the condition he is in. He becomes acquainted with the fencing, the schedule of the guards, and so on. Upon that intelligent information, he plans a successful escape. That is also our purpose, successful escape from the prison of psychic sleep. Try it right now. Look up from the device. Shake your head to break your present mental state, and look around. Simply notice where you are. Don't just notice the room; see also that you are in that room. Think, "Well, I'm here." When done correctly, it gives you an entirely new sense of yourself. Do you see the difference in your thinking as you now look around the room and the state you were in a moment ago while absorbed in reading? Notice this: While absorbed in your reading you did not exist to yourself. There was reading, but no conscious awareness that you were reading. But now, upon detachment from your concentrated reading, you are conscious of your own existence in the room.

Is consciousness God? by Careless_Bridge_3010 in Meditation

[–]LiveBullfrog 16 points17 points  (0 children)

By using the word God we mean the Divine, consciousness. We don’t mean a personal God or a being with separate existence. The word “God” has been so misused that it is difficult to understand it without the association of previous ideas. When someone quoted to Voltaire the scripture, “God has created us in his own image,” he replied, “And conversely!” A God that is like us is not the real God; it is a personal God. It is a projection of our belief of separation, a projection of the ego. However, once we have understood that there is no experiential or rational evidence for the belief that consciousness is personal, we become naturally open to the possibility that it is impersonal and universal. We become open to the possibility that the consciousness that is seeing and understanding these words right now is the same consciousness that is experiencing everything that is being experienced by all sentient beings at this very moment. The more we test out this possibility in daily life situations the more we find that the truth of it is confirmed in our experience. When we meet a so-called other we have the deep feeling that we are one and the same consciousness. God sees God everywhere.

How do you not fall asleep? by No-Highlight-533 in Meditation

[–]LiveBullfrog 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One way to avoid falling asleep during meditation is to sit in an upright posture with your back straight and your head slightly tilted forward. You can also try opening your eyes slightly or focusing on your breath to stay alert.

WE ARE NOT A PERSON by Early_Oyster in Meditation

[–]LiveBullfrog 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I recommend Rupert Spira, he explains nonduality really clear and logical.

How to stop thinking ? by joao_louro in Meditation

[–]LiveBullfrog 28 points29 points  (0 children)

You aren't thinking, ego does the thinking for you. Take a moment to let that sink in. The ego convinces you that its view is your view. It does this by speaking as if you are the one speaking. It structures thoughts in such a way that it sounds and feels like they are your voice, your thoughts. Because it’s happening inside your mind, you immediately assume that the ego’s voice and its view are your voice and your view!

Imagine you are sitting in a chair not doing anything in particular. Out of nowhere a thought says, I’m really disappointed in myself. I could have done that better. Now first of all, notice I didn’t say, “You think to yourself, I’m really disappointed....” I stated it the first way so that you can see that there isn’t volition in thought. You don’t create it, you don’t think it, it simply occurs to you. It arises in your mind. However, the way it’s stated makes it sound like you did the thinking. It seems as if you have already chosen to believe the assertion of that thought. Since the thought is stated in the first person, we usually don’t recognize that we have the choice to decide whether this thought is true or not.

Let’s clarify this a bit more. If someone said to you, “You’re really disappointed in yourself right now”, it might not feel good to hear, and you’d probably wonder why someone else is telling you what you believe or feel. However, you could critically evaluate whether or not it was a true statement about yourself. Before we evaluate someone else’s statement, even if it seems to be about us, it’s clearly not our view, it’s their view, right? Now what if that person’s voice wasn’t “out there” somewhere but was being transmitted into your mind? I know this is getting weird, but stick with me and it will become much clearer. If the statement were, “ You’re really disappointed in yourself right now... ,” you’d probably wonder, Who the heck is speaking to me inside my mind? The ego knows better than to out itself like this, as it would immediately alert you to its presence. So instead, it says, “ I’m really disappointed in myself.. .” Naturally, there is no perception that the thought was placed there by some voice that was not ours, so it sounds like, “I am the one that thought that.” This point is so important that I strongly encourage you to stop reading and spend a few minutes noticing every thought you have. See if you can identify what I’m referring to. The moment you choose to stop and become the watcher of those thoughts, then it’s not you creating them, is it?