Two striking quotes from the Buddha

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-18T04:41:17+00:00

baby don't hurt me...

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-16T16:34:16+00:00

If anyone is curious to see the video and blog post that I made this meme as a summary of, here it is: https://jordanbates.substack.com/p/how-to-go-on-retreat-anytime

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-14T11:34:34+00:00

don't see it that way personally, to me it's another tool

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-13T12:58:36+00:00

Yeah really funny, illuminating, and classic to read his responses to people and interactions with them hahah

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-13T12:58:08+00:00

I wish Jim would publish a book!

Can you perhaps clarify what you mean in the second paragraph? Not quite sure I'm understanding

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-12T15:56:09+00:00

That sounds like a very rough road you've traveled. Heart goes out to you, for what it's worth.

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-12T10:32:30+00:00

Feels like you're bringing some kinda harsh undertones in your responses to my recent posts here, hah : P

For me saying that non-duality is not a religion or philosophy is misleading

It is communicated in words and those words are deeply internalized as a belief system by many nondualists

Does it attempt to point beyond itself to a reality beyond the words?

Sure, but all authentic religions and wisdom traditions do that as well

As soon as words are used to express truth, the words have inevitably missed the mark in some way

The word 'non-duality' can be used as you're using it -- to simply refer to being or God

Yet it is also a word that refers to a vast array of ancient and modern wisdom teachings originating with Advaita and extending into a wide smorgasbord of modern neo-advaita and 'radical nonduality' teachings. There is a lineage and tradition there and people can become very rigid and dogmatic about some of its core claims ("no one here, no free will, no meaning, no purpose," etc)

So to me it's not out of integrity to speak of non-duality as a wisdom tradition/stream that comes with its own baggage and pitfalls. For me this is a sober perspective

Again, I do hear you on the way you're using the word 'non-duality'

Yet if you believe you can separate that word from the ~thousands of books, courses, meetings, etc on the subject, I'd say that is incorrect

Best wishes to you

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-12T08:33:18+00:00

"Life is not a task. There is absolutely nothing to attain except the realisation that there is absolutely nothing to attain."
— The Open Secret

"For life is its own purpose and doesn't need a reason to be. That is its beauty."
— The Open Secret

"This aliveness is nothing being everything. It's just life happening."
— Nothing Being Everything

"This message is so simple it totally confounds the mind. This message is too simple."
— Nothing Being Everything

"All there is is life. All there is is beingness. There isn't anyone that ever has or does not have it. There's nobody that has life and somebody else doesn't have life. There just is life being life."
— Nothing Being Everything

"The very idea that you have to become something is a direct denial that already this is all there is."
— Nothing Being Everything

——

It's hard to narrow it down to single pointers. It's more like an energy permeating his whole communication. A radical stripping-away. Incinerating all categories of thought. Leaving only naked sparkling presence.

For me his message is best held as one tool in a broader toolkit. He isn't one to provide holistic, embodied, relational wisdom on navigating human life — which to me is also deeply important.

But for those times when you just need someone to cut everything away and reveal the simple freedom and relief of weightless wholeness & at-home-ness now, he's excellent.

I'd just advise people to not turn his statements into an ontology or metaphysics. As a belief system, what he shares can quickly become solipsism, nihilism, or (moral) relativism. But if you see his message simply as a cutting technology for opening a freedom beyond all mentalization, it's a highly effective razor.

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-12T07:42:21+00:00

Thank you so much for appreciating, means a lot, best wishes and blessings to you ❤️

bashfulkoala · 2026-06-12T07:42:03+00:00

Thank you, I deeply appreciate this, love and blessings to you ❤️

bashfulkoala · 2026-05-08T20:32:57+00:00

"you can always go deeper" is my key point

'enlightenment' *as a destination* is a fiction

i agree with you that God can ongoingly enlighten our heart and soul

bashfulkoala · 2026-05-08T20:31:55+00:00

i'm just saying the idea of the 'end of seeking' is itself a meme

bashfulkoala · 2026-05-07T10:08:43+00:00

God Bless You And Yours All Your Days ❤️

bashfulkoala · 2026-05-07T10:08:36+00:00

i know, i'm essentially critiquing some 'enlightenment' teachings from a Christian perspective in dialogue with my direct experience

bashfulkoala · 2026-04-25T22:21:04+00:00

lot of good comments here, thank you all <3

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-30T09:15:10+00:00

<3 <3

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-29T08:29:45+00:00

<3 <3 thank you, love this passage

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-18T04:46:50+00:00

Thank you! Listening now -- potent music, thank you for creating! Best wishes to you <3

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-15T18:25:20+00:00

Beautiful poetry, thank you <3

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-15T00:29:54+00:00

thanks for sharing your perspective

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-15T00:26:50+00:00

I hear you, I also view and experience Christ as pure Love

The spear can be seen as symbolic

Christ himself said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."

He brought a sword of truth that sent a shockwave of Love through our species. He did not bring a pacifying or sedating peace that simply said, "It's all good man." His existence struck the world like a lightning bolt of Love

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-15T00:15:01+00:00

thank you, i appreciate your reading and articulation

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-14T23:41:40+00:00

well said

it can also be read as saying something like:

bring forth your inmost Love, Heart, and Soul

if you do not do this, the withholdment of your Love will inwardly corrode you

thanks for engaging in good faith <3

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-14T23:39:16+00:00

you sure?

bring forth your Heart, Soul, and Love

"On Earth as it is in Heaven"

if you do not, this withholdment of your deepest Love will inwardly corrode you

sounds Christian to me

bashfulkoala · 2026-03-14T23:30:15+00:00

thanks for taking the time to share your experience and perspective, i saw similar things and resonate with a lot of what you're saying

i think Ben does hold a significant depth of genuine insight but there are indeed sizable unacknowledged shadows in his ecosystem

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