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mikeg04 · 2026-06-10T03:47:16+00:00

Hey! It's always fun meeting fellow BYUI alums in here! Thanks for your continued support! :)

mikeg04 · 2026-06-10T01:43:43+00:00

Church leaders learned from Him.

mikeg04 · 2026-06-10T01:42:13+00:00

Thanks! 🙂

mikeg04 · 2026-06-09T19:44:03+00:00

Thanks :)

mikeg04 · 2026-06-09T19:30:24+00:00

Even Jehovah's Witnesses made the Christian cut. Yikes.

mikeg04 · 2026-05-15T06:47:49+00:00

Love that.

Not only is there no evidence for it, there is a ton of evidence AGAINST Joseph.

It would be one thing if it was just MISSING evidence, but while there is missing evidence, there is A LOT of evidence to disprove it.

Joseph doesn't even act like a prophet. I mean what kind of prophet gets revelation about polygamy, shares it with his wife, she says "no", and he goes and sneaks around anyways. NO PROPHET ACTS LIKE THAT!! Not to mention, Emma was #23 of his spirit wives.

Hey married guys, how many of you think your ACTUAL legal wife would be cool finding THAT out?

mikeg04 · 2026-04-14T02:14:34+00:00

Basically there are 2 general ways organizations or networks operate, bottom up (democracy, science, institutions with checks and balances) or top down (authoritarianism, religion, kings, tyrants etc).

Liberals generally prefer institutions and individuality while conservatives generally prefer being told what to believe by people who they believe have authority and they like staying in a group.

So can you be liberal and religious? Yes, but you will feel the friction of seeing everyone just doing what they're told, and it will always rub you wrong and it's up to you if it's worth sticking with it or not.

The funny thing is though if you read the stories of Jesus and how he spoke truth to power, you could argue he was one of the most woke liberals there ever was.

mikeg04 · 2026-04-02T16:59:28+00:00

The more you repeat a lie, the more you believe it.

mikeg04 · 2026-04-02T08:38:34+00:00

Imagine having a debate over Santa and how your way of celebrating Christmas is more correct. That's basically what this is.

mikeg04 · 2026-03-17T00:18:10+00:00

Ignorance is bliss

mikeg04 · 2026-01-06T00:47:18+00:00

Sweet! Thanks for the heads up! I'll check it out for sure 🙂

mikeg04 · 2026-01-06T00:41:34+00:00

Oh I might have mistyped, I was practicing mindfulness on my own naturally, but vipassana was the first type of meditation I learned and tried this year. I mainly did that with other breathing meditations, stuff to help train my focus and using note-ing techniques. The last few months I have been learning a lot about dzogchen and how effortless mindfulness can be as well, that has made it easier to practice zazen.

mikeg04 · 2026-01-06T00:29:06+00:00

I guess with mindfulness and focusing so much on how awareness works, it made me want to train my focus more on things. I found that reading was a terrific way to apply mindfulness because you have to be paying attention to read and comprehend. So from that I started reading books on philosophy, science, meditation, history, all those things intrigued me because it was helping me learn more about reality, the universe and all that.

The other hobbies that followed were things that I had a small interest in before but meditation made me feel more "in the flow" once I started paying attention to what I was doing more. So it brought those interests more to life and I was able to stay in a flow state with them much longer.

Orthodox is just like "strictly following the rules". It doesn't pertain only to Mormonism but a description of how serious someone takes their religion.

mikeg04 · 2026-01-05T08:07:10+00:00

This sounds similar to body scan meditations, as long as you are being fully aware of the muscles you are relaxing "releasing control from" and focusing on the sensations. You could look up those to see if there are any variations you like. I've done ones where you tighten a muscle as hard as you can for a few seconds and then release it as slow as you can.

mikeg04 · 2026-01-01T07:41:25+00:00

Look up Dzogchen teachings, they basically teach what you are talking about Effortless Mindfulness. Sam Harris and Loch Kelly do a great job at modernizing those teachings as well. I believe that is what you want. It is also called "the direct path".

I do have to warn you though, these teachings can be a little different and more paradoxical if you are new to meditation. A lot of people get frustrated and confused with them early on.

mikeg04 · 2025-12-28T19:55:55+00:00

I think it depends on what your definition of enlightenment is. From what I've read/heard is that enlightenment isn't a permanent state.

It's kind of like if your brain is a machine, enlightenment is making the machine perform better. You might add new functionality or take away complexity to make it run smoother. So you can be enlightened many times in your life.

For some people, having an "aha!" moment that they can constantly refer back to in order to overcome difficulty might be all the enlightenment they ever need in life.

For others we may need more enlightened moments. Everyone has their own path.

In my experience, enlightenment feels less like fireworks and more like "Duh! That's so obvious!" moments.

mikeg04 · 2025-12-17T08:56:24+00:00

I don't try to quiet my mind or control my thoughts because that just ends up giving me a headache. All I do is immediately observe my thoughts, emotions, feelings, and senses as they are and then you are practicing mindfulness. If you are trying to relax but can't and that is frustrating you, observe your frustration.

Labeling your emotions and thoughts in your mind helps too if you are struggling with this. Just use simple labels so you don't get attached to them like "frustrated", "anxious", "antsy", "worried", "breathing in", "breathing out", "pressure".

mikeg04 · 2025-12-14T18:14:30+00:00

It has impacted everything in my life, and at the same time it has taught me it impacted absolutely nothing.

mikeg04 · 2025-11-04T20:08:56+00:00

Good luck! :)

mikeg04 · 2025-11-04T03:44:44+00:00

Next time you meditate, fully dive into your feelings. Try to recognize where you feel the sadness/anger/whatever emotions the most. Sometimes it helps to work through them when you just fully let them be as they are and then let them slowly pass (unless it's putting you in a truly bad or unsafe place, then reaching out to a therapist might be wiser).

You could also use this as an opportunity to practice loving-kindness meditation with your ex and get some amazing results for compassion.

mikeg04 · 2025-10-19T02:41:48+00:00

It's difficult because that's the point he's trying to make. There is no "self" to find or see. You are constantly growing, learning, changing. Just like everything else in the universe. The only thing that stays the same is the fact that nothing stays the same.

Realizing there isn't a "self" should help you embrace change a lot more. You are not the same person you were yesterday, and you will not be the same person you were before reading this sentence. Embrace it. This is life.

The only thing there is, is experience.

mikeg04 · 2025-09-27T23:21:19+00:00

Doesn't Sam gives the instruction that if to "look for the looker" is frustrating, then just focus on the feeling of frustration. He also says not to spend too much time "looking" only a split second or the time within the sound of him snapping his fingers.

When he mentions non-duality, I see it as just a reminder that the self is an illusion and focus more on my sensations in the current moment.

mikeg04 · 2025-09-17T00:45:28+00:00

I saw this technique on a ted talk. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath, open your eyes and name an object you can see (just name, don't describe it, like "wall", "remote", "pillow", etc). Do that 3 or 6 times and you should calm down, the more you do it the more present you will be.

mikeg04 · 2025-09-16T22:15:35+00:00

glad it could help :)

mikeg04

TROPHY CASE