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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2015 4:45:54 GMT -5
Nisargadatta said: ------ No university will teach you how to live so that when the time of dying comes, you can say: I lived well I do not need to live again. Most of us die wishing we could live again. So many mistakes committed, so much left undone. ------
It seems this is how I will die. I feel I am condemned to reincarnation (whatever that means - I don't remember past lives) because I am old and regret the mistakes of youth, while it is too late to correct them, too late to create a life I want. I have no interest in being old and decayed. What can be done about this horror? Does spiritual awakening cure regret?
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Post by zendancer on Oct 2, 2015 5:14:59 GMT -5
Nisargadatta said: ------ No university will teach you how to live so that when the time of dying comes, you can say: I lived well I do not need to live again. Most of us die wishing we could live again. So many mistakes committed, so much left undone. ------ It seems this is how I will die. I feel I am condemned to reincarnation (whatever that means - I don't remember past lives) because I am old and regret the mistakes of youth, while it is too late to correct them, too late to create a life I want. I have no interest in being old and decayed. What can be done about this horror? Does spiritual awakening cure regret? Things are not as they seem, and you are not who you think you are. What you consider to be mistakes made in the past were not mistakes when they occurred. Given what you understood at the time, and all of the other factors in play at that time, the body/mind took actions that are now looked at in retrospect as mistakes. You could not have done anything other than what you did at that time. How do we know this? Because that is what you did. It is just as important to forgive yourself now for past actions as it is to forgive others. The body/mind will die, but who you really are was never born and will never die, so don't worry about reincarnation; the person you imagine yourself to be is a product of imagination. Yes, there is a body/mind, but look at it as if it were a rental car--something only used for a short period of time. The body/mind may be old, but who you really are has no age. To get free of the ideas you have expressed, shift your attention away from ideas to what is happening in the present moment. Look, listen, feel, smell, taste. Be here now, psychologically. Take a walk in the woods. Sit on a park bench and watch children play. Stop imagining, and simply be. Help other people who need help. Perform random acts of kindness. Give money or time to worthwhile causes. Contemplate without reflection whatever issues concern you. This is a path to freedom. Go see the movie, "Wild." Pay attention to what is said in the last five minutes of the film. If Cheryl Strayed could get free of her past, then anyone can. Consider what is said about mistakes and "being redeemed." Bottom line? Yes, realizations and existential insights can eliminate regret totally.
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Post by earnest on Oct 2, 2015 5:31:01 GMT -5
Nisargadatta said: ------ No university will teach you how to live so that when the time of dying comes, you can say: I lived well I do not need to live again. Most of us die wishing we could live again. So many mistakes committed, so much left undone. ------ It seems this is how I will die. I feel I am condemned to reincarnation (whatever that means - I don't remember past lives) because I am old and regret the mistakes of youth, while it is too late to correct them, too late to create a life I want. I have no interest in being old and decayed. What can be done about this horror? Does spiritual awakening cure regret? Things are not as they seem, and you are not who you think you are. What you consider to be mistakes made in the past were not mistakes when they occurred. Given what you understood at the time, and all of the other factors in play at that time, the body/mind took actions that are now looked at in retrospect as mistakes. You could not have done anything other than what you did at that time. How do we know this? Because that is what you did. It is just as important to forgive yourself now for past actions as it is to forgive others. The body/mind will die, but who you really are was never born and will never die, so don't worry about reincarnation; the person you imagine yourself to be is a product of imagination. Yes, there is a body/mind, but look at it as if it were a rental car--something only used for a short period of time. The body/mind may be old, but who you really are has no age. To get free of the ideas you have expressed, shift your attention away from ideas to what is happening in the present moment. Look, listen, feel, smell, taste. Be here now, psychologically. Take a walk in the woods. Sit on a park bench and watch children play. Stop imagining, and simply be. Help other people who need help. Perform random acts of kindness. Give money or time to worthwhile causes. Contemplate without reflection whatever issues concern you. This is a path to freedom. Go see the movie, "Wild." Pay attention to what is said in the last five minutes of the film. If Cheryl Strayed could get free of her past, then anyone can. Consider what is said about mistakes and "being redeemed." Bottom line? Yes, realizations and existential insights can eliminate regret totally. Yes to "Wild"! Loved her statement about redemption. I was tired and only half listening,. but sharpened up awful quick and replayed it a few times.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2015 6:19:07 GMT -5
Nisargadatta said: ------ No university will teach you how to live so that when the time of dying comes, you can say: I lived well I do not need to live again. Most of us die wishing we could live again. So many mistakes committed, so much left undone. ------ It seems this is how I will die. I feel I am condemned to reincarnation (whatever that means - I don't remember past lives) because I am old and regret the mistakes of youth, while it is too late to correct them, too late to create a life I want. I have no interest in being old and decayed. What can be done about this horror? Does spiritual awakening cure regret? A regret is only a regret if it is felt, and what is felt as a regret is a thought arising in the mind. If you realize your true Self, these thoughts will simply not arise, nor will fear or insecurity. Instead, you will be aware of a permanent smile "inside you" which cannot be disturbed.
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Post by laughter on Oct 2, 2015 13:11:00 GMT -5
Nisargadatta said: ------ No university will teach you how to live so that when the time of dying comes, you can say: I lived well I do not need to live again. Most of us die wishing we could live again. So many mistakes committed, so much left undone. ------ It seems this is how I will die. I feel I am condemned to reincarnation (whatever that means - I don't remember past lives) because I am old and regret the mistakes of youth, while it is too late to correct them, too late to create a life I want. I have no interest in being old and decayed. What can be done about this horror? Does spiritual awakening cure regret? We can learn from our mistakes and regret is a part of that process. If it's seen clearly what it is that regrets, and what it is that's learned, there's no suffering involved. This isn't because suffering ends for what suffers, but because what suffers comes to an end. This is what's meant by "die before you die".
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2015 7:57:20 GMT -5
[...] To get free of the ideas you have expressed, shift your attention away from ideas to what is happening in the present moment. Look, listen, feel, smell, taste. Be here now, psychologically. Take a walk in the woods. Sit on a park bench and watch children play. Stop imagining, and simply be. Help other people who need help. Perform random acts of kindness. Give money or time to worthwhile causes. Contemplate without reflection whatever issues concern you. This is a path to freedom. Go see the movie, "Wild." Pay attention to what is said in the last five minutes of the film. If Cheryl Strayed could get free of her past, then anyone can. Consider what is said about mistakes and "being redeemed." I watched "Wild" yesterday after reading this. Good movie. The end did resonate on some level. The actions you recommend - they do seem to have some effect, I can physically feel it. For now the effects seem temporary, but ... I'm still walking. I'll keep walking.
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Post by zendancer on Oct 3, 2015 15:25:43 GMT -5
[...] To get free of the ideas you have expressed, shift your attention away from ideas to what is happening in the present moment. Look, listen, feel, smell, taste. Be here now, psychologically. Take a walk in the woods. Sit on a park bench and watch children play. Stop imagining, and simply be. Help other people who need help. Perform random acts of kindness. Give money or time to worthwhile causes. Contemplate without reflection whatever issues concern you. This is a path to freedom. Go see the movie, "Wild." Pay attention to what is said in the last five minutes of the film. If Cheryl Strayed could get free of her past, then anyone can. Consider what is said about mistakes and "being redeemed." I watched "Wild" yesterday after reading this. Good movie. The end did resonate on some level. The actions you recommend - they do seem to have some effect, I can physically feel it. For now the effects seem temporary, but ... I'm still walking. I'll keep walking. Excellent. There are two other good movies that highlight the advantages of walking as a way to get "into one's body, become present to "what is, and out of one's head in order to become free of the past. One is "The Way" and the other is a documentary, "Walking the Camino, Six Ways to Santiago." The documentary is particularly good because it follows six different pilgrims as they walk the 500 miles of the Camino. There are also other books similar to "Wild" that describe how long hikes (on the Appalachian Trail and elsewhere) can have the same kind of effects that Cheryl Strayed described in her semi-spiritual autobiography. Recently a friend mentioned that he was thinking about hiking the Camino, and I told him that there are several world-famous trails that are used as spiritual pigrimages. The Kumano Kodo, in Japan, the trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, and other similar trails are often used as meditative retreat pilgrimages. After seeing photographs taken along the Kumano Kodo, I would love to hike that trail.
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Post by stardustpilgrim on Oct 3, 2015 17:49:31 GMT -5
Nisargadatta said: ------ No university will teach you how to live so that when the time of dying comes, you can say: I lived well I do not need to live again. Most of us die wishing we could live again. So many mistakes committed, so much left undone. ------ It seems this is how I will die. I feel I am condemned to reincarnation (whatever that means - I don't remember past lives) because I am old and regret the mistakes of youth, while it is too late to correct them, too late to create a life I want. I have no interest in being old and decayed. What can be done about this horror? Does spiritual awakening cure regret? Things are not as they seem, and you are not who you think you are. What you consider to be mistakes made in the past were not mistakes when they occurred. Given what you understood at the time, and all of the other factors in play at that time, the body/mind took actions that are now looked at in retrospect as mistakes. You could not have done anything other than what you did at that time. How do we know this? Because that is what you did. It is just as important to forgive yourself now for past actions as it is to forgive others. The body/mind will die, but who you really are was never born and will never die, so don't worry about reincarnation; the person you imagine yourself to be is a product of imagination. Yes, there is a body/mind, but look at it as if it were a rental car--something only used for a short period of time. The body/mind may be old, but who you really are has no age. To get free of the ideas you have expressed, shift your attention away from ideas to what is happening in the present moment. Look, listen, feel, smell, taste. Be here now, psychologically. Take a walk in the woods. Sit on a park bench and watch children play. Stop imagining, and simply be. Help other people who need help. Perform random acts of kindness. Give money or time to worthwhile causes. Contemplate without reflection whatever issues concern you. This is a path to freedom. Go see the movie, "Wild." Pay attention to what is said in the last five minutes of the film. If Cheryl Strayed could get free of her past, then anyone can. Consider what is said about mistakes and "being redeemed." Bottom line? Yes, realizations and existential insights can eliminate regret totally. robertk, It doesn't matter if reincarnation is a fact or not. At any one point in time you have to deal with what's before you, with what is. It doesn't matter if it came in part or maybe even in whole from a "previous life". The point is, it must be dealt with now. Even if there is a past and a future, you can only deal with now, the present moment. If there what's called samskaras, some kind of residue from the past, "karma", it can only be dealt with in the present moment. Even if you deal with it later, that later will be the present moment, then. Does that make sense? So the present moment is the only fulcrum and lever we will ever have. We perpetuate errors by living unconsciously, whether it's an error from 5 minutes ago or five years or, theoretically, 500 years. Saying all that to say that the most effective way to resolve issues, is to explore and do as ZD advises. Alexander the Great untied the Gordian Knot in one swing of one second.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2015 15:36:37 GMT -5
robertk, It doesn't matter if reincarnation is a fact or not. At any one point in time you have to deal with what's before you, with what is. It doesn't matter if it came in part or maybe even in whole from a "previous life". The point is, it must be dealt with now. Even if there is a past and a future, you can only deal with now, the present moment. If there what's called samskaras, some kind of residue from the past, "karma", it can only be dealt with in the present moment. Even if you deal with it later, that later will be the present moment, then. Does that make sense? So the present moment is the only fulcrum and lever we will ever have. Yes, that does make sense. All I've ever seen or known is "now", and what I have to deal with is now. All this stuff makes some "sense", but I can also doubt it. I guess one must go beyond the words, and I have not done that yet. I still have doubts. I still wonder if maybe you're all just crazy.
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Post by quinn on Oct 4, 2015 16:07:49 GMT -5
robertk, It doesn't matter if reincarnation is a fact or not. At any one point in time you have to deal with what's before you, with what is. It doesn't matter if it came in part or maybe even in whole from a "previous life". The point is, it must be dealt with now. Even if there is a past and a future, you can only deal with now, the present moment. If there what's called samskaras, some kind of residue from the past, "karma", it can only be dealt with in the present moment. Even if you deal with it later, that later will be the present moment, then. Does that make sense? So the present moment is the only fulcrum and lever we will ever have. Yes, that does make sense. All I've ever seen or known is "now", and what I have to deal with is now. All this stuff makes some "sense", but I can also doubt it. I guess one must go beyond the words, and I have not done that yet. I still have doubts. I still wonder if maybe you're all just crazy. Pick up a newspaper - that's the crazy.
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Post by laughter on Oct 4, 2015 20:31:53 GMT -5
robertk, It doesn't matter if reincarnation is a fact or not. At any one point in time you have to deal with what's before you, with what is. It doesn't matter if it came in part or maybe even in whole from a "previous life". The point is, it must be dealt with now. Even if there is a past and a future, you can only deal with now, the present moment. If there what's called samskaras, some kind of residue from the past, "karma", it can only be dealt with in the present moment. Even if you deal with it later, that later will be the present moment, then. Does that make sense? So the present moment is the only fulcrum and lever we will ever have. Yes, that does make sense. All I've ever seen or known is "now", and what I have to deal with is now. All this stuff makes some "sense", but I can also doubt it. I guess one must go beyond the words, and I have not done that yet. I still have doubts. I still wonder if maybe you're all just crazy. 6 years ago I wouldn't have spent more than 5 minutes looking at this forum or Shaun's site, but when that switch flipped it wasn't gradual.
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Post by stardustpilgrim on Oct 5, 2015 9:42:37 GMT -5
robertk, It doesn't matter if reincarnation is a fact or not. At any one point in time you have to deal with what's before you, with what is. It doesn't matter if it came in part or maybe even in whole from a "previous life". The point is, it must be dealt with now. Even if there is a past and a future, you can only deal with now, the present moment. If there what's called samskaras, some kind of residue from the past, "karma", it can only be dealt with in the present moment. Even if you deal with it later, that later will be the present moment, then. Does that make sense? So the present moment is the only fulcrum and lever we will ever have. Yes, that does make sense. All I've ever seen or known is "now", and what I have to deal with is now. All this stuff makes some "sense", but I can also doubt it. I guess one must go beyond the words, and I have not done that yet. I still have doubts. I still wonder if maybe you're all just crazy. robertk, Yes, that's the key, going beyond the words. And you're half way there if you recognize you have not done that yet. The self you know, what most of us take as our ordinary self, is a kind of feedback loop. We interpret all of life through the feedback loop, which then reinforces the loop, through feedback. A great deal of this occurs through language, this continual inner talking that goes on in the forebrain, roof-brain-chatter. The inner chatter is a filter that allows in only that which reinforces 'itself', namely, the feedback loop. To practice what ZD calls ATA-T (attend the actual minus thought, minus thinking) is to step outside the feedback loop, outside self. In the beginning we can usually do this for only a very brief 'time'. So you start over, try again. Eventually you will get at least a taste, of being outside, self. self doesn't exist in the present moment. I think it would not be incorrect to say that (~being~) self and being in the present moment, are mutually exclusive.
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Post by zin on Oct 5, 2015 17:19:22 GMT -5
robertk, It doesn't matter if reincarnation is a fact or not. At any one point in time you have to deal with what's before you, with what is. It doesn't matter if it came in part or maybe even in whole from a "previous life". The point is, it must be dealt with now. Even if there is a past and a future, you can only deal with now, the present moment. If there what's called samskaras, some kind of residue from the past, "karma", it can only be dealt with in the present moment. Even if you deal with it later, that later will be the present moment, then. Does that make sense? So the present moment is the only fulcrum and lever we will ever have. Yes, that does make sense. All I've ever seen or known is "now", and what I have to deal with is now. All this stuff makes some "sense", but I can also doubt it. I guess one must go beyond the words, and I have not done that yet. I still have doubts. I still wonder if maybe you're all just crazy. I guess I am from the crazy camp : ), and in any case I can't give advice. But your quote in the op took me to an online "I am That", I wish to put something from there. Also, you say "All this stuff makes some "sense"...", "The actions (...) - they do seem to have some effect, I can physically feel it"... you can follow this 'sense'; please don't think as 'temporary', 'too late', etc.. from 'I am That', chapter 66: Your outer life is unimportant. You can become a night watchman and live happily. It is what you are inwardly that matters. Your inner peace and joy you have to earn. It is much more difficult than earning money. No university can teach you to be yourself. The only way to learn is by practice. Right away begin to be yourself.
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Post by zendancer on Oct 5, 2015 18:13:46 GMT -5
Yes, that does make sense. All I've ever seen or known is "now", and what I have to deal with is now. All this stuff makes some "sense", but I can also doubt it. I guess one must go beyond the words, and I have not done that yet. I still have doubts. I still wonder if maybe you're all just crazy. I guess I am from the crazy camp : ), and in any case I can't give advice. But your quote in the op took me to an online "I am That", I wish to put something from there. Also, you say "All this stuff makes some "sense"...", "The actions (...) - they do seem to have some effect, I can physically feel it"... you can follow this 'sense'; please don't think as 'temporary', 'too late', etc.. from 'I am That', chapter 66: Your outer life is unimportant. You can become a night watchman and live happily. It is what you are inwardly that matters. Your inner peace and joy you have to earn. It is much more difficult than earning money. No university can teach you to be yourself. The only way to learn is by practice. Right away begin to be yourself.
Wow! I don't know which I like best, the quote or the line beneath it--"You must be extreme to reach the supreme." That's totally rad!
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Post by enigma on Oct 5, 2015 18:24:17 GMT -5
Nisargadatta said: ------ No university will teach you how to live so that when the time of dying comes, you can say: I lived well I do not need to live again. Most of us die wishing we could live again. So many mistakes committed, so much left undone. ------ It seems this is how I will die. I feel I am condemned to reincarnation (whatever that means - I don't remember past lives) because I am old and regret the mistakes of youth, while it is too late to correct them, too late to create a life I want. I have no interest in being old and decayed. What can be done about this horror? Does spiritual awakening cure regret? To begin with, it's a given that we will learn from our mistakes, and therefore see how we could have done differently. Regret is a different sort of animal. It implies self blame, and awakening will indeed change that.
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