Searching for truth.

[Audie]

No i have no doubt it is correct.

People are different.
For me, nothing in my understanding
of the world is closed to all consideration.

It is scary to imagine what it would mean
if I ever let the element of doubt go dark.

 

[Audie]

Can it and sell it

That is what the goddies have been pretending to
do for many centuries.

 

[Windwalker]

In what way do you search for truth?

for me i look for truth from within. (inner wisdom)

I was half-teasing a friend recently, playing the role of "wise sage". I said, "To seek Enlightenment, do not seek Enlightenment". There is actually truth in this. Don't look for it. Don't seek to gain it for yourself. Do not approach it as something you do not have and must find. Doing so will only find a projection of your own expectations, or an image of your own "seeking self" which is the ego which sees itself as separate from the Divine, that the Divine is something outside one's own self.

What you "do" instead is letting go of trying to find it, and simply let it arise from within without the ego trying to claim it as something it can "attain". The seeking, is the removal of obstacles in ourselves that block us from Realizing it. We seek to "not seek". We seek to "let go". We seek simply to learn how to "allow". Again, and again, and again, until we actually do. Then you can simply enjoy what's been there all along, what's been yours even before you started seeking it.

 

[Spirit of Light]

How does rebirth (I would assume not reincarnation as in Hinduism) play a part in your life now?

Who are you as a rebirthed being?
Do you remember your previous rebirths?

Nonbelievers are in a rebirth cycle as well. They are working towards nibanna in little steps. When you bow to an unbeliever and he doesnt bow to you, what does that mean to you? If you dont bow back when he bows to you, why?

Where do you place other people?

Truth has many many questions.

I have some memory from what seem to be a revious life, but i have not yet been able to prove it, what i do remember is working as a blacksmith (not sure of spelling) but in this ife time i have not been near this form of work. if you ask about country or timeline i do not know.( what seem to me as past life can ofcouse be something else) but if i do get a provable answer i will tell.

if i was to bow toward a non beiever and they not bow back i would not think of it, but personally i only bow toward buddhist monks, but ofcourse if a lay buddhist or a non believer was to bow to me i would bow back in respect.

where do i place other people? this i do not understand?

 

[Spirit of Light]

I was half-teasing a friend recently, playing the role of "wise sage". I said, "To seek Enlightenment, do not seek Enlightenment". There is actually truth in this. Don't look for it. Don't seek to gain it for yourself. Do not approach it as something you do not have and must find. Doing so will only find a projection of your own expectations, or an image of your own "seeking self" which is the ego which sees itself as separate from the Divine, that the Divine is something outside one's own self.

What you "do" instead is letting go of trying to find it, and simply let it arise from within without the ego trying to claim it as something it can "attain". The seeking, is the removal of obstacles in ourselves that block us from Realizing it. We seek to "not seek". We seek to "let go". We seek simply to learn how to "allow". Again, and again, and again, until we actually do. Then you can simply enjoy what's been there all along, what's been yours even before you started seeking it.

in your statement here it is truth.

 

[Audie]

I was half-teasing a friend recently, playing the role of "wise sage". I said, "To seek Enlightenment, do not seek Enlightenment". There is actually truth in this. Don't look for it. Don't seek to gain it for yourself. Do not approach it as something you do not have and must find. Doing so will only find a projection of your own expectations, or an image of your own "seeking self" which is the ego which sees itself as separate from the Divine, that the Divine is something outside one's own self.

What you "do" instead is letting go of trying to find it, and simply let it arise from within without the ego trying to claim it as something it can "attain". The seeking, is the removal of obstacles in ourselves that block us from Realizing it. We seek to "not seek". We seek to "let go". We seek simply to learn how to "allow". Again, and again, and again, until we actually do. Then you can simply enjoy what's been there all along, what's been yours even before you started seeking it.

I'd not be mistaken here for a "seeker" but this
all has quite the ring of truth to it.

The "seek within" stuff, to me, seems very
egotistical, self centered.

Not that I listened, but Mom taught that,
translated to English, I should seek myself
in what I do for others.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I have some memory from what seem to be a revious life, but i have not yet been able to prove it, what i do remember is working as a blacksmith (not sure of spelling) but in this ife time i have not been near this form of work. if you ask about country or timeline i do not know.( what seem to me as past life can ofcouse be something else) but if i do get a provable answer i will tell.

if i was to bow toward a non beiever and they not bow back i would not think of it, but personally i only bow toward buddhist monks, but ofcourse if a lay buddhist or a non believer was to bow to me i would bow back in respect.

where do i place other people? this i do not understand?

Yeah. The questions on this post and the other I ask cause truth can be found anywhere external and internal. Its a matter of how you see it rather than one being seen and the other invisible.

With the above, not many of us know our past lives. I have a feeling mine has to do with the Holocaust. There are a lot of crucial things happen on world history, but for some reason when I think if it, read, or type it I have dreams and physical sensations up my spine. One dream I was alone without a family, in a train, being sent to camp. Other times I'm outside looking in. We have a Holocaust museum near me. I only went once and never went back.

Outside of that, what is your relationship with your environent; and, how does your physical environment (or does it?) contribute truth within you?

 

[viole]

In what way do you search for truth?

for me i look for truth from within. (inner wisdom)

Very deep. Alas, like most deep things is also meaningless.

Ciao

- viole

 

[Spirit of Light]

Yeah. The questions on this post and the other I ask cause truth can be found anywhere external and internal. Its a matter of how you see it rather than one being seen and the other invisible.

With the above, not many of us know our past lives. I have a feeling mine has to do with the Holocaust. There are a lot of crucial things happen on world history, but for some reason when I think if it, read, or type it I have dreams and physical sensations up my spine. One dream I was alone without a family, in a train, being sent to camp. Other times I'm outside looking in. We have a Holocaust museum near me. I only went once and never went back.

Outside of that, what is your relationship with your environent; and, how does your physical environment (or does it?) contribute truth within you?

I do very seldom take part in the enviroment(sosial) around me, except for my fianceè one friend and the people in the temple. (i do not work at the moment) so the truth i seek is from study dharma and those times something happens in family both good and bad situations can teach us something, to enlighten to in life.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I do very seldom take part in the enviroment(sosial) around me, except for my fianceè one friend and the people in the temple. (i do not work at the moment) so the truth i seek is from study dharma and those times something happens in family both good and bad situations can teach us something, to enlighten to in life.

Since temple, family, etc are external things that influence and part of your internal, what do you mean by truth only being internal?

What is your definition of external to where there needs to be a difference between the two when speaking of truth?

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I should seek myself
in what I do for others.

Deep.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Since temple, family, etc are external things that influence and part of your internal, what do you mean by truth only being internal?

What is your definition of external to where there needs to be a difference between the two when speaking of truth?

The physical worldis an illusion in form of all the attachments we make, example what or who we cinging to, jealosy. greed, anger, happiness, sadness. all this is things that are not ever lasting, but we clinging to it because most people can not live in the moment, 99% of humans live in past or future but not in present moment.so they suffer from wanting something or fearing what will be in future. when living in present moment most of suffering is gone.

internal i have calmness even in a chaotic world as we living in. because i do not clinging to the external world.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

The physical worldis an illusion in form of all the attachments we make, example what or who we cinging to, jealosy. greed, anger, happiness, sadness. all this is things that are not ever lasting, but we clinging to it because most people can not live in the moment, 99% of humans live in past or future but not in present moment.so they suffer from wanting something or fearing what will be in future. when living in present moment most of suffering is gone.

internal i have calmness even in a chaotic world as we living in. because i do not clinging to the external world.

How do you place your loved ones in that attachment?
(Asking because truth comes close to home)

 

[InvestigateTruth]

In what way do you search for truth?

for me i look for truth from within. (inner wisdom)

I hear all words that comes to me and choose the best and most correct one.

 

[Spirit of Light]

How do you place your loved ones in that attachment?
(Asking because truth comes close to home)

I think instead of the physial love that others feel i have unconditional love toward my fianceè. meaning even if she was to get very mad at me i would still be calm and show her my love no matter what.

I dont want to lose my family, but in same time i know that suddenly things could happen and what if she died? i would have acepted it because life is sometimes not easy to understand.
I already lost both my parents to cancer. and i can think of them without sadness within me.

one an not cling to physical worldly things beause there is always an end to it.

 

[Audie]

Deep.

"seek yourself
in what I do for others."

She also said that if you live for yourself,
you live for nothing.

But maybe that is some sort of Eastern thinking,
not applicable elsewhere.

As for "calm in a chaotic world", I live in NYC
because I like the energy. Time enough for
quiet after I am dead!

 

[George-ananda]

In what way do you search for truth?

for me i look for truth from within. (inner wisdom)

Certainly inner wisdom is a source but I wonder if some people go astray by not being spiritually developed enough to trust their inner wisdom or they confuse it with their thoughts.

I am of the opinion that great spiritual masters have come before me and I learn from them too. To me, I found all the great ones are basically on the same page and that is the page I learn from.

 

[Windwalker]

I'd not be mistaken here for a "seeker" but this
all has quite the ring of truth to it.

The "seek within" stuff, to me, seems very
egotistical, self centered.

Not that I listened, but Mom taught that,
translated to English, I should seek myself
in what I do for others.

It seems counter-intuitive, but the injunction to "seek within" in fact results in moving out of an egoistic perspective. The more deeply one "goes within" the more one sees others. Looking within reveals the illusory nature of the ego, and we end up identifying less with it as a result. And as a result of this, compassion for others grows. But as I qualified, that seeking is not add to the ego something it lacks, it is to seek to see beyond its demands of us, to let it go, and allow what is already fully within us to flow out of us. And what is within us, is a love for the whole world, as it is the same love that is seen in all others as we now know within ourselves.

The path your mother suggested is also a good one that leads someone to that same place of realization. In doing service to others, it opens you to that universal love in yourself, showing you that your ego and its needs are really not the primary focus of living life. A life of service is something big with the Catholic church, and there is a true spiritual basis for doing that, which is to open the heart to the world, which is how the Love of God is seen as being poured out to the world. That too then becomes an expression of that Realization within us. The Source, is within. Love is within us.

In both paths, and there are others as well, the ego becomes dissolved and the heart is opened. But yes, sometime navel-gazing can become distorted into narcissistic self-congratulations. The ego is tenacious, and it will seek for anything it can claim to "look good" when it seeks validation for itself. That can happen in service to others too, "Look how good I am feeding all these homeless people!". Spiritual ego is a sneaky one, since it is afterall doing "good works". Becoming more self-aware, beyond the ego-self, one can see that habit of mind in its patterns. Ego just wants to feed. So we put it on a bit of a diet.

To me the problem is resolved in any of these paths by simply touching into what voice is speaking. What desire is compelling? Is it about appearance, or is it authentic? Any authentic action at all, can lead someone to Truth. Being authentic puts you at Home in the world. To me, Enlightenment is awakening to our authentic Self, the real "Us" that inhabits this body, which sees others as one's own self, with compassion and no judgment. We have to transcend the ego first, then we can hold ourselves with that "Love" which holds the whole world. It all flows together, like streams to and from an Infinite Fountain. If we block that in ourselves, then we never really know the Truth, and we can't see it anywhere. Once that is unblocked, then it's recognized in everyone and everything.

 

[Shantanu]

In what way do you search for truth?

for me i look for truth from within. (inner wisdom)

The only way to seek the truth is to set up theories and then look for evidence that confirm or reject the theory. This includes internal and external truths.

 

[Audie]

The only way to seek the truth is to set up theories and then look for evidence that confirm or reject the theory. This includes internal and external truths.

Oh now, there are a lot of ways to seek.

How well they work is another matter.