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How do you make decisions the spiritual way?

How does one deal with difficult decisions? From the psychological perspective, it's important that one be clear and honest about what you want. Therapy and artistic expression can help with this. But from a purely spiritual perspective, you simply recognize that you are not the doer and that you have nothing to do with decisions. You let the mind fall absolutely quiet through surrender or inquiry. The funny thing is that these approaches are not actually opposed. They occur in different contexts.

More at https://www.siftingtothetruth.com/ Donate at https://donorbox.org/contribute-to-the-spiritual-mission How does one deal with difficult decisions? Fro...

The feeling of Knowledge on the way to enlightenment

There is a difference between the feeling of the still mind, that is, bliss, and the sense or coming of Knowledge of the Self, whose nature is insight... Even insights are temporary and *not* the real Self, but they constitute the 'gate' part of the 'gateless gate', and there are certain distinguishing characteristics that can be helpful for the seeker: the inversion of in and out in what I've called in the past the spacious mind. You thought you were a body inside the world; now you see that you are a world within which a body is. Insights are revisited over and over again through self-inquiry and surrender until they burn away all residual ignorance and become steady, at which time it becomes clear that insights and ignorance were both illusions.

More at https://www.siftingtothetruth.com/ Donate at https://donorbox.org/contribute-to-the-spiritual-mission There is a difference between the feeling of th...

The Great Spiritual Secret: Without Identification, Anxiety is Ecstasy

Anxiety, which stands for the all the difficult and negative emotions stemming from desire -- desire which basically comes from the sense of division created by a sense of individuality -- is only anxiety when one identifies with the entity that it burdens, that it inflicts with work and pain and wanting. If the mind is pure and no longer so identifies, all those anxieties transform into nothing other than the ecstasy and the bliss of Self.

Anxiety, which stands for the all the difficult and negative emotions stemming from desire -- desire which basically comes from the sense of division created...

Enlightenment is discernment driven all the way to the end

Spiritual awakening or liberation is essentially a matter of immense, intense discernment -- an act of focused distinguishing away of all the things one is not, which then reveals what one really is, though that revelation is not to the one who originally sought it. That's the paradox of seeking: you seek as you know that you are what you seek. The intense discernment required for the search is driven by equally intense desire for liberation, which generates, through practice, a relatively quiet mind, and focus... which must be then be channeled all the way through -- to discerning away ALL the things that you are not. There is an end to the process, but it is not what you think it is.

Spiritual awakening or liberation is essentially a matter of immense, intense discernment -- an act of focused distinguishing away of all the things one is n...

Self-inquiry and surrender are two sides of the same coin

Ramana Maharshi would often equate self-inquiry and surrender, and they are indeed the same process from two different angles, with slightly different emphases. Self-inquiry chases the "I am," seeks to localize it, and thus moves away from all other thought. Surrender backs away from all thought, and so walks backwards into the "I am." Both involve continuous vigilance and increasingly subtle discernment.

Ramana Maharshi would often equate self-inquiry and surrender, and they are indeed the same process from two different angles, with slightly different emphas...

Chasing reflectivity: seek to notice the 'mirror' quality of each moment

Reflectivity is a central concept for the seeker... each moment has a kind of unchangeable quality which isn't about its content, but is a reflection of the experiencer, of the Self. The seeker needs to chase that reflectivity, which is nothing but being, awareness, bliss and, the I. The chase for reflectivity can never result in catching it, but it can result in a restructuring of the mind that destroys the ignorant belief that "I am an experiencing, doing person" that conceals the *true* reflectivity.

Reflectivity is a central concept for the seeker... each moment has a kind of unchangeable quality which isn't about its content, but is a reflection of the ...

How can a seeker do self-inquiry or surrender even while doing mentally challenging tasks?

Seekers of enlightenment or nondual liberation must do self-inquiry or surrender at every waking moment. But how is this compatible with complex mental tasks in daily life? It seems like they must interfere with each other. There are a few different ways to answer this question. At one level the answer is that practice makes perfect. At another level the answer is that the very issue is rooted in the egoic illusion, which inquiry and surrender are aimed at destroying. You are not the thinker of your thoughts and doer of your actions.

Seekers of enlightenment or nondual liberation must do self-inquiry or surrender at every waking moment. But how is this compatible with complex mental tasks...

To cut identification with thought, we search for it and find it doesn't exist

Thought -- or rather, more specifically, taking thought seriously, 'identifying with it' -- is the root of all our dissatisfaction, unhappiness, and existential confusion. To pierce the identification, we repeatedly attempt to discern the background against which thoughts occur, and the end result is that identification is realized to be a fiction. No one was affected by it, no one pierced it. But paradoxically, great effort is required for this to happen.

Thought -- or rather, more specifically, taking thought seriously, 'identifying with it' -- is the root of all our dissatisfaction, unhappiness, and existent...

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