I have to admit I'm struggling to wrap my head around this. I know intuitively on some level that it's true but I feel stuck trying to integrate it fully.
So for example I'm used to working from home but my work is forcing everyone to come into office. I know that it bothers me and being bothered equals to wanting and wanting equals lack. So I work on getting to a place where I'm not bothered about it anymore, and I'm getting there slowly but surely.
But also another feeling arises that I'm just being apathetic and lazy and letting life happen to me instead of taking charge which is also what Lester teaches: "be a winner in life!" he says.
I need guidance for how to integrate this because it feels like a paradox to me. Thanks in advance!
I think a sense of equanimity is what ought to be emphasized. When you're unbothered by what goes on, you can choose to change what goes on by changing your internal state in regard to it. So just because you let go of that sense of bother you feel being forced to go into the office doesn't mean you can't also manifest a situation where you can work from home again.
There's an even deeper level to it, though. "Bother" itself, and the urge to resist (or even to release) it points to some meaning. If I am bothered, that means something bad. If you release that meaning (again, the meaning, and not the feeling of being bothered), then you can be bothered and not be bothered by that fact. Lol.
This idea is tough. I think many people discuss it in weird ways that lead you to believe the end goal is to suffer immensely but somehow not care. In my opinion, that isn't the goal. But when you can get underneath your most central "meanings" (having a sick or injured body means something terrible, not being liked means something terrible, etc.) there can be a sudden allieviation of tension. Pain doesn't cease to be pain, but pain ceases to mean something -- and there's freedom in that idea, and in the fact that, stripped of meaning, it's very easy to let go of pain and bring about something more pleasurable.
This is (admittedly) a pretty advanced teaching. But one that might bring substantial peace after it's chewed on for a while.
"So just because you let go of that sense of bother you feel being forced to go into the office doesn't mean you can't also manifest a situation where you can work from home again."
thanks for this. i think this is the source of my stuckness. the letting go and allowing also includes setting firm intentions and having them manifest in our experience. it's a paradox and my mind screams at it because the mind doesn't like paradoxes. i feel like a lot of spiritual growth has to do with transcending paradoxes.
"If you release that meaning (again, the meaning, and not the feeling of being bothered), then you can be bothered and not be bothered by that fact. Lol."
this is exactly what I mean. it's so subtle how even the intention to release itself implies being bothered by the thing you intend to release. again, paradoxes galore. can you write an article about the paradoxes inherent in spiritual progress and what to do to transcend them? i say transcend since paradoxes by definition cannot be resolved, but maybe I'm wrong? I think an article about this would be really helpful.
"This idea is tough. I think many people discuss it in weird ways that lead you to believe the end goal is to suffer immensely but somehow not care. In my opinion, that isn't the goal."
lord have mercy I wasted many years thinking exactly this, and needless to say i suffered immensely. but I also cared. that was hell. i'm glad i'm out of it. so now i'm starting over but in a way that's empowering me instead of suffering and pretending not to care. what is spirituality but the journey of reminding yourself of your true power? at least that's how i approach it these days. thanks for the amazing write up as always!
If the objective is to live in a state of the desire already being fulfilled which includes having the feelings of what the desire represents, how can that occur if there is no meaning to what your desire offers? How do you conjure a feeling for something that has no meaning to you?
Things don’t have to mean anything to have feelings associated with them. A red light is red and a green light is green whether red means stop and green means go or not.
Meaning binds certain feelings to certain experiences. It makes it impossible to access those feelings in the absence of their specifically connected experiences. When you drop meaning, you can access any feeling you choose easily (and feelings are different just because they’re different in the same way that green is green and different from red)
"You can be broke, hated, and sick but still totally at peace and happy."
Is this because these are only subjective meanings we've applied to circumstances? And by not applying a negative meaning or meaning in general to these external circumstances we'd actually produce different circumstances due to the more "peaceful and positive" state we're in?
Yes -- be careful to avoid mind games with this kind of question, though. Meaning, sometimes people accept the premise (You can be broke, hated, and sick but still be totally at peace and happy) only on the condition that an "invisible payoff" is also guaranteed (by being happy, you'll manifest your way out of these circumstances).
It's not that this isn't true -- you would manifest your way out of the circumstances if you maintained a state of peace and happiness -- it's just that true acceptance of one's circumstances is unconditional. So you could still be at peace and happy even without producing different circumstances. We see many instances of this with masters who make conscious decisions to have sick bodies and/or live in states of poverty.
You bring up a good point. Most teachings on manifesting are about letting go of the desire, which to the mental fragment pushing to manifest something sounds like poison. Pursuing that path has always felt like a tug of war between a part of the mind wanting to manifest through direct intervention and another part which wants to manifest the more gentle and organic way. But either way it becomes a war between two fragments that "want" something.
Releasing the meaning has been the missing puzzle piece for me. From where I am, it sounds like a win-win. If the thing manifests as a result, great.. If not, it's still great because the source of the pain of not having has been released anyway!
I have to admit I'm struggling to wrap my head around this. I know intuitively on some level that it's true but I feel stuck trying to integrate it fully.
So for example I'm used to working from home but my work is forcing everyone to come into office. I know that it bothers me and being bothered equals to wanting and wanting equals lack. So I work on getting to a place where I'm not bothered about it anymore, and I'm getting there slowly but surely.
But also another feeling arises that I'm just being apathetic and lazy and letting life happen to me instead of taking charge which is also what Lester teaches: "be a winner in life!" he says.
I need guidance for how to integrate this because it feels like a paradox to me. Thanks in advance!
I think a sense of equanimity is what ought to be emphasized. When you're unbothered by what goes on, you can choose to change what goes on by changing your internal state in regard to it. So just because you let go of that sense of bother you feel being forced to go into the office doesn't mean you can't also manifest a situation where you can work from home again.
There's an even deeper level to it, though. "Bother" itself, and the urge to resist (or even to release) it points to some meaning. If I am bothered, that means something bad. If you release that meaning (again, the meaning, and not the feeling of being bothered), then you can be bothered and not be bothered by that fact. Lol.
This idea is tough. I think many people discuss it in weird ways that lead you to believe the end goal is to suffer immensely but somehow not care. In my opinion, that isn't the goal. But when you can get underneath your most central "meanings" (having a sick or injured body means something terrible, not being liked means something terrible, etc.) there can be a sudden allieviation of tension. Pain doesn't cease to be pain, but pain ceases to mean something -- and there's freedom in that idea, and in the fact that, stripped of meaning, it's very easy to let go of pain and bring about something more pleasurable.
This is (admittedly) a pretty advanced teaching. But one that might bring substantial peace after it's chewed on for a while.
"So just because you let go of that sense of bother you feel being forced to go into the office doesn't mean you can't also manifest a situation where you can work from home again."
thanks for this. i think this is the source of my stuckness. the letting go and allowing also includes setting firm intentions and having them manifest in our experience. it's a paradox and my mind screams at it because the mind doesn't like paradoxes. i feel like a lot of spiritual growth has to do with transcending paradoxes.
"If you release that meaning (again, the meaning, and not the feeling of being bothered), then you can be bothered and not be bothered by that fact. Lol."
this is exactly what I mean. it's so subtle how even the intention to release itself implies being bothered by the thing you intend to release. again, paradoxes galore. can you write an article about the paradoxes inherent in spiritual progress and what to do to transcend them? i say transcend since paradoxes by definition cannot be resolved, but maybe I'm wrong? I think an article about this would be really helpful.
"This idea is tough. I think many people discuss it in weird ways that lead you to believe the end goal is to suffer immensely but somehow not care. In my opinion, that isn't the goal."
lord have mercy I wasted many years thinking exactly this, and needless to say i suffered immensely. but I also cared. that was hell. i'm glad i'm out of it. so now i'm starting over but in a way that's empowering me instead of suffering and pretending not to care. what is spirituality but the journey of reminding yourself of your true power? at least that's how i approach it these days. thanks for the amazing write up as always!
If the objective is to live in a state of the desire already being fulfilled which includes having the feelings of what the desire represents, how can that occur if there is no meaning to what your desire offers? How do you conjure a feeling for something that has no meaning to you?
Things don’t have to mean anything to have feelings associated with them. A red light is red and a green light is green whether red means stop and green means go or not.
Meaning binds certain feelings to certain experiences. It makes it impossible to access those feelings in the absence of their specifically connected experiences. When you drop meaning, you can access any feeling you choose easily (and feelings are different just because they’re different in the same way that green is green and different from red)
Can you go more into the how of releasing the meaning? Is it the same steps to releasing emotions that you talk about in your book?
Yes it is the same process. Just approaching the practice from a different angle
"You can be broke, hated, and sick but still totally at peace and happy."
Is this because these are only subjective meanings we've applied to circumstances? And by not applying a negative meaning or meaning in general to these external circumstances we'd actually produce different circumstances due to the more "peaceful and positive" state we're in?
Yes -- be careful to avoid mind games with this kind of question, though. Meaning, sometimes people accept the premise (You can be broke, hated, and sick but still be totally at peace and happy) only on the condition that an "invisible payoff" is also guaranteed (by being happy, you'll manifest your way out of these circumstances).
It's not that this isn't true -- you would manifest your way out of the circumstances if you maintained a state of peace and happiness -- it's just that true acceptance of one's circumstances is unconditional. So you could still be at peace and happy even without producing different circumstances. We see many instances of this with masters who make conscious decisions to have sick bodies and/or live in states of poverty.
You bring up a good point. Most teachings on manifesting are about letting go of the desire, which to the mental fragment pushing to manifest something sounds like poison. Pursuing that path has always felt like a tug of war between a part of the mind wanting to manifest through direct intervention and another part which wants to manifest the more gentle and organic way. But either way it becomes a war between two fragments that "want" something.
Releasing the meaning has been the missing puzzle piece for me. From where I am, it sounds like a win-win. If the thing manifests as a result, great.. If not, it's still great because the source of the pain of not having has been released anyway!