Quote:

It is, in short, a deeply inward consent to be just exactly what we are and to feel just exactly what we are feeling at every moment, even before what we are has been changed, however slightly, by accepting it.

---

Quote:

But if we allow ourselves the freedom to be self-rejecting, judgmental, fearful, frozen, etc... and hold ourselves in love just because we exist...then there is real room to breathe and live.

---

--------------------

You got it.

Deviate said:

i see a lot of parallels between toaism and zen. i remember reading a zen book saying that instead of trying to free ourselves from delusion we should simply accept that we are deluded and not let it bother us. than we can begin to observe the process of delusion and through our understanding it will begin to dissapear.

---

Quote:

Stated boldly, if crudely, it is the insight that whatever we are just now, that is now what we should ideally be. For enlightenment, or accord with the Tao, remains unrealized as long as it is considered as a specific state to be attained, and for which there are tests and standards of success. It is much rather freedom to be the failure that one is.

---

This is what most people forget. Even the act of telling someone that you can't find enlightenment by looking for it does nothing for them, because they will only begin to think for themselves when they realize everything for themselves. You can never escape from the previously trod paths by following other sheep; in my opinion, the best way to do this is to give up all previous beliefs and prejudices acquired and simplify everything to its utmost. Accept nothing at face value, and accept nothing without first discarding it and then rediscovering it, even this statement. Otherwise, you could simply be hauling ancient prejudices into an already weighed-down mind.

I don't agree with the concepts of oneness, because I believe that all there is that is part of us, we are experiencing in this moment. I am not experiencing oneness in this moment, nor am I experiencing God, so in my opinion they are not part of reality and therefore are extra; they do not simplify, but expand and add air pockets into an otherwise pure philosophy. We can gain knowledge, hone our body and mind, but we can never truely grow, because the experience is of the same nature no matter what path we take. Even those who follow others have the same nature of an experience as I do, despite any differences in philosophy; the true difference is simply one of minor details, and how much we want to add onto the dirt of the path.

Quote:

Are you aware enough to know consciously everything that your brain is experiencing? Can you experience more with practice? Is there an upper limit to what the brain can experience consciously?

---