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yeah...tho, you know, the person who goes to close the door becomes an instant hero. there is always balance. someone inconsiderate leaving the door open gives the choice to everyone in the room to stand by or be considerate and go close the door. also everyone who feels a rant bubbling up probably needed an insignificant reason to freely rant a bit, to blow off some accumulated steam. someone else might welcome the wave of fresh air. someone else might not even notice. someone else might get invited in by the opened door. and also the person leaving the door open might look inconsiderate, but no one really knows the story behind their moment of 'slip' (nice how close sounding slip and sleep are, no? ).

Flolflolil, who debated about posting or not? and who's having this new experience of reality?

Beliefs themselves are not a prison. they are more like...spaces we dwell in. they're like building blocks for reality models that we live in. Holding on to a belief/set of beliefs it's what chains. Instead of freely flowing, one becomes anchored to their belief through their own clinging to it. I don't know if it's possible to be without belief. what i know is that there's no sense of prison if there's no holding on. going with the first metaphor, a set of beliefs is more like a room than a prison if one doesn't lock themselves in it. they're free at any moment to leave it and enter another room and so on. being imprisoned in a set of beliefs it's a bit like agoraphobia, where the person becomes imprisoned in their own home by their own fear of what's outside. and about the idea that a person without beliefs wouldn't distinguish between right and wrong...beliefs are mind territory. the heart can distinguish and guide just fine without subscribing to any belief.

i didn't say the chair isn't real. it is. and that's the magic of it. it's real, you can sit on it and is made out of nothingness.

So you're done with understanding the 'natural' world and now you're moving on towards the supernatural? the chair you sit on is made out of nothing and you're now probably raising a made out of nothing eyebrow, which is not even yours because there's no you. this is the natural world. isn't it magic enough to deserve more exploring before moving on?

everyone interprets reality through the lenses of their beliefs. and that becomes their world. so... 1. the power of jesus's name on someone's lips is equivalent to their faith in jesus's name and all that it means for them. someone's faith 'focal point' might be as strong and have a name other than jesus and work as well. 2.what's the basis for this statement? the fact that in the christian bubble certain experiences are being interpreted as NDE? same kind of experiences happen outside the christian world too, they are just being interpreted (and ofc managed) differently and thus they won't count as NDE. if you ask the question looking through a biased filter, you'll get a biased answer. 3. again, bias. only someone with jesus in mind would ask entities about jesus the lord, no? there is already a set of beliefs there about jesus, what he represents, about a way an entity would react to jesus's name, etc. a trip is just like any other reality, is shaped upon one's beliefs. what one would experience as entities being hostile upon hearing jesus's name, another might experience as darkness dissolving when they think of light or little goblins running when a fairy is summoned. what i mean to say is trips are customized according to one's filters. 4. see above. same principle applies. 5. i don't get your point on this one. Circling back to your initial dilemma, same thing applies. Doubt arose on your path and it takes this form according to your set of beliefs. be at peace, doubt is ever present and natural. the truth of what you are and what your mind knows of it are at odds. they'll always be, because the mind can't grasp it, it can only circle around. there'll always be a sense of it's not quite it in your mind. that's the seed of doubt. mind will take it and weave stories upon it based on what it knows, on what you believe. the truth is the same, regardless of what one makes out of it. any story about it is as good as another, when you go at the root of it. when in doubt, analyse your intention. where does it come from? fear or love? how does it feel? unifying or separating? it's power driven or harmonizing? it's the most simple thing. don't go against your heart and you can't go wrong, regardless of the story you buy into. being your best self in any moment has nothing to do with your school of thought, because the inner guidance doesn't come through the mind, it's just being interpreted by it. drop your thoughts and listen to what's left. you'll know what to do.

In this 'part of the continuum', you kind of are your body, I kind of am my body. at the same time, there is no your or mine in the continuum, someone to be or own a body. it can't really be, no? it's a continuum. the body is more like a spot of condensed sense of self in the continuum. The strong sense of me/mine. It's distinct from what's around it, but is not separate. it's one of those this and that thingy, like everything else. You are your body and at the same time there is no-body and no you to have it. the paradoxical nature of the mystery is amazing, isn't it? being everything at once and none of it at the same time is totally mind blowing.

Trees are indeed wonderful. Every forest is an enchanted forest. I'd recommend anyone to befriend a tree. All it requires is love for the tree and openness. Once a connection through that opening is established, just sit by your tree friend and ask it to teach you. Their teaching is subtle and yet very clear, like a silent smile felt through the phone. They find the simplest and most clear metaphors to convey the indescribable. they're also wonderful silence companions. And you know that once you had a dog, you understand all dogs. once you had a cat, you understand cats. same with the trees. going in the forest after you've befriended a tree is a whole new experience than it used to be before.

Look back. Asking this question is proof that the first 3 steps had already happened. whatever they might have been for you.

if the world would be your mirror, can you see how the beliefs you are holding about reality, spiced with an eagerness to sense stuff, might reflect back at you as this thing happening? add to that the fact that you are interpreting what is happening through the lenses of said beliefs and you've got yourself a quite scary reality to live in. I am not saying that is not real. everything is as real as one believes it to be. i am just saying that it's up to you in which layer of reality you want to live. are there any benefits to it? compare the pros and cons. I mean, is a bit paradoxical. is it easier for you to believe that someone else is manipulating your reality with their thoughts, rather than believe that you are doing it? if i were you, i'd just go about my day peacefully, rather than feed a story that feels like too much work for too little gain. that's just me, tho. if to you creating and taking on a 'wizard challenge' of materializing thoughts being thrown back and forth feels fun and empowering in some way, do that.

something can't build up unless it's in a closed space, no? if anger comes up and you panic and think 'here we go again, alert, anger coming up!', that will trigger an automatic defense mechanism of 'closing the lid to avoid anger flood' and everything that comes up will meet that lid and build up underneath it. the body constricts trying to withstand/isolate the pressure and meditation becomes something you bare, instead of something you relax into, no? either know and understand the anger (anger is also you, after all, it's not separate from you), or just set it free without questioning it (if you feel it might be storing stuff that you don't want to confront). first step would be not judging it. anger is not good or bad, it's just there, being what it is. we tend to deem things as being bad if we look at them through the lenses of fear. so you might start by asking yourself, why is anger scary for you? what makes you push against it? what are your beliefs about anger? for a true inquiry, you'd have to drop those beliefs at least for the time of the inquiry, to see beyond of 'what you think of it'. just look at the core of it and see what you find there. if anger is what comes up in meditation, then this is what needs to be seen. everything that comes up wants to be seen and heard. it's not a 'meditation error'. the meditation is working, is just not working in the way you think it should work. also, let me ask you, what's meditation for you? it has a goal/purpose, or is an opening to what is?

It's ok to do whatever you feel inspired to do. there is no universal path. Don't overthink it. If you feel like reciting them, do. They/some might stick with you, they/some might fall off. Things have a way of coming in and out of our life naturally. we just like to think that we're doing all of it, that we somehow control life.

i think why the definition of enlightenment is such a tricky thing is because it's paradoxical. enlightenment is a never ending process because it's like gradually turning on the city lights into the infinite. which is infinite, so...never ending. at the same time, turning on the lights into the infinite only reveals the mystery. there's nothing to know there, really. nothing to chase, nothing to look for, nothing to achieve. so in a way, one may be enlightened once they realize the mystery and yet, at the same time, the enlightenment 'deepens' with the continuous unfolding of the mystery. how to convey it? it's like unwrapping a gift of a box in a box in a box in a box and so on for infinity. one is realized when they know with no trace of a doubt that it's just going to be a box in a box in a box for infinity and no matter how much unwrapping they'll do, they'll always find just the next box. once one realize is just boxes, they are enlightened. and yet, at the same time, the more they unwrap, the more they discover. it's just that they are free of the 'looking for something in there'. going with the gift boxes metaphor,awakening is the moment when one opens the first box. and there's no going back from it, once the unwrapping starts. an awakened one knows there's more to it, but they are still unwrapping with a purpose, they are still looking for something at the end of it.

there are no bad judgments. at any given moment, we are what we are and that's the most we can be in that given moment. the misreading of the signs is part of whom one is in that moment, is their 'signs literacy' level at that time. people have this tendency of beating themselves up with what ifs and could have done more and not good enough and finding error and guilt. every moment/experience is showing one where they're at, not where they aren't. where they aren't is all in their head, because if they aren't there, how could they really know where they aren't, you know what i mean? sometimes in retrospect something might look like a bad judgement and that's because in the meantime more data was accumulated and processed and the one looking back is not the same person who made the 'bad judgement'. life is like a refining process and all phases, experiences and moments are part of it. as they are. Responding to the title: what to me feels like a life crossroad is always a choice between 'i know for sure i don't want this' and 'whatever'. the sense is so strong that it doesn't even feel like a choice, really. it's like standing on the edge of a cliff. i might have no idea where i want to go from there, but i am sure i don't want to jump. so naturally, my next step will be moving away from the edge. then i'll see or time will tell, or whatever. i can only find my second step if my first one isn't over the edge of the cliff, you know?

meanwhile, in russia. people playing with superpowers to pass their time.