TranquilTurmoil

I didn't even remember this thread! It was a trip to see this brought back! My spiritual journey started with Eckhart Tolle via A New Earth and the Power of Now. I have re-visited Tolle a little bit in recent years. It was quite shocking to read and re-visit these years of my life. One of the traps I was in back then was not taking certain aspects of my mental-psycho-social life as self, and thinking that was nonself... and then re-ifying my "pain-body" formed around loss, relationships, etc. Big thanks to (formerly) Steve, Stirling, and all of the other good folks who offered me words of wisdom and direct encouragement. It meant a lot to me. Best wishes to you all.

I was reading on https://www.andrewholecek.com about the practice of illusory form... and it's pointing to a very harsh truth that I've been seeking to disbelieve or find a more suitable alternative... that even the most sacred of all human activities and connections ---Friendship/Relationships ---- are illusory, ephemeral and that we are grasping at phantoms. This is deeply distressing to me and becoming seemingly simultaneously apparent. Is there really a true serenity, happiness, and gratitiude to be found transcending samsara, severing or detaching from all attachments? In transcending samsara/birth and death is there still true unity (or an even greater unity?) Is there really Nothing to hold on to... even our family/friends/hopes? It just all seems so tragic. But according to this quote... it seems so: "In the pattern that the world and life's appearances weave Visions of parents, relatives and friends are like illusions and dreams LIke morning mist, they are fleeting, and at the time they dissolve That's the time to search for unborn confused mind's basic reality" -Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche For the concerned I finally connected with a like-minded societal exile, scarred by life's wounds and that has tremendous healing potential i think. But it is so haaard traversing the realm of spiritual seeking and lay life, seeking truth and wisdom while hoping to deeply and fully connect and serve. Feedback appreciated .