Tommy

Sounds you live inside a cult of some kind. Everyone can see the same vertical white light. Guess you must have asked quite a few people. It must be nice to get that kind of validation. Skipped the light Fandango. Turn the cartwheel 'cross the floor. I was feeling kinda seasick. The crowd called out for more. The room was humming harder. As the ceiling flew away. When we called out for another drink, the waiter brought a tray. And so it was that later, As the miller told his tale. That her face at first just ghostly, Turned a whiter shade of pale, She said there is no reason, And the truth is plain to see. That I wandered thru my playing cards. And would not let her be. One of sixteen vestal virgins. Who were leaving for the coast. And although my eyes were open, they might have well have been closed.

Sorry, I have never had that experience of seeing a vertical stream of light. Supposedly it produces consciousness in the brain and generates life force and spiritual purpose in the heart. I do not believe it is a phenomenon which is commonly experienced. Sorry, you have lost me.

So, this spiritual relationship, does it have a memory? Does it have eyes? Does it feel? Can it sense whatever you sense? If it can do this then it can watch thoughts. But, to me, I have yet to find this spiritual relationship. Where does it sit? Does it reside in the heart? Or does it reside in the brain? Or is this open hearted and good hearted stuff just an attribute of this ego or personality?

To me, it seems that you have created this life with affliction and demons. You keep fighting because this is all you have known. So much so that this has become your Karma. You wrote this story. So, where do you go from here? It would seem that you really need an experienced teacher to work with you and guide you out of this self-made prison. I am sorry if that sounds harsh. But, I am like the madman in the desert looking for the Oasis. I know it is there. Just haven't found it yet. I wish you well.

There is a very good chance that you have spent a great deal of time and effort learning and building this knowledge of the Dharma. So much so that it has become like a brick house. Each lesson or brick laid in place and cemented to stand the fury of the outside winds and rains. But, as everyone knows, it is the empty space which provides us we a living area. You have mentioned creeping vines which to me were thoughts which creep in while one is trying to just sit. And it has shown me my own creeping vines. These things are the remains of what is left fighting to be ego. A self saying to itself, I am here, sitting quietly. This I is the watcher and the doer of not doing. This I prevents one from dropping this mind and moving forward to cross the stream. It is like another trap the mind has created. I am here. I am aware. The mind created this I which is keeping me separate. So, if one drops the mind then the illusion drops away and the absolute appears? Does one see the truth that this is temporary? That there is no need to cling to pleasure or pain? But, this is life and to drop the mind and feel the heart? There may not be happiness but there should be a lightness? Yes, not a Buddha, nor enlightened, nor even a good student. This I understand from my own experiences. Happiness, yes, but no need to hold it. Sadness, yes, but no need to push it away. Just space for things to arise and go away. I think you know much more than your words show.

I am sorry but I have an issue with that absolute there is no happiness. As everyone knows, change happens. One can not be equanimity all the time because there is change. Meeting an old friend may bring happiness. Losing a loved one may bring sadness. As the saying goes, before enlightenment chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water. Do you mean to say that in the Absolute there is no change? No flux? No need to chop wood nor carry water?

Are you expecting turbulent times? Do you have the tools and resources to get thru such events? I personally expect to suffer and die. Hopefully the suffering will be short.

Does your heart have awareness? What is the function of the heart? It pushes blood thru out the body so the body can have oxygen to process a living function. Are you aware of the actions the heart makes thru out the day? Can the heart remember the events of the day? I am sorry but I do not understand the question. When you say heart, what are you referring to? The muscle in your chest?

Don't we naturally live with others who become like family? They become familiar and we know where safety lies? We care for those in out lives?

When one sits down to watch one's thoughts, who watches the thoughts? The mind creates the identity that watches the thoughts. The sense of I arises thru the thought itself. The mind creates the sense of identity thru thought. And that is the ego. It claims to be you. As long there is an I or identity, there is separateness. When the person sitting says I am watching, there is the ego. So, how does one let go of the observer?? To become just the observed? To just become the being? Not to sit in silence but to be the stillness? IDK.

Glad you are feeling better. Boredom is only a lack of interest. When doing anything, if there is no interest in the doing then it becomes boring. Don't know how one would change that.

Thought this might be included in stranger things

I thought this thread was about learning Chinese. It will crack your brain. The brilliant thing about the written Chinese is that regardless of the dialect, the written language is the same. So, people of different dialects can communicate thru written words. Yes, I tried to learn Chinese Cantonese (my wife is from Tai Shan City). And though the words sound the same to me, the tone determined the actual word. So, it made it difficult to understand at times. On top of that, translating things directly to Cantonese from English made the meaning strange. Saying that I finished eating in Cantonese has the meaning of the end of eating as no more food ever. Cultural things?? 吃完了 (It makes my wife mad when I say that.) Well the conversation then turns to, ... The Dao is empty and without form; therefore, all living things establish their form through the Dao. —《Dao Xuan Pian》 That subject is difficult enough in plain English. Now you want to talk about it in Chinese?? Where a simple sentence can include the complex meanings of the subject being discussed. Yeah, it will crack my brain.

Robots have already displaced many manual labor jobs. Look at the manufacturers who use robots instead of people to do their assembly, welding, etc. This happened before AI. Which only reminds me of an episode of the "Twilight Zone" where a worker was being replaced by automation and robots. The supervisor who was installing the robots taunted the worker. Expelling the worker from his job and livelihood. In the end, the supervisor himself was replaced by the same technology. My understanding that corporations will save money by using such technology. Unfortunately, who buys the products or uses the services when no one has a job to earn the money to pay for all this. Ford knew this and increased the pay to his workers. This so they could afford the same products the workers were making. Who would need the clerical or administrative work done by AI if there are no people to use the information provided by AI?? AI to develop more information for AI to absorb?? Does AI have the ability to develop and create new ideas? Could AI have developed the theory of relativity and the understanding that time and gravity and electromagnetic effects are properties of space? AI was thought to benefit mankind. How would it do that by replacing the people that they were suppose to help??

Yeah, 6 o'clock news is always a good watch