Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Different perspectives in books,which do you prefer?

ethereal · 11-14-2007, 05:03 PM

I agree with Wolfgang, there is no contradiction if you recontextualize what they really mean.

There is the desire that stems from lack/ego, and then the desire that stems from fullness/love. With the former, there is endless craving and suffering, and even if you do get what you desire, the pleasure is temporary. With the latter, there is the desire to express, to create, to serve, to love, to fully be yourself and give yourself to the world. If you don't get what you desire, there is no suffering involved because there is no attachment involved.

You can "feel" the difference between the two. The former will feel like a heaviness around your solar plexus area (the chakra of attachment), while the latter is often an overflowing joyfulness around the heart chakra or above.

However, eventually one transcends the latter as well to raise further in consciousness. You don't really give it up, but you just intuitively sense that you're done with the world however much fun it was, and you want to discover what's beyond -- the ecstasy/bliss of merging with God, and the Peace of God when the personal ego is completely dissolved.

As a note regarding the "illusory" world -- it isn't that the world isn't real, it is that it is not as it seems to our perception, our perception is totally clouded up by the ego. We must transcend perception of the world and enter into spiritual vision, where duality dissolves into nonduality -- there is no "you" left to perceive a "world" anymore, you and the world become One. The senses start to withdraw and you focus more and more on the pure consciousness underlying All, rather than dualistic sensory input. This pure consciousness is seen visually as the "white light" that ACIM talks about, the Light of Consciousness.

11-14-2007, 05:03 PM	#3 (permalink)
ethereal Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 511	I agree with Wolfgang, there is no contradiction if you recontextualize what they really mean. There is the desire that stems from lack/ego, and then the desire that stems from fullness/love. With the former, there is endless craving and suffering, and even if you do get what you desire, the pleasure is temporary. With the latter, there is the desire to express, to create, to serve, to love, to fully be yourself and give yourself to the world. If you don't get what you desire, there is no suffering involved because there is no attachment involved. You can "feel" the difference between the two. The former will feel like a heaviness around your solar plexus area (the chakra of attachment), while the latter is often an overflowing joyfulness around the heart chakra or above. However, eventually one transcends the latter as well to raise further in consciousness. You don't really give it up, but you just intuitively sense that you're done with the world however much fun it was, and you want to discover what's beyond -- the ecstasy/bliss of merging with God, and the Peace of God when the personal ego is completely dissolved. As a note regarding the "illusory" world -- it isn't that the world isn't real, it is that it is not as it seems to our perception, our perception is totally clouded up by the ego. We must transcend perception of the world and enter into spiritual vision, where duality dissolves into nonduality -- there is no "you" left to perceive a "world" anymore, you and the world become One. The senses start to withdraw and you focus more and more on the pure consciousness underlying All, rather than dualistic sensory input. This pure consciousness is seen visually as the "white light" that ACIM talks about, the Light of Consciousness.