Personal Development for Smart People Forums

Personal Development for Smart PeopleTM Forums


Go Back   Personal Development for Smart People Forums > Personal Development > Spirituality, Consciousness, & Awareness
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Spirituality, Consciousness, & Awareness Spirituality, beliefs, the nature of reality, consciousness, awareness, metaphysics, truth, philosophy, religion


Welcome to the Personal Development for Smart People Forums, the place for lively, intelligent discussion of all personal growth issues -- physical, mental, financial, social, emotional, spiritual, and more.

You're currently viewing as a guest, which gives you limited read-only access. By joining our free community, you'll be able to post your own messages, access many members-only features, see the new messages posted since your last visit, and of course remove this header message. Registration is fast, simple, and free, so please join today.

If you arrived here from a search engine, you may want to explore the main site first, which includes hundreds of deep and insightful articles on a variety of personal development topics.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 03-19-2008, 04:54 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 764
infinitethoughts is on a distinguished road
Default Why does a master know there is no evil in the world ?

(Hint, it's a trick question.)

What do you guys think?
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 03-19-2008, 04:58 PM
Administrator
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 1,688
Steve Pavlina has disabled reputation
Default

Because he knows there's no world (and no master either).
__________________
Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
www.StevePavlina.com
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 03-19-2008, 08:22 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ING-ER-LAND
Posts: 367
Plato is on a distinguished road
Default

Is this along the lines of Nietzsche ? The master only recognises good and bad. Only slave morality has a concept of evil and the masters are the evil ones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina View Post
Because he knows there's no world (and no master either).
Wouldn't that be a master buddhist?
__________________
"the map is not the territory"
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 03-19-2008, 10:10 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 905
Jennihul is on a distinguished road
Send a message via Yahoo to Jennihul
Default

Hey, I'm a master!


Jennifer
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old 03-20-2008, 01:03 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 790
Old Soul is on a distinguished road
Default

Because he has conquered evil ?
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)  
Old 03-20-2008, 10:29 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 246
supertom is on a distinguished road
Default

Because he knows himself
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)  
Old 04-11-2008, 10:16 PM
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Culver City, CA
Posts: 11
krisking911 is on a distinguished road
Default

Interesting question---
Because the Master (We are all masters, hence, there is no master...get that?) knows that "Nothing Matters" Nothing is "EVIL" nor "Good" unless you say it is. It is what you call it. If you want to call killing evil----ask the person who did the killing that question---he/she only does what he/she thinks is "right" givin their model of the world---at that point of NOW---


I choose to call "all" Good---or in other words, all is belificial for you in some way...
__________________
If my Spirit doesn't get involved--I don't
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)  
Old 04-12-2008, 11:24 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 205
bellemeadows is on a distinguished road
Default Quoting Puck from A Midsummer Nights Dream

I like how Puck puts it in A Midsummer Nights Dream:

Quote:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #9 (permalink)  
Old 04-12-2008, 11:56 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 519
Liara Covert is on a distinguished road
Default

I second Steve Pavlina's answer.
__________________
http://blog.dreambuilders.com.au
"The final mystery is oneself."
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)  
Old 04-12-2008, 03:07 PM
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: West London
Posts: 2
Healing Energy is on a distinguished road
Default A master knows who he is

I will assume for this reply that there is not a clever trick answer to the question.

A true master knows he/she is a divine part of God and God is the sum total of everything in existence and “evil” is just a description of that which we give to something that does not work or does not describe who we are.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #11 (permalink)  
Old 04-12-2008, 03:47 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 199
Parthon is on a distinguished road
Default

The world as it stands is just a situation and it is only when humans, as the observers, compare the world as it is to our own beliefs and judgements do we recognise evil. This makes evil a matter of perception, not of situation.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #12 (permalink)  
Old 04-12-2008, 07:06 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 103
Nicketas is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Parthon View Post
The world as it stands is just a situation and it is only when humans, as the observers, compare the world as it is to our own beliefs and judgements do we recognise evil. This makes evil a matter of perception, not of situation.
Really? So the Holocaust was really just a matter of perception then?

Clearly, that was not an act of "evil" as the DICTIONARY describes it.

See, its neat when you can reframe anything.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #13 (permalink)  
Old 04-13-2008, 01:17 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,134
wolfgang is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by infinitethoughts View Post
Why does a master know there is no evil in the world ?
(Hint, it's a trick question.)

What do you guys think?
Because the master knows evil is in one's mind, not in the world.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #14 (permalink)  
Old 04-13-2008, 04:44 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 199
Parthon is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicketas View Post
Really? So the Holocaust was really just a matter of perception then?

Clearly, that was not an act of "evil" as the DICTIONARY describes it.

See, its neat when you can reframe anything.
Well actually, yes it is just a matter of human perception that the holocaust was evil. In the world itself, millions of people died to the hands of other people. That's the reality of it. Because humans value the sanctity of life it's a horror that those acts were commited. We call it evil, and rightly so, but the actual reality of the situation doesn't contain evil, it's just something that happened.

I'm not diminishing the tragedy it was, or the fact that what was commited is, from our viewpoint, very very very evil, but when you can separate and own both the actual reality of the situation and all the meaning behind it, you gain power over the situation. When you confuse your perception of reality with reality itself you end up acting on your perception, on your illusion. You waste power and energy working on something that's not real, where it could be better spent dealing with the underlying situation.

As far as the holocaust, it was far more effective to fight the germans doing the killings than it was to fight evil. Eventually we triumphed and put a stop to it, but if we were fighting the idea of evil, we might still be fighting it now. How's it going for America?
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #15 (permalink)  
Old 04-13-2008, 05:17 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 764
infinitethoughts is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicketas View Post
Really? So the Holocaust was really just a matter of perception then?

Clearly, that was not an act of "evil" as the DICTIONARY describes it.

See, its neat when you can reframe anything.
Steve, supertom, Parthon, wolfgang, got the answer.

Nicketas. Go back to the original question.
Why does a master know there is no evil in the world ?
(Hint, it's a trick question.)


Then ask yourself are you a physical brain in "the" world, or are you simply Awareness?

Seeing then that you are Awareness, then ask yourself how do you become aware of "the" world?
__________________
"The World flashing from your Eyes".
Song: The World is Mine.
Artist: David Guetta
-
The World flashing from I's.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #16 (permalink)  
Old 04-13-2008, 05:31 PM
Moderator
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 4,448
Angela is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by infinitethoughts View Post
Steve, supertom, Parthon, wolfgang, got the answer.
Well, they got an answer.

I think it's interesting that you asked "why" not "how" -- a question that might yield some very different answers than the one you are expecting when you think you "know" the answer.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #17 (permalink)  
Old 04-13-2008, 05:44 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 905
Jennihul is on a distinguished road
Send a message via Yahoo to Jennihul
Default

Evil is a human invention. God/Source is pure loving goodness on a level that we could never truly comprehend. Source created us. We weren't even humans then. Gave of itself to us. Anything we wanted. It gave. We received. We decided we wanted the one thing we didn't have: the ability to give as well as receive. Source created humans as a way to make that happen. Humans invented evil in the course of their journey to remember our Godness.

Evil is simply a contrast to the good we once knew before we were human.

There is no devil. There would be no evil either if we simply decided that.

Jennifer
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #18 (permalink)  
Old 04-14-2008, 08:56 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 509
torilink is on a distinguished road
Send a message via Yahoo to torilink
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicketas View Post
Really? So the Holocaust was really just a matter of perception then?

Clearly, that was not an act of "evil" as the DICTIONARY describes it.

See, its neat when you can reframe anything.
no, none of this is real - in the sense that what is real is eternal. If it isn't eternal it isn't true - just part of the illusion. In the egoic illusion of "reality" everyone dies, is death evil? Is murder good or bad? Is something that isn't real bad? Is something untrue wrong? Is a phantom or shadow of an untrue past right or wrong?

The master knows there is no evil because he is aware that none of it is real, even he himself (identity) is merely a shadow of a thought.

Holding on to those concepts we believe in - such as hate, murder, revenge, oppression, holocaust, evil, justice and on and on.... only serve to continue those experiences within the dream. They exist because the ego cherishes them, but they are all still untrue.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #19 (permalink)  
Old 04-15-2008, 09:13 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 532
Cantando is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by torilink View Post
no, none of this is real - in the sense that what is real is eternal. If it isn't eternal it isn't true - just part of the illusion. In the egoic illusion of "reality" everyone dies, is death evil? Is murder good or bad? Is something that isn't real bad? Is something untrue wrong? Is a phantom or shadow of an untrue past right or wrong?

The master knows there is no evil because he is aware that none of it is real, even he himself (identity) is merely a shadow of a thought.

Holding on to those concepts we believe in - such as hate, murder, revenge, oppression, holocaust, evil, justice and on and on.... only serve to continue those experiences within the dream. They exist because the ego cherishes them, but they are all still untrue.
Torlink, I understand what you are saying and if a person has a sense of personal responsibility and empathy for others, then there is no problem. However, it could be taken by your average punter with a chip on their shoulder as a green light to pick up a gun and go on a shooting spree, for the sheer hell of it, in the belief that everything is illusion and nothing really matters.

I also question your concept of the ego which you seem to define as a kind of selfish, dysfunctional identity within a person. A murderer under questioning may have said previously that the devil made him do it. Now, he might say that his ego made him do it.

I tend to believe that the ‘you’ which you are conscious of in this moment is the only ‘you’ there is. In this moment, there is no other you (whether you call it the ego, the higher self or God). If you shoot someone, it’s not your ego doing it, it is you. If you give a million dollars to the poor, it is not your higher self doing it. It is just you.

I also question your view that something is only real if it is eternal. The commission of any act is real. It is not eternal, but it has definite consequences.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #20 (permalink)  
Old 04-15-2008, 10:19 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 795
Freelancer is on a distinguished road
Default

The master has so much fun that he simply doesn't notice it.
__________________
Don't think...Act
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #21 (permalink)  
Old 04-15-2008, 01:06 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,134
wolfgang is on a distinguished road
Default

because the master is evil and in denial
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #22 (permalink)  
Old 04-15-2008, 01:23 PM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 509
torilink is on a distinguished road
Send a message via Yahoo to torilink
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cantando View Post
Torlink, I understand what you are saying and if a person has a sense of personal responsibility and empathy for others, then there is no problem. However, it could be taken by your average punter with a chip on their shoulder as a green light to pick up a gun and go on a shooting spree, for the sheer hell of it, in the belief that everything is illusion and nothing really matters.

I also question your concept of the ego which you seem to define as a kind of selfish, dysfunctional identity within a person. A murderer under questioning may have said previously that the devil made him do it. Now, he might say that his ego made him do it.

I tend to believe that the ‘you’ which you are conscious of in this moment is the only ‘you’ there is. In this moment, there is no other you (whether you call it the ego, the higher self or God). If you shoot someone, it’s not your ego doing it, it is you. If you give a million dollars to the poor, it is not your higher self doing it. It is just you.

I also question your view that something is only real if it is eternal. The commission of any act is real. It is not eternal, but it has definite consequences.
the ego is the personal identity, or conceptual self - and yes sometimes that is dysfunctional & selfish, but that isn't all the egoic mind is.

There are two "You's" the identity or conceptual self - and the underlying self or higher self. You can react from the conceptual self or act from the higher self, that is always a conscious choice. When we aren't conscious then by default we react from our ego identity and the higher self is observing (for lack of a better term).

The ego cherishes drama - it maintains the state of separation, so it is self preservation for without a conceptual identity separation ceases to be.

All acts in this reality are real to the mind experiencing them, but that doesn't make them true in the broader sense. Just as a nightmare feels real while you're dreaming it, it quickly looses its sense of reality when you awaken.

There are consequences for every choice in this realm, but those consequences are limited to this space & time and have no bearing in the eternal reality.

My point really was that so long as we cling to and cherish thoughts of hate, aggression, injustice, inequality, good & evil, and so on we form beliefs in them and they will live on in the outer world we experience. The only way to undo it is to realize none of it is real - unless it is happening in this moment, it isn't real - the moment is the only truth, and if something is happening at this moment that troubles us then we step up and change ourselves and the world and make it a happier dream.

But clinging to drama's thousands, hundreds, or even tens of years old only maintains the drama in our experience.
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
  #23 (permalink)  
Old 04-15-2008, 02:24 PM
Senior Member