Posts by Robert Diaz2

Jacob Sanchez7 said:Inner work? That implies the Self isn't perfect, but it is. Our mental habits might be messy, sure, but we aren't the mind itself. We still have the space to make decisions over the thoughts we choose to act upon. If you feed your thoughts by giving them attention and energy, you're essentially "fertilizing" them, haha. It’s just like that old Native American legend about the two wolves. Even when the worst thoughts cross your mind, you remain free. The storm passes regardless of whether you're scowling at it or laughing.

I feel like you really have to pull the Self out from under everything, because it gets buried under all that societal brainwashing from the time we're kids, which just pushes us toward worldly stuff. For me, if I'm not actively working on myself, there's no way I can hold onto that primal peace we're all born with throughout the day.

Hey, if you don't have to do it, that's awesome. 🙂 I know there are some people out there who just naturally don't need to, and honestly, I think that's pretty wow. But personally, I really can't skip it. Especially when you're dealing with people every single day who seem to go out of their way to provoke you. 😁

I definitely know the story about the two wolves. 🙂

Jacob Sanchez7 said:You know what's actually fascinating? The fact that we've convinced ourselves that controlling the ego is an impossible task. Sure, centuries of societal conditioning have left their mark, but we are still free. Completely. You always have the choice to act on a thought or an emotion, or simply not to. Sometimes we just fall into the trap of thinking we *have* to react, so we give the ego a microphone.

Like you said, if a person has a goal and a focus, they won't be clingy or emotionally dependent on their partner. And if that goal and focus is simply "to be free," then there isn't an ego around to distort things. 😁

@Nancy Wilson2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZofi4ly8bg

That’s so true. But from what I've experienced, I feel like being able to keep that awareness of being free from the ego only works if you're consistently doing the work on your Self. For me, it seems like I can only stay somewhat steady and not get sucked back into old roles or intense emotions if I've had some time to meditate and find a bit of peace first. So, I guess a person might only be able to build those truly healthy, deep relationships—the ones without that suffocating attachment—if they’re making self-work a regular habit. I mean, I honestly don't know if anyone can pull that off without putting in the effort. Personally, I can't. Plus, finding the actual time to commit to that kind of work is a whole other challenge. 😁

Nancy Wilson2 said:Thank God most people don't actually follow those "spiritual" teachings—if they did, there wouldn't be anyone left on this planet.

This is where things actually start getting interesting. All those spiritual teachings handed down by supposedly "enlightened" figures—well, they ultimately originate from the spirit itself. It stands to reason that the spirit shaped this world to align with the human experience. From what I can gather, it seems to have been part of the grand design for us to form deep emotional bonds; everything in existence points toward this being a fundamental, natural necessity—something clearly visible in the wild and among the animal kingdom. Furthermore, if one looks at the ancient Upanishads—which served as the foundational bedrock for most of the spiritual philosophies currently trending in America—the universe and nature are essentially synonymous with God.

And now, even the spiritualists are pushing back against this—it’s truly bizarre. It’s as if God is acting in direct opposition to Himself, working against His own design in an attempt to dismantle exactly what He intended to create.

Emotional attachment remains one of the fundamental pillars of human love—it manifests within the bond between parent and child, among friends, and between romantic partners alike. It is, by all accounts, entirely natural. While certain animals exhibit similar traits, they don't all possess this specific depth—as I mentioned before. From a theological perspective, one might ask why this exists in the first place; if it is indeed the intention of God, then there is a glaring contradiction to address. This capacity for connection inevitably brings with it immense suffering, heartache, and a myriad of complex problems—which suggests it doesn't quite stem from a source that is purely composed of love and goodness. Something simply doesn't align. Of course, everything I have just laid out is merely me airing my own thoughts—it doesn't necessarily bear much direct relevance to the core topic at hand.

The fundamental point here is that bonding is a biological imperative—it’s entirely natural. Without that instinctual connection, life as we know it wouldn't even exist; and even if it did, parents wouldn't feel that innate drive to protect their offspring. There is actual scientific precedent for this, too—studies have shown that when you artificially suppress oxytocin levels in parents, that protective instinct vanishes, often resulting in them becoming aggressive toward their own young.

While certain inclinations may be innate, an individual still maintains the agency to decide whether or not to engage with them—provided they have the willpower. Of course, that choice is often a fragile thing, given that our neurological wiring is essentially hardcoded to respond to these stimuli. We aren't entirely helpless, however, when pitted against those relentless evolutionary pressures and primal instincts.

Exactly. That’s what I'm saying. It's right there in plain sight, especially with that part in bold. I don't think anyone ever claimed it wasn't natural, either. I mean, obviously, it is. 🙂 I guess some souls have just already been through all of this before. You know, after going through a few different lives, they finally start to realize that maybe it’s actually time to rise above all these earthly attachments. They begin to see that even though being connected to everyone and everything brings a certain kind of happiness, it’s really just temporary. I mean, at the end of the day, you're always facing sickness, death, and—don't even get me started on the daily grind—all those constant stressors and worries that just drain you. Eventually, there comes this moment where it just clicks, and you feel this intense need to pull away from all that heavy heartache.

I was just sitting here wondering, how does that one psalm by John the Apostle go again? I think it was him who wrote it, if I'm remembering correctly.

I was thinking about this bit from the Bible earlier, and it’s honestly such a heavy concept when you really sit with it. It basically says we shouldn't get too caught up in chasing after everything this world has to offer. I guess the idea is that if someone is totally obsessed with worldly stuff, there isn't really any room left for the love of God. It’s kind of like how everything material—you know, those physical cravings, the constant desire for more things, or just that overwhelming pride in what we own and who we are—doesn't actually come from God, but from the world itself. Everything around us is so temporary; trends fade, stuff breaks, and eventually, all those worldly desires just pass away. But, if I'm reading this right, the people who focus on doing what God wants? They’re the ones who actually last forever. It’s a pretty deep way to look at life, I suppose.

My bad if I got any of the Psalm a little bit wrong, but I just memorized it once a while back, so I’m really hoping I remembered it correctly and stayed true to the actual wording. 🙂

rustymaker5 said:That’s kind of like asking if it's possible for preschoolers to be reading Tolstoy, only to switch back to coloring books once they actually learn how to read and write. 😁

🤣 I mean, you've got a point there. 😁 So, linear it is, I guess! 🙂

rustymaker5 said:So, what if we just take it at face value for a second and assume she really is an old soul, even though her obsession with material stuff suggests the exact opposite—regardless of what those gurus claim? I mean, which gurus are we even talking about, and what makes us think they actually know anything at all? 🤷

Of course not, silly! 😛 I'm really just sharing a little something from my own experience here. It kind of makes me wonder, maybe some souls don't follow a set pattern at all. Like, I guess it's possible you could be a peaceful guru in one life and then, I don't know, a total mass murderer in the next. 😁 At the end of the day, maybe the point is just collecting all those experiences, and whether the order matters... well, I honestly have no clue. 🤷 I definitely prefer thinking about it linearly, like there’s some divine master plan or something, but I guess I just started questioning things.

Michelle Robinson97 said:Look, I’ve been around the block enough times to know that you can't really have a connection without some kind of underlying bond—it’s just how things work, trust me, I've put in the hours and tested the theory. It’s like trying to drive down a highway without any lanes marked out; you might think you're making progress, but you're really just drifting aimlessly. There are even those old-school perspectives floating around that suggest it doesn't actually matter who you're rolling with or what kind of grind you're pulling in your day-to-day life, as long as you've got a clear destination in your sights. If you have that one big goal acting as your North Star, everything else—every person you meet and every job you hold—can basically just serve as the wind at your back, helping push you toward that finish line.

I totally agree with that. I mean, if someone actually stays focused on their own path and goals, they aren't going to be super clingy or emotionally dependent on their partner. But let's be real here, how often does that actually happen? Those high-level, spiritually aligned relationships are incredibly rare. Especially nowadays, when everyone's brain has been basically fried by the media. Every single show on Netflix or TV is just packed with intense emotions, passion, and pure melodrama, so people start thinking that chaos is the norm and try to force that onto their own relationships.

I actually know a couple where both people are pretty spiritual and understand all this stuff, but even then, the girl eventually fell into that pattern of dependency. She’s constantly nagging him whenever he tries to focus on his own hobbies or work, while she just keeps demanding attention. It's so hard to keep your ego in check within a relationship. Like, really tough. Even if you're one of those spiritual types, if you lose your center and your focus, it just goes to show that maintaining that balance is probably only possible for a very small group of people.

Since pretty much every spiritual teaching out there hits on the same core idea—that getting too attached to people or things during our temporary time on this earth isn't exactly the move—I really hope you've done enough soul-searching and inner work to make sure you don't end up getting emotionally hooked on anyone.

Personally, I know I’d probably get attached, and honestly, that just leads to nothing but anxiety, stress, and heartache, so maybe it’s just better off being by myself. I actually think it's kind of cool how the English word "alone" can be read as "all one." 🙂

But I feel like you guys are looking at this through such a linear lens. It’s just not linear like that. Sure, time might move in a straight line on this specific plane of existence, but there's more to it. I actually know someone—and I'm talking about a person where absolutely none of those spiritual gurus would ever claim she's an old soul or on her final incarnation. The thing is, she isn't even into any of that spiritual stuff; she basically lives like your typical, everyday Matrix zombie. She’s just super focused on the material world and all the worldly things.

Morgan Brown5 said:There isn't a Lucifer in this universe, though I haven't heard anything about any other universe existing either. Our subconscious minds are already so overloaded that some specific subliminal message isn't going to make much of a difference. Sure, it might affect your mood, but it's not the core issue. That doesn't even compare to the much more frequent occurrence of our own toxic emotions—life situations, dissatisfaction, sadness, grief, and various kinds of stress. They all pull in the same direction, impacting our entire being.

That said, there are certainly plenty of dissonant pieces out there, making up 99.9% of today's music. Those who stuck to Platonic principles of harmony gave us Classical and early Romantic music. And since we know from how water reacts to vibrations that original music is structurally the most natural, it's similar to certain Hindu or Buddhist mantras and things like that.

I'm with you on that. Real-world problems break a person down way faster than any little song ever could.

As for the Lucifer thing, I wasn't being literal at all. It’s just a saying... more like a metaphor for that super destructive frequency within our own level of existence. And when you see the kind of stuff being fed to people through the media nowadays, it really fits. I mean, damn, you can't exactly have Rihanna performing half-naked at a Teen Choice Awards show singing "Rude Boy," asking "are ya big enough... rude boy can ya get it up." You just can't. So, that Lucifer metaphor actually lands pretty well. 😁

I guess the real question is how much of that positive vibe is actually just baked in with all sorts of subliminal messaging and stuff like that. I used to listen to Frank Ocean too, and honestly, he was amazing. But lately, I’ve just been leaning more towards total silence.

There’s this old saying about how Lucifer was basically in charge of the music in Heaven back when he was still there. The idea is that when he fell, the whole frequency of music fell with him. Now, you shouldn't generalize everything, obviously, but looking at the current music scene, I don't really feel like listening to much of it.

In my opinion, music hits your emotions and your ego in a way that ties you down to this physical existence. And neither of those things is really what we should be focusing on, I suppose. So, yeah, I don't know. 🤷

Does anyone happen to know where I can pick up some foreign national flags here in the States? My bad if someone already started a thread about this or something similar, but it's my first time posting so I wouldn't really know 🙂 Thanks in advance!