Posts by Linda Kelly51

Steven Cruz3 said:Look, Zack, I get where you're coming from with your theories—really, I do—but there’s something kind of funny about how you approach total strangers. You jump in with this preacher-like, high-and-mighty attitude without having any clue who you’re actually talking to. You haven't walked a mile in their shoes, yet you're out here handing out these cookie-cutter solutions like "act out of love instead of fear." It’s old news, man. It’s basically just a repackaged version of Gerald G. Jampolsky’s "Love Instead of Fear" concept that’s been copied and pasted into a thousand mediocre variations since forever. 🙂

Look, I’m just trying to say that when people dive into spirituality, they really ought to stop throwing around trendy buzzwords from whatever's currently "in" just because it sounds deep. It’s better to actually find your own center—that "I AM" state—through actual experience. You need to feel yourself, process your own emotions, and untangle the mess in your own head first. That’s the only way you’ll sound authentic and actually understand other people without relying on those shallow, cookie-cutter clichés found in spiritual pop-culture manuals. Sure, you can read those books—fine—but you have to actually process them with some critical thinking. And honestly? You can't develop that kind of mindset unless you have a sharp enough mind to stop swallowing every colorful lie pop culture shoves down your throat.

Honestly? I have zero clue what the solution should be for people living in extreme poverty. There are just way too many of them—it’s not a monolith. You’ve got all sorts of personalities in that mix, and everyone ended up there for completely different reasons. Some have different mental capacities, others have different spiritual potential... it’s all over the place. So, walking up to that massive crowd of hungry, disenfranchised people and offering them some breezy, superficial little song? Yeah, that's a joke.

Everything's gonna be fine—it’s all handled by Bog—because the universe is perfect. You just have to stop acting out of fear and start acting out of love instead. Period.

Honestly, I find the whole thing pretty useless—if not downright insulting. It’s no different than some bloated preacher living it up in a massive estate, preaching platitudes to the masses and telling them all they just need to "knock and the door will open." To me, there’s zero difference between the "modern" version and the old-school spiritual opium used to keep people quiet. It’s the same tired logic—telling people that if they’re struggling or stuck in poverty, it’s just their "karma," so they shouldn't bother complaining. It's all just a way to keep people passive.

It’s all just perfect indoctrination—designed to breed a generation of lazy idiots who are completely useless to society. They just spend their lives lulling themselves and everyone else into a stupor with these endless mantras. You can actually feel it—there's no actual human being behind the words. It’s just some hollow, soulless zombie pretending they’re "spiritual."

Look, I love running into the exact opposite of that—people who actually radiate this raw, vibrant energy. And I don't mean just "vibes"—I mean people who haven't traded their intelligence, wisdom, or life-earned empathy for some cheap substitute. When I encounter someone like that, I know they're heading in the right direction—regardless of what specific religion or spiritual path they follow. They haven't drowned themselves in that sea of sugary, cliché affirmations people use to blur the sharp edges of reality.

Look, don't go feeling slighted now—seriously. I can't exactly tell you what's actually on my mind if I have to walk on eggshells around your ego constantly. This isn't some damn daycare center—there’s really no need to get all huffy just because we're being honest with each other. 🙂

I like what you wrote here.

Pretty phrases are one thing, but reality is something else entirely.
Love, peace, Bog, blah blah... it's all just empty fluff. Preachers are experts at selling nonsense about love and Bog.

First off, they aren't even examples of the things they preach; if anything, they are often the complete opposite.
Second, talking about it is pointless because theory doesn't help here. Love isn't a subject you study; it's an evolution. It isn't something anyone can teach you.

Jesse Price5 said:Because you'll already be dead and stuff, so you'll know, right?

No, I was very much alive when I heard...

Zachary Gonzalez8 said:So, I was catching this fascinating documentary on National Geographic last night. Scientists were breaking down how those traits that make males more attractive to females—think flashy feathers or long, flowing manes—are actually driven by hormones that end up being pretty detrimental to their overall health. If you look at evolutionary biology through the lens of humans as biological organisms governed by brains shaped by experience, you can see the mess we get into when we blindly follow those kinds of trends. You see the exact same patterns playing out in our own society.

Anyway, my takeaway from my own spiritual journey is that "seeking" isn't really a thing you *do*. It’s just something that happens. Every bit of effort we make to be "spiritual" is actually just moving us further away from what people call spirituality, though it might be better described as just being natural. Maybe that struggle is useful in its own way, though—like a pressure cooker effect where eventually everything just boils over, you throw up your hands in frustration, and finally, you start living authentically.

I completely agree with your point.

Essentially, this means all religions and spiritual techniques are futile.
True spirituality is simply being natural and spontaneous—acting out of an internal impulse, like love. It has nothing to do with performing good deeds because of faith, nor does it involve specific techniques used to reach some arbitrary goal. Those things are artificial and, spiritually speaking, worthless.

That is one of the core lessons we will finally grasp after we die...

nimblewolf11 said:That is such a flawed perspective, and it honestly just comes from not understanding the fundamentals of effective meditation!!! It’s actually the exact opposite—true meditation quiets things down and settles that restless, messy ego! Anyone who has ever meditated and practiced observing themselves from a distance knows just how much a good session can unburden a needy ego—you know, the kind that usually needs constant little distractions and treats just to feel "whole" to itself.
And group meditations (those established circles)? Even if you aren't physically together, they actually amplify that effect!!!
Of course "meditation" feels boring if you're just sitting there waiting for something to happen, calculating, or overthinking everything in your mind. But that’s not actually meditation!

Drinking, smoking, drugs—even coffee, sedatives, or other useless stimulants and depressants—aren't necessary to feel "better"!

Meditation provides calm, nothing more. It doesn't build character, so you remain the same person fundamentally. You achieve a temporary state of mental stillness, and that’s where it ends. Everything else stays the same. If anything, there's one minor downside: your ego gets slightly larger because you start believing you're spiritually superior just because you meditate.

A teenager comes back from a life-altering adventure as a different person; the experience itself changed them.
Real spiritual growth only happens through lived experience. There is no other way.

Calmness is useful in certain high-stress moments, so meditation has its place there. But assigning it some grand, special importance is just pure hyperbole.

casualtiger2 said:Granted, I generalized a bit in my last post, so I'm not saying it's *always* like that.

Sure, a priest could be genuinely spiritual and a mass could be a real spiritual act—just like a teenager's crush might just be a hormonal rollercoaster.

The issue isn't meditation, prayer, or even people gathering to seek the divine (as long as it isn't turned into some rigid, formal Doctrine). The problem is what an individual actually *does* with those experiences.

In such a case, I would find it hard to believe, though I agree it is possible.

just as it is possible for a teenager's infatuation to be nothing more than hormones.

Hormones and spirituality are closely linked.
Just as the search for God and the ego are inextricably tied.

We will likely encounter God through hormones long before we ever engage in any kind of spiritual practice.

The problem isn't meditation, prayer, the yearning for the divine, or even gathering seekers with similar leanings (provided it isn't doctrinal and rigidly structured); the problem lies in what the individual actually does with it.

Yes, everything depends on the individual. It isn't about what you do, but how you do it—specifically, how much you immerse yourself in the act.
Generally speaking, you will find more immersion in sex or sports than in meditation, simply because meditation is tedious while the others are engaging.

casualtiger2 said:The root of quasi-spirituality? It’s basically just ego structures and laziness.

The first part—ego—is why people convince themselves they’re "spiritual" just because they belong to a specific religion or group, believe in certain supernatural phenomena or gods, perform various rituals (religious, magical, whatever), or hold a specific worldview—be it philosophical, religious, magical, or New Age. Doesn't matter which.
The second factor, laziness, stops anyone from actually testing those delusions and making contact with the deeper layers of being—which, honestly, is the only way to get any real transformation or true spirituality.

Of course, there are variations. Some people are delusional and super active about it, while others are less delusional but just plain lazy (I’d definitely put myself in the second camp 😍).
Almost everyone is, more or less, prone to this kind of "delusion," which makes us all pretty much quasi-spiritual.

Here’s what Patanjali says about this whole "delusional" thing:
II, 3
Ignorance, unjustified attachment to personality, surrender to passions, unjustified aversion, and craving for life represent—most importantly, the primary ways they show up—the obstacles.

II, 4
Ignorance is the field where all other (obstacles) manifest—whether they’re dormant, weakened, suppressed, or fully active.

II, 5
Mistaking what is transient, impure, painful, and devoid of self-awareness for what is eternal, pure, pleasant, and self-aware—that is the ignorance we're talking about.

Yes, that is exactly my point.

When a teenage girl falls in love, that is spirituality. When a priest leads a mass, it isn't.
Wholeness is what matters—when the entire being is engaged, especially the emotional aspect. That is how it penetrates deep down to the soul; otherwise, everything remains superficial.

Everything done in so-called spiritual groups—meditations, prayers, attempts to contact God, and the like—is nothing more than empty straw. It's just a standard ego trip.

The root of quasi-spirituality lies in organization.
When we live our lives without dwelling on spirituality, that is true spirituality. The moment we start actively pursuing some specific spiritual practice, it ceases to be spiritual...

To me, Jesus Christ is the ultimate authority.
Others might serve as external teachers, but He remains the internal teacher for everyone—regardless of whether they believe in Him or not.
Following His physical death, He accomplished something truly magnificent: He embedded a part of Himself within all of us, into every single soul.
That fragment of Him inside us is our only real chance, because selfishness constantly pulls us downward like gravity, while He resides within us, resisting that pull and lifting us up.

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External teachers are insignificant, and often even harmful, because they tie people to themselves, inevitably creating cults of personality. That isn't healthy; it only leads to dogma and exclusivity.
This world would be much better if a person's primary authority were their own conscience rather than some external figurehead. Teachers are just human beings, and humans are inherently imperfect.

No one becomes wise simply by reading books or watching movies.
We understand things on a much more profound level when we actually live through them, rather than just reading about them.

Information gathered from the outside is merely knowledge; true wisdom is what is cultivated from within.
The former is cold, while the latter is warm. The former is dead, while the latter is alive.

"The water I give is living water; whoever drinks it will never thirst again." These words of Jesus' carry deep significance. In esoteric correspondences, "living water" represents wisdom.