I mean, when it comes to setting goals, you really ought to be clear about what the actual goal is
but then there's spirituality—where what you’re actually aiming for is more like a visualization, sort of an imagined picture of what it feels like once you finally arrive
or maybe we aren't even talking about spirituality at all, but just the practical stuff, like self-help and things like that
Sandra Morales said:Even the drive for constant spiritual perfection can become its own kind of trap. It creates a limitation, because we are never satisfied and are always chasing something higher.
cheers 🙂
So, what is anyone actually looking for here? Is it about reaching the destination, or is it really just about the walk itself?
wearyowl29 said:Well, that’s the million-dollar question right there! Honestly, I think that’s the core mystery whenever you talk to any kind of holistic healer or wellness guru.
I guess if the healing actually works, then there's your answer, right?
Though, I suppose it matters whether we're talking about physical stuff versus emotional or spiritual healing... 😁
Treating actual health issues—that's just the pragmatic side of helping people, I suppose.
But then you have the spiritual crowd, too—people who go because they think being around someone like that will help them grow spiritually, too.
To me, those feel like two pretty distinct things. And since I don't know anything about braco, I don't really have a clear picture of why people actually seek him out.
wearyowl29 said:If it were truly established, we wouldn't be talking about a "following" at all—we'd be looking at a group of independent researchers capable of standing on their own two feet! ...
A following is simply the result of something else (exactly what I felt myself, even though I'm certainly not part of any cult and have zero interest in being one! 😉)
A reaction... but to what, exactly?
Why is it that people head straight to braco? Is it a conscious choice, at least for those who are going?
and I honestly think those people out there building cults around themselves won't find any real sustenance in it, either
they know perfectly well—as well as anyone could, I guess—that if they want to keep their own spiritual engines running and actually feel some kind of progress, they need to plug into a few 'personal' little batteries of their own to stay powered up
haha... no, wait, I can't quite find the right word—not exactly "defending rights." What I meant was more like, taking the opposing side of the argument. And honestly, I wasn't even trying to lecture anyone on Christianity; I was mostly just being a bit tongue-in-cheek...
I mean, if Christianity actually wanted to, it could have maintained some kind of living, breathing connection to its own evolution—you know, evolving right along with human consciousness. But I guess it’s just easier for them to stay hermetic and stuck in tradition, buried under layers of dogma. It's easier to keep theology locked away and insist that Jesus's revelation was this final, closed chapter—claiming that theological explanations meant for people 2,000 years ago are somehow just as revealing and complete for someone living in the modern world today.
Besides, the Gospels pretty clearly mention that Jesus said there was still so much he hadn't said because people simply wouldn't be able to grasp it. So, it makes you wonder: how much more would Jesus have revealed if he were walking the earth right now? Wouldn't people today—well, at least the ones with the actual capacity to understand—be able to wrap their heads around a bit more?
And let's face it, avatars are still walking among us. The only difference is that none of them are out here playing the Messiah or claiming to be gods. Actually, they don't even think about it. They just know that whoever truly needs them will eventually find them.
I find myself circling back to this one idea again... what's actually the point of our existence?
Are we just some highly specialized pocket of conscious experience—you know, all that stuff involving filtering, focus, narrow perception, and those various genetic and mental programs we run on—existing without any real individual goal or purpose, other than basically just gathering data for a collective consciousness?
Or maybe the "self" is something more substantial than that—something possessing actual agency and freedom, with a genuine purpose to go out and fulfill its own potential?
Or... I don't know, maybe it's different from life to life? Like, is freedom something you actually earn once you've "grown up" enough that making a choice even matters—meaning, once you actually have the competence to handle the weight of your own autonomy?
At the end of the day, "purpose" might not be the right word to use—not just linguistically, but conceptually, too. Calling something a "purpose" feels a bit too deterministic, and determinism doesn't really sit right with being alive. With being alive—and being an individual—the only thing that truly aligns is the freedom to choose. And that kind of thing pretty much negates the whole idea of having a predetermined destination.
Lawrence Torres56 said:I mean, there’s really nothing to uncover here, right? If that guy happens to be the trigger for someone's placebo response, then he’s the one who did the heavy lifting—period. Everything else is just pointless overthinking and useless philosophy.😁
Nah, no... let's not go down the rabbit hole of philosophy just yet.
Realizing that you actually have this built-in mechanism for self-healing... I don't know, it kind of feels like a call to action, doesn't it? Like, once you know it's there, you can't really just sit around anymore—it practically demands a next step. So, I guess the big question is: what can we actually do with that? What are our options?
Stick with braco? I mean, why? I guess it's worth asking, really—though I'm probably just overthinking things again. Maybe there's a reason people hold on, but honestly, I'm not seeing it.
It’s that whole collective obsession with hunting for some kind of leader—some messiah or whatever—I guess. It’s like this shared impulse to go looking for answers out in the world, from someone else, instead of just... I don't know, looking within ourselves for once.
frozenmaker74 said:1. You can't exactly renounce someone else's lifestyle or customs. That's entirely up to the person actually living them 😉 2. And how on earth can you be sure they aren't Christian? Just because one person wrote it down or said it doesn't make it an absolute truth, right?
Honestly, this whole monopoly on the supernatural—where they act like they hold the exclusive keys to reality and everyone else is just fundamentally wrong—it really grinds my gears. It just doesn't align with the actual teachings of the Gospel. As for those false prophets, I think the saying "you shall know them by their fruits" covers it perfectly. I mean, I don't think any devout believer needs a lecture on what astrology, tarot, or fortune-telling is, especially since that stuff is practically broadcasted on every single major TV network from morning to night; I haven't seen any massive movement to ban it, even though it's shoved in our faces daily. Meanwhile, certain groups get ignored unless they're actively writing op-eds about them. But honestly, the worst part of the whole mess to me is the rhetoric people use—this underlying bitterness and hate that practitioners of those crafts shouldn't even be feeling, let alone spreading to everyone else.
I don't really have much to do with the church—or even the whole shirt thing, honestly—so I don't see the point in trying to defend theology. To be fair, I barely know anything about braco, either. This was mostly just... well, I guess it was more of a casual conversation over coffee. 😉
Lawrence Torres56 said:You're starting from the wrong end of the equation here; the stuff sitting around you isn't the actual issue, it's that "attention" of yours that keeps getting hijacked by external noise😉...well, actually, it's whatever happens to be interesting, regardless of why...and until that specific mental click happens inside your head, you aren't ever going to truly break free from those cravings. That whole minimalist thing, that Zen concept of just having four white walls, isn't about preventing distractions; it's because those walls are complete in themselves, and adding even one extra little thing would just mess up their perfect harmony... And once you finally hit that sweet spot, you'll realize that God doesn't show up just because you're bored; He shows up when you actually, truly need Him.😉
on the flip side, if it weren't for desire, we wouldn't even be in this position to begin with.
being desireless is kind of a paradox, I guess. if someone decides to renounce all desire, you have to wonder—is their actual desire to be desireless? 😉
to my mind, it seems impossible to separate individuality from desire. if any sense of "self" exists at all—not even getting into whether that self is real or just an illusion—then naturally, desires act as the engine for that "I."
even someone who makes themselves available to others—I mean, didn't that whole thing start from their own internal desire to be helpful?
I don't think the problem lies with desire itself... it's more about how stupid certain desires can be. 😛
and those stupid desires usually stem from the stupider parts of us—I'm mostly just speaking from my own messy experience here. 😛 🙂
frozenmaker74 said:I mean, maybe you just totally misheard what was said? Since when does a priest actually demand that you turn your back on your own flesh and blood? That’s just not how any decent Christian is supposed to act. ☕
haha... fair point, 😁 though I guess we should probably check with the guy in the collar 👍 he'd likely argue he isn't asking you to disown them, but rather to distance yourself from their specific habits ☕
also—if we're being strictly theological here—he'd probably tell you that braco is your neighbor, not necessarily your brother 😁 (since, according to the Gospel, brothers are specifically fellow believers, whereas neighbors encompass everyone😛)
wearyowl29 said:Alright, has anyone else on this thread actually been to see him before?
Not me. Honestly, I'm not even that curious, so I suppose it'll probably stay that way🙂
I guess I should probably mention Tanita... though honestly, I'm not entirely sure if I'm getting this right—it’s one of those things where you think you have a handle on it, then you realize you've only seen the surface, maybe? Anyway, just some thoughts floating around my head today. kaže: The world is just crawling with people looking to pull a fast one—it really is. But I guess if someone manages to hustle their way into actually helping someone out... then maybe it isn't even a con anymore. It’s a weird thought, I know. Maybe it's just a different kind of luck.🙂
So, how do you actually figure out if a total con artist actually helped, rather than just giving you a placebo effect? I mean, it's a tricky one—it’s hard to tell where the actual result ends and the sheer power of suggestion begins. Maybe it's just wishful thinking? I don't know. It’s a bit of a gray area, really.
Maria Parker77 said:Hold up, we really need to tweak that definition. The material isn't the enemy of the spiritual; it’s actually just one aspect of it. They aren't opposites at all. If you go around defining "material" as the direct opposite of "spiritual," you end up trapped in this endless cycle of good versus evil... a loop that keeps spinning forever. Sure, the struggle might exist, but why stay stuck there? We actually have the chance right now to rise above this whole duality thing and find some actual balance. Imagine living without all that unnecessary resentment, envy, fighting, or fear. Once you hit that point, what used to be an eternal struggle turns into something else entirely. It becomes a game. The eternal game...😁
🎉 🎉 🎉
Even the spiritual realm follows the rules of cause and effect.
Well, I guess it really depends on how you choose to define "spiritual."
If you're looking at the spirit itself, there's a pretty big distinction to be made. The spirit would be the essence, while the material stuff belongs to the illusion. Or, if you want to put it another way, the spirit is reality, and matter is just part of a dream. Plus, the spirit is alive. And if something is truly alive, I don't think it can be bound by cause-and-effect determinism—because, well, things that aren't alive are the ones that follow those rules.
But, if you view spirituality as just some kind of discipline that certain people practice, then yeah, that's just as much a part of the illusion (the dream) as the material world is. In that sense, I suppose you're right.
I don't know much about esotericism, but if you look at what it all boils down to, it's that consciousness—the present moment, oneness, call it whatever you want. In that state, we align ourselves with the universe. I've walked my own path and realized this myself 🙂 even if I happen to walk away from it all in twenty years, I am convinced this is the truth
My beliefs are based on experience. Naturally, there are as many directions as there are people, but I lean toward the ontological, the primal—what one might call esotericism. Every spiritual discipline deals with this, yet they all develop their own specific systems 🙂; personally, I have no interest in systems, only the original source Or perhaps I'm just losing my mind😁 😁 😁
So, basically, you’ve got two movies to choose from:
one where Braco is out there performing miracles—or maybe it's just God working through him, whatever you want to call it; and then there's the other one where Braco doesn't heal anyone at all.
Which one are you picking? And, I guess, what's the reasoning behind it?
And honestly, what happened with Kožula is pretty much a fact. About six or seven years back, I ended up 😁 stumbling upon him—mostly just out of curiosity, I guess—and he actually went on this whole tangent where he basically disavowed everyone. He was like, "...I'm done with the Braco types, done with Prokić..." 😂 😲 😵
He completely rejected the entire alternative scene, of course—he probably listed every single sub-genre of alternative politics he could think of... 🤣
Maybe swing by after work sometime—just out of curiosity, I guess—to Wolf Shirt’s place for a little restoration session. You know, to officially renounce any ties to the old crew (Prokic and those other guys) 😛 😂