Enlightened Jeff

Sandra Morgan2 said:Realizing and understanding—that's just brain function. It all hinges on awareness. If your awareness is asleep, your understanding stays limited. That's why Sandra Morgan2 says—go Beyond Mind. Because Beyond Mind is pure consciousness.

Besides, for someone who isn't obsessed with the end goal, the journey itself becomes the destination. They find fulfillment just by moving through it.

🙂Sure, that works... but then it isn't a search anymore. It's just a vacation. A summer trip....

I was talking about insight earlier—how it kind of operates through this sort of transcendent bridge. It's like a flash of awareness regarding something. In a way, that flash *is* Beyond Mind. But I wouldn't say the mind itself is irrelevant; it can perform its job better or worse depending on the situation. If it weren't useful, we probably wouldn't even have it, right?

Sandra Morgan2 said:Realizing and understanding—that's just brain function. It all hinges on awareness. If your awareness is asleep, your understanding stays limited. That's why Sandra Morgan2 says—go Beyond Mind. Because Beyond Mind is pure consciousness.

Besides, for someone who isn't obsessed with the end goal, the journey itself becomes the destination. They find fulfillment just by moving through it.

🙂Sure, that works... but then it isn't a search anymore. It's just a vacation. A summer trip....

The path leads to the destination. As for the pace of it all... well, I guess not everyone is cut out for enlightenment; though I wouldn't go so far as to say everything else in life is pointless, either.

As I was typing this out, something just clicked 🙂

Peter Phillips32 said:I mean, why bother breaking a sweat or bleeding out to actually achieve something when you can just pay someone else to handle the heavy lifting of manifestation for you? It’s all about outsourcing the effort, right?

Meh, I'm tossing this advice straight into the trash because it makes zero sense, especially since you aren't even following your own damn rules. ☕

And apparently, Pascho is the gold standard for everything... our one true north. 🙂

Paul Jones7 said:As for the whole search thing, I don't know about anyone else, but for me, it's where the joy is. Or rather, the pursuit itself—just asking questions and hunting for answers. It leads to curiosity, sure, but also... Just more of that everyday emptiness.

I should probably check his blog to see how Jeff washes his dishes. 😂

Paul Jones7 said:I was talking about insight earlier—how it kind of operates through this sort of transcendent bridge. It's like a flash of awareness regarding something. In a way, that flash *is* Beyond Mind. But I wouldn't say the mind itself is irrelevant; it can perform its job better or worse depending on the situation. If it weren't useful, we probably wouldn't even have it, right?

The path leads to the destination. As for the pace of it all... well, I guess not everyone is cut out for enlightenment; though I wouldn't go so far as to say everything else in life is pointless, either.

As I was typing this out, something just clicked 🙂

Personally, I really liked your idea about traveling for the sake of travel. They say the world is divine Lila—pure play. If we take all of this seriously, we should just do what brings us joy, acting with our full being, keeping an open mind and heart. No more relying on reference points in teachings, gurus, scriptures, or even forum members...

They say life is a sexually transmitted disease that ends in death 100% of the time. So let's relax! At its core, life is short, but it's beautiful, miraculous, mystical—a thrilling roller coaster at a carnival of separation. We are just unique, fleeting blooms in a field of eternity... You can't tell a flower how to be or what it "should" do. So, Paul Jones7, my friend—let's just love and do what we feel called to do. 🙂 .....

Beautifully put, Sandra Morgan2... honestly, I love heading down to that local carnival. You'll see a few kids running around here and there, but most of the time, it just sits there empty. Everyone’s too busy crowding around the hot dog stand instead. 😛

And honestly? So what. People have become so obsessed with food that they can't even bring themselves to go on a Ferris wheel—some people are even scared of it! They spend their whole lives just watching the "crazy" ones spinning around, and then they have the nerve to complain about being bored... so they just change the channel, order a pizza, and watch everyone else having fun at the fair from their couch.

I wish we’d all just open up those shy little buds and start saying goodbye properly. 😁 😉

Paul Jones7 said:And apparently, Pascho is the gold standard for everything... our one true north. 🙂

I'm Pascho Pata'q. (Pata'q being the opposite of a coward, if you catch my drift). Everything else is up for debate.

Daniel Castillo11 said:But honestly, what Jeff is teaching essentially dismantles every religion and all forms of spirituality out there—even those more agnostic paths like Advaita Vedanta, let alone Christianity, which tends to crumble the moment you start applying any real critical scrutiny to it.

There is simply no requirement for external saviors, fairies, spirits, gods, or even the devil...

The individual life is actually just Life being viewed through the eyes of an illusory self. Jeff, much like certain naturalistic philosophers and pantheists, maintains that Life—that ultimate Steak/Absolute—is ever-present, right here and now. There is no need to go searching because we are already "home." All spiritualities and religions are built upon duality and the supernatural, acting as if some otherworldly realm is our true home or essence. But if everything truly Is, then searching becomes redundant. Simply abandoning the search is what constitutes "enlightenment" (if we absolutely must use such confusing terminology). I believe the late Jiddu Krishnamurti would have found common ground with that sentiment.

If I may draw a parallel to the philosophy of immanence and Gilles Deleuze, Life—or what he refers to as the "chaosmos" (a blend of chaos and cosmos)—is an infinite sequence of processes, dynamically scattered yet fundamentally interconnected. In this view, the illusion of separation between subject and object dissolves. In reality, Life is a flow in which it is impossible to capture its essence and then proceed to talk about it. That is precisely why theology and sacred texts ultimately fail. The very notion of searching for something that is already present is quite damaging; it is a waste of precious time and only serves to fuel anxiety—the "I must achieve this or that" mentality—and existential crises.

Thomas Metzinger, a modern philosopher working in tandem with neuroscience, has arrived at a new metaphysical model suggesting that every form of individuality is illusory, including the little "ego," the grand "Self," and every variety of identity we cling to. These types of attachments are merely products of cultural, genetic, biological, and psychological conditioning. For Metzinger, the "self" is always a phenomenon and never a noumenon (or a distinct essence/object). Subject and object are just standard polarities within the human brain. However, Life/Steak/Existence exists as a self-sufficient entity, without any need for external objects to somehow cause that Steak. This effectively dismantles creationist arguments and implies a radical rejection of anything "transcendental," because the mere idea of something distant and artificially severed from the Steak itself is inherently problematic.

@Anthony Perez9

Man...

👍 Cheers to atheistic spirituality! 🙂

Is this that specific kind of spirituality where the physical takes center stage and the spiritual is treated as secondary? The one where the human Self is built entirely on material mechanisms and mental models—essentially treating a person like nothing more than a mortal automaton?

Are we talking about that specific kind of spirituality where there isn't just one infinity, but more than one "everything"? The kind where the universe is a multi-multi, mega-multi arrangement of alternative meta-universes, making the very idea of a single universality nothing more than a total illusion?

Daniel Castillo11 As follows:
There aren't really any words to describe that kind of energy—it's already out there, manifesting and flowing without any limits or boundaries. It doesn't belong to you or me; it belongs to everyone. You're a part of it, just as much as the rest of us. You are an expression of that very essence. Just as the flower is an expression of life, you are another expression of life.
At the heart of everything lies life itself. As for what that truly entails, it’s something we may never fully grasp.

J. Krishnamurti

That’s a really beautiful quote, and it hits home. Jeff expressed almost the exact same sentiment over on his page.

This quote from Krishnamurti is actually the very heart of Christianity:

"Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. Such is the truth." (A Course in Miracles, a documentary film based on the book that illustrates the spiritual awakening and enlightenment of over 100 people under the revolutionary influence of Jesus Christ)

Enlightenment is really just a step beyond grasping quantum physics in the third person and understanding Einstein's fundamental laws, which show that the universe itself already possesses such an extraordinary degree of beauty, elegance, harmony, and ingenuity.

Lisa Morales4 said:Is this that specific kind of spirituality where the physical takes center stage and the spiritual is treated as secondary? The one where the human Self is built entirely on material mechanisms and mental models—essentially treating a person like nothing more than a mortal automaton?

Are we talking about that specific kind of spirituality where there isn't just one infinity, but more than one "everything"? The kind where the universe is a multi-multi, mega-multi arrangement of alternative meta-universes, making the very idea of a single universality nothing more than a total illusion?

Daniel Castillo11 As follows:
There aren't really any words to describe that kind of energy—it's already out there, manifesting and flowing without any limits or boundaries. It doesn't belong to you or me; it belongs to everyone. You're a part of it, just as much as the rest of us. You are an expression of that very essence. Just as the flower is an expression of life, you are another expression of life.
At the heart of everything lies life itself. As for what that truly entails, it’s something we may never fully grasp.

J. Krishnamurti

That’s a really beautiful quote, and it hits home. Jeff expressed almost the exact same sentiment over on his page.

This quote from Krishnamurti is actually the very heart of Christianity:

"Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. Such is the truth." (A Course in Miracles, a documentary film based on the book that illustrates the spiritual awakening and enlightenment of over 100 people under the revolutionary influence of Jesus Christ)

Enlightenment is really just a step beyond grasping quantum physics in the third person and understanding Einstein's fundamental laws, which show that the universe itself already possesses such an extraordinary degree of beauty, elegance, harmony, and ingenuity.

Quote: actually, "spirituality" is a somewhat nonsensical term within the context of this discussion. Especially if we approach this from the standpoint of naturalistic metaphysics, the word loses its footing entirely because, in such a framework, there is no "spirit" to be found as a distinct object. Naturalism essentially dissolves the duality of spirit and matter at its very foundation. Since I can't think of a better equivalent, I find myself using "spirituality," even though the word often carries the baggage of unprovable realities, paranormal phenomena, or religious concepts.

In a naturalist worldview, there is no Self as an ontologically isolated entity set apart from other selves. The Self isn't an object; it’s a process—essentially a collection of incredibly complex biochemical reactions that culminate in individual psychology and the construction of identity. It's shaped by evolutionary biology on one hand and societal influence on the other, but the Self is definitively a creation of the mind working in tandem with the external environment (those various biological and psychological factors outside ourselves). The core aim of spirituality in most traditions is the dissolution of the sense of self, whether that is a side effect or the ultimate goal. To my mind, a person cannot lose something they never truly possessed in the first place; therefore, perhaps this entire search isn't about discovering some higher Self, but rather discovering that such a thing simply doesn't exist. Nature is a living tapestry of endless, interconnected processes that move without any obvious cause-and-effect in a strictly linear sense. This boundless dynamism is far too vast for the human intellect to grasp in its entirety, so we attempt to describe it through linear, causal language. In reality, a human being is just one single process within nature, existing amidst the infinite dynamics of countless other processes.

is this that spirituality where there is more than one infinity—a "more than one everything" type of spirituality, where the universe is a multiverse, a mega-multiverse filled with so many alternative meta-universes that any notion of universality is nothing more than a passing illusion?

That depends entirely on which cosmological model we decide to accept as valid. For now, our best bet is the Big Bang combined with potentially M-theory (along with other string theories). We could simply refer to the existence of multiverses (if they truly exist) as the sheer state of being or existence itself.

this quote from J. Krishnamurti is actually the heart of Christianity:

"Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. Such is the truth." (A Course in Miracles, a feature-length documentary based on the book of the same name, which depicts the spiritual awakening and enlightenment of over 100 people under the influence of the revolutionary mind of Jesus Christ)

A Course in Miracles is pure New Age. It isn't Christianity; rather, it's a Gnostic reinterpretation of dogmatic Christianity. I don't know a single Christian theologian who endorses these kinds of esoteric ideas. So, claiming it is the heart of Christianity isn't quite accurate. If we're being realistic, it might only represent the core of one specific school of thought.

Quote: extraordinary degree of beauty, elegance, harmony and ingenuity.

Enlightenment, if you ask me, is really just a step beyond grasping quantum physics from a third-person perspective and understanding those fundamental laws laid down by Einstein—laws which suggest that the universe itself already possesses such an

Honestly, that sounds like typical religious rhetoric to me. The problem is that everyone seems to toss that word around however they please, making it feel like a hollow cliché that could mean absolutely anything or nothing at all.

Furthermore, I truly believe that for a naturalist—be they an atheist or an agnostic—this material universe alone provides more than enough foundation to be spiritual, moral, and self-aware. I fail to see how introducing speculative concepts like a soul or a spirit adds any tangible value to someone's spirituality or their ability to live out practical moral principles in their daily lives.

Paul Jones7 said:I don't think the searching is what causes the restlessness, really... I think it's the expectations—you know, that pressure to actually achieve something—that does it. If you just let go of those expectations, the restlessness kind of disappears.

Restlessness just breeds ignorance.
It’s not even about having expectations—it’s about the fact that we’re building those expectations on a totally flawed perception of reality.

The water always finds its way to the destination. And as for the pace? Well, let’s be real—not everyone is cut out for enlightenment. But I definitely wouldn't go so far as to say all the other work is pointless!

People love throwing this argument around, but honestly? They’re mostly just underselling themselves while pointing fingers at someone else. Look, I get it—you need a foundation to reach certain realizations. That's just facts. But there is absolutely no truth to the idea that this knowledge is out of reach unless it’s some divine gift dropped from the sky. I see people reading all this stuff claiming that your past lives, your karma, or even your genetic makeup acts like a ceiling that prevents you from making real progress or hitting certain milestones. That is total nonsense. There’s something way more powerful than all that: intention. Intention represents the infinite capacity to create. If you learn how to nurture that and actually live in alignment with it, I truly believe that everything you once thought was a brick wall can suddenly become the solid ground beneath your feet.

wearyhawk83 said:Restlessness just breeds ignorance.
It’s not even about having expectations—it’s about the fact that we’re building those expectations on a totally flawed perception of reality.

The water always finds its way to the destination. And as for the pace? Well, let’s be real—not everyone is cut out for enlightenment. But I definitely wouldn't go so far as to say all the other work is pointless!

People love throwing this argument around, but honestly? They’re mostly just underselling themselves while pointing fingers at someone else. Look, I get it—you need a foundation to reach certain realizations. That's just facts. But there is absolutely no truth to the idea that this knowledge is out of reach unless it’s some divine gift dropped from the sky. I see people reading all this stuff claiming that your past lives, your karma, or even your genetic makeup acts like a ceiling that prevents you from making real progress or hitting certain milestones. That is total nonsense. There’s something way more powerful than all that: intention. Intention represents the infinite capacity to create. If you learn how to nurture that and actually live in alignment with it, I truly believe that everything you once thought was a brick wall can suddenly become the solid ground beneath your feet.

I mean, letting go of expectations seems a bit more doable than trying to wipe away ignorance, doesn't it? 😉

Expectation is just an ego state—it’s a mental construct, really, and a byproduct that ends up being exclusively harmful. There’s no real upside to expectation for its own sake.

Choosing not to set imperatives for oneself is basically just a simple little mental trick to stop the mind from building those damaging structures of expectation (though, I guess, it might just exist within us naturally from birth). It’s sort of like giving the mind a gentle nudge, because meditation isn't the only way to quiet things down. You can do it at any given moment, just by not allowing the mind to solidify into some kind of malignant construct.

Daniel Castillo11 said:Quote: actually, "spirituality" is a somewhat nonsensical term within the context of this discussion. Especially if we approach this from the standpoint of naturalistic metaphysics, the word loses its footing entirely because, in such a framework, there is no "spirit" to be found as a distinct object. Naturalism essentially dissolves the duality of spirit and matter at its very foundation. Since I can't think of a better equivalent, I find myself using "spirituality," even though the word often carries the baggage of unprovable realities, paranormal phenomena, or religious concepts.

In a naturalist worldview, there is no Self as an ontologically isolated entity set apart from other selves. The Self isn't an object; it’s a process—essentially a collection of incredibly complex biochemical reactions that culminate in individual psychology and the construction of identity. It's shaped by evolutionary biology on one hand and societal influence on the other, but the Self is definitively a creation of the mind working in tandem with the external environment (those various biological and psychological factors outside ourselves). The core aim of spirituality in most traditions is the dissolution of the sense of self, whether that is a side effect or the ultimate goal. To my mind, a person cannot lose something they never truly possessed in the first place; therefore, perhaps this entire search isn't about discovering some higher Self, but rather discovering that such a thing simply doesn't exist. Nature is a living tapestry of endless, interconnected processes that move without any obvious cause-and-effect in a strictly linear sense. This boundless dynamism is far too vast for the human intellect to grasp in its entirety, so we attempt to describe it through linear, causal language. In reality, a human being is just one single process within nature, existing amidst the infinite dynamics of countless other processes.

is this that spirituality where there is more than one infinity—a "more than one everything" type of spirituality, where the universe is a multiverse, a mega-multiverse filled with so many alternative meta-universes that any notion of universality is nothing more than a passing illusion?

That depends entirely on which cosmological model we decide to accept as valid. For now, our best bet is the Big Bang combined with potentially M-theory (along with other string theories). We could simply refer to the existence of multiverses (if they truly exist) as the sheer state of being or existence itself.

this quote from J. Krishnamurti is actually the heart of Christianity:

"Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. Such is the truth." (A Course in Miracles, a feature-length documentary based on the book of the same name, which depicts the spiritual awakening and enlightenment of over 100 people under the influence of the revolutionary mind of Jesus Christ)

A Course in Miracles is pure New Age. It isn't Christianity; rather, it's a Gnostic reinterpretation of dogmatic Christianity. I don't know a single Christian theologian who endorses these kinds of esoteric ideas. So, claiming it is the heart of Christianity isn't quite accurate. If we're being realistic, it might only represent the core of one specific school of thought.

Quote: extraordinary degree of beauty, elegance, harmony and ingenuity.

Enlightenment, if you ask me, is really just a step beyond grasping quantum physics from a third-person perspective and understanding those fundamental laws laid down by Einstein—laws which suggest that the universe itself already possesses such an

Honestly, that sounds like typical religious rhetoric to me. The problem is that everyone seems to toss that word around however they please, making it feel like a hollow cliché that could mean absolutely anything or nothing at all.

Furthermore, I truly believe that for a naturalist—be they an atheist or an agnostic—this material universe alone provides more than enough foundation to be spiritual, moral, and self-aware. I fail to see how introducing speculative concepts like a soul or a spirit adds any tangible value to someone's spirituality or their ability to live out practical moral principles in their daily lives.

It’s not up for debate that they are mutants paraphrasing the teachings of Jesus Christ to fit their current surroundings and subculture, but my point was simply that they are nothing more than seekers of Truth, just like any other person since the dawn of the century. Even someone like J. Krishnamurti, who teaches the same human ontological drive toward knowing Truth and Love through self-experience, essentially reframes it. That's how we ended up with what used to be Buddhist nothingness becoming everythingness, emptiness becoming fullness, and total extinction becoming sustainability. Isn't that just the ultimate new way

Quote: actually, "spirituality" is a meaningless word in the context of this topic. Especially if we start from a naturalistic metaphysics—then it makes no sense at all because there is no spirit to be found as an object within it. Naturalism destroys the duality of spirit and matter at its very core. I don't know of an equivalent term, so I use "spirituality," even though it often implies a belief in unprovable realities, paranormal phenomena, or religious concepts.

So what exactly is young Jeff enlightening if not his own spirit?
And how can naturalism "destroy" something that "(anyway) doesn't exist"?

I'm just not satisfied with those negative theories of naturalism where a person is nothing more than a biological robot. I'm not fulfilled by a version of naturalism where someone gets high on some natural hallucinogens and then wanders off down some otherworldly path.

I choose what the Holy Spirit gathers into the One—what our Source has already chosen for us. I choose a person who knows how to move through the diversity and plurality of a single world. A person who is both conscious and conscientious. Someone who is both spiritual and physical. Someone who recognizes and understands their own guarantee and their connection to the eternal, ever-present, almighty, and omniscient Truth, Love, and Justice, which is One both in heaven and on earth. It is simply up to a person's free will to seek it out, to reach for it.

In everyday life, I generally have no trouble expressing the same thing in plain, ordinary language, leaving room for someone to be a theist Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, an atheist, or a Taoist. In those moments, I’m just being inspired and carried by the reality of the moment, which is something I find lacking here in this virtual space, so I resort to this theological, theistic register.

Lisa Morales4 said:It’s not up for debate that they are mutants paraphrasing the teachings of Jesus Christ to fit their current surroundings and subculture, but my point was simply that they are nothing more than seekers of Truth, just like any other person since the dawn of the century. Even someone like J. Krishnamurti, who teaches the same human ontological drive toward knowing Truth and Love through self-experience, essentially reframes it. That's how we ended up with what used to be Buddhist nothingness becoming everythingness, emptiness becoming fullness, and total extinction becoming sustainability. Isn't that just the ultimate new way

Quote: actually, "spirituality" is a meaningless word in the context of this topic. Especially if we start from a naturalistic metaphysics—then it makes no sense at all because there is no spirit to be found as an object within it. Naturalism destroys the duality of spirit and matter at its very core. I don't know of an equivalent term, so I use "spirituality," even though it often implies a belief in unprovable realities, paranormal phenomena, or religious concepts.

So what exactly is young Jeff enlightening if not his own spirit?
And how can naturalism "destroy" something that "(anyway) doesn't exist"?

I'm just not satisfied with those negative theories of naturalism where a person is nothing more than a biological robot. I'm not fulfilled by a version of naturalism where someone gets high on some natural hallucinogens and then wanders off down some otherworldly path.

I choose what the Holy Spirit gathers into the One—what our Source has already chosen for us. I choose a person who knows how to move through the diversity and plurality of a single world. A person who is both conscious and conscientious. Someone who is both spiritual and physical. Someone who recognizes and understands their own guarantee and their connection to the eternal, ever-present, almighty, and omniscient Truth, Love, and Justice, which is One both in heaven and on earth. It is simply up to a person's free will to seek it out, to reach for it.

In everyday life, I generally have no trouble expressing the same thing in plain, ordinary language, leaving room for someone to be a theist Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, an atheist, or a Taoist. In those moments, I’m just being inspired and carried by the reality of the moment, which is something I find lacking here in this virtual space, so I resort to this theological, theistic register.

To put it in plain, salt-of-the-earth terms... I am looking for a MAN (the real deal, possessing exactly what I lack). 😉

Did I hit the nail on the head? 😁

Paul Jones7 said:I mean, letting go of expectations seems a bit more doable than trying to wipe away ignorance, doesn't it? 😉

Expectation is just an ego state—it’s a mental construct, really, and a byproduct that ends up being exclusively harmful. There’s no real upside to expectation for its own sake.

Choosing not to set imperatives for oneself is basically just a simple little mental trick to stop the mind from building those damaging structures of expectation (though, I guess, it might just exist within us naturally from birth). It’s sort of like giving the mind a gentle nudge, because meditation isn't the only way to quiet things down. You can do it at any given moment, just by not allowing the mind to solidify into some kind of malignant construct.

Look, just tossing out or shrinking your expectations isn't actually helpful. Honestly, it’s more like a shortcut to getting what you want. We have to realize that every expectation starts with a goal, every goal comes from a motive, and those motives come straight from who we are. Trying to stop expecting things is basically trying to suppress your own self. Sure, we can tweak those annoying, useless expectations that trip us up—that’s all we really should be doing anyway. But the core ones? They’ve gotta stay if we’re serious about following our path.

expectation is just an ego state, a mental construct, and a byproduct that turns out to be nothing but harmful. there’s zero benefit to having expectations themselves.

Think of an expectation as a mental picture—it's that image in your head where you see yourself standing at the finish line giving a big thumbs up. It’s a natural result of how our brains work; we love linking a specific motive to a specific goal. You can't really have a goal without seeing yourself in it! Instead of fighting expectations, we need to get better at choosing high-quality paths and meaningful goals. If we do that, our expectations will naturally fall into place, and they won't burn us out nearly as much. Someone whose expectations are constantly missing the mark isn't failing at "expecting"—they're failing at everything else. The problem isn't the goal; it's them. They shouldn't be lowering their expectations; they should be fixing their entire perception of themselves and the world.

Is it just me, or is everyone else missing how much The Unknown is totally trolling enlightened Jeff and the whole idea of enlightenment itself... 😕
If nothing else, that opening post he made to start this thread was actually being pretty mild. 😍 😂

wearyhawk83 said:Look, just tossing out or shrinking your expectations isn't actually helpful. Honestly, it’s more like a shortcut to getting what you want. We have to realize that every expectation starts with a goal, every goal comes from a motive, and those motives come straight from who we are. Trying to stop expecting things is basically trying to suppress your own self. Sure, we can tweak those annoying, useless expectations that trip us up—that’s all we really should be doing anyway. But the core ones? They’ve gotta stay if we’re serious about following our path.

expectation is just an ego state, a mental construct, and a byproduct that turns out to be nothing but harmful. there’s zero benefit to having expectations themselves.

Think of an expectation as a mental picture—it's that image in your head where you see yourself standing at the finish line giving a big thumbs up. It’s a natural result of how our brains work; we love linking a specific motive to a specific goal. You can't really have a goal without seeing yourself in it! Instead of fighting expectations, we need to get better at choosing high-quality paths and meaningful goals. If we do that, our expectations will naturally fall into place, and they won't burn us out nearly as much. Someone whose expectations are constantly missing the mark isn't failing at "expecting"—they're failing at everything else. The problem isn't the goal; it's them. They shouldn't be lowering their expectations; they should be fixing their entire perception of themselves and the world.

Expectation is maybe natural when you're looking at something where success feels pretty much guaranteed, but how do you manage expectations when the outcome is totally uncertain—especially when we aren't even great at judging whether we're actually making progress or not?

In that case, maybe a better alternative to expectation is hoping. Though, honestly, it might not be that much better—it's probably following the same mistake, since hope is also just staring into a virtual world of an imagined future, which isn't really living in the present.

With our own awareness, we can dismantle and break down these mental states of expectation, realizing they're just byproducts rather than essential players in the process of following a path. They are just results of us imagining outcomes, but we don't actually *need* to imagine the result (the success) in order to pursue the goal. That necessity just doesn't exist.

Matthew Ortiz3 said:To put it in plain, salt-of-the-earth terms... I am looking for a MAN (the real deal, possessing exactly what I lack). 😉

Did I hit the nail on the head? 😁

Not at all, honestly, shame on you
we are dealing with incredibly serious matters here; it’s hardly your fault if your definition of "man" is just synonymous with "masculinity" (and capitalized, no less)

I am being as serious as possible on this thread, and I'm certainly not making this about my own private life or intimacy (that's what the neighboring threads about houses and cats are for); rather, I am offering my civic, human perspective and responding to previous posts that have quite motivated me as a human who, by the way, clearly chooses a spirituality that is inseparable from our physical nature—a nature that serves as the very means to realize our Source, God, and to reconcile heaven and earth

If your response is meant to be condescending, using your stance to negate what I’ve said above, or attempting to diminish my effort to break down clichés regarding a negative dualism of human nature—which is being pushed here as a supposed superiority or bias that we supposedly need to fight against and, I assume, reject—then fine, I accept that, and let's keep debating... I'm guessing you aren't such a die-hard polytheist, nor a true pantheist, nor such a devoted follower of Hinduism as you are a critic of monotheism; I accept that because I actually enjoy talking to people I disagree with, as I consider myself an open-minded person; talking to people who think exactly like me gets boring

And you can be whatever you want, including being mistaken in your assumption that I am searching for the "masculine" (by the way, when I look for something, I find it, unless I simply allow it to find me), just don't be the person who intentionally obscures the point

electricdriver33 said:Is it just me, or is everyone else missing how much The Unknown is totally trolling enlightened Jeff and the whole idea of enlightenment itself... 😕
If nothing else, that opening post he made to start this thread was actually being pretty mild. 😍 😂

What he’s trying to do doesn't really matter; what matters is the specific way he fails. That's the interesting part. If we look at it through a theological lens—someone feel free to translate that for the rest of us—every attempt made by the devil is ultimately turned into his own defeat, serving instead to bring victory to the Name of God.

Jeff Foster is one of the true warriors of our time.
He belongs to the army of light.

These are the people who love and serve the Truth, primarily by searching for it, and once they find it, they establish and multiply it by sharing it with others.

"When birds fall from the sky and the animals are dying,
a new tribe of people shall come unto the Earth
from many colours, classes, creeds,
who by their actions and deeds shall make the Earth green again.
They will be known as the Warriors of the Rainbow." ~Hopi Prophecy ♥

This isn't just talking about carbon emissions or the physical, material stuff
that defines a person; it's mainly referring to a spiritual rebirth—an awakening that will eventually overflow and reflect onto the physical world.

Our friend the Unknown can keep playing his passive little games for a while longer, but he knows deep down that when the time comes, even the black trembling in affection 🙂, and to keep from melting away himself, 😍

Thanks to the Unknown for starting this thread; I'm finding it both fun and enlightening. 🙂

Peter Phillips32 said:I mean, why bother breaking a sweat or bleeding out to actually achieve something when you can just pay someone else to handle the heavy lifting of manifestation for you? It’s all about outsourcing the effort, right?

Meh, I'm tossing this advice straight into the trash because it makes zero sense, especially since you aren't even following your own damn rules. ☕

If you want to talk about a truly enlightened soul, I actually know one. He was a marine engineer I worked with back home on my island. The man is the absolute definition of enlightenment.
We used to call him "The Watch Hater" as a nickname because of his bizarre obsession with timepieces.🙂
Here's the proof:

He loves animals, but he can't stand watches. Just like any truly enlightened person should!

Benjamin Taylor6 said:If you want to talk about a truly enlightened soul, I actually know one. He was a marine engineer I worked with back home on my island. The man is the absolute definition of enlightenment.
We used to call him "The Watch Hater" as a nickname because of his bizarre obsession with timepieces.🙂
Here's the proof:

He loves animals, but he can't stand watches. Just like any truly enlightened person should!

So you mean he shows it through being lazy, having zero ambition, and just... radiating that "starving artist" vibe?

He’s a buddy of mine, a marine engineer from my hometown back home. He is basically the walking definition of enlightenment.

Do you think it would be easier for you to just shut him down if you didn't have to deal with him every single day?

And honestly, how much does this supposed "enlightened" guy even affect you?

electricdriver33 said:Is it just me, or is everyone else missing how much The Unknown is totally trolling enlightened Jeff and the whole idea of enlightenment itself... 😕
If nothing else, that opening post he made to start this thread was actually being pretty mild. 😍 😂

If that's how you want to take it, fine, but that wasn't my point. 😉

People have turned "reaching realization" into this sacred little fetish.

It’s like someone obsessing over being "cured" when they're actually just a hypochondriac. In that case, the "desire to be cured" is the actual sickness.

The only thing that makes sense is realizing you've been acting like an idiot the whole time.
Asking "How do I get there? What are the steps? How can I speed this up?" is just another hypochondriac trick to drag out the "treatment period" until death—which means never.

Convincing a hypochondriac that running from doctor to doctor (guru, books, saints, altars) is somehow "deeply meaningful" just lines the pockets of spiritual scammers who peddle their holy guidance at the local spirituality/faith/religion market for cash and ego.

***

Then there’s Krein’s "Watch Destroyer." He probably just gave in to total laziness.
That guy is even worse than the hypochondriacs. 😁

Summary: we've got spiritual

1. active hypochondriacs.
2. gullible believers who blindly follow authority figures.
3. lazy slackers.

The third group is the absolute worst. 😂

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* slacker/lazy state.

Just a common way to describe that low-energy, lethargic vibe...