Society wants to you to be a Person, a self

Saw this billboard a while ago in downtown SF. Kinda sez it all.

Nice Inquiry

I came across this post.
I enjoyed the simple way he went about the inquiry.
His bits about sensory forms versus thought forms was nice and his pointing out that each sense of the object - is a separate thought form. I saw this early on , that the juncture of sensory thought forms, and mental thought forms, this juncture is made real by me, and is the "self" that is "assumed' or filled in by the mind. If there is seeing, there must be a see-er, and in that instant "i" as seer seems to exist. Such is the nature of perception and thought: if there is a thought, there must be a thinker and I am the thinker.

But no, simply an illusion, the mind filling in pieces. Which is what it does: Example: see here and more here, have fun.
His point about "maybe it's just forms of distinction all the way down" seems spot on with the question-observation: Does it all exist before it's discovered, or does it come into being at the moment of observation. Did you get the hint?

This seemed to point to the same thing, here.


I had fouind this a few years ago. A thorough, in-depth academic description of NonDuality and awakening, by someone who admitted he wasn't awake...yet is one of the best reads.

The Familiar is the Most Addictive

Old Story:

Man 1 to Man 2, who is sitting in a sewer: "Why are you sitting in the dark, dank, smelly, disgusting hole?"
Man 2: "Yes, its all that, but it's also warm and familiar."

Variations of this have been around for a while. A potential universal truth for People.

I recently had an insight as to why even something "bad" is welcomed.

The sensation/feeling of "the familiar" is perhaps the most deep-seated, most basic trait or aspect of a living organism.
The ability to recognize something must precede all. Likes, dislikes, etc. To know you like or dislike, there must be recognition first.

So, recognition happens and the feeling of familiarity, something previously experienced, is so strong and so enticing and reinforcing and attractive, that it undermines the actual experience of the thing which is familiar.

Where it happens deep in the nervous system (like smell is one of the primal senses); the Feeling of Familiarity ignites the pleasure centers, even if there object of familiarity itself is not pleasurable. So, while familiarity is most basic and probably works at the neuron-base consciousness level - preferences, judgements, likes, dislikes and all related are add-ons and effectively transient.
Feeling of recognition/ familiarity is not.

Once again pointing to The Source not having a preference for the content of perception. Recognition-familiarity, is sufficient.