A thread for Danika

[Pallavi]

Thread for danika

Hi Danika,

Welcome to the LU forum.
Could you introduce yourself?
What brought you to LU?
What are you looking for? and what are your expectations from being here?

Just a few ground rules before we move further:
Try as much to reply at least once a day to keep the momentum going.
If you've been engaging with other practices and philosophies- it's best not to for the time of the process- it's best to come in without any set frameworks.
If you meditate you may continue with that.
Try to keep your answers concise, but don't sacrifice clarity for brevity.
Please answer with all honesty and ALL the questions I ask, even the smallest ones. Try not to club the answers between questions as much as possible.

My job is to guide you and ask you questions. Your job is to look into your direct experience and answer as honestly as possible.

And finally, there is no answer that comes from me- the seeing has to come from you. I will merely point you in the right direction. You don't actually need me :)

That's all. If you're ok with these we can continue :)

Sending love,
Pallavi

[danika]

Hi Pallavi,

Thank you for starting this thread and offering to guide me through this process. I truly appreciate it :)
I have also gone through the rules you specified and think I should be able to follow all of them, including posting here regularly :)

To explain why I'm here- I was introduced to this forum by you. I'm a complete newbie to this process and have never (consciously) undergone/engaged with something like it before. I have also never called myself 'spiritual' because I am unsure of what it actually means, and can't say I have ever 'searched' using any other process either. So I guess I have no particular expectations of the outcome, just looking forward to trying it out and learning what I can. :)

Thank you again for this opportunity.

Love,
Danika

[Pallavi]

Hi Danika,
What have you 'searched' for?

[danika]

Hi Pallavi,
Sorry I haven't posted in the past two days. I guess the rules were harder to follow than I thought :)
In all honesty, I'm not sure where I should start - I've had this tab open all day!

I guess I'll start with a common conundrum:
Often, on taking an observatory stance on 'life', you realise that nothing is right or wrong, good or bad. Yet, when you wish to enter,as a participant, you still want to 'be good', 'do right', 'make a difference'. Why? What drives this?? Can I really make a difference to anyone more than me? At the end of the day, is doing something that 'makes a difference' equal to something that doesn't? Does everything make an equal difference? And what makes me want to, inspite of being aware of the 'larger scheme of things' ?

I also believe that the Universe is much beyond our understanding and control. Yet, our attempts to 'be good', 'do good', 'make a difference' are obviously driven by some illusion of control, of an ability to change reality. Why would Nature give us the sense we could affect reality if it didn't want us to....

.... *What is reality? Is my reality the same as yours?

So muddled.. sorry.. I really don't know where to start...

[Pallavi]

Hi Danika,

These questions are perfectly fine. :)

What is the 'larger scheme of things' as per your understanding?

Lets look at the 'the ability to change reality'.
And for now, lets focus on YOU and your direct experience.
Do you, have an intention to 'do good'? Do 'You' think you have an 'illusion of control'?

To see what is real- actually requires seeing and not knowing. People get caught in reasoning out their reality- "if it's not like this, then it's like this". For this process, I want you to pretend like you have amnesia. You have no prior knowledge of what you have 'learnt'- you only answer questions exactly as you see in your direct experience- seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, hearing.

What is nature/universe- was it something that you 'learnt' or does it inherently come from you?

[danika]

Hi Pallavi,
Sorry for the long gap again. I don't even have an excuse.

What is the 'larger scheme of things' as per your understanding?

What exists beyond human perception ( or just one type of perception ). In context of my last post, beyond the human construct of 'good and bad'/'right and wrong'. (Is that really only a human construct?)

Do you, have an intention to 'do good'? Do 'You' think you have an 'illusion of control'?

I'm afraid 'Yes' to both, but I can't think of why except maybe being born into such a belief system, born as a human

And if that is the reason, am I to work within the system? Be the 'best kind of human' there is- like everyone else is trying to do? - or just be me- because in the end there is no good/bad/right/wrong? Has Nature designed us to have an inherent knowing of 'good' or has Nature designed for us to make our own definition? Has Nature designed for us to be born into 'this' belief system (more or less) or 'any' belief system, for the sake of giving us a personality? Abruptly coming back to the larger scheme of things here but what line separates a construct (eg society) from being man-made or natural? After all, man is natural. Wouldn't that make everything he does, natural?

It looks to me, more and more, that Nature has designed us to do what we want, within the logical limitations of being born into a certain species (human), a certain social construct (urban, indian) etc, of course. Owing to those constraints, we'd all pretty much want very similar things anyway, right? Then, doing 'good' or doing what I want doesn't have to be choice really, does it? If 'I want to do what I believe is good'?
I'm sorry, very muddled again- heaps clearer in my head!

What is nature/universe- was it something that you 'learnt' or does it inherently come from you?

What do you mean by 'learnt'? In context of my last post, I guess nature/universe/larger scheme of things are pretty much the same: what reality is -(minus) individual perception*
*by individual perception I mean squirrel perception, human perception, dinosaur perception.....

I guess... bye here
Danika

[Pallavi]

By learnt I mean- there are a number of things which you have described as Nature doing, or being.

Is this learnt, or is this in your direct experience?

"What exists beyond human perception ( or just one type of perception ). In context of my last post, beyond the human construct of 'good and bad'/'right and wrong'. (Is that really only a human construct?)"

Lets breakdown 'your' perception itself.
What is individual perception, whether squirrels have perception - that is in reason.
In your experience, what is your perception. Try this exercise out and write to me :)

http://markedeternal.blogspot.in/2012/05/labels.html

Try this exercise and tell me how you feel: