I really appreciated a lot of the points made in this conversation. Especially the dialogue around being able to discern the difference between someone who's really there to serve and help and those who are off the path.
My biggest take-aways from a lot of Amit's responses was to continually return to real reality.
That all ideas need to be tested against real reality, and understanding that if we really 'get' something we haven't 'discovered' it and we are not special - rather we are really just OBSERVING a reality and seeing it clearly.
That's all that 'spiritual awakening' really is. Being able to see and then live in alignment with reality for how it is. This is what 'sets us free' because the more we see reality for how it actually is, the more we can behave in ways that go WITH reality, and thus, experience pleasure!
His points about people getting caught in the money cult, getting into a state of 'teaching' their 'protocol' for other teachers to use, getting caught in the idea that they are RIGHT and any criticism leads to anger - this is something to look for in pretty much ANYONE teaching ANYTHING.
The reality is, spiritual techniques and ideas are going to be pretty individual. We can talk about ideas, concepts and techniques for coming to SEE reality, but we can't tell anyone what reality IS - for them or in general.
When people are trying to tell you WHAT to think, that's the problem. When they are giving you tools to think for yourself, to observe for yourself, to test for yourself, so that YOU can live YOUR life in YOUR way, generally speaking, vs. trying to create characters of 'spiritual people' who try to align with some ideal that is literally human created - that's the key.
I really appreciated a lot of the points made in this conversation. Especially the dialogue around being able to discern the difference between someone who's really there to serve and help and those who are off the path.
My biggest take-aways from a lot of Amit's responses was to continually return to real reality.
That all ideas need to be tested against real reality, and understanding that if we really 'get' something we haven't 'discovered' it and we are not special - rather we are really just OBSERVING a reality and seeing it clearly.
That's all that 'spiritual awakening' really is. Being able to see and then live in alignment with reality for how it is. This is what 'sets us free' because the more we see reality for how it actually is, the more we can behave in ways that go WITH reality, and thus, experience pleasure!
His points about people getting caught in the money cult, getting into a state of 'teaching' their 'protocol' for other teachers to use, getting caught in the idea that they are RIGHT and any criticism leads to anger - this is something to look for in pretty much ANYONE teaching ANYTHING.
The reality is, spiritual techniques and ideas are going to be pretty individual. We can talk about ideas, concepts and techniques for coming to SEE reality, but we can't tell anyone what reality IS - for them or in general.
When people are trying to tell you WHAT to think, that's the problem. When they are giving you tools to think for yourself, to observe for yourself, to test for yourself, so that YOU can live YOUR life in YOUR way, generally speaking, vs. trying to create characters of 'spiritual people' who try to align with some ideal that is literally human created - that's the key.
Thank you for sharing all of this!