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she sees your feelings
focus on her emotions
know only this now
Notes on Discernment (From The Fabric of a Past-When to a Future-When)
Something to consider when pondering that: Now never really exists. And that (paradoxically and non-paradoxically): it's always now.
We humans collect ourselves into local group tribes (think city rivalry) as well as collective "greater-good" geographic separates (think countries without language gaps versus "foreign" countries with disparate economic resources). Hierarchy is born. One want in exchange for another. Trade is either fair or it is forced.
Unfortunately for everyone (city or country) taking the resources of another, with or without force, is simpler to rationalize if they both think of the other as "sufficiently other," which is to say, both sides manufacture disdain. "They are not cultured like us..." becomes easier to rationalize (in much the same manner as humans rationalize consuming other species of animals).
We grew up eating this type of food; communicating with our tribe in this type of performative manner; treating friendly rivals in a friendly-sibling way; and (here comes the point, finally) non-friendly rivals in the non-kindly manner proscribed by our distant ancestors.
The tribe, city, country is measured by its leaders (chosen or not). And the equanimity, fairness, respect, and values of every leader is measured by their use of "state violence" represented by his uniformed police and military.
Look at any military general's "show us your decorations" uniform.
Each ribbon, badge, and elaborate flair only means something valuable and significant to all their subordinates.
Civilians just see the ego of the top-general on public display. And if the president or prime minister is unable to recognize the reflection of him or herself in the garish "I participated in this expensive but patriotic use of force" chest-medals, then (by extension) the entire country is unaware that at some definitive point "less can be of more value" in the sense that showing self-restraint is an ability some are incapable of realizing.
It is never possible to forcefully eliminate all enemies. While it's always possible to learn to perform their language as if they were a long-lost sibling.
Braggadocio is proudly worn until the wearer learns --- from experience --- that they lacked (always past-tense) discernment of what is and what is not valuable. To themselves. Recognizing the bad behaviors of others and then becoming aware of one's own hypocrisy is as simple as seeing self-advertisement (self-aggrandizement) as always performed in the realm of the "yet to attain" or the Future-When. This is not instinctual nor is it grown institutionally. (Quite the opposite! It takes intentionally focusing on oneself, and one's past performative behaviors, to answer: 'Who am I doing this for?')
The most consciously-beautiful individuals are those without performance and without artifice or guile. When beauty lacks discernment, they (with the naivety of those who obtain too-much cosmetic surgery) draw attention to their lack of conscious discernment. Those without discernment: fail to think it might be possible that less is ever a positive asset.
The goal is to know when to be satisfied; when sufficient is enough; when to stop striving. Always. In all ways.
Extra Credit Homework Assignment: Because eyes are reading this. This is now (was now). As is this.
Which is why "time" is unquestioned (which most consider unquestionable).
To the observer, energy-mass causes the impression of gravity; which creates the impression of spacetime. Null energy-mass; no gravity; no spacetime. On the other end of the spectrum: maximum energy-mass; maximum gravity; maximum spacetime. To the observer, null-spacetime and max-spacetime are paradoxically impossible to observe and therefore can not exist.
Discern that it all --- all of this --- is only inside your thoughts. None of it is tangibly "real".
Imagine an ability to measure yourself
How would that happen?
I played the computer game Myst when it first came out. After many days of puzzle solving I got "stuck" and could not progress until I "escaped" from an underground mine. I attempted escaping for hours and then I quit the game entirely. Online discussion boards were available to explain every aspect of the game, however, I considered that would be cheating myself.
Playing thru the 25th Anniversary edition of the game (with a commensurate number of "games" stored in my memories after a quarter-century) I found myself easily escaping the mine. And wondering to myself: 'How did I not realize (back when I got stuck in the 1990s) how to pay attention to everything happening to my avatar in that mine?'
The game did not get easier. I had become more proficient at puzzle solving. On my own. Without cheating myself.
CJ the X (in his video titled: 6 shapes of god) is so much better at communicating what his brain has experienced, than .
When you listen to his feature-length lecture the first time, you might not be able to understand everything in context (or in metaphor). But, on second watch, (eyes closed) you may become aware that not every philosopher worth your attention is a professor employed in academia. There are highly capable people available to guide you toward how to better measure your progress in this game; how to not want to cheat yourself; and how to escape the mind, or mine.
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