I will get through reading this eventually

You gave an example of giving with conditions and judgment. You gave an example or your demands on the conditions in order for you to give.

You gave an example of your judgment against the addict because you saw the other as being more valuable to you.

Similar is the projection of the judgmental God who demands service and worship in order to give love to its creation.


Selfless love/giving or unconditional Giving or love is..
Giving because you enjoy giving rather than giving because you want something in return from who you gave. Giving without conditions because you judge who should receive love or the gifts of love based on ones actions or choices in life.

God gives unconditionally and without the need to get anything back. Just as nature gives freely and with abundance when man doesn't destroy the natural conditions that allow the earth to produce vegetation, and animals of different species.


One is from wholeness, fullness and JOY, where giving expands love between you and those you give to. The other is giving because you need to feel good. The need being that you don't feel good before giving and you won't feel good unless you get something back from those you give to, in meeting the conditions of your demands.

Selfishness that doesn't include others is not selflessness. Selflessness is in giving and receiving because you recognize what you give to is intimately connected to you on a larger scale.

Who you are is more than the body you think you are.

In Lucid dreaming the conscious awareness is not locked in the physical limitations of the waking body even though you experience physical sensations. In Lucid dreaming you can fly, and move instantly from one place to another. The body you inhabit is ethereal rather than solid. When you wake up you re-establish the awareness in the beliefs that you are locked in the physical body you yourself created.

Expanding consciousness beyond the physical body is death to the identification (EGO) that restricts all awareness to only the physical body. The waking state mind believes when the body dies the consciousness that inhabits it dies. This is only the belief of the ignorant mind, the ego and its limited beliefs of itself.

True selflessness dawns when the awareness is no longer restrained to the body and you have no need to protect what was limited by belief. Unity with all things dawns in the awareness and when you give to those objects of perception it expands love in you, and them, at the same time.
You realize the more you give the more love expands in you and everything around you. There is no holding back in judgment and no separating anything or anyone from giving or from your love because it only draws the awareness back towards limits of self and perception of self. You become more of who you are as your consciousness expands into all people and all things, and beyond.

Death of the ego is frieghtening to the ignorant mind. The ego lies to you when you believe you will cease to exist if the ego relenquishes its hold over you. The ego is the servant not the master. Death of the ego is not the destruction of the sense of being it is the end of limitations on the sense of being. The lifting of blindfolds that keep you from experiencing cosmic Self and God consciousness.

Just because you don't experience this doesn't mean it isn't real any more than if you never swam in a lake does it mean you can't or won't ever swim.

People search for one taste of this experience, take mind altering drugs to experience the expanded Self.

In the Upanishads, those ancient texts of Unity, there is an interesting passage describing the bliss of full human realization:
This is the inquiry concerning bliss.
Let there be a youth, a good youth, well read, prompt in action, steady in mind and strong in body. Let this whole earth be full of wealth for him. That is one human bliss.
That which is a hundred times the human bliss, that is one bliss of the human angels; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of the human angels, that is one bliss of the divine angels; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of the divine angels, that is one bliss of the Fathers in their long-enduring world; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of the Fathers in their long-enduring world, that is one bliss of the gods who are born so by birth; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of the gods who are born so by birth, that is one bliss of the gods by work; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of the gods by work, that is one bliss of the gods; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of the gods, that is one bliss of the Lord of Evolving Consciousness; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of the Lord of Evolving Consciousness, that is one bliss of the Lord of the Unbounded; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of the Lord of the Unbounded, that is one bliss of God the Creator; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.
That which is a hundred times the bliss of God the Creator, that is one bliss of God the Father; and also the bliss of a human in Unity.

The glory of full human realization is beyond the ability of any words to express. There are no limits to the human condition other than those we artificially impose due to painful past belief in limitation, suffering and loss. These limits are the lies of the ego; the simple truth as presented by the Holy Spirit is that life is free! life is joy! life is unconditioned by time or space or causation; all limits on life are without exception born of illusion.
This is the ultimately simple and true Reality of life.

Like it or not Flex, we're all interconnected.

That strung out, homeless person that you didn't help may very break into your house and steal your possessions for drug money. By helping him in some way, you may prevent that. You're benefitting everyone.

Of course, you are benefitting the other more...but you are still benefitting yourself.

Also, I agree with lucid. Your perspective will likely change with age/experience.

A wise sage was sleeping in his room when a theif wakes him from his sleep. He is shuffling through the items in the house looking for money and valuables not aware that the occupant of the house, is in the room, and awake.
The sage says, "Take whatever you need but leave me enough to pay my rent."
The man startled, says who's there!
Again he repeats himself, "Take whatever you want but leave me enough so that I may pay my rent, obviously you need the rest more than I do, just leave me what I need and take what you want."

The thief takes what he will and later is arrested when he breaks into another place and is caught.

The theif while serving his time thinks about the sage and how he let him have what he wanted without any struggle or malice.
After doing his time he seeks out the sage and asks him why he left him to take from his house.

His reply was, "The universe provides for all my needs. Those that live in fear covet their belongings and believe there is never enough to go around. Man takes from another only because they do not know that they keep abundance from coming to them by their fear of lack. I knew that you would come back to seek greater knowledge by my actions and so here you are."

The thief then became a student of Self Mastery under the tutelage of the Master and became a Master himself.

If you do X and it is completely opposed to your self interest that is selfless. Whether you believe it or not there are altruists in this world, some which have caused more harm than good. There are many that argue it is impossible for humans to be selfless due to various psychological factors. At the end of the day find that people can either be selfless or they can't.

For the ones that can, they are drawn to examples that can elevate their awareness of truth and reality.

"Giving because you enjoy giving rather than giving because you want something in return from who you gave"

That is totaly selfish~ You are giving because you ENJOY giving. You are getting joy in exchange for giving. I know very few people in this world who give selflessly, but I believe they are gaining something as well. I have a few friends who have given away all of their posessions and live in the woods, but in exchange for givning away all of their posessions, they gained piece of mind. An individual who is truely selfless would have no concept of property. Anyone who "owns" anything is not a selfless individual. To give selflessly would imply that something was first yours to give~

"Just as nature gives freely and with abundance when man doesn't destroy the natural conditions that allow the earth to produce vegetation, and animals of different species."

Looks like nature is a bit like I am~ To get food from the earth, you must provide the earth with food and nutrients. A cow takes a dump in a pasture, in exchange, the pasture grows grass for the cow to eat. Plants take carbon dioxide in exchange for the oxygen they give. We take oxygen in exchange for Co2--it is all balanced reciprocity.

Oh I have no doubt that we are all interconnected~ But that strung out homeless person was not producting anything, and thus did not recieve anything in return. What are you giving the homeless man who does nothing? Some money? What does money mean when the stock market crashes? What does money mean when the government takes all of your posessions? You can not give a man his life back, he must take it back. One man was deserving of a dinner, he earned it (consequently he also got $50 to cover the cost of purchasing a new liscense so that he could go to a homeless shelter). I am more than willing to lend a helping hand to those who truely want it--I am not willing to help those who do not wish to help themselves. What could possibly be more fair than giving to those who give? Balanced reciprocity makes the world go round.

Note: I did not suggest giving him money.

There's a reason for that. Money alone doesn't solve problems.

Money! Well, a subject dear to my heart. How much a part it is of ALL our relationships with one another. Keep in mind, this site is costing our host money. And if "time is money" then all of us all is circulating--a term I prefer to 'spending'--it each time we read and write.

I readily admit: While I have studied the subject for decades--I like to call myself and intuitive economist--much about it is still a mystery to me.

ECONOMICS--literally, the rules of the household (OIKOS=the Greek for house; NOMOS=the rules of...) The King James version of the Bible translates this word as 'steward (keeper of the animal stys) ship. The good steward was a good economist.
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BTW, are any readers of this thread knowledgeable on the subject on money and economics. The great Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) called economics, "The dismal science". I wonder why!

BTW 2, because of the lack of enough money, I grew up in a kind of third-world poverty.

For example, from one to eight (1930-1938), I lived in a grey-shingled (paint was expensive) and small-semi--a rented house, which was owned by the mining company for which my father worked, as a miner.

Although we had electric lights they were not the fanci-kind of modern lights we have today. The wiring was visible and on the interior walls. They hung, like "electric candles", from the ceiling.

To make a long story short: We had very few of what we would, today, call necessities. Our heat came from coal-fed stoves. In the winter, we lived mostly in two rooms. Our water came from a community well, which was located in the middle of the roadway. Can you imagine? No wonder many people got water-borne infections, which caused deaths. It was not unusual, now and then, to find a drowned-dog, or a cat, in the well.

However, despite all this, I look back on my childhood as a happy one because I was free to move on to other things, later. It was also filled with adventure.

Time is money, but money is not time.

Think about that for a minute.

Okay, I took one minute. What do I do next?

BTW, our cyberspace paths crossed. Don't forget to check page 2. There, I posted about my early experience with the lack of money.

Selfish from awareness of Union not from separation, fear and judgment. Everything is the Self and therefore "Selfish"

Nature doesn't make judgments it gives because that is its nature.

The universe is selfish. (That might need two minutes )

Love


If I don’t feel I am worthy of love, I will structure my life quite unconsciously to prove that I am not loved. Again and again I will demonstrate the truth of my own self image. Then, I will be able to say to others and to myself , “See, it didn’t work out because he or she just didn’t love me enough”, “It’s not my fault”, “I am quite innocent”, “he or she betrayed me.”

Taking personal responsibility for the parts of our lives that don’t work to our satisfaction can be one of the more difficult parts of assuming control of our own destiny. Yet this is also one of the most important.

If we condemn anyone else for anything at all, we are projecting our own guilt and lack of worthiness onto the world. It is difficult or impossible to see anything outside that does not exist inside.

Rabbits live in rabbit world, not a birds. Dogs live in dog universe, not our human one. If an angel comes to your door, and you don’t believe in angels, what will you see? If you believe that everyone is out to get you, how will you greet anyone you don’t know? If you believe everyone is basically untrustworthy, how can you ever hope to trust anyone?

In large cities we walk by thousands of strangers everyday. We have become so inured to their presence, we frequently don’t even glance at them. They could be smiling with joy to see us, but we don’t look up from our private world to greet them. This is not just true on busy pedestrian thoroughfares. It carries over to our silent and sparsely populated pathways in our public parks. We are walking alone. Another person approaches us. We pass each other without sharing a single glance or a word. How often this occurs everyday. Of what are we so terrified? Is every stranger a criminal? If we dare to smile or take a dangerous plunge and say hello, are we going to be mugged or raped on the spot? We act as if we believe this is so.


The basic principle at work is that the Universe perfectly reflects back to us our beliefs….

Every "stranger" shares culture with you (culture IMO is a synonym for ego--every thing a person does, produces, and learns throughout their life) that is why you fear interaction with them. Each one of those individuals in a crowded city is capable of judging you, and thus you fear interaction. If a dgo approached you, I am sure you would walk right up and give it a pet, because there is no cultural barrier~

That homeless man doing nothing does reflect a part of me, and that is why I decide to not give him anything. It is the selfish part of me. The part that wants without giving. It is not selfish to harbor what I have earned, it is selfish to take what I have not.

Joesus writes Makes sense to me. And if the following basic principle is true Then what does it say about people who are destitute and homeless, whatever? Does this mean that they are reaping the results of what they believe about themselves? That they are reaping what they sowed?

If this is true, then what, in my relationship with them is, is my role?
I have an idea, but let us dialogue about the principle and the questions, first.
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Then you're unable to give love without conditions because you believe you get nothing in return.
Selflessness is giving because giving in itself increases love in you and everything around you regardless of who you give to and regardless of what another gives you in return. In the case of Selfless love what you get comes from you not the other.
When you judge the part of yourself as separate you can never be whole because you deny that part of yourself as being within the designs of your creation.

God does not see within it's creation, failure nor does it deal in terms of greater or lesser worth.
Everything that is created is created from the same source and given the same amount of attention as it is created.
The energy it takes to allow and accept what is present is less than the amount of energy it takes to push away and deny as you build systems of measure and separate the whole into pieces.
The parts are destined to come together due to the attraction of the manifest to its source. The active attention the waking state mind gives to separating objects from its source takes greater energy than to allow the inevitable to coalesce into its natural state.

The natural state of affairs is that Love abounds within all objects. The reflection of the slothful addict is the reflection of the mind that is distracted from the Truth of reality.
In a society that believes that love comes with the measure of what you accomplish or deserve is backwards to the reality of spiritual Truth.
God gives equal consideration to anyone and allows one to make a choice to be what they are without prejudice.

What one thinks they are as opposed to what they are is not always in sync.
Compassion combined with wisdom is not to jump in the hole one has dug to join them in their experience nor their belief in self worth, but to stand outside in Truth and to offer the Truth to them.

It would be one thing to step back when one pushes help away, but then if one is in need of help what will you do if you have judged their actions and offer nothing because you can't see beyond the actions that have created their suffering. The truly compassionate are still standing behind the suffering ready in every moment to offer the support as they need it. This is what everyone desires God to be for them.

It is only the dis-belief in God and uncondional love that causes humans to experience suffering.

Suffering is created by the distortion of perceptions of reality.
Self Judgment, Beliefs that nobody else cares, physical and mental abuse both created by the Self and manifest in conditions such as early learned programs in the beliefs of being alone and without support.

You know nothing about the homeless person other than what you don't like about the appearances. The judgment you made and carry still are about the outer appearances but not the inner man and the choices he made and why. Nor do you know what is inside his heart, if all you seek is what he can offer you before you can give him any consideration.

If you were a parent and your child made a decision contrary to your beliefs would you abandon the child for the sake of your own judgments and feelings?

If you empower someone with love they are more likely to see the love in themselves and experience a change in their perception of reality. If you show nothing but your judgment, resentment and criticism, you empower them with nothing. You offer them emptiness only.
This you give to yourself and this is what you receive for yourself.
You get what you give.
This is selfishness in action just as much as desiring to get something in return because of greed, or "ignorance" of Self, not because it is the nature of the Self.

The Culture you chose to share is the culture of judgment, fear and hatred for creation.
Not Love, Unity and compassion.

Clarence Darrow:
The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children.

You are the child of example, and now the emerging parent who will show your children.

118......119......120....... Hmm..I suppose so.

118......119......120....... Hmm..I suppose so.

I'd assume anything that happens to be everything would be selfish.

In the spirit of communicating, I republish the following--slightly re-edited:

MAP--Meditative and affirmitive prayer--im my opinion is a form of communicating.