It’s easy to feel trapped in your own negative conditioning—acting in impulsive, counterproductive ways and suffering in avoidable circumstances. Tempting it is to recondition yourself into “positive” ways of being, incorporating “better habits” with “more productive” ways of acting. This too is conditioning: the same mechanism that brought you suffering in the first place. Eliminating conditioning cannot happen by deconditioning yourself, as this is simply reconditioning by another name—a clever trick of the brain. Eliminating conditioning can only be done indirectly, through awareness of your conditioning, seeing it clearly for all it is, without trying to change it.
Author Archives: John
The Limits of Self-Awareness
Being self-aware or telegraphing self-awareness of your harmful behaviors doesn’t absolve you of them.
Boredom
Beaches nourish us because they’re one of the few places we allow ourselves to be bored.
Limitations of Money
No amount of money will clear your conscious. It’s not something you can buy.
All Knowledge Is Experiential
It’s a lot easier to know that money won’t buy you happiness after you’re already rich.
Three Options For Three Life Elements
With our situation, we have three options at any given time: accept it, change it, leave it.
With our bodies, we have three options at any given time: sit, stand, lie.
With our minds, we have three options at any given time: ego, self-awareness, emptiness.
Differences
The thought—”the world would be a better place if everyone thought like me”—is pretty flawed when you think about it.
We Play The Games To Be Free Of Them
In life, we play a lot of games – status, jobs, education, etc. A reason to win them is to be free of them.
You can always opt-out of the games too, but there may be anxiety from the avoidance.
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