ONLINE: Wed, Aug 6: "Spiritual Entrapment"

Spiritual Entrapment
Can all spiritual endeavors be either or both an entrapment and/or a liberating effort?

Who or What has a grip on you that you would like to escape?
Who or What has a grip on you that you would like to pursue, seek, follow?

States-of-mind
A State of Mind is a memory-and-reaction pattern that we identify as being valid, even though hours or days later we may consider it invalid – depending upon the voltage of a [subsequent] strong percept that is able to place the prior state of mind in a position of lesser importance. - R.Rose
Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human. - Viktor E. Frankl

Beliefs
Beliefs are subjective and personal convictions. They are distinct from knowledge, which is based on evidence. Beliefs are also distinct from opinions, although opinions can be a form of belief. Beliefs are fundamental to shaping human behavior, influencing decision-making processes. They contribute to the formation of individual and collective identities within a society. - OpenAI
We only see what we want to see; we only hear what we want to hear. Our belief system is just like a mirror that only shows us what we believe. - Don Miguel Ruiz

Egos & their cousins, Entities
Egos are our individual mind projections… they can be felt/smelled/sensed… we can learn to recognize them. We can turn away from them, move and change them… but this is much more difficult than turning from (stopping thoughts). Entities are quite similar, they just weren’t “born” within.
You can either be a host to God, or a hostage to your ego. It's your call. - Wayne Dyer

Attitudes
The “personality” of an ego. Egos are mini-me’s.
A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results. - Wade Boggs

Thoughts
Mere "farts" of states of mind, attitudes & beliefs. The voice of our egos, which is an attempt to feed the ego's ego. Thoughts come and go… whereas attitudes & egos linger… beliefs are fairly fixed. There are various sizes of thoughts… making them more or less obvious. AND… thoughts originate from our subconsciousness or “others' minds” and “bubble up”... if we are astute, we can “smell/hear/feel” them coming and close the door on them.
Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears. - Marcus Aurelius

Spiritual Experiences
It seems to me that for some, reading numerous books, engaging in extensive meditation, prayer, striving, and hard work to achieve "it” can lead to an incredible experience. If that happens, it will look like (most likely) an achievement of some kind. Like all the work payed off. To me that is a good sign that the experience was just that, an experience, not an awakening. - Paul Rezendes (correspondence Jan 2019)

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“A man never learns; he becomes. To become, you must find ways and means to change your entire state of mind. This in turn will lead to a change of being.” R Rose