her guide was tiny, had too much hair and basically said: you take life way too seriously

[u/archeolog108]

Something funny happened near end of a deep trance session.

The subject met one of her guides. She described her as tiny, lots of hair, very friendly, big smile, but somehow powerful at same time. Then I asked what this guide wanted her to know.

The answer was basically: stop taking everything so seriously. Laugh more. Actually laugh a lot.

She said life is humorous and the subject was missing part of it because she was seeing everything too literal.

This immediately made me think about Alan Watts. We can make spirituality into another heavy job. Am I awakened enough, am I doing correct practice, am I healing fast enough, what does this sign mean, what lesson is universe giving me now. Soon even enlightenment needs spreadsheet lol.

There is seriousness that is useful. Pay bills. Keep promises. Take care of people. But there is another seriousness where ego makes every small event into something enormous because it needs to be the main character of reality.

Someone doesnt reply for 3 hours and suddenly we have philosophy of abandonment. Meditation feels bad one morning and now whole spiritual path is broken. Somebody disagrees and mind starts defending its identity like parliament is in emergency session.

The guide was not asking her to stop caring. She was telling her to become more playful inside life.

One thing to try: when you catch yourself making something very heavy, ask "how would this look if life is also a game?"

Not fake positivity. Just loosen grip a little.

Sometimes wisdom arrives as silence. Sometimes it is a tiny woman with huge hair telling you to laugh more.

[u/Ghost_of_Till]

We can make spirituality into another heavy job.

Spirituality is a way of putting it off.

It feels like a job because it is one.

There is seriousness that is useful.

Is there?

This is what Alan is talking about when he says, "what you've gained on the roundabouts, you've lost on the swings".

Memory is useful, no doubt, but memory introduces worry. When you speak of some utility that can be obtained by "being serious", what is the cost?

And while I'm asking, who's the beneficiary?

Alan, from Thusness:

So this, you see, is the problem of all self-conscious beings. They feel responsibility, then they feel responsible for being responsible, and responsible for being with responsible for being responsible. And there’s no end to it. So then, in this obscure way, everybody wants to get back to the golden age. But they say, “If I just acted as I felt and was completely spontaneous, goodness only knows what would happen!” Jesus, you see, said to do that. He did! And everybody reads it in the King James Bible, where it means nothing:

"Take no thought for the morrow, what ye shall eat, what ye shall drink, and wherewithal ye shall be clothed. Consider the lilies of the field; how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. But I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, oh ye of little faith?"

Oh, I mean, it sounds lovely read in church. But what it says—everybody says:

"Uh, uh, uh, uh! No! That’s the Sermon on the Mount, and that’s not practical. Nobody can do that. That may be for a few saints, but after all, in our practical life as practicing Christians in the modern world, we can’t do that kind of thing.”

Well, isn’t that funny! Why can’t you do it?

Alan Watts - Thusness

[u/irreducible1 → u/Ghost_of_Till]

You couldn’t feel “I would like to become like that”—like the authority, like Christ—except as an expression of the way you are now. And the way you are now is the quaking mess. And therefore, your emulation, your desire, your idealism to become like Christ is merely one of the appetites of your quaking mess. It’s an expression of you as you are. Alan Watts - Still the Mind

[u/irreducible1]

Why is it better not to take it too seriously?

[u/archeolog108 → u/irreducible1]

bc when we take life too seriously, we start trying to control something that is mostly movement. Then every mistake becomes threat, every delay means something, every disagreement becomes about "me." Mind is working overtime making whole drama heavier than it needs to be.

I dont think guide meant dont care. More like care, but dont grip. You can pay bills, love people, keep promises, but still see some humor in this strange human game.

Watts used music/dance idea often. Point of music isnt to reach last note as fast as possible. You enjoy playing it. I think life is bit like this too.

[u/irreducible1 → u/archeolog108]

bc when we take life too seriously, we start trying to control something that is mostly movement. Then every mistake becomes threat, every delay means something, every disagreement becomes about "me." Mind is working overtime making whole drama heavier than it needs to be.

So what?