Humility vs Arrogance: Which works better?

Spirituality
#21

Why do you need to know if someone is spiritual or not? How is that going to help you on your own journey? Unless there is some teacher that you need evaluate.

It will help me decide who to keep company with - satsang.

What if someone is intelligent or not? Why do you need to even care, treat others in the same way you would like to be treated.

It will help me decide if they are capable of understanding more advanced concepts or not and save me the time discussing such concepts with them.

When you say you need to know if they are worth to talk to or not you are not being unconditional you want something in return, thats why you need to know if you should talk to them or not. Stop it-its not good for your spirituality.

There are 7 billion people on this planet, I cannot talk to all of them. I need to choose who I talk to and who I don’t.

#22

Being humble or not or arrogant or not should not be in your concern at all you should just be.

Really vague answer, meaningless in fact. Makes no sense.

What does it mean to “just be” ?

#23

So you cant make progress if you do not have satsang?

Why do you need to discuss with people do you have unanswered questions growing in your head is that why you need to discuss? Maybe what you need is to discuss less.
So if some stranger comes to you and want to talk you tell him to buzz off?

well if you dont understand what is just to be.
I cant explain it more than i did to you already, in a way you would accept it, as you wouldnt accept anything without experience. so you must experience it and you will surely experience it in the future.

#24

As a human being I am also a social organism. If I do not get the company of other human beings, I will become lonely and depressed. In fact there are clear scientific studies to show that organisms which are social, can become ill or even die if they are isolated from their species. This is why humans always seek out groups that they can belong to. I also seek out groups that I can belong to, and to assist my spiritual journey, I need to be among other spiritual people. This is one reason I come to this forum. There are many on this forum who are spiritual seekers just like me(mumukshu)

It is important to discuss ideas among people, because by bouncing ideas among each other, ones own understanding grows and furthermore ones mind is reminded of those concepts. This is the reason why I write very long posts here on Yoga, Advaita, spirituality in general. It helps me organize my thoughts in these areas and facilitates greater understanding. Sometimes, the insights of another contributes to mine as well.
I can also get practical tips and suggestions on areas in my life, such as with this thread.

If a stranger comes and talks to me I do not tell them to sodd of, I gauge them and their intentions. There are many reasons a stranger may come to me

  1. They want something from me, like perhaps money or a favour
  2. They are hitting on me
  3. They are bored, and just want some company
  4. They are being a nuisance, or entertaining themselves

I will in most cases acknowledge the stranger with a simple hi and remain polite, but as soon as I gauge their intentions, I decide whether I am going to reciprocate them. If I do, then I further have to decide if I want to befriend them. Some people I will have a causal conversation with, but will not ever see again. Some I will want to meet again and be regular friends.

We have to make judgements and decisions everyday of our life. This is why I don’t understand your vague suggestions of “Just be” Just be what? A vegetable? You can’t just be - you need to actively make decisions and use your mind. In this thread I am asking what is the best attitude to have - arrogance or humility. I have tried both, and I have found I can’t use both at the same time, so I would like to decide on the correct attitude. I am am learning towards humility.

#25

Well i didnt say you should become a lonely man in a cave.

Yoy say:
It is important to discuss ideas among people, because by bouncing ideas among each other, ones own understanding grows and furthermore ones mind is reminded of those concepts.

The mind is impermanent the mind does not understand the truth. this is why meditation is beyond mind. And all your answers is inside you.
If you reach samadhi you will know how samadhi is , if you discuss with people what samadhi is like it is like im telling you how agave is tasting if you never tasted it. So its a dead end. But of course if there are saints you can talk to that would surely be beneficial but you wont find so many in this age. So better read books then, than talking to people and judge them if they are spiritual or not.

The truth is inside and you cant get it by going around talking to people , even if someone would tell you the truth you must experience it to know it was the truth.
If you open up to your inner self you will get closer to the truth. This is done by meditation and selfless service for example. There are many ways to do it and different for all of us.

IF you get angry often due to foolish people you are surely to have such occasions often where people stress your mind. The more angry you get the more such situations you would attract. This i talk out of my own experience. Everything that happens is just like a school if you get angry you are put to such situations frequently so eventually you wont even be angry. So then you have made progress. IT is like this life is a lifelong school where we are tested all the time.

You are well versed in most of the books so i guess you have read some of this ive said already.
In some post i saw you stopped meditation, so if you have lived in the world enough now in your left hand or what you called it you should take up meditation again.

#26

[QUOTE=bjoy;76972]Humility vs Arrogance.

Me, arrogant.

But,

hidden behind me (us) is emptiness, nothingness, what he (Buddha) has called

SUNYATA, hope you catch the empty space ?[/QUOTE]

So you’ve seen this then or is it simply a concept you like? I mean whut the hell are you talking about?

#27

. . . samadhi.

it?s the levels, states, or stages in . . .

is a very difficult state to explain

at least, me to you in pen & paper (keyboard :eek:).

~Namaste & love.

#28

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;76940]Okay I am going into arrogant mode for this post :wink: There seems to be a lot of responses saying “Don’t use your mind” “Don’t judge right or wrong” I honestly wonder how these people go about their daily life without using their minds and making judgement :wink:

Come on, I want practical suggestions, not nonsense! If you were not using your mind you would be a vegetable. If you were not making judgements, you would be constantly making mistakes in life, falling in with the wrong crowd, doing the wrong thing and you would never be able to cross a road for starters.

We have to make decisions in our life, and decisions require a faculty of judgement and discrimination. Many of our decisions are made unconsciously for us, such as judging and coordinating motor activity, but we also have to make many conscious decisions day to day life. Should I eat this or not? Should I talk to him/her or not? Should I go left or right? Should I cancel that appointment or not? Should I stay in or not? In Yoga this aspect of the mind that deliberates is known as manas and the aspect of the mind that decides is known as buddhi[/QUOTE]

It seems to be possible to categories thoughts and their differences;
A.) Conceptual daydreaming thoughts from the mind.
B.) Non-conceptual spontaneous thoughts of the now.

?A? thoughts might be considered (dual) pondered over lengths of time; wondering, analyzing and judging etc., such are regrets of occurrences from the past or projections of anticipation in the future, both illusionary.

?B? thoughts may be considered (non-dual) upwell spontaneously/instantaneously in the moment, they need no argument or interpretation via the mind, a pure sense in awareness is self-evident, the thought ?I exist? and similar of the ?present now? have substance and freshness of reality, nothing is left to imagination.

#29

[QUOTE=bjoy;77136]. . . samadhi.

it’s the levels, states, or stages in . . .

is a very difficult state to explain

at least, me to you in pen & paper (keyboard :eek:).

~Namaste & love.[/QUOTE]

No it’s not difficult to explain for those who have experienced it. I can do so quite easily. Not much language is required.

A wise person, whom works I have read, has codified it succinctly. His name is patanjali. Because he has codified it so succintly elaboration on my part is simply rummaging.

So . . . what is shunyata?

You are so blessed. You are - in the human frame and as such you can reason and discriminate. I.e. Think…so therefore accept nothing without discrimination. The codifier has explained it so simply. There are two types.

Amen.

#30

Surya, if you are God why can’t you be both humble and arrogant, both witness and creator? For how long have you tried being both? Try it some more. Be God. Face the consequences.

#31

Even space exists. Thus nothing does not exist.
Nothing is like trying to say negative zero.
Yes Surya. The mirror without reflection.

You cannot see the mirror :wink: no one has ever seen a mirror. They only see reflection. Blinded by the liiiight. :stuck_out_tongue: