An "Idiot's Guide to Self-Realization", (or), How To Overcome Intellectualism.

[Ming the Merciful]

The simple choice that can be made is to let go of your cards in the melting influence of Love.

This way you don't actually have to play the game anymore.  Everything that happens is just ok.

The game is there so you can learn this. So if you just let everything go in faith that all is well even when impossible to see. Then there is no need to play the game anymore. You've just shown it was no longer needed.

Nothing to intellectualize, nothing to understand. Just blind stupid faith that all really is well.

I say thank you to the universe even for getting a headache. I don't know why I needed to suffer it, but thanks nonetheless. I have faith there is a good reason for it and it's ok that I don't understand why.

Faith is a curse. Or, it is an easy way out, without having to do any work to improve yourself Spiritually. Religions are full of Faith, with little advancement. The simple this and that, and Faith will carry me through to the end. All the work is, (supposedly), done for you. The delusion. As long as I follow the rules, (and lay low), then I will get everything I want in Heaven. Visions of little old Spanish ladies kissing plastic babies in cardboard boxes, (I have seen it). Blind Faith. No thank you. I prefer to do the work, and have the satisfaction that I have done something to improve my life. I also had friends who believed in Faith, and they were the biggest hypocrites in their Religion. Meanwhile condemning others for thinking differently than them. Faith is a weakness. I have no Faith in Zen. What is that supposed to mean? Zen only works when you use it. If I sat back and said, I believed in Zen, and so I will let it do the work for me, then Zen becomes useless. There would be no point in having Zen. If anybody wants to grow Spiritually, then they have to do the work themselves. There is no other answer. It is work, or nothing. I have little sympathy for people who are too lazy to work and find their own Spiritual Realization. The God(s) never promised it would be easy, and you were responsible for your own actions. I repeat, Faith is a curse.

In my mind there is also a productive kind of faith that I utilize myself at least. My life has become a stream of synchronicities that guide my perception to the right thought patterns which are not apparent to my conscious mind. I call this my 'deep intuition' in contrast to my 'surface intuition' which speaks directly to my conscious mind as ideas and such. The thing is that the deep intuition is not 'always on', so to speak, and it can take a while for these synchronicities to occur. It certainly requires faith in my part to trust that I'm not, shall I say, 'left on the lurch', as (my) 3D mind is fond of creating all kinds of uncertainties and untrustful thought patterns. Faith action can then be utilized to dismiss these thoughts as unhelpful and the mind returns to focus with uncertainties dispelled.

In my opinion it is rather narrow minded or even dogmatic to call faith a curse. I'm sure even you, Ming, utilize faith in your own work and doings. Faith is the lens that brings one's will into focus. We cannot know or understand all in 3D, so to function and to move forward some faith is always needed.

Perhaps saying "Faith is a Curse" is probably too powerful a statement. As a Practitioner. (and not the Observer), I observe "Faith" as something that is only on the surface and is superficial. Spirituality, (true Spirituality), is always something much deeper and it needs dedication to work. If I had only used Faith when I was taught by my Spiritual Teacher, I would know as much now, as the first day I started learning, (nothing). To gain Self-Realization, a person has to realize that learning True Spiritual Awareness, is long and it takes years of dedicated work. Faith cannot give you that. I am not denying that you shouldn't have Faith, but don't allow it to become a crutch. You remove your Faith, and then you will fall over.