I really think it depends on your upbringing. If you come from a monotheistic tradition, than I think it can be more helpful. But if you grow up as a scientific materialist, than perhaps not.
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God, if you can believe in a benevolent one, is a great hack and fast road. You have to be very very advanced before it is necessary to "kill the Buddha/God". Most people will never reach that level, even many "masters."
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Yeah. There's a whole class of advanced statements that are true at certain levels and really harmful to anyone not very advanced.
"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."
"Do as thou will is the whole of the law."
"There is nothing you can do."
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Absolutely. At the same time, I went through many years of confusion over seemingly contradictory ideas, and yet I emerged stronger for it I think. The key, as always, is practice practice practice. Get to know your experiential reality before taking any claim too seriously.
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yeah. Also people say "X is obviously nonsense" a bit too often, imo. They don't have the accomplishments to know, in many cases.
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Yeah, good point. Get to know the sensations in the body and the sensations/mental moments that make up the sense of self, and sort out the rest later.
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This is why I questioned @Failed_Buddhist with "words, words, words"!
One of the clearest shifts I've had is to lose interest in talking about practice. It sometimes sticks as a habit, but it feels very not rewarding.
"What is your experience like?" is the only question left.
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Yeah, and I don't think that's the point either. I just mean there comes a point when the discussion moves away from productive conversation...
... to something more like "let's compare religions and throw aspersions at things we don't like." That's when it's a waste of time.
Say, I don't care much what people think about my practice in Twitter discussions.
They'd need a chance to have a real back and forth with fewer assumptions and more testing of theories to understand me, and for me to understand them - even on a rudimentary level.
Such things.
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I've also had a few occasions (not with any of you, as far as I can remember) where I wanted to slap someone through the screen and yell:
"I'm not a Mahayana Buddhist/Hindu/Christian/etc., I don't care what your fucking opinion is!"
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