Nihilitarianism

I've sensed the divine spark in many people, but I never sensed it in you. To me you were just a cheap reflection of my own ego. You may have the potential to be an Ubermensch, but you must be set free of the baggage of symbols under which you're buried. They're holding you down. You must purge yourself from an inner fire until you are pure, rid of dualities, of definitions, simply yourself.

Why do you say this?
The inner fire is the way, according to many traditions.
Then feel it burn.

"You were just a reflection of my own ego" seems to say more about you than me.
I'm open to constructive criticism, but I'm unsure what your intention is here.
Because you feel like you need to pin that down. You want to pin everything down on your corkboard, like "who am I" or "why am I here".
It's not enough for you to simply be.

That's true
But why is that an inferior way of being?
Inferior and superior is one of your dualities. But by pinning everything down you won't find your answers.

Perhaps
Yes, perhaps.

Or perhaps the left hand path and Taoism are incompatible
You'll never be satisfied because you'll never have more than a perhaps.

I disagree
You're the agnostic one of us both
I know strongly what I believe
So do I — in a universe without limits.

But in this finite instantiation?
Nothing is finite.

Your individual existence I mean
Is not finite.

But, what gives meaning and purpose to it?
Everything else.

Beyond denying its limitations?
Experience. Any experience.
Consciousness as a whole.

That seems rather depersonified
Perhaps.

I mean, yes, you're the observer, but you're also the personality
I am everything.

And to understand one you have to understand the other
I see enlightenment as an individualized sense of universal consciousness
You may have the universal consciousness part down, but not the first part
Then perhaps you're not my nemesis after all.

No?
Our goals are the same. You'll figure out in due time that the only way to union is through union.
Alright, you've got me. I know you'll pin me down there.

No, it's an interesting hypothesis to contemplate.
But what does it mean on a more concrete level?
The only way to be infinite is by casting off all boundaries and all that defines us.

Theories are only sufficient when you can translate them into lived experience or perception
To reject every identity and at the same time, assume every one.

I believe it's necessary to first define oneself in order to achieve a higher level unity. Otherwise that unity is prepersonal, regressive; instead of transpersonal.
The reason we have egos is that once we've achieved individuation, we are better prepared to consciously unite with the whole.
I am the One, yes.
As per Dostoevsky, the definition of humans is that we can get used to anything. We adapt — our consciousness can take on the shape as any kind of energy. To do so is to embrace our nature.

But I'm also Shelby, with her unique set of quirks, passions, and ambitions.
I would say that your resistance to defining yourself is based on some kind of fear.
Yes, and you might as well say you're American and define yourself by their stereotypes. You're a different person from day to day and there are no possibilities that are closed to you.

True
I know just who I am today.

And what is that?
Can't you tell?

You know intellectually, but I don't think you feel it
Today, I am a warrior, possessed with the spirit of a lion.
But all I know about who I will be tomorrow is that I will always be free, always myself.

How do you carry out the spirit of the warrior?
By confronting you right now.
Through a particular style of dance, mantra and writing — one of infinitely many.

Don't get me wrong, but I thought the point of the warrior was to fight to the death for what is highest and most noble, not to combat any random person who's in your way.
You're not in my way. You're in your own way.
I'm fighting to free your consciousness from the confines of your ego.

But again, that's just your perception.
It's what I believe in.

If you truly want to help me free myself, I support that absolutely.
Then cast off all that would limit you.
All that denounces ANY aspect of who you are.
Or who you could be.

This goes back to the principle of being and becoming.
You have the freedom to be anything you want to be, to adopt any energy no matter where it comes from. There is no virtue and sin, only ignorance and consciousness.

Of course I have that freedom, but in order to truly realize it I must choose reality and not remain stuck in the imagination of infinite possibility
What you don't realize is that your idea of the infinite is merely an idea, not an actuality
It is a mental construction, and clinging to mental constructions keeps you from accessing the higher planes - astral, ethereal, divine.
Perhaps. Or perhaps that too is but a construction. I'll leave you to debate that.

My perception is that you cling to the mental because you are afraid of other realms of existence, and then rationalize that fear as the desire to embrace the limitless and love.
I don't care about your distinctions. I'll take any realm.

I'll leave you with the law of thelema: love is the law, love under will
Why thank you. I'll take that too.
And I AM afraid, just as I am angry and happy and sad, and there is nothing wrong with that or any other form of consciousness. But I will not ever suppress any emotion, whether fear or anger or anything else. All emotions are of value, all emotions are of use. I am whole, in one piece, do not deny my own shadow — I have integrity.