It's only 'mind masturbation' for those obscured from the language of Heart-Mind.
As for me, I'm very passionate about sentient beings, and anything that steps between them and their direct experience,...Buddhists call it Compassion.
Wise people have said, relate only with what will never leave you, and from which you can never leave. Nearly all my posts point to that.
People are not their beliefs. Beliefs obscure who people are. Of course, some could suggest I'm sharing my belief in non-beliefs,...but that is not true. An atheist for example is someone who believes in no god,...the Dalia Lama has said, he neither believes in god, nor disbelieves in god,...because it is dishonest to do either.
Patti suggests:
"WHAT IF, we simply 'let go' of ALL practices, masters,buddhas,gurus,etc,etc....i'm speaking here about each of us."
YES!!! To paraphrase some guy I heard in the 80's: Above and beyond the idea of belief…is a simple gnowingness…which comes from the idea of surrender…letting go.
Surrender in this context is not a loss of some sort or a lack of control of some sort… Surrender, is the letting go of the concept of who you think and believe you're supposed to be and actually being who you are. Surrender is actually the acceptance of your total self. It is not in that sense the forsaking of your total self as many of you have been led to believe through the definitions that your world has provided you with. You are not your beliefs. You only think you are. Surrending beliefs is letting go of limitations.
Unfortunately, when most "think" of letting go, they "think" they should just let go of what they don't like or are uncomfortable with,...that's not letting go, nor surrendering.
If and when someone does let go,...a new vocabulary arises,...words that support and sustain ego are clearly seen for the obstructionism they produce.
If people could truly "simply 'let go' of ALL practices, masters, buddhas, gurus, etc,etc god, angels, faith, sin, morality, etc...then we would all be speaking through the language of the heart,...and words like hope, fear, grace, agape, and all words implying conditions, would effortlessly dissolve.
What a world,...some call it Shambhala.