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Hey there! I'm sure you already have a list of FAQs for part 2 of "What is God?", but I thought there might be a chance some of these could be missing and worthwhile: What are direct experiences like after the first one? Let's say 2000 hours of meditation got you the first, do you need another 2000 for the next? Can it be done at will? Does it get faster and faster with practice? Or maybe just having one experience is all you need because you only need to align yourself once? What happens when a direct experience occurs? Does the mind shut down and something that is always there "seen" or does Whatever-That-Is just crashes through ego? Are those 2000 hours of meditation just to shut up the ego or is God playing shy and there's a random factor involved in revealing itself or not? What "senses" stuff beyond/before the 6 senses (aka 5 senses + mind), is it just "Awareness being aware of itself"? Is "our reality" being a dream in God's mind just an analogy? Can Realization happen spontaneously? For example the other day at work I was walking while thinking about metaphysics and I just felt like there was something around me I should be aware of but couldn't figure out what. I understand these are intellectual questions and wouldn't be offended if none was covered in your follow-up. I hope they're not so ignorant to cause despair. Cheers!

@Leo Gura I just saw the FAQ video got published and I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks!

@now is forever God can be whatever he wants as long as I'm not a Brussels sprout!

Is the only purpose of a human for God to have an experience, just as the only purpose of a hamburger is for a human to have a savory experience? If this is the case, I believe this is as much as can be said intellectually, after that the only thing left is to "do the work" to "prove" it.

Someone's been trying to tell us for a while... Check out the grey background too when the seasons are tiled!

What are the mechanics behind the feeling of longing/separation? The universal shouldn't feel separated because it knows all and the restricted was "created" to be unaware of all, so it also shouldn't feel separated.

@tecladocasio When I read your criticism I was hoping you had something concrete and potent to share. I'll have a look at Osho's site some more, but I didn't see anything obvious yet. Thanks for the pointer. If ever I get to share your perspective on actualized.org I'll take Buddha's advice, leave the proverbial raft behind and move on to the next thing. For now I'm happy to live in the days of the Internet and grateful for these forums connecting us all across the planet. It sure beats our ancestors riding a donkey for months to meet a single person!

@tecladocasio Cool, would you know of a good tutorial on this? I tried some "self-observing" and it's interesting, but if I'm doing it wrong I'd prefer to find out about it today rather than in 5 years!

@rounder Let there be 2016 onwards; and it was good . Thanks for the pointer!

@EcocottonLeo talked a bit more about eternity at the top of this thread's 2nd page. Hope it helps!

@rounder which dude are you referring to, Leo or tecladocasio?

@tecladocasio I'm fairly new to this enlightenment stuff, would you have suggestions to complimentary material noobs like me could look into?

Is fingers going through five holes in a sheet of paper a good analogy for how egos see themselves as separate entities?

I think Jed wrote he "no longer follows his ego, only patterns from God" (poorly paraphrasing here). I never heard of this "pattern" thing anywhere else (unless it's made-up nonsense I imagine everyone experiences this, maybe under a different name), so I'm pretty sure it's not an FAQ, but if you're considering talking about it, you have at least one vote!

How do you conceptualize your life as a human once you have this understanding?

@Jed Vassallo what if what humans label as a mess was actually hilarious to God and was exactly itself enjoying itself? I have no experience to claim this is the case, just a theoretical possibility...

Does the world we know as humans have any value to God other than entertainment?

@Kensho Thanks for this analogy, I'm a code monkey too... C++ and Java make evil and good crystal clear

Does thought processing (e.g. converting words to symbols and labeling eating with your mouth open as bad) happen inside the human mind and Consciousness or only in Consciousness? If the latter, what does the mind actually do?

@now is forever Would you by any chance have a potential question for the FAQ episode regarding God's will vs individual wills?

I interpret the Bodhisattva vow to liberate all sentient beings as helping all humans and other sentient beings getting direct experiences of God. Is this religious hogwash disconnected from God, am I misunderstanding it or does God want to be revealed to everything?

Plants seem much more limited than we are... Are they closer or further from union with God (i.e. I don't think they have an ego getting in the way)?

At least twice "in my life" I got really angry at someone and something "bad" happened to them within minutes. For example a coworker pissed me off, then spilled his water on himself. Did my anger trigger this or were we both in a pocket of negative energy that expressed itself in these two events?

Did God really create himself or has it always been there and creation not necessary outside our human concepts?

How about God being eternal? Do we mean he spans from minus infinity to plus infinity on the time spectrum or does time not exist outside or minds?