SoonHei

@ULFBERHT what i can tell you emotional master and self-inquiry... both lead you to have an increase in your awareness... so you're "leveling up" all the same from what I know about the work... it's a spin on the self-inquiry... but yes, it does not directly investigate the nature of what the "I" is... same thing with self-inqury, won't know till you try it.

@ULFBERHT try it out. if it helps you see thru some conditioning which you were stuck in - then keep it going. if you don't feel it, let it go. won't know till you try.

@Tony 845 ummm Im sure there maybe quite a few. But i don't know of any myself... Also, it's important to note, that the Enlightened-ego may not himself know that they are in this trap. It is a trap afterall... There are also those who may fake it... That they are Enlightened... That's different.

It is a quality or conditioning of the mind/ego You do not choose it Whatever personality someone has, was meant to be that way. So yes, you're born with the personality (which is every changing still) you have... Or destined to have the personality you have.

@Tony 845 it's when the illusiory self becomes trapped and thinks it got enlightened... I suppose mostly by knowing and learning various concepts In other words, it's not true Enlightenment...

Its amazing how the understanding gets deeper and deeper in a way... Understanding that I am not the body-mind did not at first reveal to me that it also means that all which happens, just happens, on it's own. No free will that is (from the absolute perspective) The no free will recently aligned with the no body-mind realization for me. Now this also means that yet again, from the absolute perspective, all is pre-destined . Even the fact that i initially understood this one way and now understand it a deeper way... " I " did nothing to cause this. Thats just what happened... And it keeps going I also understand what the sages mean when they say I KNOW THAT I KNOW NOTHING Lastly, nobody can really truly be blamed for their ignorance because it is beyond their control/knowing Its all a natural unfolding Kinda like mars being the 4th planet from the sun... And someone being angry at mars for being as such.. its ridiculous At the same time. It is also essential to know that the person who is angry or blaming someone else for their actions... Well that person's doing is also out of their control So all just is And all is indeed ONE movement Even this writing here now And the knowing i have right now for me... Even this is as it should be The ego based traps that Leo talks about... One can't really do much to avoid them. It's fair to say "luck" is a factor... Such that a person was pre-destined to flow down a path of least resistance in their spiritual search. I always used to wonder why such great teachers had such a long seeking path.. like did they not get the obvious right from the start? Or like, if it wasnt there from the start, thrn why not after 5 years . Or 10 years?? Some had 30+ years of seeking and then its conclusion... Its all clear now Thats just what happened, thats the play unfolding as the script dictates it should.

I think this, for me, has been the most complete way to talk about what the investigation into our true nature is about. Any movie can be used to illustrate this, but I am using The Pursuit of Happyness. We have the actor, Will Smith, playing the character, Chris Gardner. NOW IMAGINE During the filming of the movie, everything is going great. No concerns or anything. Plot is progressing as planned and in the script/direction. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Will Smith has a mental breakdown which causes him to forget that he is Will Smith and become his character Chris Gardner. This is no minor mental breakdown. It is full absolute mental transformation that he is Chris Gardner and has no idea who Will Smith is... no idea AT ALL. To keep it simple, let's assume the movie continues to be filmed (assume nobody notices that Will Smith has lost his shit) Now, as the actor Will Smith continues to film and portray the life of Chris Gardner in the movie's plot, he gets 100% emotionally attached to everything which is happening. If something fails in the movie, Will Smith feels as if it is his failure. If he can't find a place to sleep at night, Will Smith suffers from this. He has forgotten his real self (Will Smith) and become the ego (Chris Gardner). Now, let's bring in a question which is commonly seen in spiritual circles. What does Chris Gardner need to do, to realize that he is does not exist? Or when will Chris Gardner wake up to the fact and become enlightened? You see, if you have been following along thus far, you can see it is absolutely wrong to ask these questions. Chris Gardner can do nothing to escape - because he exists within the movie. It is WILL SMITH who needs to awaken. It is WILL SMITH who will become enlightened. It is WILL SMITH who all the pointers are talking to, not Chris Gardner. Just like that, your ego can do nothing to awaken, because it cannot. It is Your self which will awaken Just like Chris Gardner, the character, you the ego cannot grasp the fact that you do not exist because in your ego world with your ego story and life story, you very much do exist! Your life does not need to end or stop. Just live it from a place of deep awareness and knowing as your true higher self (will smith / awareness) With that being said, let's now imagine that Will Smith somehow magically returns and recognizes his mistake of mis-identifying with the body/mind/world of Chris Gardner. Of course, he may laugh a big joyful laughter about how silly he was to have thought he was the character Chris Gardner who is suffering in the plot of the movie. Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water. After enlightenment... Now continuing here, with Will Smith now back and "awakened" to his true nature as the character portraying the role of Chirs Gardner... nothing changes. He continues to film the rest of the movie. In that filming, where-ever there is suffering, Will Smith acts out and portray that, where-ever there is anger, Will Smith portrays that. All the while, knowing he is free from that. That is how enlightenment occurs. It is your true nature / REAL SELF which re-awakens to the fact that it was not the character (body+mind). The renaming plot of your life will play out as it needs to. There will be anger, sadness, guilt, happiness, pain, pleasure, everything... but you will be watching from the place of Will Smith knowing that he is portraying the character and is outside of the character/ego's world. You will have all those emotions but be okay with it, in your deep knowing if your true self - free from the world/reality of the ego. Notice also free will aspect. There is none. Just like in the movie - the script and acting and directing is pre-planned and that's how it will play out. So, once you awaken, what must happen, will happen as it should and will be seen to play out on it's own. Of course, this only talks about one aspect of it. The whole of it is much deeper. It's all one-thing. You are everything, literally. and that's kind of hard to illustrate using words as pointers. That's for another day (animation/graphics will assist to an extent, but again, not entirely)

@seeking_brilliance bless . Thank you <3

@Shin bravo Nice comprehensive post Great work Love the ending. That green-view ties it nicely ALL ONE

exactly. YOU can come to know it's make-up and realize it does not exist.

@GabeN in my current understanding from the point of view of the ego, yes. it can be said some people are lucky and some aren't. notice that is relative luck/destiny. from the point of view of the self, there is no luck/destiny it's all ONE MOVIE/PLAY/DREAM check out my new post. i think it will help illustrate a point nicely

When One awakens to the TRUTH it is realized that there was never any person seeking for the TRUTH in order to wake up. Then, as with the realization of any truth, many other things fall into place. This is the TRUTH, the cosmic TRUTH, so one can imagine the insights which dawn upon the realization. One key point to note if can be grasped while One is still on the seeking path is that since there is no person here, there is no person making choices. The free will is therefore only apparent free will. Therefore, be at peace EMOTIONALLY / MENTALLY during anything which arises because that is merely what's happening... happening to NO-Person. Sure, One may still have the full thought/feel of being a person and being at peace does not mean to stop your life where it is... or that when crossing a road, you see a bus approach and choose to stay where you are instead of jumping of of the way. it's rather being emotionally detached due to this understanding, the understanding which will be revealed at some point. and in this emotional detachment, one can work towards overcoming fear, anger and behavior or outburst they might be working on controlling.

@WindInTheLeaf notice how these words here are just words. why make this assumption that based on what @winterknight said, it meant that he was bothered? there are various ways to teach - each teacher has their own way. you have to know that the SELF accessing @winterknight is who is aware. not the human-being winterknight. and the self is beyond bother/words/enlightenment.

@bejapuskas hey. i am not a christian, so i am not sure about that too much i am sure if he was referring to a death, it would have been ego death, yes. keep in mind. when someone says ego death, it certainly does mean that. but the context has to be known because as we discussed above, the ego does not exist in the first place... so how can it die? you see? ego death = coming to the recognition of your true nature. (which will only happen when you no longer assume (a very solid assumption that is) you are the ego )

@bejapuskas nope. Not Enlightened. Had few glimpses here n there... It was prior to my seeking so i was pretty confused... In hind sight, they make sense, the glimpses etc ..

@SoonHei @bejapuskas It's correct. The ego does not exist and therefore cannot die. What however must happen is for you to not associate and attach yourself with the Ego. In doing that. The ego will dissolve / been seen from a distance from the real YOU

@bejapuskas can you see how this question will dissolve once you can understand that consciousness is not a product of the mind-body. When that's the case, the answer is simple

Lol

lol yup. indeed i merely look upon these guidance as sign posts on the highway showing the route... all the signs point to MYSELF

@winterknight this is a tangent... but how do you explain / understand what Deja Vu is?

posting this here. great reply by @winterknight

@Enizeo thank you <3

@winterknight thank you. your one-liners are very powerful and encompass vast wisdom.

@winterknight another question i have recently been interested in and sort of understood the free will / illusion of free will it seems, according to that, that whatever happens must happen and was destined to happen sure i can change how my life pans out my having a thought about say starting a business or acting on it but again, having that thought come up in my mind about starting a business was out of MY control choosing whether to pursue it or not was out of MY control and so on... in that way this also applies to teachings/spirituality then, does it not? actually, better to say, it applies to everything, but i am singling out spirituality to understand it's effect on it. the fact that in a depression, the one who is in that state, is identifying with that state because that's just WHAT IS HAPPENING the moment he has a thought or realization while allows him to see thru it or even dwell further into the depress, agian, that's just WHAT IS HAPPENING even this here now, 'me' trying to understand this by asking you this, that's just what's happening so in a way, sure with the illusion of free will, one can take control of their life and steer it accordingly but bundled together with the fact that i am not controlling what i appear to be controlling... for me it seems to just collapse somewhere there... in other words, whatever paths we all go on to find liberation, are in a way already "structure" created and whatever must happen, will play out... i also feel that the ablity to be able to see thru a certain negative thought in the moment is only realized if that is what was supposed to happen since choosing or having the thought about wanting to see thru or inquire into the nature of that thought , was out of MY control i seem to conclude on my own usually as i am doing so here. and it would appear that sure, it does happen this way, on its own. but in that happening, once traction is gained, the realization must be "close" because the ablity to be able to detach out of emotion or a feeling is readily available compared to before where you just dive deeper into that thought...

@winterknight is it correct to say that while energetically associated with body/mind - the thoughts which i have in my mind reflect my current understanding of the knowledge/mechanism of reality? it's almost as if the higher self is what is doing the learning and moving "closer and closer" to recognizing it's own true infinite/unbound nature as it moves closer to that path and becomes more aware, the thoughts which i have in my mind are again reflective of that new level of understanding of the higher self and finally upon full realization, those thoughts either subside fully or only appear when required but are then entirely reflective of the true knowledge / point of view of the higher self.