FoxFoxFox

Hey guys, Fox here. We previously did an enlightenment Q&A on this forum as way of me giving back to this great community. I'm ready for round 2. Ask your questions in this thread and i'll answer in a couple hours. Same rules as last time. Part 1:

Thank you everyone for participating. This round of Q&A is now over as I'll not be around for a while. Have a good time and stay safe.

The biggest use I got out of them personaly was having my perception of reality shatter, which made me interested in consiousness work. I do not ascribed any more value to them than that. I also do not believe that any psychedelic experience that I have had in the past had anything to do with how realization is or even feels like. They are not of the same quality, understanding, depth, etc. Also I do not believe that your perception deepens when on psychedelics in the sene that it does when realized. They are simply not the same thing. I am not saying that it is not possible to derive further value from psychedelics with regards to enlightenment, just that i have not been able to. I am not qualified to answer this question. You should ask a psychiatrist. Same as how you recongize your desires for anything else really. The stronger you yearn for liberation, the more of your hours it will consume daily. I should say that I believe desire is a HUGE factor in success with realization. I remeber desiring enlightenment so much that I would dream about it. I would dream that I am liberated and I would feel extreme bliss, like electric fire burning my body but somehow it felt great. Eventually it started bleeding over to the waking state. People usually advise you to pursue your materialistic desires first before pursuing enlightenment, so you know they can never satisfy you. That way your desire for liberation grows significantly. Look inside yourself and see what you really want. If it's money and fame and sex, then I don't think you should be seeking enlightenment before you achieve those things.

Haha a bit of a broad question no? Yes defintely. Yes I have a very active Kundalini in the process of merging with the Sahasrar. Kundalini by itself can grant self-realization. In my case i got realized before complete dissolution of Kundalini. It's doing its work. Yes. Bliss is constant and unbroken. It is also stable and not sposmadic and crippling like how it was initially. There really is no such thing as turyia. Ramana used it as substitute for the enlightened state as opposed to awake, dreaming and sleeping states. The distinctions are all arbitrary. Consioussness is unbroken no matter the mind's state.

The bliss changes quality. In the beginning it is extremely intense and can legitimately incapacitate you. As time goes on it reduces in intensity and becomes a constant, vibrant buzz. You go around most of your day with a pink, flushed face

Read some of the comments above yours. I gave a few demonstrations. A good abstraction is "union with direct experience aka the self". You can hear about enlightenment in books, talks, gurus etc. but learning what it actually is equates to attempting to being who you already are. Some gurus call this "being in the now", and while that term is very wuwu and has lost its meaning since its inception, that basically what boils down to. Only the trick is you cannot be in the now through effort. The effort ironically gets in the way. You have surrender. I don't have a general recommendation. It would depend on the state and level of the seeker. There is no catch all method that works for everybody. Reflect on yourself and identify your shortcomings and try to address those. I honestly believe things like sports, working out, or even medication are quicker routes to feeling good than enlightenment. So is healthy interpersonal relationships, good sex etc. Permenant bliss is an exclusive feature of realization, but approaching enlightenment work with the aim of achieving that is ironically not the correct method. For the most part I advise taking care of the life problems first before pursuing enlightenment. For most people that seems to work out best.

Realization certainly comes in a flash. In an instant. Blink of an eye etc. That is the real deal and it does not get deeper or change much once it happens. It also does not go away again, so it's not possible for someone to relapse back into the way things were for them before. So in that sense, enlightenment is an 'end'. It certainly is possible to become fully awake and "enlightened" from that perspective. This paradigm shift is a union with direct experience and what is been labeled as enlightenment. People sometimes get glimpses of it in meditation, but it's only called enlightenment when the change is permenant. What does get "deeper" however is perception of direct experience, and that is a function of heightened senses being able to percieve reality at subtler and subtler levels as time goes on. However, the important thing is realization itself. The content of experience is not of much significance in absense of realization. They only become important once union with them has been achieved. In that case one literally percieveis reality as one's own Self, and things like "I am that I am" and "The universe is within me" etc. starts to make sense and gain significance. If you objectify consciousness - something that is completely illogical and understandable in that fashion btw - then yes, things like degrees of awareness and realization vs. absence of realization make some sense, but really there is a reason why so many gurus are adamant that one cannot be ignorant to begin with. It's because they do not operate from that logical assumption that there is an objective, separate thing know as consiousness that can have objective qualities. Consiousness literally is direct experience, no matter what that experience is. Even when you are in dreamless sleep, that is consiousness directly manifesting pure void.

Like i said, the "peak experience" is not enlightenment. It's just a state. Really you have two ways to go depending on what you want to achieve: 1. If you want to achieve some sort of psychedelic state then the drugs are the easiest approach. Why do extremely difficult meditative practices to get there when you can just pop a tab? I do not recommend this btw. 2. If you want enlightenment, then you need to first undertand what it's about, and then get rid of all the doubt that don't let you realize your Self. I have done psychedelics. A few different types. I do not believe they contributed much to my understanding beyond getting me interested in consciousness work and perhaps showing me that the paradigm I believed in previously was not as concrete as i thought.

I would appraoch it from a different angle. No reason to antagonize the ego or to single it out as an enemy that one needs to be vigillant about. Instead whenever you feel anxious about this stuff, take a deep breath and let the anxiety leave your body. You don't have to find an actual solution to these problems. Just acknowledgin them and letting them run their course is enough. Most of the problems we think the ego causes with regards to enlightenment are really misrepresentations of one's emotions and feeligns not being in sync.

Enlightenmenti is the goal itself but I think the question you are really asking is what is the purpose of any meditative practices aimed at enlightenment. You said you are unhappy about your meditation, but considering that meditation does manage to relax you, the practice is probably working as intended, since normal meditation doesn't really do more than that. So the dissatisfaction you feel about meditation is really a matter of expectations not living up to reality. The purpose of any enlightenment practices is to clear away doubt and ilusion (including expectations), and to unify you with your immediate expereince with as little filtering as possible. It's to achieve pure subjectivity without bondage. I am is another name for the Self. It's a statement of realization of one's own being. When that realization gets distorted it devolves into impure states such as "I am this" or "I am that". Surrender is being "I am", that is to say unifying with your immediate experience in an unbreakable fashion. Surrender is when all separations within consiousness fall away and reality is experienced as a whole rather than tried to be made sense of in bits and pieces via language and logic.

@Raptorsin7 In general i don't recommend using psychedelics for purposes of enlightenment. Not saying it can't be done, but the pitfalls are too numerous and too great. The experience of enlighenment is not like an LSD trip. Just because you thought things make sense while you were tripping, doesn't mean they actually did. The issue is that having that psychedelic state, you now expect to be able to achieve it through meditation. Well achieving any sort of state is not the goal here.

Hello everyone. A few months ago I used to visit this forum regularly, but I decided to stop for various reasons. At the time I have already had many spiritual experiences, but still had doubts regarding my actual understanding - or "enlightenment" so to speak. Well I can now confidently say that I have gotten the full picture and woken up as they say. The realization came in a flash when I fully realized what exactly is meant by "it all happens within you". Basically, I became aware of how reality exists within consciousness rather than vice-versa - or how consciousness or "you" is really the only thing there is. This idea is sometimes worded as "I am that I am" or "Jehova (That/You I am)" etc, but really, how it is called is not important, rather it's important to become cognizant of it directly, and in the moment. Anyways, my purpose here is that I am going to be briefly available to answer some questions. I do this as a sort of thank you to this community, since I have asked numerous questions here myself, and I thought it would be nice to return the favor since I am in a position to finally be useful to seekers. So ask your questions and I will come around and answer as many as I can before i move on again. One thing: I am not here to play mind games or to be tested. Feel free to ask whatever you wand, but I will only answer questions which I feel will be beneficial to the questioner to hear an answer for.

Thank you When I speak about past lives, I am speaking literally. I could always remember memories from my last life. I lived as a priest in the 40s during the second World War. Then after I had my actual self-realization, I began to remember more and more memories going several lifetimes back. I extensively explored my memories during a mediation session, and I kept going from life to life and there was no end to it. I never reached the bottom of the well so to speak. I don't plan on doing this again though. There is nothing valuable there, just ghosts. To answer your question, i did not encounter any lives in which i was anything other than a human being. Okay guys, it's about time for me to wrap this up. I hope the Q&A was useful to you. I might do something like this again in the future, but until then, i won't be active on the forums so I'll probably miss your PMs. Adieu.

Doing pretty good, thanks. Siddhis are distractions, and imo a type of trap for people who have not yet realized. Don't worry about them so much, you'll get what's due to you. As for your first question, i'm not sure. I don't think life has to necessarily unfold along those lines. You don't necessarily have to become a hermit or a bodhisatva. Personally i don't have much interest in becoming a professional guru with a massive cult behind me, but i'm not a recluse either, so i guess somewhere in the middle. I'll help people as they come as friends. So are they dreams or are they memories? I'm not clear on that. Or are you talking about the memory you have of the dream? The past lives were real. There is not much use in remembering your past lives other than as an aide for enlightenment. I refrain from saying things like "suffering is an illusion" because it truly is insensitive for people who really do experience it, but i do hope you all awaken to the truth and be done with that nonsense. I experienced some truly bizarre and out-of-this-world phenomena my whole life and especially prior to my awakening. Honestly they are too numerous to list and imo not all that helpful for others to know. If you are experiencing energetic phenomena in particular, I recommend you checking yourself with a doctor. If you can safely rule out diseases, then seek a good guru to help you self-realize. The dark night of the soul never happened to me, unless you are talking about the dark night of the mind. The two are very separate things. Maybe explain what you mean so I can give you an actual answer. In general experience has deepened quite significantly. Also I have a much higher level of emotional mastery than before.\ Yes, visit a psychiatrist and get treated. Not all of your health (physical or psychological) issues are going to disappear overnight, even if you did get enlightened. If you already know you have a problem, seek help for it. Yes. Chiefly, my mind is finally playing its proper role as a servant rather than a master. Yes, but I'm not going to go into them here. I was alone at the moment it happened. And no I have not met anybody like that in person recently. My view of them as people hasn't changed much because I already had a very good understanding of them. My views about all of humanity (people in general) has changed significantly, and for the better.

Actualized.org forums is a fine community, and has been instrumental in my learning, but it's time to say goodbye. There'll come a point where you realize all form of 'seeking' is just more noise. And that left to its own devices, life will reveal the bliss you've been chasing for all this time as its inherent quality. So goodbye, and I wish you all well.

Yes direct experience is king. No teaching is useful if it remains purely theoretical. I recommend directly investigating your own immediate experience. I remember my past lives and I can see auras. I do not plan on developing either ability. In my opinion self-realization is the highest achievement. There really is no such thing as an enlightened person. Only an appearance of one for the benefit of others. Study the meaning of "persona" if you are interested. As I said before, the language surrounding "enlightenment" is a bit dumb, and mostly for convenience's sake.

Not entirely. The words certainly did trigger the actual awakening, but the process has been the accumulation of several lifetime's worth of practice, meditation, sin and penance.

I don't mind the questions, but the answers to these questions are too mundane to matter. What I can tell you is that my lifestyle (food, sleep, etc) has had nothing to do with my realization. 0 impact. As for a job, I own a business (not involved in consumer markets).

I'm not familiar with Nisargadatta, but the "I am" is the inherent sense of being that every human being has. It is mistakenly identified with the body in the sense of the ignorant person. The practice I described suggests that consciousness (which is peace- and blissful) is the totality of one's experience, whether it's in form of subtle thoughts/feelings or gross objects. The method aims to allow one to get rid of their bodily identification and to merge with the greater, liberated consciousness. Put another way, consciousness is already what one experiences, only personal tendencies trick you into thinking that you don't. 1. At the time I felt I had nothing else to gain from studying the posts here. I had already spent a considerable time on the forums and asked enough questions. Basically I realized that the process for my awakening had already started and that I just had to wait for things to run their natural course. 2. Intellectual understanding is not all that useful outside of protecting you from fake information. I suggest reading scripture to gain a basic understanding, ignoring the Neo-advaitans entirely (nothing personal, just that there's too many of them and it's hard to distinguish the real ones from the fakes), and allowing the desire for liberation to consume as much of your time as possible. Finding a legitimate guru is also highly advised though difficult. Does knowing the answer help you in any meaningful way or are you just curious?

I don't have any special plans involving enlightenment. I'll share and help people seekers as they come, but don't plan on becoming a professional guru or anything. This was one of many aides and practices I used. It worked very well for me. I don't ascribe my success to any one practice though, rather I believe it was my intense desire (to the point of morbid fascination) for liberation that was the cause. The "I am" sense is your sense of being alive and existing. It's completely obvious. You don't need any special mediation to feel it. Rather you must stop confusing it with the somatic sensations coming from your body. The practice I described above helps with that.

My mind is completely still for the most part until I need it in which case it becomes active. This process of stilling the mind actually started prior to enlightenment and afterwards only intensified. I do not feel any sense of separation whatsoever any more. If I do differentiate between objects its always with an intuitive knowledge that these separations are all arbitrary. The sense of self you mentioned does not exist in the body. It's everywhere.

@Key Elements Sure it's a pointer towards your infinite nature, but it doesn't portray it accurately. And you don't need it, since infinity is always your direct experience regardless. But infinity doesn't look like that image, so as far as helping with recognizing the truth, i don't find it all that useful. Your results may vary

Sure it's a modern model used to convey the concept of infinity. In the scriptures they like to say "there is a universe in each atom, and in the atoms of that universe still more universes". It's the same concept. Well it's true, but that said, having a conceptual understanding is not the same thing as realizing it directly. For the latter case, the model is useless. In other words, I would not say that this model represents enlightenment in any meaningful or accurate way. Thank you 1. Becoming aware of consciousness directly and in the moment is the best approach. The two seemingly separate approaches you mentioned are really one and the same, they are just worded differently. When you become aware of consciousness, that results in surrender or integration (again these are the same). Focus on your direct experience, whatever it may be, and realize that whatever sensation you are experiencing is happening inside your space of consciousness AKA "You" or "I". If a car is moving in the distance, the sight of the car and the sound of its engine is happening within the same space the body is inhabiting. That's what's meant by the universe exists within (or is) consciousness itself, and that consciousnesses is you. Again, do not suffice to a conceptual imagining of what I'm saying. Really get in there and know it directly. 2. The aim is to wake up from a dream. It doesn't matter if you do it through sheer force of will and desire (ala Sivaists) or through abandoning worldly attachment (Zen etc.). In my case, I did it through intention. Concepts are useless for getting enlightened. Everything needs to happen in the moment and in your direct experience, rather than through imagination and thought. Lastly, there is no such thing as mistakenly believing yourself to be enlightened so long as you are honest with yourself. If you have doubts, you are not there yet, so be mindful of that and you should be good, desirous or not. 3. Happiness, as you know it is bondage and pain. You cannot be happy without creating the condition for misery since happiness is object-oriented. With enlightenment, the word often used is "bliss". It's inner, causeless joy accompanied by a conviction that you are in the truest sense of the word united and liberated. A person who is liberated, can experience the highest levels of pain and still be alright inside. They can experience the sensations of sadness, and still be free.

I studied the etymology of the word and i'm convinced it means "One's own self". I don't believe in God as an all powerful entity that stands outside of consciousness and lords over it. Short answer: No. Thank you. I won't be here for long though 1. 25 2. Surrender. Just consume yourself with the desire to awaken. 3. I don't know fore certain. A few years, but I do believe I've put in the work in a past life. 4. A symptom of depression or deep dissatisfaction with life. Don't waste your time on nonsense. The point behind these Koans are to get your brain to be quiet, not finding and actual answer to them. Well someone told me how they had realized how everything they feel and sense happens within their space of consciousness and that flicked the switch in my brain. It's as if it was an activation phrase. Mind you, I had several spiritual experiences before this and so I had already begun to "get it" so to speak, but hearing that from another person just started a wholly automatic process. What happened was that my sense of being a person collapsed, and the consciousness which I thought was trapped in my head prior revealed itself to actually be infinite. The part about teachers being incapable of pointing it out to you is a bit of a lie. At the very least its exaggerated. That thing that they are pointing out is "you", literally ie. your direct experience. You don't need a sign to show you your direct experience. You are already keenly aware (for example your direct experience right now is one of reading these words). So then you need to get a sense of what you identify as yourself vs. not yourself (which for a typical person is defined by the boundaries of their body). Once you have that sense of what you believe is yourself vs. other, try this practice: Imagine that all around your body is an invisible field of peace and bliss. Try and surrender to that by giving in. Imagine you are expanding out of your skin to merge with that field. The obstacle will be the thoughts in your head trying to bring you back in your body. Whenever that happens, just kill the thought from the get go (clear your head) and resume. The intensity of your desire will determine your chance of success. They are all appearances within consciousness. They lose their edge so to speak. They won't bother you anymore. Yes there is. I am aware of my own past lives. When an ignorant person dies, their memories and tendencies construct a new "life" to be experienced anew. It's different for an enlightened person. For some people who awaken there is a deep desire to share the extreme joy they feel inside with others. The language used (the enlightened master vs ignorant pupil) is completely retarded from the master's point of view, but they usually roll with it due to various reasons - mostly convenience. There is quality control but it's not available to a student outside of how peaceful they feel in presence of a teacher, but even that is not good enough because people with expertise at making you feel at lease exist who have evil intentions. If you can see auras, a guru will have a pure white or blue colored-aura. There is really no such thing as partial awakening. You either get it or you don't. You might have many different realizations, but if it's not self-realization then it's not. After awakening your consciousness continues to expand infinitely. Some people also begin to develop certain abilities and powers. None of that means that new steps have been made in "deepening" one's enlightenment, though the experience becomes nicer as time passes. The actual next-step for an enlightened person happens at the moment of the body's death. The above also relates to you. The liberation you'll feel from the moment of self-realization until your death is already satisfactory enough. You won't go yearn for more, but "moksha" happens when the body dies and consciousness manages to not lose itself. When that occurs you evolve from having to need bodily incarnation to experience or enact changes to something beyond. The crossing point is the losing of one's belief that they exist inside a body, experiencing the outside world as an individual. The experience is always internal (it happens to you, by you, for you, and to you). There is no outside or inside.

@seeking_brilliance One of the reasons i removed it is because it involved pranayama such as this and realized it could be unsafe. These days i don't really need to rely on any specific technique for samadhi purspoes etc. I do plan on writing Fox Yoga 2.0 though