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@Aakash If you really believe that, then dive into the practice instead of accumulating more and more theoretical knowledge about enlightenment and philosophizing. There is a reason people say that the actual "experience" of enlightenment is incommunicable. What that means is that the context is essential when approaching spiritual teachings. You can't take any given spiritual teaching or concept and generalize it to apply to your own situation. Answers given to one person about a specific situation is rarely ever applicable to someone else in another situation. It is not correct to say one verifies spiritual knowledge through personal experience to get enlightened. None of those teachings will end up being verified. They are all incorrect, because conceptual frameworks cannot ever capture the essence. The part can't understand the whole. Here's a hint about spiritual guidance: It is always in the form of negation. Meaning, the answer you receive from the guru has only one function, and that is not to tell you what's correct. The function is to dispel whatever it is you believe about the Self. The guru will exhaust your mental capacity until you cannot help but give up. Then there's an opening for true understanding. This is why silence is golden.

@seeking_brilliance I won't give my own perspective because it'll only mislead you. The author in the book believes that dreams are psychic projections off of the collective unconscious. They regulate the conscious psyche by objectifying its deficiencies, hint at possible solutions, and ultimately result in the unconscious becoming more and more integrated.

@Aakash There is no such thing as enlightenment, or enlightened people. We speak loosely of enlightenment on forums like this due to the nature of language. "Enlightenment" is not something that is understood by people. The Self is. Accepting that is the real battle. And no. There are no degrees of enlightenment. You either get it or believe that you don't. Either case, the Self is unbroken.

@AlldayLoop Personally, i've always only meditated lying down. You just need to make sure you don't fall asleep.

@Inliytened1 Yeah, that there was never any ignorance to begin with. Ignorance - avidya - is purely theoretical.

The Koran! well, come put me to the test Lovely old book in hideous error drest Believe me, I can quote the Koran too, The unbeliever knows his Koran best. And do you think that unto such as you, A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew, God gave the Secret, and denied it me? Well, well, what matters it! believe that too. - Omar Khayyam

@AlphaAbundance Self-inquiry is literally asking yourself "who am I?" Until you realize whatever you believe yourself to be are really just thoughts, upheld by the truth of your existence which is (poetically) light and love (or more crudely, awareness).

That's a halfhearted way of doing things though. You can't say, God, I surrender myself to you completely, and then go and have all sorts of safety checks in place. It's dishonest and probably not all that useful. What Mohammed said to some simple tribal (probably in witty retort) is unlikely to be applicable to a serious seeker. We can't generalize these stories and expect them to maintain their relative truths for all occasions. Isn't that the reason behind all these contradicting messages from prophets and holy texts? Forgetting context? Besides, the point is to get rid of the illusion of doer-ship. Fear is probably the biggest obstacle. Let go of all fear and its polar opposite, love, will shine through. I'd say the silence of the Self is the best pole to hang your camel's reigns around.

@Leo Gura That same love takes care of the world. It doesn't matter whether there is tyranny or freedom. Whether there is death or life. Those are questions of attitude. It never ceases to be love. Do or don't. Let go or sink your teeth in it. It makes no difference. There is only love.

@Leo Gura How can love find fault in others?

@Leo Gura Why do you want to fix the world?

Read Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self for an alternative perspective.

@Mikael89 Get into some Kriya practices involving the heart chakra. You don't have to accept the chakra model, but the exercises can really help. Prolonged "samadhi" will eventually get you to understand regardless.

@EvilAngel Sure! Here's a nugget of wisdom from mine infinite vaults: Sarcasm wins you friends over the internetz!

@EvilAngel When you are in deep sleep and somebody calls you out, do you wake up?

Love has no positive definitions. Only negative ones. Love is not a sensation or feeling or emotion.

@EvilAngel A giraffe has no perspective and it giraffes just fine. Human can human without perspectives too. But will the human remain a human if it abandons all concepts?

@EvilAngel The Earth is invading the Giraffes, prove me wrong

@EvilAngel If ideas, concepts and thoughts stop their invasion, what remains?

You can't agree or disagree with love and love-related notions if you don't know what love is. I challenge everybody here to share your understanding of love, instead of approving or negating purely abstract concepts. Only that could be constructive.

@winterknight Thank you for sharing

@Mikael89 What is love?

@winterknight Not a question, but a probe: tell us something about love, if you please.

@EvilAngel You are love 100% of the time. But what does that really mean?