Inliytened1

@Shin <insert Shin humor here> ❤?

@Serotoninluv paradox is a heckuva thing..when there is only One, things get strange

They don't involve a me. Non-dual states are all consciousness becoming conscious of itself. It can become conscious of various facets of itself all at once or during different non-dual states or samadhis.

No - this is a lack of understanding. That could be the case for someone who hasn't awakened to their true nature and whose ego is deceiving them. But there is no way you can know that from your limited perspective. More importantly, there are more awakenings that you can have - enlightenment isn't one and done. You can have an awakening to your true nature. Experiencing an awakening of no self is just one facet of awakening. The point of self inquiry is not just to find out what you aren't - but also to find out what you are. And what you truly are isn't personal or localized so don't misunderstand. But they are two sides of the same coin. "The true Self does not need to refer to itself..." I never said you needed to, but Truth is Truth.

We are saying the same thing.

Thats an awakening to One Consciousness not to one finite mind. You had the awakening maybe but then your ego misconstrued it (is what it sounds like)

@Dylan Page indeed and np.....❤

@Dylan Page

Language is relative and thus limited. Consciousness can refer to itself as Self with a capital S not meaning it is a finite individual, sentient being/entity - but that it is Infinite Mind or Universal Consciousness - or God.

Infinity is a loop. Because its One singularity.

cool - i was just going to add that yeah - i get what you mean about the "nothingness" is without description, because what you are pointing to is Absolute Infinity - and anything that you imagine it to be isn't it. It would just be another finite thing or an idea. It wouldn't be actually IT. So yeah Being or Infinity or Isness is prior to knowing, but the amazing thing is that You are Being/Issing right now, and it never goes anywhere because it has nowhere to go.

Or consider that when we say Consciousness we are also saying Infinity. And Infinity is nothing. So Consciousness is nothing. It is nothing because it is everything. Everything must include nothing. Then consider that perhaps your true nature is not a human but it is Consciousness. So that would make your whole life and all of reality imaginary, including the gap in time. Time itself is imaginary. But you can't grasp this from the human perspective it has to be as the Absolute.

Whats this complete nothingness that you describe? That's something you can only imagine right? And maybe its not because you are coming back to consciousness - maybe its because consciousness never left. Where would it go when its already everywhere and nowhere? To imply that it came back would mean there was somewhere it wasn't. But consider it is infinite. Don't take any of our words for it though it is something You have to discover. (You capitalized) and to discover is the collapse of knowing into Being. The collapse of the relative into the Absolute. The finite into the Infinite.

@Kushu2000 why do you feel like you need to lash out at this community?

True Happiness is not something that "you" chase nor does it come from external circumstances. It comes from within - it is Being.

@Kushu2000 the teachings here are not to chase mystical experiences. The teachings here are to simply do the practices with an open mind. There are many here who have had awakenings in this way in their direct experience.

@zeroISinfinity @VeganAwake you two are funny

Bingo...

@Bennn i know what you are saying but all there is is experience. The absence of experience is a concept or an idea within experience. Thats what we are saying. It sure seems like there is though..its very tricky. I'm not talking about dreaming i mean when you said you were out like a brick or unconscious.

The concept of sleep, just like death, is itself imaginary. Let me try to explain further. Consciousness is ever present. In fact there is just Consciousness. Zoom out for a second from your finite self. Now the key is to realize it is both in a particular finite form (small self for example) and pure infinite formlessless the "I AM" simultaneously. The "I Am" is nothing and everything - in its purest form which as you said is pure void. But don't mistake that for an idea of nothing or non-existence. So the key is realizing (through an enlightenment exp for example) that you are not only this particular finite consciousness but that simultaneously you are infinite Consciousness, which is then imagining it is a finite being that in turn imagines it goes to "sleep" or that it can "die" or that it "has" consciousness that it can lose. Not the case. So there is no on and off switch for Consciousness. In fact an on/off switch would only be something it imagines! It just IS. It can shapeshift into different finite forms and then imagine it is that form. When the idea of that form ceases it collapses back into its formless nature - but note that even in form it is still formless. (And it is still imagining it is that form) So nothing really happened or changed - Its always present.

@Bennn this is it right here. This is infinity. It is everything and nothing. There is no where to go to escape yourself as infinity because there is nothing outside of you. Consciousness/infinity is ever present. You are Consciousness and you cannot escape yourself. Death, unconsciousness, non-existence is all being imagined by Consciousness.

@Bennn this is a good description by Spira. This was a real sneaky one for me. But it turns out that unconsciousness is an illusion as well. It exists as a concept or imaginary in your mind, as does the concept of death or non-existence. It's not actual as others stated. It was a heck of a mind fuck for me. As @nahm said your direct experience is falling asleep and waking up.

Exactly. Trump has already stated if there is retaliation the US will strike up to 52 different Iranian sites, including cultural sites. A scare tactic of course.

@VeganAwake dat pretty boy Aaron ain't enlightened!! Jk :)❤