The0Self

Another root is thinking (even subconsciously) that you have some idea of how long the currently experienced sensation will last, whether it’s pleasant or unpleasant.

Passivity and acceptance are facets of detachment, not enlightenment. Enlightenment does not change you, it's the apparent end of you, but not the real end, since there was no real beginning.

This is very important, especially in the beginning. It's the foundation. @from chaos into self When you realize you've wandered from the meditation object, relax-smile-return, in a firm, smooth, and unhurried way. Pre-intend to feel delight at your mind's ability to notice it's not doing what you intended. It's an art.

For absolutely amazing experiences in meditation: I'd recommend reading The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa. Also, Seeing That Frees by Rob Burbea. For (what many would call) enlightenment: Self inquiry. Just realize that in order for it to work, you have to be about 100 times more diligent with it than you probably think is necessary. And it generally has to eventually be done basically all day long, during all your daily activities. It will basically seem like you might just be setting fire to your life. You have to be unconcerned with the outcome. And The Mind Illuminated has an audiobook in 2 parts, if you want to listen to it in relaxed fashion, or on the go. It's like 2x 8-hour parts...

@ItsNick The piti/kundalini/energy buildup can get quite painful. Try to keep as still as possible so that energy can be channeled into the eventual explosion of rapture so you can work on jhanas. The stiller you are, the more painful it can get, but perhaps view it as sexual energy or just extreme exhilaration, using some subtle intention or insight practice. The most troublesome piti symptom for me was usually, first my hands and nose, and then every part of my body, feeling as hard as solid metal, and extremely heavy and huge. To the point where I felt completely shocked to still be breathing -- the metal wasn't bending, it was shapeshifting in frames. Was pretty scary but usually just mind blowing. Continue practicing through it. It can get even weirder.

The experience of a glimpse of ego death is a bit more likely with psychedelics. Also chemically-induced states of ultra high consciousness, infinity, (and my favorite) "infinite ocean of cosmic consciousness partying and celebrating who the fuck knows what (love)," can be quite life changing. Meditation can be every bit as blissful and worthwhile, but...until you've experienced your own personal will to be no more guided by you than the twists, dips, turns, and drops on a rollercoaster... get some psychedelics. Though meditation can easily provide that insight experience as well, it's usually in somewhat less spectacular fashion.

@actualizing25 You're welcome.

Self inquiry -- instead of trying to answer Who am I? or What knows this? just realize that the question is what defines your limitation as a separate individual -- you don't know something, or you think you know something. Try to find the one who knows your experience, no matter how subtle the content gets. This can bring about pretty amazing states like the witness where experience kind of turns inside out and it's like you're looking in at experience from a vast nothingness. The God-like experience of the pure I AM. (You can transition this into enlightenment work by encouraging an awareness that on some level, you'll never actually know what's aware, because there's no questioner that could know anything, but that's a different axis of development altogether.) If you haven't done it before, this description doesn't do it justice. Self inquiry is a subtle but very intense and demanding activity that only works well if you do it way more intensely and way more often than you're probably willing to, and in all situations. It can be very distressing because you're essentially looking for something that is simultaneously not there, and all there is. Meditation with relaxed diligence. Learn from Culadasa, Rob Burbea, Shinzen Young, Kenneth Folk, etc, someone who has students who seem to get results. Meditation retreats Self love Gratitude Journaling Figuring out what you want Psychedelics -- each trip can provide insights that can be integrated over the course of a week or 2 and as a result life changes can happen beyond that in snowball fashion

Basically agree. Can't describe it but it can be attempted.

The path of enlightenment is un-recommendable, not only because there isn't really a path to truth (which is all there is), but because you'll embark upon it against your will if you become all too conscious of your own fraudulent nature as a separate individual. For happiness, peace, meaning, and exploration, I guess I'd have to recommend Rob Burbea's Seeing That Frees. Unbelievable happiness is possible with his approach. I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about that guy. Or any self-love guru's approaches -- Anna Brown; Matt Kahn; etc. Also, keep on following Leo. His understanding is incredible. And expanding. For fulfilment as a person, the best approach is probably radical practicality. Figure out what you want, and figure out how you're gonna do it. Look for things to be grateful for, keep a radically open mind, and look for miracles. Everything is a miracle. See what you can genuinely see as a miracle now, and keep going further. Never stop. You'd think the more conscious you become, the more bliss you'd feel, but really you just feel more fulfilment, and as far as your mood goes, it may just increasingly consist of gratitude. And perhaps sadness, but maybe that's just me. Even before I started waking up I saw the beauty in sadness more than I think is normal.

Depends on what you mean by enlightened states. Jhana 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and the unfabricated (nirvana; end of time) might aptly be called enlightened states. Unity consciousness, when experienced, will pretty much invariably be assumed to be the goal of the spiritual path when it is made lasting (it pretty much never lasts). Same with jhana 3 and higher, oftentimes. What I mean by enlightenment is the complete collapse of the real sense of here/there, now/then, I/you, distance, good/bad, personal doer-ship, and reality in any sense whatsoever, to the point where it is inconceivable that any self that is separate from everything could "come back," because it's recognized it wasn't actually ever there -- the only thing that seems to be able to bring this about is absolute egoic suicide. Perhaps there is a pleasant path that somehow leads to it, but it would only be pleasant by virtue of doing extremely pleasant things in meditation, etc. The enlightenment would happen completely in spite of the pleasantness. The pleasantness only serving to make the process less painful. I can imagine some may not only get enlightened pain free, but filled with bliss -- that would be due to profound meditation skill. No idea if it's true though. And of course, no one gets enlightenment.

If nobody is identified with what is there, nobody is really there. This is really just semantics though. I've already spoken the truth.

Yes, to want to know the truth does, in a sense, come from ego. But the ego never actually wants to know the truth (it just says it does), simply because the ego is falsehood. That's why the only way to know the truth is actually not a way at all, because as soon as you know the truth, you are no longer there. You were the lie. You never actually get to know the truth. And maybe you aren't aware, but Rupert Spira defines happiness as "the absence of the sense of lack." If you want ecstasy and bliss, do jhana practice. Some talent may be needed but with enough diligence and skill you'll be able to reach states of bliss beyond anything you could've ever imagined. That's not enlightenment though.

It's a transcendent happiness that you in your current state would not recognize as happiness, because there's a self that wants to feel good. They are no longer seekers because they aren't there anymore.

The only ones describing it in that way are seekers of enlightenment.

The premise of this thread is a complete misunderstanding. Near-enlightenment is like a lucid dream, but instead of running around excitedly, there's just a role and there's the absolute obviousness that anything behind that role (a person) is completely full of shit, because there is no person. Ever felt a peculiar trustworthiness and unthreatened-ness when spending time around someone who seems to experience shame a lot? It's because they are nearer to enlightenment than the average person. Enlightenment, for many, is when that feeling of being full of shit gets so all-encompassing it completely collapses. Basically cosmic suicide. No person would seek enlightenment if they knew what is was. It's the utterly complete end of good and bad, and the beginning of "is." Sound good? It actually will to some. It did to me. It actually makes sense superficially that "the end of good and bad" could somehow be "good" but of course, that's a most obvious contradiction and impossibility. I'd recommend love and consciousness. I would never recommend enlightenment. Not that enlightenment is bad, it's just not good, and therefore it's both pointless to recommend, and just altogether pointless. Nothing changes.

@Natasha Lol! Here's one: "The end of good and bad? That sure sounds good!"

Ever wondered how an infinitely transcended God could get anything at all out of watching apparently finite happenings in the universe play out? Here's one way how: God (all) is Self, and Self is God's imagination. God doesn't merely watch (meaning Self doesn't merely watch), Self is in character. Self is you, and there is no you other than Self (contrary to the experience of you). God, via Self (which is of course God's imagination), believes itself to be you to the exact same degree that you believe yourself to be you. God exists; you don't. Self is God rendered finite, egoic, and dreaming. You aren't deluded -- there is no you. Self is deluded into believing it is itself, Self, thereby forgetting it is actually God! As a result, fun, meaning, figuring stuff out, and everything else can happen. = a story.

Is there something? Is there nothing? Is there both? Is there neither? Those questions (as well as any questions) are brought into being by the apparent answer that the supposed questioner assumes to know or not know, thus defining the purpose of any question: limitation -- a container for duality to exist in.

Awesome. Be grateful for everything. How could you not be grateful for a true miracle? Isn't everything a true miracle? This is what takes you to the ascendant integrated whole, which is not enlightenment. Enlightenment is pointless, selflessness is powerful.

If you aren't going anywhere, it's precisely because you think you are going somewhere. There's only going inward, or not doing so. If you know there are no thoughts, that's still knowing something, so press on further. Try the inquiry Who am I? or What is knowing this? You will not find any answers, because there are none. Questions define our limitations. The question (Who am I?) defines your limitation -- you don't know who you are. The reason no answers can be found is because there is no questioner. In understanding the question, and unknowing any possible beliefs about the answer, the limitation is destroyed.

Nothing arises out of emptiness. Anything that appears to arise is not other than emptiness, which is everything. Everything isn't something, it's just everything; no-thing. There is no smaller or larger magnitude of emptiness, just emptiness. In fact, it's so damn perfectly and completely empty, there isn't even emptiness -- it's everything. Infinite boundless infinity. Whatever appears is the totality of everything, because whatever appears is emptiness, and there's nothing other than emptiness. The illusion is that it actually is as it appears -- that there's something else in it -- a person, or beyond it -- the world.

You wouldn't know them. It's possible they're just extremely selfless people, but all I'm saying is a realized person is not always identifiable by the actions people assume. They can realize that nothing is really wrong, but still have an inborn desire to donate money to an organization that they think will do good, when any leftist would generally find that organization a disgusting waste of resources and an impediment to human flourishing.

If there's memory/ego wipe, then there's no meaningful distinction between your next life, and the life of any random other person living in the world now. So if you want to be happy in a next life, make this one good, and anyone else's good. Under this paradigm, everyone's life, throughout all time, including your current life, is your next life. Identifying with your next life is exactly the same as someone else identifying with your life -- in a sense that's what's seeming to happen now.

@Someone here Of course there's no free will... Yet, reality is freely willed by God. Free will seems like free will, but it's something else. This is because reality seems like reality but it's something else. Within the dream of taking things to be exclusively real, of course.