Moksha

Yes That is the difference between pain and suffering. The former is unavoidable, the latter is not.

The alternative being...?

Consciousness is. Everything else, including people, is its creation. Consciousness is experiencing the dream through seemingly separate people, which are different expressions of itself. Only Consciousness has no beginning and no end. Everything else, including people, are transient expressions that inevitably have a beginning and an end.

That direct realization, and the will to remain in it, will open the door to everything.

@Breakingthewall Dogs know the secret of living: they are entirely present. They are free from suffering, because they resist nothing. We make it so difficult for ourselves as humans. What are we trying to accomplish by resisting what is? Does the resistance change anything, ever? The irony is that by letting go of resistance, we are in a higher state of Consciousness that allows us to change whatever needs to be changed, with more quality and efficacy than would have been possible otherwise. It is not about embracing the dark side of life, but about accepting that there is a dark side, and doing what Consciousness demands. Life is absolutely ugly, but it it is also absolutely beautiful. Creation demands both. Every duality that can exist, must exist. The alternative is destruction, which dissolves the ugly, but also dissolves the beautiful. I love my partner, my children, and the rest of my family. Since I have learned to suffer less, I am able to love them more. I hope that I can help them also learn to suffer less.

Welcome, @Amaal This insight is a step toward a greater realization. Have you considered that your sister may be as real, or as unreal, as you? If that is true, what does it say about your essential nature, and the essential nature of your sister? What do you have in common, and what is different? When you withdraw the senses, and see spiritually, you realize the connectedness of everything. Not only between you and your sister, but between you and the tree outside your window, between you and the sun, and even between you and the chair you are sitting on. It is all the same Consciousness, manifested through different forms. You are Consciousness, expressed through the transient personality of your self. Your sister is the same Consciousness, expressed through the transient personality of her self. We are all the same Consciousness, expressed through infinitely diverse forms. ?

@abrakamowse?

Who is the I observing observation? I believe it works like this. Consciousness amplifies whatever it attends, and dissolves whatever it does not attend. That is how creation and destruction happen. Quantum physics has recognized this, with the discovery of the role of the perceiver in shaping reality. Consciousness literally creates and destroys, by fluctuating the state and focus of its attention. Whether this is ultimately true or not, it illustrates that creation and destruction follow a set of rules. Other rules appear to be infinite potential and expressed energy, inevitable creation and destruction, transcendent nonduality, necessary duality within the dream dimension, and the essential nature of Consciousness as love. Whether or not these rules are transcendentally true, it is evident that such rules must exist. If anything is, then rules are simply the parameters and expression of its existence.

They are the same, in the sense that there is nobody to have an ego, or be enlightened, in the first place. They are opposite, in the sense that ego is opaque to Consciousness and enlightenment is transparent. It is all Consciousness, in different states of awareness.

That realization is what allows the dog to enjoy the dream, while in the dream ?

For example, do you realize that attention amplifies whatever it observes?

@Breakingthewall Seeking the truth is the dog chasing its tail. Realizing the truth is the dog enjoying a nap in the sun.

Delusion is the game, and laws are the rules of the game.

@Preety_India I like this. Consider also freedom from the fruits of our actions. The dharma way is the spiritual path of unconditional intent.

This is a man who will die well. ?

Consciousness is love. Just because people exist in different states of selfishness, doesn't mean a conscious person can be anything other than it is. The Buddha and Jesus love because it is their dharma, just as it is the dharma of the selfish to be selfish, until their dharma evolves.

Perfect karate chop to the ego ?

@Forestluv ? Infinite trails through the forest, in the forest itself.

The house is simply the bricks in a certain pattern. Ego is the pattern. As ego dissolves, the pattern loses cohesion, and the underlying data resolve back into Consciousness itself.

Those "oh shit!" moments are the magic of meditation. Don't think in them, just be in them.

Thoughts, feelings, memories, dreams, experiences, stories, and everything else are just data in different states of Conscious attention.

The horror realms are the inevitable nightmares of Consciousness. They are not unmanifested Consciousness, which is unconditional love, and which, according to its mysterious cadence, infinitely creates and dissolves every dream.

@deci belle Yes. The energy is infinitely fluxing between potential and creation, or between unmanifestation and manifestation. It is all the same Consciousness, in different states of attention. This breathing in, and breathing out, applies at all levels, from the personal to the cosmic, and mysteriously embraces the whole of itself.

? I also like watching the movie alone, in the darkness of the theater, from the very back seat.

Ultimate reality, though, is not contextual. Consciousness underlies the dream, and infuses the infinity of dream forms with its essence, but it is more than just the contextual dream maps. It is the terrain itself.