Moksha

Who opens its eyes in the morning, washes its face in the mirror, walks through the day, observes its dreams at night, continues even in deep sleep, and still remains regardless of the appearance of death?

Back at you, especially the reader's digest version, solely because I can't help reading the entire treatise otherwise, and my eyes aren't getting any younger ? Despite their intimidating battlecries in the arena, even gladiators are absolutely silent, if you can just convince them to lay down the sword and look within. Who is there to entertain again?

For your contemplation. The absolute is beyond existence and non-existence. It imagines the cosmos, appearing as existence, but this is only an appearance. It imagines the void, appearing as non-existence, but this also is only an appearance. There are infinite dualities within its dream, but the dualities of the cosmos and the void are of the highest order. The meaning of existence and non-existence is the means of their imagining. Meaning is the manifestation of the absolute. Beyond meaning there is only the unmanifested mystery of Tát (the Sanskrit name for "That").

Word has it that aliens have evolved beyond the need for space travel, and have realized they are always home. No more need for phones.

True, but also true of Buddhist mysticism, Hindu mysticism, Muslim mysticism, Christian mysticism... What is the common thread, beyond beliefs?

In the flow state, the sun still rises and sets, but no longer falls below the horizon. Regardless of present luminosity, there is always clarity.

@r0ckyreed ⚡Carpe diem, anchor awareness in the doing, and everything you do will be amplified.

To appreciate the best movie of all time, you have to see more deeply, beyond the sand, sweat and blood, to the absolute love within the character, despite whatever armor it may be wearing.

Careful, the "B" word is quite triggering for certain GQs tumbling through the corridors of the dungeon.

@r0ckyreed One thing to consider is that life is a series of stages, and the right path for you during one stage may shift to a different path at a later stage. At this stage of your life, you are in rajas, or passion which compels you to engage productively in the world. It is your current destiny, and is worthy of being embraced. Eventually you may or may not transition to sattva, which is serenity without the need for external engagement. Whatever the stage, you can still be centered in awareness. The playing out of your life purpose varies according to what is needed in that moment.

@CARDOZZO Don't settle for anything less than direct realization. All is a play in consciousness. All divisions are illusory. You can know the false only. The true you must yourself be. There are the two -- the person and the witness, the observer. When you see them as one, and go beyond, you are in the supreme state. It is not perceivable, because it is what makes perception possible. It is beyond being and not being. It is neither the mirror nor the image in the mirror. It is what is -- the timeless reality, unbelievably hard and solid. There is only light and the light is all. Everything else if but a picture made of light. The picture is in the light and the light is in the picture. Life and death, self and not-self -- abandon all these ideas. They are of no use to you.

If true awakening happens, it's only a matter of time before the entire tower crumbles. I had many glimpses of the absolute during my life, even long periods of service and lumination, but it wasn't true awakening. When the absolute awakens, there is no doubt. It doesn't need to ask apparent others for validation, permission, or acceptance. You directly realize that you are them, and they are you. The boundaries within you, and between you and other forms, begin to melt. You see the absolute in all. Integration, which I see as keeping the portal open, happens naturally. My daily habits and relationships with others evolved. I was deeply drawn to the writings of mystics, beginning with the Bhagavad Gita and extending to other traditions. I saw beyond their words to the light that resonates within. Insights spontaneously began to flow. My beyond dreams, which I had as a child, returned (this part I prefer to keep general). It has been a natural process, but hardly easy. My sincerity has been tested to the dregs. It is frighteningly beautiful. The light continues to grow, and I love my person more purely than I could when I identified as it. I've seen a change in your posts the past few weeks. You're starting to understand, and have moved beyond pursuing extreme experiences for their own sake, to focusing your intent on integration. Keep going, that is how you unlearn enough to remain open to infinity.

Have you considered that losing the fun in games may be an inner pointer to losing identification with relative reality, i.e., finding yourself? Why not let go of all addictions while you're at it? Maybe the absolute within is discovering itself, despite its best efforts to remain entangled within its dream. If nothing created is fulfilling, discover the love in what is not created.

The absolute is mystery to the mind, and first nature to itself.

Never say always Ramana Maharshi awakened at the age of 16. I didn't awaken until I turned 55, and meditation came after rather than before. The absolute is nothing if not creative in clearing the pathway to itself. If your mind is wild, meditation can help to tame it, but not everyone is ready even for meditation.

The physical motions of yoga, the spoken mantras, and the mind-stilling training of meditation are progressive inward steps toward direct realization. Some people bypass these practices by diving into the deep ocean of self-inquiry. It is the clearest path, but not many have the lung capacity to sustain such a dive. What matters is not what works for others, but what prepares the absolute to awaken itself within you. Begin by asking, "Who am I?" and see how deep the question takes you. If there is no answer yet, try a more gradual approach. You have nothing to prove and everything to gain by finding what works for you.

When it comes to meditation, or any other spiritual practice, it's more about experimenting to see what works than about following a universal method. Even for a specific guide like The Mind Illuminated, it's best to follow your instinct and modify the approach according to your needs. For example, following the breath doesn't feel natural to me. Focusing on the inner body does. So that is the core of my practice, even though TMI references the breath. Eventually, you reach the point where you can immediately center on awareness and any specific technique becomes secondary. It gradually rewires the brain, and becomes your default state even in regular life.

Embracing the ego is suffering. Until the absolute realizes that the ego is not its essence, and surrenders its pursuit of external identification, it will remain entrapped within its dream. It can still be within the dream, enjoying the imagination of experience, without losing its awareness. Enlightenment is the state of lucid being within the dream. It is the end of suffering. Drink the poison or don't, it's up to you.

The dream is the imagination of the absolute. It plunders in the guise of the ego, and after exhausting itself in the profligate pursuit of pleasure, it suffers and surrenders its mask, gratefully returning inward on the path of enlightenment. Ego and enlightenment are within the dream, but the outbound journey is entrapping and the inbound journey is liberating. Each person will live according to its destiny, in ego, or if inner grace is granted, in enlightenment. Choose your adventure.

Good inner pointer. What is the purpose of pain in the physical body? It didn't evolve solely to make us miserable, but to wake us up to the damage being caused. If you stick your hand in a fire without pain, why remove it? Suffering is the anguish of the soul. It exists to help you wake up to the damage being caused by your misdirection. Without it, why would you surrender yourself to god? Leverage it to loosen your attachment to the self. Let it guide you inward, to the absolute. The balm of suffering is the unconditional love that is your essence.

@Yimpa whenliethenmeant ☀️

Fairness is a relative construct of the human mind. By the above standard, how is it fair for a 10 year-old kid who has barely begun his life to die from cancer? His window for finding answers and growing in character is dramatically shorter than most people. Not to say that fairness is an unworthy aspiration. On the relative level, it has worth. Instead of applying fairness as a precondition for happiness, see reality for what it is, without being miserable about it. Unconditionally embrace the experience of whatever life brings you. Drink it fully and devour it the marrow, without losing your awareness within it. This is the dream feast!

It's amazing how much more space there is for solving the practical puzzles of life when your awareness is no longer hostage to the demands of the conditioned mind.

The former informs the freedom of the latter. There's playing the games of children, then there's playing the ultimate game of lucid dreaming. Nothing like flying freely, wherever you choose to go, without fear of falling. The only rule is surrender, which as it turns out is simply realization.

They grow by absorption. Everything they touch gets assimilated, increasing their monstrosity: It's best to stay out of their way, warning others and cleaning up the slime trail in their (una)wake.