Moksha

Define life.

The absolute uses the mind to realize what it is not. That is as far as the mind can go. Beyond that, through the inner gate, the absolute begins to directly realize itself. Sometimes enlightenment is cataclysmic, but usually it happens gradually like a sunrise. When the dream ends, the entire adventure from ignorance to awakening to enlightenment is seen for the transient sequence of experiences that it is. The absolute never actually changes.

You're correct that there are false awakenings, where the absolute convinces itself that it is lucid but it is still thought-identified. It's a common spiritual trap and everyone (including me) is wise to be wary of it. Conceptions of awakening are never awakening. It is direct realization, or it is false. When mystics speak of ending suffering, they are referring to the suffering caused by identifying with the conditioned mind. Desires and fears always lead to suffering, because they are based on the false belief that the object of desire or fear is real. Love, integrity, and happiness are only directly realized within.

It isn't about changing yourself, but about realizing yourself. At first, the spiritual path takes tremendous courage. You are doing battle with the demons of the conditioned mind. After passing through the gate, courage is transfigured into fearlessness. Demons dissolve.

Certainly not the absolute Within the dream there are highs and lows, and the absolute chooses where it appears to go.

Every experience is within the dream, but is the quality of experiencing thought-entrapment equal to the quality of experiencing enlightenment?

I am no longer trapped, but have been trapped by misidentification most of my life. It took decades of sincere suffering before I was ready to dissolve the conceptual cage and realize the absolute within. Flowers are luminous. Jesus taught people to become like the lilies of the field. Not that our destiny is to be mindless, but to realize our true nature and through its light experience the phenomenal beauty of the cosmos.

Sincerity will never lead you astray. As for curiosity, do you see a difference between conceptual exploration and deepening direct realization?

Infinity and totality are attributes of imagination. Infinity is the limitless potential for imagination, and totality is the current expression of imagination. They are the ultimate dualities of the Void and the Cosmos within the dream. The absolute is beyond infinity and totality. It is mysterious and attributeless.

Hi Lilia and welcome to the forum. I can't speak to God-realization as Leo teaches it (he does have a book list which has proven highly valuable to people). For me, the source writings of mystics have been the most enlightening. Deep The Wisdom of Insecurity (Alan Watts) Untethered Soul (Michael Singer) Being Ram Dass Eckhart Tolle Deeper Kahlil Gibran The Dark Night of the Soul (St. John of the Cross) Song of the Enchanting Wildwoods (Longchen Rabja) Deepest Bhagavad Gita Dhammapada Upanishads Tao Te Ching Bible (especially Genesis/Psalms/Proverbs/Job in the old testament and the gospels in the new testament) I Am That (Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)

I like your mirror analogy for the cosmos. It is bound by the frame of relativity, but anything within its frame can be expressed. It is infinitely imaginable, but everything imagined is still a reflection of the absolute.

The absolute creates apparent boundaries when the cosmos is born. These apparent boundaries dissolve back into the absolute when the cosmos dies. Boundaries are the appearance of separation, but absolute reality is seamless. Beyond the cosmos, there are no boundaries.

Enlightening is the dissolving of apparent boundaries, or the deepening realization that there are none. Love is the end of enlightenment because it is the absolute realization of this.

Not total, but the boundaries are wispier each day

He didn't kick me out, I stepped down. He was gracious then, as he is now.

@amanen Enlightenment is the ever-deepening realization of the absolute, within the dream. It only ends when all boundaries entirely dissolve, beyond even the barest indentation of separation. In other words, the end of enlightenment is the absolute realization of love.

Freedom of expression increases the deeper the absolute realizes itself. Even in the unrealized state, it is still freely choosing to be in this state, but its capacity for expression is limited. Absolute freedom is infinite expression. Beyond expression, the absolute is neither free nor imprisoned.

@RebornConsciousness Given your username, surely you know the answers already You're mostly correct that the awakening of Leo or anyone else is irrelevant to direct knowledge. What you might not be considering is that it is all the same absolute, realizing itself in various ways, and sometimes it uses awakening within one apparent form to catalyze awakening within other forms. I agree with you that people shouldn't be banned simply for having different perspectives, but most of the time Leo only bans people for being insincere or stagnant. Despite our disagreements, he has been remarkably tolerant of my presence.

Direct knowledge is deeper than epistemology. The mind can dance circles around it, but it will never understand it. It is the absolute realizing itself, beyond thoughts, beyond emotions, beyond sensations, beyond perceptions, and beyond experiences. There is no language to express it, only holy silence. Direct knowledge is not limited to the form through which it is realized. It dissolves boundaries, and expands from the initial locus to resonate with the absolute within and beyond all forms. It is the stone of absolute solidity which is tossed into the cosmic lake and creates ripples extending outward and beyond the lake.

Even that question is answered when you directly realize the absolute. Hint: Awakening isn't what most people think it is.

Just an observation that the more advanced a form is, the easier for the absolute within that form to become entrapped by its cognition. The human brain is brilliantly deceptive, and the absolute has to shine more brightly to break through. When it does though, the luminosity outshines any other form.

God fools itself all the time. If it didn't, awakening wouldn't happen within the dream. The third eye sees beyond boundaries, but not always, especially in an online forum.

I'll save you the homework. The only question that matters is, "Who Am I?". When you directly realize the answer, all other questions disappear.

As someone that has lived through hellacious decades of self-doubts, yes it is possible to be free. When you deeply realize that the addiction to the mind is always destructive, that it only strengthens your demons rather than dissolving them, that it steals all of your energy and leaves you empty, this realization is the beginning of the end of suffering. It brings you to the gate of the absolute within, and when the self is ground down to a sliver, it is finally small enough to pass through to the other side. That is when the unconditional flow and love of life truly begins.

I entirely agree. Even the smallest experiences are incredibly amplified in the sober state of the absolute. Instead of being labeled pleasant or unpleasant, they are simply energetic expressions. Still, there is space from these experiences, which happen through you but do not define you. Your blockages dissolve. The stability is inner trust. What I am finding is that the flood from the infinite is so intense that I have to close the door a little just to moderate the flow. I know it sounds like bullshit but it's true. If the light is too bright, it blinds you. You have to pace it. If psychedelics work for you, I'm truly happy for you. Believe me or don't, it's unnecessary here.