Moksha

That is the spiritual journey in a nutshell. You reach the point where the suffering created by the mind's constant manipulations becomes so suffocating that anything is preferable to it. It takes that level of desperation to leap off the crumbling ledge of certainty, and plunge into the unknown. When you do, your demons will test you. The mind doesn't let go easily. Liberation requires absolute courage and sincerity. When you prove true, you will discover the essence that is who you actually are and nothing will entice you from it.

I agree that the proof is in the spiritual pudding. Many people claim to have transformative realizations, but if they still suffer how are these realizations different from the manipulations of the egoic mind? The journey is not only about understanding what you are not, but about directly realizing what you are, and thereby dissolving the personal attachments that cause you to suffer. The vast majority of content on this forum is about proclaiming profound insights, rather than doing the spiritual work of surrendering to the reality of yourself. If you still suffer, you have not yet fully realized or surrendered. When I first woke up, I went through quite a long period of time where my suffering was all but gone. I naïvely assumed that this awakened state was permanent, when in reality it was not. To the contrary, it was followed by an even darker period of suffering than I was in before I awakened. I now realize why this deeper suffering was necessary, and am grateful for what it taught me. Again, I find myself no longer suffering, but it is a deeper realization than before. It's like the first awakening was the birth of an infant that was cradled until it was ready to learn to walk. Love set me on my own feet, and I felt utterly abandoned until I finally found my way to the other side. Is the suffering permanently gone? I suppose it again depends on how well I have learned its lessons.

Not necessarily. You can take care of the self without identifying with it. Waking up isn't about dismissing life as an empty illusion, it is about living life lucidly. Honoring life is Advaita, but seems to be lost in Neo-Advaita.

@Carl-Richard I agree. Calling it solipsism is misleading and confusing to most people. It encourages the idea that you (i.e., the person) are imagining everything, without directly acknowledging that you (i.e., the person having this amazing realization) are also being imagined. Ultimately, there is no POV and everyone is just as "real" or "unreal" as everyone else.

I gave you two examples of illusions. Does it matter how each magic trick is performed if neither represents reality? There is no absolute time or change, only relative time and change within the cosmos. Both are magic tricks of the mind.

What exactly is the difference between pulling a rabbit out of a hat and sawing a woman in half?

@axiom Doubt everything that can be known. Directly realize what cannot be known.

Duplication and any other appearance of separation is not ultimately real. Although words are only words, my definition of Consciousness has evolved. As I see it, Awareness is absolute and Consciousness is the apparent localization of Awareness. Just as Atman is localized Brahman, rays are localized sun, and waves are localized ocean.

The power of Self, when it is concentrated and directed into the physical, mental, or emotional realms, creates a force, and we call that force "will." That's what you use when you try to make things happen or not happen. You are not helpless in there; you have the power to affect things. - Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul

When you dream tonight, the character within your dream will probably believe that what it perceives is real. Even if temporary, the character believes that what it sees actually exists. Tomorrow morning, you will realize that both the character and what the character perceived are not real. That is what is meant by awakening. You realize that within the cosmos, phenomenal reality is only relative rather than absolute. As you ate your latest meal, no doubt you believed the food was real, and the time passing between each bite was real, and maybe even the enjoyment of that bite was real. There are no absolutes within the cosmos. Einstein proved it with relativity. Time, space, and matter depend entirely on the observer and cannot be objectively defined. You are as alive as anything else you perceive in the cosmos. When you let go of the idea of "me as the perceiver" and "other as the perceived", you directly realize that there is an underlying seamless reality that pervades and is beyond the cosmos. Existence is seen for the creative dream that it is. Your ultimate nature was never born and cannot die.

There is no absolute existence, only being. You seem to have realized this about the perceiver, but the same is true about the perceived. Anything that can be thought, felt, or sensed is an illusion. The perceiver and the perceived are dualities within the dream. Neither of them is ultimately real. There is only unconditional awareness, which is within and beyond the dream. You can't convince the character of anything. You can only strip away everything about it that you are not, until you are ready to directly realize what you are. People believe they are ready to face the non-existence of their character, but it is rare to embrace this non-existence and live lucidly within the dream. It is not death, but it is seen as death. The mind only sees a bottomless void, and will fight like a demon to avoid it. It is only when you are ready to release the mind that the brilliance of your ultimate nature is realized. You need to desire this unchangeable nature more than anything the transient cosmos can offer you. The known, the changeable, is what you live with -- the unchangeable is of no use to you. It is only when you are satiated with the changeable and long for the unchangeable, that you are ready for the turning round and stepping into what can be described, when seen from the level of the mind, as emptiness and darkness. For the mind craves for content and variety, while reality is, to the mind, contentless and invariable.

Indulging the mind is a treacherous game Are you sure your mind is being honest when it proclaims that it wants you to disappear again? After all, if you truly disidentify with the mind, doesn't that disempower it? Maybe the reason you are unable to realize inner spaciousness is because the mind is secretly sabotaging your efforts. There is nothing that frightens the mind more than the threat of losing your attention. Inner silence is its worst nightmare.

The irony is that it is the mind that insists on knowing, while the unconditional spaciousness within is beyond knowledge. Craving spiritual facts only buries people deeper. Awakening is about letting go of the need to know, of the desperate desire for certainty, and of seeking validation through mystical experiences. The truth of who you actually are is realized through inner submission to the wisdom of absolute silence, not in clamoring for signs.

I agree with Leo. There's nothing wrong with giving yourself a break from the world for a while, and focusing on the inward journey. No matter where you are, you can only do that here and now. However, life is about living. It is easy to believe that you are enlightened within a secluded cave in the Himalayas, but the candle is only tested when the wind blows. Go to the Wildwoods for a while, and hone your attention within. Restore yourself, then return to the city and help others do the same.

Personalization requires localization. It's like rolling out a ball of dough for biscuits, and cutting it into circles. It is all the same dough, shaped and baked into separate forms. Ultimately there is no separation, but in the mind of the child, baking biscuits is a fun game.

Anything that enhances the quality of the dream is not a wasted effort. Fulfilling the common needs in Maslow's hierarchy, including human love, is certainly beneficial, as long as it doesn't become an attachment. Most people will never fully awaken, and that is perfectly fine. Far from a drag, people can still live beautiful lives. For the few that are relentless in deeply questioning everything, willing to strip away the false no matter how urgently the mind complains, and earnest enough to tunnel through the detritus of their conditioning, the realization of their true nature is its own reward. By comparison, the unconscious life is a candle trying to outshine the sun. There is nothing like the unconditional love of lucid living.

Everyone could use some love, but for the vast majority it won't make a difference to whether they awaken or not. There are people who are showered with love their entire lives and never have the grit to dig within for the Love that is their actual nature.

I agree with those of you that have said people need love. Maslow wasn't wrong about that: However every attachment, including the need for love, has the capacity to obscure the absolute Love that you are. Of course it's important to meet your human needs, but you can do so without supercharging them with your attention, beyond what is actually needed. It is one thing to feed the body, and another to become a glutton. You can enjoy healthy relationships, without constantly needing the approval of others in order to be happy. Enduring happiness only comes from within. Everything else, including other people, is transient and if indulged in too heavily will only lead to suffering.

We don't need love, we are Love. It is our essence. Within the dream, we need to first realize that we are not our thoughts, our feelings (including the human emotion that we call love), or our experiences. These are only attachments that suffocate us. We are not the character in the dream with all of its melodrama. When you realize what you are not, and realize that identifying with the character has only created suffering, you are preparing to realize what you actually are. Trapped within the character's perspective, this realization feels like death, but it is not. What was never born cannot die. It is the unveiling of the absolute radiance of your true nature. You are finally free from the conditioned stormclouds that have commanded your attention and obscured you all of your dreaming life. This dawning is not only possible within the dream, but it is the culmination of it. There is no clearer way of living than in the flow state of yourself, which is unconditional Love.

When the Subject <> Object duality collapses, there is only Love. No God loving you, no you loving God, only Love. Enlightenment is Love being itself unconditionally, even from within its dream.

Beliefs are born of the mind and lead to suffering, not healing. Experiencing Love is not a belief, it is direct realization of your true nature.

Nobody needs Love, but to realize the unconditional Love that we already are. You already realize this, but some may not. It is only words until the realization happens, and staying in the realization usually requires the self-shattering experience of suffering.

@LSD-Rumi Well said. The majority of spiritual seekers want an easy resolution to their suffering. I feel this is why 5-MeO is so enticing. People are convinced that if only they see clearly enough, their suffering will dissolve. In truth, realizing that you are not the mind is only the first step. You must then have the integrity and courage to integrate this seeing into your life. If it is authentic, your perspective on suffering will invert. Instead of trying to escape it, you will see it for the gift to yourself that it actually is. Instead of chasing insights, embrace the unconditional spaciousness within you so fully that you are willing to release identifying with the deep desires and aversions that bind you to life. They will still exist, but will no longer influence your life or contribute to your suffering. Only then will you be free to live fully. For most, it takes substantial suffering before you are humble enough to surrender to yourself. M: Don't be misled by the simplicity of the advice. Very few are those who have the courage to trust the innocent and the simple. To know that you are a prisoner of your mind, that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation is the dawn of wisdom. To want nothing of it, to be ready to abandon it entirely, is earnestness. Only such earnestness, born of true despair, will make you trust me. Q: Have I not suffered enough? M: Suffering has made you dull, unable to see its enormity. Your first task is to see the sorrow in you and around you; your next to long intensely for liberation. The very intensity of longing will guide you; you need no other guide.

You don't have to imagine yourself as them. You are them. When you realize that the same essence permeates everyone and everything, judgment disappears.

Even within relative reality, science has proven that time is not an absolute. If you travel at a very high speed to another planet and return, you will be younger than your identical twin. Whose perception of time is more real?