Moksha

Interesting, it reminds me of synesthesia: I haven't experienced it, but must be beautiful. I have walked down streets and seen the sameness of myself in everything else, especially trees, but the seeing is more spiritual than sensational.

There is no universal path to enlightenment. Meditation is an ancient practice that can lead to profound spiritual insights and, more importantly, help dissolve attachments to the conditioned mind. Still, it isn't claimed to be a cure-all. It is like circling a diamond (Consciousness) and realizing its beauty from different angles. Four pathways spoken of in the spiritual texts are: karma yoga (selfless action), jnana yoga (knowledge through renunciation), bhakti yoga (devotion), and raja yoga (meditation). Try them all and see how well each works for you.

@Kksd74628 I agree with you. As Consciousness, aware of itself rather than distracted by the delusions of the conditioned mind, we are presently creative and wise. Thoughts are necessary to navigate the practicalities of life, but there is no value in identifying with them, as if they had the capacity to understand our true nature. Consciousness is only directly realized, beyond the limitations of thought. The Self-realized are able to constructively think, rather than destructively be thought. Hard it is to train the mind, which goes where it likes and does what it wants. But a trained mind brings health and happiness. The wise can direct their thoughts, subtle and elusive, wherever they choose: a trained mind brings health and happiness. Those who can direct thoughts, which are unsubstantial and wander so aimlessly, are freed from the bonds of Mara. - Buddha

@Kksd74628 Well said. The conditioned mind claims to know all the answers, but I've learned not to trust my thoughts, especially when it comes to spiritual progress. I don't blame the mind. It is trying its best to keep you well, but is blinded by its conditioning. It is an elephant that needs to be tamed. That domestication, as you realize, is guided by Consciousness. Who could expect the elephant to tame itself? It is not an easy task, but what an ally when the elephant is finally tamed. Instead of sabotaging your progress, the unbound mind will carry you to creative heights that would never have been possible otherwise.

I haven't experienced telepathy, but have seen synchrony. It's like the apparent borders between beings dissolve, and Consciousness flows. You are guided to just the right place, or your mouth speaks just the right words, but it is not you calling the shots. I once discovered a tree that planted itself in an empty pot on my rooftop, at a moment in my life when I was closer to Consciousness than I had ever been. It has never been by intention, it just happens. I'm not sure it could be any other way, since the resonance is at a higher order than the conditioned self.

There's a French expression: Reculer pour mieux sauter. It means taking a step backward in order to brace yourself, and jump farther forward. Overall, the progress is positive but it is punctuated by periods of apparent regression. The last few years have felt like a step backward, but inevitably we jump forward to a point that wouldn't have been possible without the regress.

@Godishere I agree, and it underscores the enormous value of fostering Self-awareness, in ourselves and in others. There is no higher purpose. It is the only real solution to selfishness and suffering.

Borders are imaginary, which awakened waves realize. The wave is not only a wave. It is the expression of the ocean itself, whether it sees it or not. The deep ocean is Self-aware, but it dreams itself into waves. Why? Apparently the dream of phenomenal existence is its intent, an apparent contrast to its infinite and unchanging being. Maybe a complete awakening is equivalent to a universal supernova. All of the waves collapse, and there is only the deep blue sea. Wash, rinse, repeat

Sin as I see it is unconsciousness. It is damage due to not seeing. If you are awake, there is no desire to damage yourself or anyone else. You realize that it is all the same Consciousness. Love.

The being that is awakened is a wave on the ocean, realizing in that moment that it is the ocean. All waves are the ocean, but few see it. Their form is only temporary, and the ocean is their ultimate nature. The whole universe is Consciousness, but the vast majority of it is not Self-aware.

Eckhart Tolle describes a moment when he met Stephen Hawking at Cambridge. He had just finished lunch, and was leaving the cafeteria when he passed Hawking. They looked at each other, and Tolle realized Hawking's presence. He had entirely accepted his physical condition, and was at peace. Physical limitations, or any other life challenge, can be a portal to presence. Suffering is the ultimate solvent for the conditioned mind.

Thanks for sharing. I love what he said about every form in the universe being unique. Each form is created with its own story to be told, and is worthy of being honored, even though it is only a form. I remember coming across a Van Gogh painting with my kids in tow. It was created shortly before his death, and I couldn't stop staring at it. My kids didn't get it, but I stood there for a good 20 minutes, drawn into its presence despite it being a representation rather than reality. I feel our forms are like that. They may only be relatively real, but Consciousness reveals and discovers itself through them. Formless > Form > Formless Have you read "Being Ram Dass"? Highly recommended.

Whether the meditation object is your breath, the inner body, or something else doesn't really matter. All serve the same purpose as a focus of attention allowing you to settle into pure awareness without thought distractions. Some people find a particular object less distracting for them, and use it for that reason. Although the breath is probably the most common, it doesn't work well for me either. I prefer to focus on the inner body. Eckhart Tolle talks a lot about it, starting with the hands as the focal point.

The more you can deprogram your mind by letting go of attachments and beliefs, the easier enlightenment will be. It doesn't always happen that way, though. My awakening was catalyzed by personal suffering. It was only after awakening that I began spiritual practices like meditation, to develop the discipline of remaining present regardless of what happens in my life. It's funny, I remember writing several poems back then and it wasn't until later that I noticed they all pointed to the same realization. At a deep level, I knew that awakening wasn't enough. Enlightenment requires dissolving your attachments, until your mind has no power to command the focus of your awareness. When you let your mind follow the call of the senses, they carry away your better judgment as storms drive a boat off its chartered course on the sea. Use all your power to free the senses from attachment and aversion alike, and live in the full wisdom of the Self. - Bhagavad Gita 2:67-68

Enlightenment isn't simply being unconditioned. It is realizing and actualizing your true nature as Consciousness. Practices like meditation and contemplation can help you decondition the mind, but they won't lead to enlightenment until Consciousness reveals itself within you.

Jesus said not to cast your pearls before swine. Not as an insult to people who aren't ready to hear, but to underscore the futility of trying to teach them. I agree with Tolle: Never talk about presence with someone that isn’t interested in presence; the best way to teach presence is to be present. - Eckhart Tolle

I see it that way too. Another analogy would be Consciousness carving away the detritus from a block of marble, until only its pure Self, which was always hidden inside, remains. The detritus is the personality, or the conditioned mind. How Consciousness is both the sculptor and the sculpted is incomprehensible, but the reality that it is can be directly realized.

Tolle teaches that evolution is the mechanism Consciousness uses to become aware of itself, within the universe. As I see it, there is no free will in the universe, only a series of relative causes and effects, like a cosmic pinball machine. Consciousness is the ultimate player sending each ball ricocheting as it wills. The Universe is engaged in the process of awakening, or becoming more conscious, and every life form is gradually becoming more conscious…After mass extinctions, new life forms even more complex developed…What we see is only the surface reality. There is a vast intelligence operating underneath the world of phenomena. This vast intelligence is consciousness, the universal consciousness, and that is the ultimate reality…It’s not finished. God is still creating this world and you are an essential part of this creative process. You are not separate from the awakening; you are an expression of the awakening…Now there is not only the evolution of consciousness. There is also conscious evolution of consciousness…That happens when you face an external situation and bring conscious presence to it, rather than reactivity…The next thing that is going to happen, to a large extent depends on your state of consciousness at this moment…Reality changes as a reflection of collective consciousness. - Eckhart Tolle

@Kshantivadin ? @Breakingthewall Here's how I saw it a couple years back, based mostly on contemplations of the Bhagavad Gita and other spiritual writings that resonated with me: How it all works is the great mystery, and as you say it cannot be conceptually conceived. I have directly realized Consciousness, but I haven't seen far enough behind the phenomenal curtain to understand how Consciousness does its thing. I do sense that in relative reality, there are energetic reactions within and between forms, which somehow are ultimately caused by Consciousness, but that is as far as my understanding goes.

I agree, but these ideas can be derived from a partial awakening. You can directly realize nothingness, or the Consciousness that you are, without the deeper realization that Consciousness is all, including the universe that it creates. The problem is, people may have these partial realizations and then build a theory on it, which locks them into a conceptual framework that prevents a full awakening.

It was the primal fear of extinction, like standing at the edge of your grave and realizing you are only one step away from the dissolution of everything you used to believe was you. The thinner your personality becomes, the harder the conditioned mind fights for survival. As your attachments fray, there is an enormous ego backlash, at least there was for me. It will test the integrity of your insights to the brink of apparent death. The mind doesn't understand that it isn't truly being threatened, only identification with it. I still cherish my persona, and enjoy life through it, realizing that I created it for a reason. @Razard86 Isn't it ironic that desperately clinging to the mind for meaning so severely limits your ability to enjoy life? The desire to find happiness outside of your true nature only leads to suffering. Realizing who you are liberates you to fully love yourself and all of life. You see yourself in every being, and it is beautiful. I feel this is why nihilism and solipsism are so limiting. Realizing the void or believing "you" are the only actuality is only a partial awakening. It disparages the universe as a useless illusion and disrespects the reason for its creation. It is all still Consciousness, enjoying the phenomenal drama of itself.

@Jehovah increases ?I used to think the conditioned mind was the enemy, but have realized it isn't actually evil. It is just trying to survive, as evolution trained it to do. Like a rampaging elephant that simply needs to be tamed. As long as you don't identify with it, but gently domesticate it, the mind can become a powerful ally. Who doesn't like riding on the back of an elephant, guiding it where you want to go? ? Long ago my mind used to wander as it liked and do what it wanted. Now I can rule my mind as the mahout controls the elephant with his hooked staff. - Dhammapada 23:326

The closer I got to ego death, the more fiercely my ego fought to stay alive. It was terrifying and disorienting. I remember feeling so shaken that I had to use both hands to raise a glass. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to safely drive to meet a friend for lunch. Then I realized a couple of saving truths: 1) It wasn't necessary to push myself so hard. I deliberately put the brakes on my spiritual progress, not entirely, but enough to give myself some breathing room. When profound realizations occur, give yourself time to process them rather than feeling they have to be integrated immediately. 2) The ego is not the personality of your conditioned mind, but only identification with the personality. It is possible to be awake, and still honor the persona that your ultimate nature has chosen to enjoy, without being defined by it.

There are mystics in most religions (including Muslim) who move beyond identifying with teachings as literal truth, to realizing God within themselves. They may even repeat the teachings and rituals within the religion, but they see these practices for what they are: a symbolic pointer toward the reality of God which is their ultimate nature. One of my favorite poets is Kahlil Gibran: I agree with him that once your eyes are opened, it isn't possible to go back to your former beliefs, at least not at the pre-conscious level. You can only continue moving inward realizing the ocean that you are: It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear. She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages. And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever. But there is no other way. The river can not go back. Nobody can go back. To go back is impossible in existence. The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean because only then will fear disappear, because that’s where the river will know it’s not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean.

I liked and respected Nahm. I didn't always agree, for example the dreamboard claim that anything you desire can be manifested, without the caveat that Consciousness is calling the shots and there are few people consistently Conscious enough to move a mountain. Neo-advaita teachings don't resonate for me.