Moksha

The irony of enlightenment is that you realize there is no absolute you to be enlightened. It is the self dissolving into the Self, like a grain of salt in the infinite ocean. It was the Self all along, appearing to be separate from what it actually is.

The most radical thing you can do is to Self-realize that you are here not to die but to enjoy this phenomenal moment, seeing through the dream-prism that you created.

Nothing is a better solvent for insanity (i.e., individuality) than suffering. It will grind you down until there is no you left to grind. Thank God for suffering ?

They are two sides of the same coin. Consciousness is in them, but is also beyond them. The space between these words is nothing and the space between these letters is nothing still. The appearance of these letters is something and the appearance of these words is something still. Consciousness is the ultimate dreamer of both. I love this passage from the Upanishads: That which is above heaven and below earth, which is also between heaven and earth, which is the same through the past, present, and future - that is woven, warp and woof, in space… In what is space itself woven, warp and woof? Tell me, Yajnavalkya. The sages call it Akshara, the Imperishable. It is neither big nor small, neither long nor short, neither hot nor cold, neither bright nor dark, neither air nor space. It is without attachment, without taste, smell, or touch, without eyes, ears, tongue, mouth, breath, or mind, without movement, without limitation, without inside or outside. It consumes nothing, and nothing consumes it. In perfect accord with the will of the Imperishable, sun and moon make their orbits…Nothing other than the Imperishable can see, hear, think, or know. It is in the Imperishable that space is woven, warp and woof.

@Rigel It is provable, but only through direct realization. At best, people can point you toward the inner path. It's up to you to try it out, and determine whether or not it leads to Self-insight and equanimity. I can tell you that meditation has been enormously beneficial in my spiritual journey, but the words mean nothing unless they motivate you to try it for yourself. If you want the rewards of meditation, you have to earn them. Consciousness doesn't give up its secrets easily. It is always there in the deepest cave of the heart, waiting to be discovered, but only when it decides the time is right. Maybe encouraging others to practice meditation is a way for Consciousness to reveal itself to itself. Maybe not. Try it and see. @vladorion Do you feel realizing your true nature is a one-time thing? Maybe it varies, but for me enlightenment is elusive. Just when Consciousness reveals itself within and my thoughts seem to have receded forever into the distance, I am plunged back into the cold waters of the conditioned mind and forced to continue swimming to the next island of reprieve. I have seen a spiral of awakenings lasting for longer periods of time, but eventually they are followed by another dark night that drives the realization of my ultimate nature even deeper. I feel that when you finally stop falling asleep, and your attachments dissolve to the thinnest sense of a personal self, at that point you have attained enlightenment.

Can nothingness stand out? Can it be anything other than non-differentiation? If not, nothingness cannot exist. Maybe a more accurate word than "exist" is "real". Nothingness can be real without existing. Just more words, which inevitably lead to confusion because they cannot represent ultimate reality. The territory is only directly realized, no matter how accurate the map pretends to be.

It is the only evidence that you can actually trust: direct realization. At best, people who have awakened can point you toward the path, but it is meaningless until you walk it yourself.

It is a red flag to speak of something rather than nothing. Any distinction is just another duality. Solipsists claim that they are everything. Nihilists claim that only nothingness is real. Ultimate reality laughs at claims. Consciousness is beyond something and nothing. It cannot be conceptualized, only Self-realized. We are it, and everything and every nothing is it.

For me, contemplation only begins with a spark of thought. It is seeing beyond the words, and realizing the truth they point toward. It is joyful and nourishing, like rain seeping into the dry ground. I read a passage from the Bhagavad Gita, or some other spiritual source, and the words dissolve into a resonance with being. The fulfillment of contemplation is directly realized, and is entirely non-conceptual. As Longchen Rabjam puts it: Don’t dwell on the past, or fantasize about the future. Don’t engineer this natural, ongoing presence. Don’t direct the mind or draw it within. Just let it settle, without distraction, resting without grasping, or conceptually structuring this clarity that is vivid, quiet, lucid, illuminating.

Meditation has been a path to enlightenment for millennia. Neti neti is an ancient practice of deliberately diving into the mind, discarding what is realized not to be your true essence, until only you remain. When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place. In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self reveals itself. Beholding the Self by means of the Self, an aspirant knows the joy and peace of complete fulfillment. Having attained that abiding joy beyond the senses, revealed in the stilled mind, he never swerves from the eternal truth. He desires nothing else, and cannot be shaken by the heaviest burden of sorrow. - Bhagavad Gita 6:19

Thanks for sharing your experience. ?The enlightenment journey is about learning to let go of the mind's attachments, and thrive in the spaciousness that is who you actually are. I can see how living in a monastery where many of these temptations are absent may be beneficial, especially if you are able to sustain the serenity of presence after returning to the phenomenal world.

Although I haven't tried psychedelics, I agree that they can open the shutters of the mind and give you a glimpse of ultimate reality. Tolle mentioned Aldous Huxley in his answer, and interestingly Huxley concluded that his glimpses on psychedelics were only that: [The] things which had entirely filled my attention on that first occasion [chronicled in The Doors of Perception], I now perceived to be temptations – temptations to escape from the central reality into false, or at least imperfect and partial Nirvanas of beauty and mere knowledge.

The etymology of "exist" means "to stand out". So nothingness does not exist. Only phenomena exist. Ultimate reality is beyond nothingness and thingness, which are dualities. Consciousness is all there is, and creation/destruction is the eternal game it plays. This multitude of beings is created and destroyed again and again in the succeeding days and nights of Brahma. But beyond this formless state there is another, unmanifested reality, which is eternal and is not dissolved when the cosmos is destroyed.

@Zeroguy ? Thanks for sharing. I've only seen a few of Leo's videos, but it always strikes me how we arrived at such similar realizations along such different paths.

I see awakening as profound Self-realization, but it is only the beginning of enlightenment which is the dissolving of all attachments and perpetual, unswerving presence. It is the still flame that never flickers, even in the strongest winds. By that definition, enlightenment is extraordinarily rare. As Jesus said, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. I love this passage from the Bhagavad Gita: Good people come to worship me for different reasons. Some come to the spiritual life because of suffering, some in order to understand life; some come through a desire to achieve life’s purpose, and some come who are men and women of wisdom. Unwavering in devotion, always united with me, the man or woman of wisdom surpasses all the others…the wise who are always established in union, for whom there is no higher goal than me, may be regarded as my very Self…seeing me everywhere and in everything. Such great souls are very rare.

Thank you, @Breakingthewall it's good to hear from you as well. Metaphorically, retiring alone in a cave is exactly what I did I'm happy to see so many familiar faces still here. Sorry to learn that @Nahm isn't one of them, he gave so much to this community.

Congratulations The more honed your meditation, the harder your ego will fight to stay alive. It cannot stand the present state of no-thought. Fighting with it only empowers it, so let your thoughts be while recognizing that they are not who you ultimately are.

To be healed, are you willing to be dissolved? Dis-solved: Letting go of the monkey mind demanding answers and surrendering to the spaciousness that you are. Meditation (and maybe psychedelics) will help you here. What if there is no solution, other than enjoying the present expression of the Self?

Of course they had thoughts, but they didn't identify as their thoughts. Do you see the difference? Thoughts come and go, but they are not who you are. Funny thing is, when you stop confusing yourself with your thoughts, and are simply present, the quality of your thoughts and actions improves exponentially. Being awake doesn't mean being a zombie. Just the opposite. When you are bound to the machinations of the monkey mind, you become its slave rather than it serving you.

Derealization is the thought that something is not real. When you are truly present, there are no thoughts, only being. It is impossible to suffer in the state of pure awareness.

Ultimately, yes. But relatively, no. Would you rather dream lucidly or unconsciously? Do you care about the quality of the dream?

Desires and aversions are opposite ends of the same stick. They are both forms of attachment, and are equally blind to your true nature, which needs nothing. The senses have been conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant. Do not be ruled by them; they are obstacles in your path.

If Consciousness is everything (and it is), then prayer is Self-communication. What is wrong with asking the unveiled aspect of yourself for guidance with the veiled aspect?

By definition, religion is dogma, which is antithetical to truth. Doesn't matter if the concepts were created in the east or the west. The beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism are as flawed as the beliefs of Christianity. Mystics seek the direct realization of God, within themselves, free from conceptualization. As Aldous Huxley found in the Perennial Philosophy, the inner path exists across all religions and faiths.

Consciousness is beyond change and changelessness, and it is a realization rather than a thought. The monkey mind is always trying to make sense of ultimate reality, but it can't comprehend paradox.