Moksha

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.

Reality is beyond everything and nothing, beyond existence and nonexistence, beyond form and formless. All of these are dualities, and reality is beyond dualities. Lord of the gods, you are the abode of the universe. Changeless, you are what is and what is not, and beyond the duality of existence and nonexistence. You are the first among the gods, the timeless spirit, the resting place of all beings. You are the knower and the thing which is known. You are the final home; with your infinite form you pervade the cosmos.

Within the cosmos, the more true you are to your nature as Consciousness, the more moral your behavior will be. Ultimately, Consciousness is beyond good and evil, and beyond the suffering of the human heart. Find your true self in the field, and instead of worrying about right and wrong, simple be. Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about. - Rumi

You can easily still the mind by drinking a few long island iced teas until you pass out, drooling on the floor. Meditation is less about stilling the mind than about opening the curtain of your conditioning to the infinite sun, which is your true nature.

Exactly. You can be awake, but if you are still suffering from some perception of past or future, you are not enlightened.

Connecting to deeper Truth is a spiritual, not a conceptual, realization. Full realization, or enlightenment, occurs when attachments are entirely released and your unconditional nature is embraced. It is not about understanding, but about being. Life is the dancer. You are the dance…Being is the dancer. Human is the dance. - Eckhart Tolle

Awakening is the beginning of the end of the ego. Enlightenment is its destruction, due to the dissolving of all apparent boundaries. As humans, we're in a bit of a quandary. We have the capacity to realize our ultimate nature as Consciousness, but we are still attached by our desires within the dream. Awakening isn't some epiphany that instantly dissolves all of our desires. It simply shows you what is ultimately real. It is then up to you, as Consciousness, to actualize it. It scares the ego to death, which is what it is intended to do.

@Vincent S ?

I agree; reality is literally the product of awareness. Whatever we attend to, we amplify, whether consciously or unconsciously. Cause and effect only exist within the dream; ultimate reality is changeless. I appreciate Eckhart's recognition of the vast intelligence of Consciousness. It is super-cosmic, and it is has a purpose that is beyond the capacity of the human mind to comprehend. Eventually, evolution will reunite the creation with the creator, and the process starts all over again.