Moksha

By ultimate truth, I am referring to the underlying ultimate reality, beyond the cosmos. Ultimate truth is timeless, changeless, infinite Consciousness, which is beyond all forms and boundaries. It is uncaused, and is the cause of all things. Relative truth is the dream realm created by Consciousness, bound by illusory time and space, from which all forms arise, and to which all forms return. Both ultimate and relative truth are real, within the realms that they inhabit. It is all Consciousness, in different states of Self-awareness. The Bhagavad Gita describes this beautifully, especially in Chapter 8. The Day of Brahma ends after a thousand yugas and the Night of Brahma ends after a thousand yugas. When the day of Brahma dawns, forms are brought forth from the Unmanifest; when the night of Brahma comes, these forms merge in the Formless again. 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. 1,000 yugas equals 4.3 billion years; clearly it isn't literal, just a figurative reference to the near-eternity during which the cosmos lives and grows, before returning to dormancy, in an endless cycle of creation and destruction. Commentary on this chapter from Eknath Easwaran Just as day follows night in eternal, unvarying rhythm, so does the entire universe undergo cycles of creation, death, and new birth…It ceases to be – or, rather, it continues only in a subtle, unmanifest form, a dream in the mind of [ultimate Consciousness]…cosmos after cosmos arising from the black immensity of nothingness – is quite similar to modern theories of the expanding and contracting universe put forward by contemporary cosmology.

Tolle describes the biblical story of Jesus visiting Mary and Martha, who are sisters. Martha is running around the house, making preparations for a gathering, while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus. 38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:38-42 Tolle's point is that there is a time for being (Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus) and a time for doing (Martha busily engaged in preparing food). Spiritual seekers often have a predisposition toward being vs. doing, but still find it necessary to navigate between these dimensions throughout our life, based on the circumstances of the moment. Wish there was a universal answer, but it depends on each person's circumstances. Someone may become overwhelmed in the world of work, and suffer tremendously from stress, anxiety, and bone-deep weariness. If significant enough, the suffering can eventuate in their awakening, without any deliberate direction toward being. Others may spend decades meditating in a monastery, with all of their physical needs freely provided, and still not awaken. After his awakening, Tolle spent 3 years simply being. He sat on park benches and observed nature and people. Then he felt a profound need to ask the universe to accelerate his transition into doing. He was ready to act on the insights he had gained following his awakening, which eventually led to "The Power of Now". The same overall pattern was true for me, different in some details, but I won't go into that here. My perspective on meditation is that if you are forcing it, you aren't doing it right. It does require diligence, but the diligence naturally arises when you are ripe for the lessons that meditation will teach you. The conditioned mind responds most readily when gently and lovingly guided, rather than when fiercely reprimanded, like a stubborn child. When you begin to realize the fruits of meditation, it becomes its own reward, and the practice is self-sustaining.

As with any teaching, take what resonates in this moment and disregard the rest. A teaching that seems like a loophole today could be an epiphany tomorrow. Bhikkhus, the teaching is merely a vehicle to describe the truth. Don’t mistake it for the truth itself. A finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. The finger is needed to know where to look for the moon, but if you mistake the finger for the moon itself, you will never know the real moon. The teaching is like a raft that carries you to the other shore. The raft is needed, but the raft is not the other shore. An intelligent person would not carry the raft around on his head after making it across to the other shore. Bhikkhus, my teaching is the raft which can help you cross to the other shore beyond birth and death. Use the raft to cross to the other shore, but don’t hang onto it as your property. Do not become caught in the teaching. You must be able to let it go. - Thich Nhat Hanh

True teachers help you to remove the internal rubble that keeps you from the truth you already know. Instead of asking that is Leo's loophole, or any other teacher's loophole, ask whether they are helping you clear the collateral damage of your conditioning. All that I or any teacher can do is reflect back to you who or what you are. An apple falls when the moment is right. - Eckhart Tolle Once the detritus is cleared, there is no need for any teaching. There is only being.

As a scientist, I understand the rules of evidence. I know experimental design, statistics, and validity. But all of that is bound by the parameters of relative reality. Ultimate truth is only directly realized. Guides can point the way, but it happens when you are ready for it to happen. Your eyes open, and you see, beyond you, into the seamless Self that infuses every being. When you realize the sameness of yourself in every tree, every rock, and every enemy, that is the epiphany.

Have you ever experienced a lucid dream? Once, as a kid, I not only dreamed that I was dreaming. I dreamed that I dreamed that I was dreaming. You abide by the parameters of the dreamscape, but paradoxically, you are aware that it is only a dream. That awareness frees you, even within the dream. Deeply within, there is serenity, despite where the dream takes you. You can't entirely unimagine relative reality, because you would dissolve yourself in the process, but you can see it clearly for what it is. When you open your eyes, within the dream, you realize the freedom of your ultimate nature. You can still enjoy the dream, for what it is, without being bound by it.

@Pateedm Thank you ?

A hard core solipsist wouldn't grieve if someone they love died. After all, everyone and everything is an illusion, outside of their own reality. I don't consider solipsists to be enlightened. They have had an incremental awakening, but haven't yet arrived at the summit. Enlightenment is not only the realization of your ultimate nature. It is seeing the sameness of yourself in every other being. It is unconditional love. Life is worthy of honor, celebration, and grief. Seeing clearly doesn't diminish the value of living. To the contrary, it enhances the experience, beyond what is possible when you are blind. It is the transience of life that makes it precious. Realizing your ultimate nature, beyond relative reality, frees you to live lucidly. Instead of dismissing the dream, embrace it. You created you for a reason.

Hmm, it's been too long but I'm guessing the link wasn't working for me at the time. Thanks for sharing

Awakening as a direct experience is profound. But it doesn't guarantee perpetual vigilance. It is just the first step on the enlightenment journey. Learning to stay awake is the real work of spirituality.

Being and doing aren't mutually exclusive. Extremes exist where a person is mostly in the dimension of being (e.g., a reclusive monk) or in the dimension of doing (e.g., a single mom holding down 2 jobs while trying to raise her family). Aside from your role in society, some people are naturally inclined toward one dimension more than the other. I once heard Eckhart Tolle describe his predisposition for being, whereas his close friend Oprah Winfrey is highly gifted in doing. He has also differentiated these dimensions through the biblical story of Jesus visiting Mary (being) and Martha (doing). For most of us, it is a balance between the two. That balance may change over time, depending on where you are in our spiritual journey. The more grounded you are in presence, the easier it is to stay present while navigating the world of doing. Not only are you less likely to be possessed by the ego, but the quality of your work is greatly improved, due to directly channeling the Consciousness that you are. Creativity and energy naturally arise from presence. Insights will come to you more easily, and will guide your path. You can still plan for your career, hobbies, etc. but it is all about the journey toward those goals, independent of achieving the goals themselves. Whether or not you become a world-famous violinist, you can still genuinely enjoy each step toward learning how to play the violin.

@Vision You are doing it right. There is a maxim that every meditation is correct. There is no such thing as a failed meditation. Each sit is a step toward the truth that is within, whether it seems that way or not. Neuroticism is born from conditioning, and is the egoic impulse to seek happiness and peace in a relative world that can never deliver. Freedom is only directly realized. It is not an accomplishment, so much as an opening of your eyes after a long sleep. The journey is different for each of us. For me, it happened when I woke up. In that moment, when you see clearly, there is no neuroticism. You are entirely present, and are free from anxiety about the future or depression about the past. The challenge is to remain in this moment. As long as you are here and now, neuroticism cannot exist. Awakening is important, but so is developing the spiritual vigilance to stay awake. That is where meditation comes in. ?‍♂️

I get it. I spent most of my life in my head, despite having a spiritual side as well. It is the perennial battle between Awake vs. Asleep, Luke vs. Darth Vader, Consciousness vs. Ego. Opening your eyes is the simple realization that thinking is the barricade to being. I have seen that my thoughts never lead to happiness, peace, or love. They are a depthless cesspool that constantly threatens to pull you under, if you let it. Thoughts never let go, so it is on you to let go of them. When you do, what is left?

The spiritual journey is unique for each of us. The Bhagavad Gita mentions several paths, but above all, meditation: Meditation is superior to severe asceticism and the path of knowledge. It is also superior to selfless service. May you attain the goal of meditation, Arjuna! - Bhagavad Gita 6:46 For me, suffering was the path to awakening. It was only after I woke up that I started practicing meditation, as an exercise for building the spiritual muscle to stay awake. I recommend The Mind Illuminated by John Yates. It is one of the best sources I have found on moving through the meditation stages, until your mind is a still flame, no matter what storms are raging around you. Meditation helps with anxiety, depression, compulsiveness, addiction, and every other disorder of the egoic mind. It reverse engineers mental conditioning, and increases your capacity for staying present. Like any physical workout, it requires commitment and effort, but when you begin realizing the rewards, it becomes self-sustaining.

No doubt, eventually the human species will go extinct, or evolve into a form even more capable of Self-realization. But have you asked why Consciousness created humans in the first place? Why are "you" even here? Perhaps there is a purpose in existence, beyond the demand for perpetual gratification. Maybe the purpose is the profound realization that happiness is already within you, carefully hidden beneath millennial layers of biological and social conditioning. On life dynamics, have you considered that your view that humans are bound to a constant downward descent is informed by your own experience up to now? Who knows whether your personal downward trajectory will continue, or whether it will turn a corner into an entirely new direction that you never imagined? And what if it that has already happened for others? Sure, I am getting wrinklier and grayer, and eventually this form will die, but I suffer much less now. From this avatar's perspective, life is precious and worth celebrating.

By that reasoning, the entire human species would go extinct. Life is a roller coaster, with inevitable ups and downs. Expecting perpetual happiness, for yourself or for your children, is the surest way to guarantee unhappiness. Enlightenment eliminates suffering, but you still come into the world bloody and screaming, and death stalks every step until it takes you. Accepting the uncertainty, unpredictability, and transience of life is the secret to living lucidly, and realizing your ultimate nature, which is beyond happiness in the human form.

Spirituality is the inner journey to directly realize one's ultimate nature.

@Windappreciator Thank you, wish it had happened sooner and at a lower cost, but then again some of the best dramas are the bloodiest. ?

I understand @Blackhawk's perspective, and he is correct that conceptual proof that you are God is incredible. There's a reason philosophers across the ages have concluded that the only thing the human mind can know is that it knows nothing. Consciousness is tricky that way. It places forms of itself into a relative labyrinth, and laughs as we run through its corridors, looking for a way out. Eventually, we realize that the secret of escape is to let go of the conditioned mind, and rise above the labyrinth entirely. People search for conceptual proof of their divine identity, and it is a fool's errand. Awakening is beyond conceptualization. It is the direct realization of your ultimate nature as Consciousness itself.

@Terell Kirby ?

The fly in the holy ointment is that God created you for a reason. If there was no value to the journey of self-discovery, God would not have created you in the first place, nor would it have placed a veil over your eyes. God already knew it was God. Clearly, God loves you and wants you to discover your true nature, according to the plan of creation. So celebrate the journey. Enjoy every step of it. When you directly realize that You created all of it, you will laugh.

@Windappreciator The flame is steady more than not, in increasingly turbulent conditions, but not ready yet for hurricane force winds @B222 When you are present, in that moment you see clearly, insights arise as they are needed, and the quality of your work improves. You align with unconditioned Consciousness, which is your ultimate nature. Monkey mind does nothing but distract and diminish from your work. Conscious manifestation will always deliver more than unconscious expression. I see siddhis as little solar flares of Consciousness, but I don't rely on them. Cool when they happen, but also potentially dangerous if you make the mistake of identifying with them.

Children will test you, stretch you, strengthen you, deepen you, and bring you closer to the unconditional love that is your ultimate nature. I had brunch with my son today. He recently turned 21, and enjoyed his first mimosa. My daughter is at university; we also talked, and sincerely said, "I love you." Want to live lucidly? Embrace the challenges and joys of life, and children are one of the greatest gifts in that regard.

Feelings are more friendly, and also more fierce, than thoughts. They too can be a trap, if not seen clearly. If we chase them, like we chase thoughts, we again fall into a pit, but the landing is even bloodier, because the feeling pit is spiked. The secret is to stop chasing feelings and thoughts, and simply be. Both are born of the conditioned mind. Looking to be infused is another form of chase. Allow feelings and thoughts to arise and dissolve, without identifying with them. Develop comfort and confidence in the space within yourself, which is unconditional. Meditate and strengthen your spiritual capacity for vigilance. When you realize your ultimate nature, there is no longer a compulsion to chase, because you are already here.

Letting go of the need for certainty, whether through astrological calculations, religious beliefs, finding "the one", or pursuing any other false promise is the beginning of wisdom. Transience can never provide safety, and everything in the relative cosmos is inevitably transient. Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God. - A Course in Miracles The source of human suffering is our need for certainty, and paradoxically only by surrendering to the void of unknowing will you realize the certainty that is already here and now, hidden beneath the detritus of our conditioning.