Moksha

Should is just another word for ? Do what drives you. Be what brings you peace. Love what resonates. You are the Storyteller, so tell the best damn story every told.

Narcissism sounds a lot like solipsism

It is more of a realization than a transcendence. You aren't defeating the ego, so much as seeing it for what it really is. And when you do, you will laugh

The secret to distrusting the conditioned mind is simple: Suffer. When you have suffered enough, your eyes will open, and you will directly realize the source of your suffering. All this time, it was the monkey mind making you miserable. Only then will you have the strength to sacrifice its constant chatter to the void. Sweet, sweet silence at last ? Don't be fooled, though. Just because you have awakened doesn't mean the monkey is dead. It will constantly try to climb back out, and whisper into your ear. Vigilance and single-pointed attention will keep you safe, which as it turns out, is the point of practicing meditation. ?‍♂️

The question is not whether everything is real (which is true), but how everything is real. Ultimate reality is objectively real. It is timeless, changeless, and depthless. Relative reality is subjectively real. Spacetime and the cosmos are not absolute, but depend on the perspective of the perceiver. The ocean is real, as are the transient waves that endlessly arise from and return to it. Everything and every nothing is all still Consciousness.

Define reality. Ultimate reality is. Relative reality (aka illusion) also is. Yes, it is born of ultimate reality, but as such, it is still infused with reality. Is the wave not also the ocean? Reality is all of the above. There can be only one. ?

@Heaven Simness is sameness

God is both the player and the game. It is ultimate and relative reality. It is the dreamer and the dream.

Healing happens when you see the lies of the ego for what they are. Self-help and spirituality consensually derive from this core realization. Lofty philosophy tries to conceptualize the Mystery that cannot be conceptualized, and as such it is just another egoic adventure, forever chasing its tail. If you want true self-help and spirituality, let go of conceptualization and open your eyes to being.

@Manusia @seeking_brilliance Here's to less fishing and more being ? If wishes were fishes I know where I'd be Casting my net in the dark rolling sea And if my net's empty when it comes back to shore I'll throw it away and go fishing no more - Eric Bogle

The deepest lesson I learned as a Ph.D. is that I know nothing. Education is bound to relative reality. Wisdom is realizing the sameness in everything. I choose wisdom over education.

A school of fish is no less oblivious than an individual fish, to the parochial reality of their existence. Beautiful in their synchronized formations, but still inevitably limited by their nature. If anything, they only reinforce the boundaries of their reality, by surrounding themselves with similar beings. Waking up isn't about swimming with the school; it is about realizing Yourself as the ocean in which the school swims. ? In the end, it is always an individual journey, back to the sameness of who You always are.

Do we delude ourselves when we dream?

Enlightenment is just another state of Consciousness. Everything, from rocks to animals to aliens, is Consciousness. We are a sleeping titan with moments of lucidity, but the moments themselves, of awakening to ourselves, are also part of the dream. How can moments actually exist, when time is an illusion? Ultimately, the dream, regardless of what form it takes, is nothing more than imagination, within the supreme reality of us. We are the abode of the cosmos. The cosmos is our dream. Sound insane? Mission accomplished

Enlightenment requires sublime intelligence, diligence, and surrender. Animals are incapable of this, as are most humans. Presence though, is something else. Animals are beautifully present.

In ultimate reality, there is no "one", no separation, and no superiority/inferiority. It is all the same. Consciousness dreams, in relative reality, which allows individuals and perspectives to exist, within the dream. How could ultimate reality make "sense", when it is beyond time, space, and the logical human brain?

Love is just a moniker for non-duality. In the spiritual sense, Love is far more profound than the emotion we feel as humans. It is the actuality that everything, and every nothing, is the same Consciousness. Sub Ek: It is all the same. Given that, how silly is it to feel superior or inferior to someone else?

If I may offer one insight: spiritual growth is inversely correlated with suffering. It is not about attaining, achieving, or accomplishing anything. It is about realizing, and being. Peace, sincerely.

My son turned 21 last week. I am so proud of him. Son, know that you are loved, which has always been my priority as a dad. I do lots of lecturing, but honestly, it's all about helping you realize that you are loved. I'm lucky that my son not only knows this, but is patient. When I die, I will feel that I did well as a father, as long as my children know that I love them. Sappy, I know, but true.

Advanced? Teachings? Complexity? Open your eyes and see. It is so very simple, yet so difficult for the conditioned mind to grasp. Why are people constantly clutching for mind-blowing experiences? It is already here.

Alcohol and psychedelics are both substances. There is no absolute answer. In some cases, it can help, and in other cases it can become an addiction.

@Zion ?

People often require extensive suffering, to be willing to see the ego as the very source of that suffering, and to let it go. The ego thrives on conflict, and its sustenance is the energy that it steals from your true nature. It is all about judgment and struggle, and it will fight tooth and nail not to let you find peace. The way to defeat the ego is not to fight it, but to see it for what it is. When the ego crawls out of its corner, as it inevitably will, allow it to scurry across the spaciousness of your Self, without identifying with it. Attention amplifies, so don't attend to it. Instead, attend to the Consciousness that you are.

There is no place of peace for the ego. It is incapable of peace, only endless insatiability. It is not about being in a loving environment, but about finding the love within yourself. Victor Frankl did this in a Jewish concentration camp, of all places. One might even argue that places of pain are more conducive to awakening than places of peace.

Awakening is an internal journey, and can happen in the most unlikely of places. Focus on the journey rather than the place. Once you do awaken, you will laugh, as you realize that places are only imagination Ultimately, there is no time and no space. Relative reality only exists within the infinite, changeless, timeless dream of Consciousness.