Moksha

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.

I can't answer your question, because I never hid any posts before I became a mod. I can tell you that as a mod, I am able to see hidden posts. So they don't just disappear. I agree it would be nice for people to be able to see and unhide their posts, if it is possible.

From the perspective of Eastern wisdom, "spiritual genetics" is nothing more than the accumulation of experiences along the journey of many lives. It's just another word for karma.

I was referring to spiritual growth. Survival in the relative world happens for right- or left-brained people, as long as they choose a profession that aligns with their abilities and passion. Rather than pursuing "right-brain thinking", my advice is to increase the luminosity level of your Consciousness. The more present you are, the more clearly you can channel the infinite intelligence that is your ultimate nature. Artists seem to do this intuitively, but it is possible in any profession. Spiritual growth is universally empowering

@Godishere I agree that psychedelics can provide a profound glimpse of ultimate reality. I mentioned pivotal spiritual teachers that have extensive experience with psychedelics, and have spoken to these benefits. My point is that all of them say that there is far more to awakening, beyond the momentary glimpse that you get on a trip. True spiritual realization requires work. Momentary seeing is different from perpetually being. I have never taken psychedelics, but I see the seamlessness and the sameness in all things. How is that possible? Perhaps, trust that the traditional path may not only lead to awakening, but as a side benefit, may more naturally align with your readiness to awaken.

Doesn't matter if your brain is wired right or left, although perhaps more creative beings find it easier to channel their true nature as Consciousness, since all creativity arises from Consciousness. Awakening is the realization that you are not your brain, regardless of its inclinations. It is the letting go of thinking, as a defining aspect of who you actually are. You are the spaciousness within which thoughts arise, but thoughts themselves are only products of the conditioned mind.

@Inliytened1 Consciousness is such a sadist

Awesome, thanks for sharing. ? I disagree with him that Joe Biden is in "fairly serious cognitive decline". The guy stutters, and sometimes people misperceive that as lack of cogent thinking. Otherwise, spot on for most of his observations.

Suffering is the ultimate psychedelic. It will jailbreak your mind, when you are ready. I have never dismissed the power of psychedelics, but have no desire to try them myself. The serious teachers that I have studied, like Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, and Ram Dass, have extensive experience with psychedelics, and have found that psychedelics alone were insufficient to truly awaken them. They can show you the potential of the spiritual path, but ultimately the work has to be done. I had thought of psychedelics as a spiritual path, and now he was pulling that conceptual rug out from under me. From the place of oneness where Maharaj-ji sits, psychedelics are just a fragmentary shard of a vastly deeper reality. He showed me they are a limited window, all the while reflecting back to me the deeper place of love within myself… It was good to visit Christ, Maraj-ji said, but it was better to be Christ. "This medicine won't do that," he continued. "It's not the true samadhi, absorption in God. Love is a much stronger medicine." - Ram Dass