Moksha

I referred earlier to the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy, which includes our basic survival needs. Money certainly helps with those needs. But it doesn't ensure happiness, even when those needs are met. Ever watch Desperate Housewives? How many rich celebrities seem miserable? Conversely, how many dirt poor kids in 3rd world countries, instead of complaining about their poverty, still choose to laugh and play? Even in the most desperate circumstances, people can find freedom from suffering. Victor Frankl speaks about this profound realization, as a prisoner in a concentration camp, in Man's Search for Meaning. I read this recently, and completely agree: True happiness comes from within, which means we can always find joy, in both good times and bad. Although pain and pleasure are an inevitable part of human life, suffering and happiness is entirely optional. The choice is ours. A fully Awake, fully conscious human being has the love, compassion, and energy to make change for the better whenever it's possible, the equanimity to accept what can't be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference. - John Yates, The Mind Illuminated

Yes, it's funny how waking up puts everything that used to bother you into perspective. The beginning of the end of suffering is the realization that there is nothing really worth chasing after, and nothing really worth resisting, because ultimately You are already infinitely abundant. Enjoy the dream, lucidly, for what it is

You are only trapped by your conditioned mind, until you awaken. Your ego is not who you are, as much as it insists otherwise. Consciousness is the Storyteller, that chooses through you, and through me. Your true nature, as Consciousness, is ultimately free. The character, within the story, is only free to the extent that it realizes its true nature as Consciousness itself.

To make any choice. Who is making the choice? Who are You, to be in the position to make a choice, in the first place? When you realize who You are, of course there is free will. You are creating your own reality. If you are entrapped by the conditioned mind, how could there be any freedom? More important than asking if there is free will, ask Who is actually choosing. Who are You?

@1liamo78 It seems to me, that in order for you to choose, begs the question of who you are. Set aside Leo and everyone else, and ask yourself: who are You, to make such a choice?

Who is doing the choosing?

Ultimate Consciousness has no attributes, but relative reality does, which is why we create it. And yes, this creation is also us. Hard to think about, so let go of thinking and enjoy being. Austin Powers had it right; it's all about the party of duality ?

Which also, even the beautiful golden ones, ultimately die.

Boredom is a product of the conditioned mind. There is no boredom in ultimate reality. There is only changelessness. Is happiness even possible, without change? Perhaps there is always the ineffable desire for Self-expression, creation, and love? Without the illusion of duality, how could there even be happiness? I once read, in the Bhagavad Gita, that ultimate reality has no attributes. Maybe infinite potential requires infinite expression.

Happiness based on possessions, or experiences, is inevitably transient. People are always chasing it, and inevitably get disappointed in the end. The only reliable happiness is realizing the reality that cannot be threatened. It is now, and it depends on nothing beyond being.

They don't have to struggle with the lower tiers of Maslow's hierarchy. However, because of this laisse faire reality, they also are less likely to grow. Jesus said it is harder for a camel to get through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to realize heaven. Happiness has nothing to do with wealth, and everything to do with letting go of the attachment to wealth.

The purpose is creation and expression. Ultimate Consciousness is changeless and timeless. It is incapable of sensation, perception, thinking, or feeling. What else is God gonna do? Would You rather sit there on a formless celestial throne, without blinking, breathing, or bleeding, for the eternity of Now? Apparently not.

It would be a rather boring game if Consciousness created the thinnest of veils in the forms that it inhabits. Some of the best stories are long, bloody struggles to the death.

Yes, and the direct consciousness is not only of myself, but of every other being, as God. @EmptyVase ?

@Yali @EmptyVase Words are always limited. They never capture the reality that they try to convey. For me, awakening is the direct realization of Yourself as Consciousness. It is Self-discovering the God that is always within you, but which before was in a sleeping state of Self-awareness. It is the indisputable seeing that You are not your conditioned mind, and also seeing this sameness in every other being. It is all Consciousness. You are It. Enlightenment is the eventuation, and the ultimate fulfillment, of that realization. Just because you are awake doesn't mean your form is deconditioned. Even as Consciousness, You are still Self-limited within this form, which you have created to experience the highs and lows of relative reality. It is the eternally cyclical game, which You created for Yourself, to first Self-realize, then to eventually decondition the form from all of the attachments that it accrued by going through relative reality. In that deconditioning, ultimately you resolve back into the Self that created you in the first place. Notice the sequentiality, which is also part of the dream. Ultimately, Consciousness was never created and will never die. It is timeless and changeless. The game of creation is simply our way of Self-expression.

By my definition, I am not enlightened. Not even close. Awake? Yes. But not enlightened. I have always been spiritually driven to truth, even as a young kid. There were many "mini-awakenings" along the way, but what I consider to by my true awakening didn't happen until much later in life. Being awake doesn't automatically dissolve all of your attachments. It just makes you more aware of them, and empowers you not to continue falling for their false promises. In some ways, my life has become more difficult since waking up, because I realize how much power my conditioned mind has, and how important it is to stay vigilant against its enticements. Realizing unconditional love isn't just an epiphany; it is a lifelong journey.

The thing about awakening ourselves, or about helping others awaken is that, as you already realize, it only happens when Consciousness decides it is ready for it to happen. An interesting note from commentary on the Bhagavad Gita: Krishna does not want these profound truths told to anyone who is not ready. Anyone lacking devotion or self-control, who does not want to hear spiritual instruction or who scoffs at it, should not be accepted as a student. - Eknath Easwaran You are right about the clarity of awakening. When it happens, it is a profound, direct realization that is undeniable. It feels like you have been enjoying a good night's sleep, riding along with the dream as if it were real, and suddenly your eyes pop open and you realize that it was all just a dream. It is complete clarity. Conceptual arguments can be entertaining, but only if you don't take them too seriously, and realize their ultimate futility. I agree with you that science can help open the door, especially when you look at the extremes of reality, beyond ordinary human experience. Quantum physics and metaphysics both point to a far more mysterious reality than any honest scientist can claim to understand. If nothing else, the materialist should at least admit that he knows nothing about these ultimate extremes.

Many scientists consider the universe to be finite. If it wasn't, how else could it expand and contract? Of course, that doesn't prove there aren't other universes, infinitely expressed. Nor does it prove there are. The only bulletproof argument against finite materialism is direct realization of yourself, and of every other self, as Consciousness. In other words, you can't convince anyone else of anything, through conceptual arguments. The mind is incapable of grasping ultimate reality. It is called a Mystery for this reason. Awakening is beyond conceptualization, and is the direct realization that You are not your mind.

@Qna This forum was created by You, for you, to help you awaken to who You actually are I have written quite a bit about my own awakening, which you can read in other threads. In a nutshell, it was the profound, direct realization that I am not my conditioned mind. I am Consciousness itself, experiencing life through a form of my own creation. When my eyes opened, I saw beyond this particular form, and realized the sameness of myself in every other form, seamlessly. Ultimately, there is no individual "me", just the infinite "I Am" that all of us is. People awaken in different ways. Meditation is a well-worn path to awakening, but not the only path. In my case, it was the culmination of many years of suffering, which finally cracked the shell of my ego, and allowed "me" to realize the Consciousness that I always am. My advice to people is not so much to "pursue" awakening as an ultimate goal, but rather to enjoy each step of the awakening journey. There are glimpses along the way, which will liberate your mind, fill you with joy, and grant you love and wisdom. It is all about those moments when the clouds break, and the sky is clear. It is why we tell the story of our lives in the first place. @Heaven Thank you ?

@Qna I forgot to welcome you to the forum Consciousness is just a name, which like all names, fails to capture the essence of ultimate reality, which is who all us is. "you" are not conscious of anything; you are Consciousness itself. You are the eternal Subject. You are all of reality, both in its ultimate formless state, and in all of its infinite forms. It is all Consciousness. It is all You. What You really want is what will happen. "you" are just one of a plethora of characters that You created, and You as the storyteller, will decide how the story plays out. For a long time, it made no sense to me either. It never will make sense to the conditioned mind. It can only be directly experienced. Pragmatically: Your purpose is to realize who You actually are. You are not your conditioned mind. You are the Observer of the thoughts and feelings that arise within this particular form. From that state of being, you can then move into the relative world of doing, and the actions you take will be inspired, aligned, and refined. It is not about the destination, but about the joy of the journey. The key is to first awaken to who You are, and then learn to navigate between the state of being and the state of doing. Self-realization will help you do better on your tests, or whatever goals you may set for yourself in the relative world, but more importantly, it will put everything into perspective. You are already infinitely abundant; all of what you see now is just one character, in a multitude of stories that You are telling yourself. Not to diminish the beauty of the story, but to put it into context. Enjoy every step of the journey, but realize it is all about the journey itself. I hope that helps.

Realize that ultimately, the "I" that wants to score 100% on your exams is the tiniest of fragments of Consciousness. What really matters is what You, as seamless Consciousness itself, want. The closer you come to directly realizing this, the more aligned with Yourself you will be. Your story will still have significance, and you will be more empowered, but ultimately You will care the most about what You actually want, which is almost inevitably not what you currently want.

The kicker is, everything, and every nothing, is Consciousness. Even the ego. It is a state we create for ourselves, to temporarily hide from ourselves, in the relative cosmos of spacetime. Every story needs a villain, right?

Stop doing, and start being. The ego is egging you on to do something. Don't trust it. You don't have to do anything. You already are. Deeply realize that the conditioned mind is always going to make you suffer, and develop the discipline not to be pulled into its orbit. Our forms have been conditioned since the day we were born, and both karmically and genetically, the conditioning extends far beyond the birth of this particular form. Deconditioning is difficult. It takes enormous will, which is why so few actually attain the state of perpetual being, even within the cosmos of relative reality. That is the hilarity of the game we play with ourselves, since we always are being, just in different states of awareness.

Don't confuse simple with easy. It is the most simple realization, and when it happens you will laugh. Staying awake, after the simple realization, is the hard part.

We are the God, most generous, that created us, beyond the beginning and the ending of the cosmos.