Moksha

Even for little me, learning not to suffer is a game changer. It does temporarily ruin the game for the ego, though. Unfortunately, the ego likes to hide money under the monopoly board. Even after Self-realization, the ego will sneak a fake $500 bill and flash it in front of you.

Best is a subjective judgment, but for me, probably the most transformational "self help author" is Vyasa.

I hear you. What happens when you notice your unlimited Being?

Maybe it's a feature, rather than a bug. You realize what you need to know, in the moment you can do something about it. If you can't do anything about it, why let it frustrate you?

When the Buddha implores people to choose right thoughts, right words, and right actions, do you think he cares about rhetorical free will?

@Mason Riggle Consciousness is everything, including both the Storyteller and the characters it creates. So yes, from a meta perspective, there is no "free will". There is only Consciousness, in different states of awareness. One could define "free will" parochially, by allowing it within relative reality, but in the end does it matter? Maybe ask yourself why "Little you" cares? Are you going to live your "Little you" life any differently based on the answer?

See my original post about going meta. "Little you" is a character, told by, and being played by "You". "Little you" can only become more free, within the parameters of the story. Outside of the story, there are no characters; there is only "You". Awakening, free will, and spiritual development, are real...but only within the bounds of the cosmos, or relative reality. They are motifs of the story "You" are telling. They are still part of "You". So, "Little you" can go meta, and apathetically throw away this cartoon character life as an illusion, but "Little you" is still bound to the story, whether it wants to be or not. The only way to escape the story is to realize who "You" actually are, dissolving the conditions binding "Little you" to the story, in the first place. And why is "Little you" so anxious to escape? "You" created "Little you" for a reason. Respect and enjoy the story, lucidly.

Define "I". Unconditionality is freedom. Complete freedom is only possible in ultimate reality, because it is the only realm of utter unconditionality. The more "you" disidentify with your conditioned mind, and realize yourself as Consciousness, the more free "you" will be. It is possible to learn to discipline the mind, and the more you choose this path, the more free you will become. That is what I mean by dreaming lucidly. You can realize yourself as Consciousness, and the more you do so, the more choice you will have, until eventually you return to complete freedom, which is unconditional Love. This is the ultimate destiny, and the demise, of the self. Yes, it is a story, but it is also a mystery. Paradoxically, Consciousness has the capacity to "wake up" to itself, even while incarnated in its characters, within the story. The more awake your character is, the more free it will be.

In your analogy, others have already discovered the shortcut, and can give you directions to the shortcut, but you still have to find the shortcut yourself. Nobody can drive you there, but you. We can go meta and talk about how there is no "you" looking for a shortcut, there are no "others" pointing to the shortcut, there is in fact no shortcut, and no journey, and you have no free will, as a cartoon character within the story. But how is that helpful? You created you, for a reason. You can either suffer during the story, or you can awaken within the dream, live lucidly, and realize and express the Love that you ultimately are. What you can't do is escape the story, until the Storyteller is ready for you to escape. Even if you try, You will continue the narrative, until You decide that it is time for you to come home. So, choose your own adventure.

God, or ultimate reality, has no beginning and no ending. It is beyond time and space. God doesn't define itself through humans, so much as it expresses itself through all forms (including humans). This expression is only possible within the relative realm of spacetime, which God creates in order to experience expression.

Sympathy is feeling compassion for someone else who is having a hard time. Empathy is beyond sympathy; it is is actually feeling what the other person is feeling. Fear, anxiety, depression, whatever....those same feelings arise within you, because you see the world through the other person's eyes. Often, it is easier to feel empathy when you have experienced a similar challenge in your own life. Both sympathy and empathy can motivate kindness toward others. Given the choice, I would rather feel empathy, because by experiencing that specific emotion, and by not identifying with it, I am able to model presence. Helping others realize that they are not the emotion, and that they are the Awareness within which the emotion arises, is a greater gift than simply feeling sorry for them. Beyond whatever others may be feeling, you can realize this same space, and Self-awareness, when emotions arise within yourself, such as a "tinge of self hate" when feeling sorry for someone The self hate is just another ego cloud passing across the sky of You.

Speaking bluntly is welcome, and occurs daily here. As I said, your opinions are welcome. You were not given formal warning points, just a reminder to keep your comments constructive and avoid inflammatory labels like "bullshit" and "disgrace".

@K Ghoul You're entitled to your opinions, but tone down the rhetoric and keep it constructive.

What I meant was that awakening for most of us is not a permanent state, but more like a series of Self-realizations. In Self-realization, there is no gravitational pull by the conditioned mind, just steady, Conscious awareness. The point of meditation is not so much to awaken, but to develop the spiritual discipline to stay awake for longer periods of time, and in more turbulent conditions. 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

Creator implies personality, which the conditioned mind is all about. Consciousness, without beginning or ending, is ultimate reality. How do you "know"? "You" know nothing. God is beyond the senses, and is only directly realized.

It was effortless, and wonderful. Tolle got to enjoy it for 3 years; I feel ripped off, but also blessed. It's like there is a parade of dark nights of the soul, punctuated by periods of soul-searing light. The journey goes on. My instinct is to ask You to take care of yourself. We are all the same, but our incarnations are here for a reason. Celebrate you. Love you. Make the most of you. Don't denigrate you. Don't dismiss you as an illusion. You are Love. Enjoy the world, and the self, that You created.

Time only exists in relative reality Even we neanderthals have realized that time is not absolute.

My original motivation was to find an oasis, after waking up, and trying to assimilate. I did wake up, and found the holy grail, with 7 months of not suffering. Then my ego came back, with a fucking vengeance, and stabbed me hard. My conditioned mind is still there, but I am working, day by day, on deconditioning it. I am happy to say that there is progress. Wish I could tell you that awakening is the solution to everything, but it is not. It is only the beginning to becoming who you already are. What kind of story would it be, without stridence?

Beliefs are conceptual. Direct realization is non-conceptual. There is no evidence, beyond Self-realization.

Just be. Your inherent nature, not as a human, but as Consciousness, is joyful. The human mind is the source, and the perpetuation, of suffering.

The Creator has no beginning, and has no end. Welcome to the Mystery

Let go of the words, and feel the space between the words. Stop your thoughts, for a single moment, and just realize. Insights that deny the ego are cringy to the ego. Contemplate wisdom, like the Bhagavad Gita. It will help you understand how clinging to anything only eventuates in suffering. Love isn't an emotion, it is the actuality of who we are. Conditioning is suffering. Deconditioning is freedom. It isn't some conceptual realization. It is being, beyond conditioning. I get it. It is weird, which is why it is a journey. I have been there, and am still traveling.

In a sense, you are right. Tolle made Indian spirituality mainstream. Great timing. But charisma? To me, he has very little charisma, which Leo has in spades. He does have presence, which resonates with me more than anything else. I care more about the space around his words, than about the words themselves.

You are playing the game because You chose to play the game. What are You going to make of it? You created you for what reason? Hint: Maybe, after enough years of suffering, you will see that it is all about realizing and expressing unconditional Love, which is who You actually are.

Simplicity is the solvent of the ego. Pure water