Moksha

More names

Teachers can, and often should, try to explain. Some of the wisest though, like Ramana Maharshi, use silent presence as the highest form of teaching. The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name. - Tao Te Ching, Chapter 1 Every name, even "infinite love", "Consciousness", "cosmic joke" and "Open Secret", will always fall short of direct realization.

Direct realization is devoid of conceptualization. Words cannot describe it, and it is foolish to even try. That is what I meant about self-inquiry. To you, it may seem as "just another mind story", and that will always be the case, until you experience it yourself. You don't become anything, because ultimately there is no you to awaken. You are already infinite Love, and the state change to Self-realization is just part of the Consciousness game.

Love and awakening go hand in hand. It is a path to Self-realization, but it is also the natural outcome of Self-realization. The Bhagavad Gita discusses karma yoga, or the path of selfless service, as one way to awaken. There are other paths, but regardless of how you get to the summit of the mountain, when you arrive, you will directly realize that Love is what you actually are, and you will see the sameness of Yourself in everything. There is merit in studying the scriptures, in selfless service, austerity, and giving, but the practice of meditation carries you beyond all these to the supreme abode of the highest Lord. - Bhagavad Gita 8:28 On your last sentence, developing your ego is the opposite of love. The ego is incapable of unconditionally loving itself, or anything else. It is constantly clamoring for love, but it never arrives, because it is a delusion. The only way to discover love is through truth, which requires letting go of the ego, and realizing You are already infinitely abundant.

As others have said, you can only answer this question by doing the work of self-inquiry. I can tell you that realizing nothingness is an important milestone along the path of spiritual discovery, because it dissolves the illusion of the self. If "you" continue traveling that path, you will eventually awaken spiritually to the God that you are, which is unconditional Love. But those are only words. They mean nothing to the conceptual mind, and can only be directly realized.

It is tough being a teacher; you can only point to the truth, but ultimately it must be directly realized within yourself. It is about learning to see your thoughts as something that arise within your field of awareness, but not as ultimately being who you are. When you are in nature, how do you experience it? Are you studying it with your mind, or are you resonating with the stillness that is in it? Tolle encourages people not to label anything, but to simply observe, appreciate, and feel nature speaking to your soul. A bird watcher may be conceptually caught up in the experience, categorizing which species he is studying, noting its physical and melodic characteristics, etc., or he can give his mind a break and feel the beauty of the bird, and how that sameness resonates with something deep inside himself. That inner resonance is who you actually are. It is the same Consciousness that imbues everything, and you can become aware of it within nature, and within yourself. Have you practiced any meditation, where the intent is to calm the mind and simple be? That is what Mooji means by "perceive the perceiver". Who is perceiving when thoughts arise? If something deeper within is capable of observing thoughts, as they come and go, without being pulled into their gravitational field, then that something must be beyond thoughts, and who you really are. Why does any of this matter? You mentioned in your original post that you want to reduce your suffering. Thoughts are the source of suffering, particularly identification with thoughts. If even for a moment, you are able to directly realize your true nature, that you do not have to be trapped in a conceptual prison, in that moment, you are free from suffering. Humans are so used to identifying with the conditioned mind. It is not easy so swim against the current of the mind, but it can be done, and the more you practice, the easier it will become. It takes courage, integrity, and ongoing commitment. Don't wait for some cataclysmic "AHA!" awakening, to give yourself a break. Find glimpses of happiness and peace, with each step of the journey. The more you learn to resonate within as Consciousness, the more you will feel the unconditional Love that you actually are.

What are you letting go of? If you're referring to the need for others to make you happy, you first need to realize that you are already infinitely abundant. That doesn't mean you stop loving people, though. Just the opposite. When you unconditionally love yourself, you will naturally begin to unconditionally love others. Why? Because you realize that there ultimately is no "you" or "them", and that we are all the same Consciousness. That realization of sameness is what Love actually is.

Eckhart Tolle has described boredom as essentially egoic. It is the conditioned mind complaining about the present moment, and demanding phenomenal excitement. He spent the first 3 years following his awakening sitting on park benches and simply observing trees and people, loving every moment of it. He estimates that his actual thinking compared to before awakening has reduced by 80%. Boredom is just one of the myriad forms of unnecessary suffering that our mind inflicts on itself.

Welcome, @Kel Varnsen What are you finding confusing? Teachers like Tolle and Mooji are very simple in their message. Have you tried practicing what they teach, and if so what has been the result? For example, Tolle frequently discusses nature as a way of disassociating from your conditioned mind, and learning to reside in being. Have you tried any of this?

What is the intent behind your desires? If you desire because you believe something transient, outside of yourself, will bring you happiness, you are binding yourself to the wheel of suffering. Nothing outside of yourself will ever bring enduring fulfillment. If you realize yourself as already being infinitely abundant, and desire only to create in order to experience, that is entirely different, and beautiful.

It's the opposite of solipsism. There is only Consciousness, in different states of manifestation and expression. We are all the same Consciousness. Consciousness creates forms in relative reality, trees, zebras, humans, and every other form, in order to experience sensation. Without relative reality, there is no experience. There is only changeless, boundless, senseless infinity. Relative reality is still Consciousness, but bundled into a multitude of forms that have a beginning and an end. Underlying all of this is Consciousness as ultimate reality. It is the sky, and the clouds that float across the sky. It is the uncreated, and the created. It is all. Far from solipsism, it is pantheism. How does Consciousness do this? We, the part of us that is formless, pure, and infinitely intelligent, understand. We, in our bundled incarnations as human beings, don't know and we can't know. It is beyond the capacity of the conditioned mind to get it. We can only directly realize it, as the resonance with ourselves as ultimate Consciousness.

Even if the realization of your ultimate nature has been rare, for it to happen even once disproves your ego's insistence that you are your thoughts. Through meditation, you can learn to stay in the state of awareness more consistently, until eventually you are always present.

I find the Big Bang to be both credible and compatible with eastern spirituality. Consciousness has no beginning and no end, but the cosmos constantly arises from and returns to it. It is the out breath of creation, and the in breath of destruction. Pretty much like this: 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. - Bhagavad Gita 8:17-20

Thoughts only seem autonomous when you lose yourself in them, and identify with them. In those moments of awakening that you have experienced, who is the Watcher of the thoughts that come and go? Clearly, it is not the thoughts themselves, which the Watcher cannot even control. As the Watcher, are you aware of the vast space around and between every thought? Do you realize yourself as that very space in which the thoughts arise?

Models are fine, but they are inherently conceptual, and that tells you something. To the extent they can help you understand your human identity, great. In that regard, my advice is to stay within your lane. Don't take a job requiring exquisite extraversion, if you are an introvert. Ultimately though, no model is perfect. Trust your heart, more than any model. If your instinct moves you in a direction, go with it, over what the "experts" say is your ideal profession. Do what brings you joy and fulfillment.

Is it possible that you are chasing an experience, rather than residing in being?

Religion is dogma, corrupted by the conceptual mind, often originally based on direct wisdom, but inevitably corroded by the human condition, and ultimately devoid of integrity. Spirituality is direct realization of the divine, born of the Self, independent of others, and abundant with integrity. Trust your inner Self, rather than external authorities. You already are the answer to all of your questions.

INFJ/INFP...figures.

Ultimately, there are no brothers or sisters to keep, since we are all One. Relatively, according to both eastern and western spiritualism, it is your dharma to love yourself, and to love others.

Wagner is one of my favorite composers, thank you for sharing

This probably won't make sense, but gotta say it. "You" were born, in relative reality. I don't for a second doubt the moment of "my" birth. My mom is not just a cartoon character. She bled for me, and gave me life. She deserves to be honored. Let's get over the histrionic, "ultimate" reality crap. It is all God. It all has meaning. "You" have meaning, because you are an incarnation of God.

You got it, bro. Self-realization is critical, but it is only the first step. Ultimately, it's about Self-liberation, and that requires courage, integrity, and full on engagement with the unpleasantness of relative reality. People are a pain in the ass, but they are a great litmus test for your spiritual development. Conditioning is compulsive, and it takes sincere commitment to break free from it.

My point is that spiritual development isn't about sitting in a cave and meditating your entire life. Engaging with the world doesn't imply slowing down your spiritual development. Just the opposite, in fact. If you want to continue growing spiritually, apply your realizations to the world. It's easy to fool ourselves that we are spiritual gurus, in the absence of challenges. If you want to test your current level of development, and build spiritual muscle, engage with and learn to love other people.

Amen. Any conceptual insights are inherently flawed. The only insights worth considering are direct. Don't listen to what I have to say, realize Yourself.

You're asking how does God know to come back to "your life", following a psychedelic experience. Psychedelic experiences aren't permanent. They don't magically dissolve your ego. You eventually come back to relative reality. You still have to do the work of integrating your insights, for that to happen. It's not about God coming back to "your life", but about "your life" coming back to God.