Moksha

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.

You are describing ultimate reality, which infinitely creates and destroys forms in relative reality. Once "your" life is gone, you are reabsorbed into the God that created you, which is ultimately who you are. One of my favorite quotes from the Bhagavad Ghita: Lord of the gods, you are the abode of the universe. Changeless, you are what is and what is not, and beyond the duality of existence and nonexistence. You are the first among the gods, the timeless spirit, the resting place of all beings. You are the knower and the thing which is known. You are the final home; with your infinite form you pervade the cosmos.

How could there be space if there is infinity? The Mystery is the intersection of ultimate and relative reality. Don't try to understand it, because you can't. Spacetime is only relative reality. Ultimate reality is timeless, spaceless, changeless, and formless. It isn't one or the other, Tat is all.

Each life is absolutely significant. It is a unique incarnation of God. I'm not sure what you mean about God coming back to a single life once that life is gone? Why would God come back to a single life, when infinite lives are being created, infinitely?

Psychedelics are not mandatory to wake up. For some people, it can be a catalyst, but necessary? Not even close. When in a precarious situation, like preparing to have a child, why take unnecessary risks? As a new father, stable love and security is the best you can offer your child. Just my opinion, as a father of two ?

Infinite forms, infinitely incarnated, infinitely experienced, infinitely reabsorbed. In that context, what is the relative significance of a "single life"? Even if it is Elon Musk?

On your deathbed, what is the one sentence you would send to the world?

You already are 100% God, in a dream state because you enjoy the experience of the dream. Changeless, timeless, ultimate reality isn't all it's cracked up to be

Spiritual development is far more than Self-realization; it is the painful, purifying process of deconditioning your conditioned mind. Waking up doesn't dissolve the ego; it only makes you aware of it. It is the first step in lifelong journey(s) of learning to love unconditionally, without attachments. Only then does the ego die; nirvana is attained through reunifying with your ultimate nature as God.