Moksha

The perceiver is the perceived, the awakener is the dream, the creator is the creation. It is all God.

Eckhart Tolle is a linguist, and quotes it frequently. More importantly, the truth of it is directly realized.

Discovering happiness and freedom in yourself is the opposite of selfishness. How are you going to love yourself, and love others, when you are miserable and imprisoned? Selfishness is suffering. Love is freedom from suffering. Why do you believe enlightenment would benefit the ego? It is the realization that the ego is an illusion. It is nothing but a shadow that is banished by light.

Is your ego guilt-tripping you about wanting to be happy? Lol, don't listen to it. The ego thrives on suffering. Freedom from suffering is the opposite of selfishness, and the end of the ego. It knows that, so why do you think it is shouting at you right now? You don't need a survival agenda, you just need to Be. Why do we struggle so much, without realizing that the struggle itself is the source of suffering? It's about unconditional surrender to Love, which is who You are.

@Heaven The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you. - Luke 17:20-21 Isn't it interesting that observation is meaningless, and Self-realization is everything?

Insights 1-5 are conceptual awakening. Solipsism. Insights 6-7 are spiritual awakening. Love. ?

It's all about vigilance. Don't let the ego out of your sight. It is always stalking, in the grass, looking for the moment when you are distracted, so it can strike. Realize that the ego will never give you peace. It is your worst enemy. It knows every weakness, and it preys on you relentlessly. Defeat it by loving it. See it for what it is. Be the light that you are. The ego is only a shadow, and it can't stand up to You.

It's more synchronous than you might think. Living Consciously not only reduces suffering, but it greatly refines surviving. Your mind is more clear, your words more concise, and your deliverables are of higher quality. Doesn't matter if you are a musician, a scientist, or a carpenter; anything you do becomes better when it is born out of presence.

Physics is the closest science comes to understanding reality. It reaches beyond the narrow band of human experience, and reveals the fraying at the edges of scale. Quantum mechanics and astrophysics prove that perception is reality, more convincingly than any philosophy has been able to do.

Hell is the iron maiden of the mind. So, let go of the mind and embrace heaven.

Sam is a smart guy, but if I could gift him nothing, it would be exactly that. ? No judgment, as a scientist I have been there, and am never fool enough to "think" I couldn't go there again.

True, and universally applicable, including me.

??

This is what I meant by the difference between conceptual and spiritual awakening. Conceptual awakening is the "aha!" moment of realizing that you are not the self you always thought you were. Spiritual awakening is more profound than that. It is directly realizing God in You, and in everything else. Your spiritual eyes open, and you see differently. It makes no sense conceptually, because it is an "out of mind" experience. When it happens, you will see solipsism for the silliness that it is.

I hear you, @Preety_India. I posted a thread once, where I invited people in our forum to share a picture that described how they see themselves. It resonated: a vibrant, eclectic menagerie, reflecting the polytechnic, video game gambit of the ambidirectional levels of human experience. I have been on other forums, but there is something special here. I made it my home for a reason. The intelligence, courage, open-"mindedness", and adventurous spirit of our dysfunctional family is what I love. I could choose safer spaces, where people praise one another for their "insights", but this is the jungle, and I love it. ?

Selling your soul, in all the parables, never turns out well There is wisdom in parables. Consciousness loves its stories, and it communicates truth to "us" through them. The greatest teachers realize the power of parables, and leverage it. Parables are a collect call to ourselves. Choosing to sacrifice ultimate happiness for short term gain is quintessential shortsightedness. What fool would make such a deal? As it turns out, all of us are fools, until we finally see the snake oil deal for what it is. Selling your soul is sacrificing your Self-awareness, to satiate the ego's lies. Instead, realize your soul. You are already infinitely abundant, and nothing worth anything needs to be sold ?

Isn't that your answer? If Your ultimate nature, directly realized, is recognized as the same nature that imbues everything else, how could solipsism be true?

When you directly realize your Self, not at the conceptual, but at the spiritual level, solipsism shows its empty hand. When your eyes open, you see the sameness, and the seamless contiguity, between all beings. That seeing dispels the lie of solipsism. Nonduality finally makes sense, not to the mind, but to the God that You are. I am only localized Consciousness, a transient wave with a beginning and an ending, but ultimately I am God, and so are you.

@Natasha Thank you!

True, and I think it's why Sam Harris was confused. Rupert Spira understood the difference between brain awareness and ultimate Consciousness. Someone could be in a coma, and yet still be resplendent as Consciousness.

Do you believe that being unconscious erases reality? I remember riding down the hill by my house as a kid, and my bike hitting a rock, and spinning through the air, and my head hitting the ground. My brother carried me back to my house. Did reality cease to exist when I was unconscious?

@Megan Alecia This Aquarius thanks you ♒

Synchronicity, my bday was this week

Consciousness is reality. It manifests through infinite forms, which may or may not be evolved enough to be aware. The only reason we, as human beings, understand it is because we have evolved the capacity for Self-Awareness, or for Consciousness to become aware of itself. Names always get you into trouble. Call it God, and people associate it with conceptual beliefs. Call it Consciousness, and people confuse it with awareness. The ancient gurus simply called it Tat, which literally means "That".

Sam seems to be conflating Self-Awareness with Consciousness. Consciousness exists in different states of awareness. For our planet, it is only recently that lifeforms have evolved the capacity for Consciousness to become Self-Aware. Being under anesthesia doesn't mean Consciousness disappears, any more than being a rock or a tree makes Consciousness disappear. It is imbued in every being, whether that being is Self-Aware or not.