Preetom

Will Science Ever be able to explain Consciousness? No. The explanation of Consciousness is not in itself Consciousness.

@Viking This is really an existential issue and no 'one trick pony' will cross us over the sea at one go. The 'suck it up' approach does have it's place and function, especially for those stuck in a rut for a long time. But if it's the only strategy, then congratulations are forthcoming on being pregnant with 100s of neuroses in the following years!! This right here really needs some looking. If you really want to pursue something, then why do you have to fight against the currents of your own self? What is actually going on here? I remember a quote from Nathaniel Branden ''Humans are the only species that can formulate a set of values and pursue the completely opposite of that'' ''As humans, we are given with an extraordinary responsibility from nature. We can either brighten or dim the light of consciousness. No other species have this burden'' So it is a consciousness issue. Maybe the desires/values are inauthentic. Maybe an illusory, parasitic entity living on this internal conflict. Whatever the issue is, it is always a search for a release. What is this release and what are the conditions we want release from

I will surrender peacefully only when I win!! - ego 2k19

what is your definition of a successfully lived life? An absence of self referential thoughts that evaluate life

and you experienced all of it only through yourself(awareness), the only common thread

there we go.. A non dual fundamentalist ready to bomb anyone for the blasphemy of going/moving somewhere

''These are some really good quality mushrooms I'm giving you'' - Rupert Spira 2k17

@winterknight Thanks for the clarifications! Take care

''He is a happy man whose mind is inwardly cool and free from attachment and hatred and who looks upon this (world) like a mere spectator'' -Yoga Vasishta Sara (chap 1, verse 19) '' A great soul witnesses his body's actions as if they were another's. How can praise or blame disturb him? -Ashtavakra Gita (verse 3.10, Bart Marshall translation) Thank you. I get that self inquiry is all about focusing on the 'I', not any content of I, however gross or subtle it is. I'll keep up the inquiry. But this is where it sort of goes to the end of the line. After few minutes, it is clearly recognized that no content is 'I'. Even the slightest movement of attention is recognized as not 'I'. At that point, where to focus and how? From there, any attempt feels like another content. Should I still pursue the 'I' with brute force or should I stay in that clear, dis-identified state as long as possible?

Well in my case, it is more stabilized and nothing flashy. I honestly can't relate with 'my' contents anymore. And the surprising thing is, it feels natural. I mean how could I be this body/mind and all these things? How could anyone be the body/mind? I'm contemplating these questions more and wanted to share it here cause if told this to regular people, they'd probably send to a mental hospital lol

@winterknight There are instructions in classical scriptures like Yoga Vashishtha, Ashtavakra Gita etc that goes like this: See your body/mind as if it is someone else's body/mind. That means seeing every 'thing' about oneself in third person, non judgmentally and without any attachment. Now lately I've been feeling exactly into this more and more. I look at my face in the mirror and it feels like someone I don't know and haven't related with ever (not in a creepy way. but there is no good or bad reaction involved). The memory itself now feels really vague and hollow. I just can't relate to whatever story that is stored in memory. I just find myself now, and I can't see how I could come from anywhere else. So basically pretty much everything in my sense perception and thoughts have lost a huge amount of charge behind them. Nothing feels personal and gripping. I find it a struggle to point at something and call it 'me'. My question is, is this a phase in the process? or will this keep going on and on until all identification mechanism is shattered once and for all?

@Aakash Same here with me. I just can't honestly relate with what happened in my life. Every morning feels like I'm here for the first time.

Any fragmentation/duality aka objective knowledge is dumb dead machine. It all just appears to be, but really non-existent. It all just appears to be alive and conscious, but really none of those things. Btw your statement reminds me of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff's teachings on how humans are machines that don't know that they are machines

Ohh how can we use the unreal(words) to explain the real? Sort of. What happens during deep sleep? See it like this. 1) You squeeze a rubber ball and release it. The ball reverts back to it's original shape by it's own reflex. Do you associate an individual Consciousness in that ball for this reaction? 2) You press a button on computer and certain program runs. Do you associate an individual Consciousness in the computer? 3) You kick a man in his nuts and he screams in pain as a reaction. What's your logic of associating an individual Consciousness to that man?

How can one only 'see' Consciousness and saw legs of a table or a human? Where did these things come from?

the question itself is self contradicting and collapses on itself.

If you see 'table' and 'human' then yes, it matters. If you 'see' Consciousness, then no difference.

In the first place, Consciousness does not recognize unreal things called table and human. But if we make a concession and grant objects existence, then still it is not a table or a human body that is conscious. Both table and human body are made of dumb dead 'stuff'. Now we are talking about an imaginary thing called 'matter' because we are trying so hard to make the unreal into real. Only Consciousness is. Notice that saying ''only Consciousness is conscious'' is misleading because being conscious is not a function Consciousness switches on or off. The very 'quality' of being conscious IS Consciousness.

No one is conscious. Not even you. Consciousness is not a property that someone can own or relinquish. Only Consciousness is/exists. So get done with the me vs others debates on who is conscious.

I second this! When I have the 5 am streak going strong, I wake up at 4:59 am without any alarm and set off the 5 am alarm. Happened this many times. The key is to get in bed at a fixed time and take a routine sleep of 6-8 hours. Also the huge upside of waking up by yourself is that you feel lucid and not sleepy at all, in fact it becomes tougher to sleep back again.

@SoonHei You imagine phone, computer, internet browser You imagine a teacher, students, other people You imagine fields, eternity, big bang, dinosaurs Then you imagine all of this to be inside you?

'' They clearly set forth the central teaching that the direct path to liberation is Self-enquiry. The particular mode in which the enquiry is to be made is lucidly set forth in Nan Yar(who am I?). The mind consists of thoughts. The ‘I’ thought is the first to arise in the mind. When the enquiry ‘ Who am I?’ is persistently pursued, all other thoughts get destroyed, and finally the ‘I’ thought itself vanishes leaving the supreme non-dual Self alone. The false identification of the Self with the phenomena of non-self such as the body and mind thus ends, and there is illumination, Sakshatkara. The process of enquiry of course, is not an easy one. As one enquires ‘Who am I?’, other thoughts will arise; but as these arise, one should not yield to them by following them , on the contrary, one should ask ‘To whom do they arise ?’ In order to do this, one has to be extremely vigilant. Through constant enquiry one should make the mind stay in its source, without allowing it to wander away and get lost in the mazes of thought created by itself. All other disciplines such as breath-control and meditation on the forms of God should be regarded as auxiliary practices. They are useful in so far as they help the mind to become quiescent and one-pointed. For the mind that has gained skill in concentration, Self-enquiry becomes comparatively easy. It is by ceaseless enquiry that the thoughts are destroyed and the Self is realized - the plenary Reality in which there is not even the ‘I’ thought, the experience which is referred to as “Silence”. This, in substance, is Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teaching in Nan Yar (Who am I?).'' - Ramana Maharshi, Who am I (Introduction)

Essence of Self Inquiry: Complete dis-identification from all forms + The significance of one pointed intent/focus

If you are a guy, don't marry. The more cunning and gross materialist we become, the more lofty ethereal virtues and innocence lose their significance. MGTOW is the way. effortless effort is the way. yes or no?

Just look at yourself. Not at the definitions, opinions, feelings and sensations of yourself. Loot at just yourself. It's the permanent cure for the chronic sense of lack and fear of death which drives pretty much everything in our lives by default.