cetus

@mp22 Not exactly like that. You have to completely let go of yourself to become no-self, no-thing. Just saying to yourself that you are no-self is just more "you" trying to be no-self. That's a really long hit or miss road (except for using some kind of drug to force a no-self experience). Which is not my first choice. You could look at it this way. You know how a computer has an operating system. You can't use the old OS to reinvent itself into a completely new OS. So the fastest way to install a new OS, is to completely remove the original OS first. "You" temporally become no-self or non existent. If your willing to let go of the OS that you run on now, the new OS will be installed in the flash of an eye. You see the hardest part about this is letting go of the old OS. The rest is easy!

@mp22 It's bringing concentration to a point of perfect focus on a subject. I was hammering the "I don't exist" when the "shift" happened to me. @Gailan explains the same. I'd like to also mention that it's kind of a hit or miss thing. So don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen the first time. It's like your brain needs to discover something completely new.

@Gailan What John Hagelin presents @9:00 seems to describe your experience of a "shift in perception". Samadhi : "Where the whole brain is functioning in an integrated way that is not seen in any other state of consciousness -waking, dreaming or sleep" I wonder what is special about the "I don't exist" practice that enables the whole brain to suddenly come into complete synchronization and experience -Samadhi (higher consciousness) ? Is it that a sense of self (fight or flight) keeps the brain hemispheres segregated and in a state of lower consciousness? As you experienced, that "shift in perception" is quite noticeable. Discovering for the first time that we all possess a higher level of consciousness that can be tapped into is nothing short of amazing!

@SnickI'll never forget The night I heard on the radio that John was assassinated in front of his apartment building. I Kept thinking "why would anyone want to kill John Lennon?" It was totally surreal. The rock radio station I had been listening to played John's music all night long. There was nothing anyone could do but light a candle and be with John through his music..

@Snick

That is the best explanation I could find- so far. I watched this video with John Hagelin. A lot of what he says relates to this experience.

@Gailan @Gailan Nice breakthrough! I just wanted to share something. That sounds almost identical to my experience of a "shift in perception" . I don't remember closing my eyes at the time but I can tell you I wasn't seeing the room I was in any longer. I wonder what is happing with that experience of no-self. What is that "shift" that occurs? The best description I could give would be a something like a trance state or a state of transcendence. I've heard others describe the same experience also. I remember after the experience thinking "I never knew that could happen". I too was telling myself at the time "I don't exist". The first shift in perception I noticed was awareness came to a point of focus like a laser beam. Than that focused point of consciousness suddenly became liberated from my body location. It filled the room beyond me. That kinda freaked me out b-c I felt like a freaking ghost and that kind of bought me out of it. But than I thought "what the hell, go with it". Than boom! I became totally submerged in an ocean of pure consciousness. It was as if consciousness had returned to it's true home ground beyond the usual everyday confines of the body location. Edit: I was just doing some research and found a description that called what you experienced -Samadhi.

@sgn God's dreamscape is reality to us.

@Stoica Doru I just listened to the Adyashanti video that you presented and that really hit home for me. I could have used that during my awakening. I remember feeling as if I had one foot in each world for a while and didn't know where to stand. Or if what I was experiencing as being disorientated was usual. The Terra Firma that the ego once rested upon was now gone.

@Michael119 I don't remember experiencing ego death in a dream, but your description sounds very close. Your on the right track there! It could be that what is happening is subconsciously your ego is already resisting by putting up a fuss behind the scenes. Which is perfectly normal activity for the ego. That's a good sign b-c the ego feels threatened. You must be getting close to a break through. Reality doesn't slip away although the ego may tell you differently. Reality is always reality. What will slip away though is the ego's version of seeing reality which is a warped delusion. Once the ego is broken through it's like you took the blinders of delusion off and your seeing reality as it truly is. May I suggest contemplating this, If your ego's view of reality suddenly fell away, how could that possibly effect true reality?

@Seeker_of_truth Yea that is a bit of a wrong approach to take. I made the same mistake for a time than just by chance of it's own doing something happened one day. But it's not going to happen purposely trying so that you can experience it for yourself. It doesn't work that way. You have to completely dissolve what is you first. Than what remains is nothingness. Which is nothing. But an amazing nothing. Never "try". That is too much "you". Too much effort. Too much desire. Too much ego. It only happens when you let go of everything. That's the key. But purposely trying to let go of everything, doesn't work either. Haha "You" have to become nothingness itself. No content. No desire.

The Dictionary Samadhi :(Sanskrit: समाधि, Hindi pronunciation: [səˈmaːd̪ʱi]), The mind becomes still. It is a state of being totally aware of the present moment; a one-pointedness of mind.[web 1]

@Dan Arnautu May Steve Hackett inspire you as a guitar player as much as he does me. Check out the lyrics of Dance on a Volcano. "You Better Start doing it Right"

@Fatrat Listen to what Leo has to say @ 5:00. "embody the work"

You nailed that one!

I'm in.

It's getting a little stale lately. What can I do to freshen the spiritual air? I sometimes feel like I'm covering old ground for the third time.

You gotta see the rest of it! But that's already 4 minutes of time you'll never get back again. haha...... or will you?

@Barna Are you sure didn't experiance a time warp? " It's just a jump to the left"

@Barna For whatever it's worth, I experienced time standing still for what seemed like a millisecond today. I mean time just suddenly stopped on a dime. Realizing it had stopped made time start to pass again because I was back in thought/mind. But for a second, I could have swore that time stood still. Edit: Time solidified.

This is a little disturbing. Monkey mind on steroids.

@Annetta Not really. I coined a phrase. Witnessing the ego/self from the point of source. "At a distance" as you said. That "distance" being the divine partition.

@Annetta Devine Partition

My view is he didn't want to be considered a "Guru" or anything formal.

Allen watts considered himself a "spiritual entertainer".