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@Neo It is thought that during Samadhi, one part of the brain becomes quiet, and another part becomes suddenly active. That shift, when it happens is unmistakable. Unless it's experience it as you did, one would never know that possibility even exists.

@Neo I remember the first time it happened to me exactly a year ago. I was saying to myself "Wow, what was that?" Amazing isn't it! I never realized that could happen before that first experience. After looking into it, the best description I can find is called Samadhi. A lot of that going around now. It seems to come in waves. Maybe that's just coincidence?

@Neo Did it feel as if awareness suddenly came to a point of perfect focus? Like hyper awareness kicked in or something?

@Dhal-Sim This sounds as if you experienced Samadhi- Union

@Kuba Give yourself the time you need but face that ego down. By doing so you render it powerless. Someday you'll see and you will get the biggest smile on you face that you ever had. Sure it's not easy the first time, but so well worth it! After that it's a piece of cake to face it down anytime because you will see that it's only power is what you give to it. You will know that as a fact.

@Kuba You say you have been meditating for a year now. For what? This is like buying a boat so you can catch fish, only to let go of the rod at the first signs of any resistance. All your doing is feeding the fish (ego).

@YoungSeeker Annata (no-self or selfless self), Samadhi (union) Yes, different to experience at first but very cool at the same time. Good for you. It's not easy to take that first step into the unknown by letting go. Especially once you have established a stronger sense of self. I say that because I had this experience happen from time to time as a young child. One minute it was just me playing with my truck in the sandbox, doing my thing. The next second I felt a shift suddenly and I became one with existence. I would have to stop playing just to look up at nature around me. Almost as if it had called me by name. There was no separation. It felt great and comforting! Than as I got a little older I lost it and it stopped happening. But it left an impression that I never forgot. And now, many years later it's back again from time to time. I'm glad you found it too! It's wonderful! I like to get out into nature and sit with a still mind and just let it happen. That works best for me personally. Good luck.

Here is something I read yesterday that may relate to that. "Give up even the desire to be experiencing the bliss of being it all".

Right now I'm in a really nice space. As Mooji would say, "It is not a shared space because that would imply there are two."

A divine presents that pervades all. Is that the I am? I think so.

http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/

Reality of Absolute, Infinite Awareness. Countless people today ask what it means to live a deeper spiritual life.... Beyond the old dilemma of whether to renounce the world or immerse oneself in it, the enlightened "Free Beings" (the Avatâra-Incarnations and awake adepts) show us how to freely transcend yet pervade the world with Love and Light through the Power of Pure Awareness. This Divine Reality of Pure Awareness, Open Presence or Spirit, the one Sacred Principle, is both beyond all yet within all. As the theologians say, this Divine Awareness/Reality is both transcendent and immanent. Not any kind of "thing" but the Source, Witness and Reality of all things, this God-Self is other than this world, yet right here animating and embracing this dreamlike world and all her deliciously unique beings. Let's be completely clear about This: Awareness is Who You Really Are, right HERE, right NOW, the Infinite, Open, Imperceptible (but quite live-able or be-able) Host for all "guest" experiences, as the Zen masters say. Awareness is the Supreme Self, the unseen Seer of seeing, the unheard Hearer of hearing, the unthinkable Thinker of thinking, as the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (our oldest wisdom text) revealed Divine Truth nearly 3,000 years ago. Hence, anyone living and flourishing in/as Divine Awareness-Bliss-Love can be totally involved in the world while entirely uninvolved, fully engaged while completely free as the One Who Alone IS, the I AM THAT AM. This God-Self or Divine Dreamer, the true Living God, Pure Open Awareness, sports and adventures as "I am this" or "I am that," delightfully playing the always-poignant role of the individual human being or any kind of sentient being, eventually awakening ItSelf (from Its egocentric soul condition) to the clarity of Divine Presence, the only Reality. One's life, therefore, can be a beautiful unfolding flower of virtue, eventually fully blossoming into a life of Divine splendor.

This is good. Maybe it's all just my ego working on a more subtle level, but I can't shake this feeling that there is an underlying presence that I can't explain. A divinity maybe? Maybe that's just wishful thinking though? I'm going to look into that one a little more.

I think the words I Am is a bit misleading. If the I Am is pure awareness there is really no "I" in it. Maybe I'm just seeing it differently but to me I Am suggests the core being as a raw perceiver of reality. Beyond the individual as a separate self.

It's all a wonderful mystery. I mean, who can really say for sure from this perspective. What is awareness? What is the I am? what is nothingness? What is this? Why does existence happen at all? What happens to me when I pass? Is there anything that remains of the "I am" after the body falls away? These are questions that can't be answered by the mind. I have heard many different answers to all these questions. Which would be truth? There are so many inspirational teachers out there. There has always been for all of time. But so many differ too from each other too. My gut feeling is what it has always been since the first day I realized that there is more to us than meets the eye as an individual self. For some reason this universe (existence) wants to experience itself through awareness. It does through the entirety of the universe. Through different expressions of itself as different organisms that best suit it's environment. Imagine the diversity out there. The human organism being just one of a countless number on different planets. But one thing remains the same, awareness of the surrounding environment. When that organism dies, it's individual experience of awareness comes to an end. It's cycle is complete. But awareness is unstoppable, it continues without missing a beat through producing a new organism that continues that cycle of awareness that the previous organism physically produced ( the children of the human organism for example). So do I think there is an I Am? I think " I am that I am" answers that best. As long as the "I Am" remains within the awareness of reality- there is an "I Am". After that, it's lights out. If there is anything of the "I Am" that continues after my mind and body drops away, that would be an extra bonus. But I'm not counting on it at this point. At the core of the individual as a separate self there exists the I Am or beingness. As Mooji has said, "The I Am is not the final state". I wonder what that "Final State" could be and what of the I Am will remain if any? Who really knows what happens???

@Akeberg I'd call that progress. The mind can be a lot like a closet that needs to be cleaned out of old emotional memories. Usually lots of junk in there you forget about until you start digging. Let it come out. If there is emotion involved with a particular memory, observe both the memory and the emotions it stirs. Don't cling to them, acknowledge them and release them as they arise. You will find doing this very liberating and a lightness will remain from the acceptance and release. Be kind and loving and to yourself during the process. Remember, emotions and memories only have power when you give it to them.

@Beam I just looked this up. Thought it was interesting. It seems to fit here. Mental model[edit] Further information: Mental model, Representation (psychology), and Cognitive model In cognitive psychology and philosophy of mind, a mental model is a representation of something in the mind,[10] but a mental model may also refer to a nonphysical external model of the mind itself.[11]

@Beam So true. Enlightenment exists only in the conceptual mind.

I was under the impression it's not that easy for a heroin addict to get clean. Doesn't the physical body get addicted to the drug also and that is the toughest part of quitting? Not true?

A heroin user can explain it better than I can @29:00 I'm not passing judgment. Just facts.

You asked "what do you mean?" so I answered you with my opinion. * I believe if you asked most heroin users what their idea of pleasure is, they would probably say, "living clean again". Is it pleasure you seek?

@Frogfucius Forget about the heroin for a moment. Where is it said that life's purpose is to maximize pleasure? Sure, pleasure is nice when it comes your way, but always fleeting at the same time. Needing to be in a constant state of experiencing pleasure is an endless trip. What brings pleasure today, will be same old same old tomorrow. Think about what is pleasure to you. Now think, how long would you appreciate the pleasure in that if you did it all the time and knew that tomorrow you would be doing it again and again the day after? Where is the pleasure in that? So just needing to sustain a state of pleasure is a never ending pursuit, no matter how it's attained or what it is. Seeking pleasure is a need of the hungry ego. Once you start feeding it, it's never satisfied and only wants more and more (exactly like heroin). If it's the pleasure of power, sex, drugs, money, excitement ect. any of these can become an addiction and the satisfaction that they bring is only temporary. Life's purpose is to become free and liberated. That only happens through surrendering desire. When there is no desire, there is nothing that is needed. Nothing is lacking. That is fulfillment. That's not to say stop fulfilling your life. You go on living through intention. But intention without personal desire or attachment. Attachment to anything will eventually cause suffering. * BTW-I watched a documentary a couple weeks ago on heroin addicts. Their life was a living hell! They couldn't even function or feel normally without their morning fix (forget pleasure). They started their day by going out on the street and trying to scrounge up enough money so they could pay for their first fix of the day. Of course they couldn't hold a job with steady income b-c their life was in shambles. Usually they would feel really sick because they were crashing. Mostly prostitution, stealing and selling, or pan handling, day in and day out 24/7. They asked one addict if he was hoping to get clean someday. He said "heroin has me so bad, the least painful way to get out would be to end my life". Does that sound like pleasure to you!

@Frogfucius That's endless nightmare. Your joking, right?

Pure consciousness is a lot like a focused laser beam. When the mind is involved , it acts like a diffraction filter. It creates an interference pattern.

@Yang Noctus I got the same exact impression when it first happened to me. It was as if awareness had suddenly come to a point of hyperfocus. I remember thinking to myself "I never knew my mind could do this". It blew me away! Like it tuned to a higher frequency or something. @comp13 Same here again. My eyes were open but consciousness was in a totally different space. The experience first started when I dropped the sense of body/self. Suddenly consciousness was no longer restricted to the usual body location but in the surrounding field in front of me. At this point I'm still seeing the room around me and experiencing this happening. It freaked me out and I withdrew for a moment. I never experienced anything like that before. Than I thought, something is presenting itself. Let go and go with it. And I did through complete trust and surrender. That is when conscionseness seemed to enter into a different dimension or something. I was no longer in the room. For a long time after that experiance I thought. "what was that?" "what happened then?" "where did I go?" "what did I become?" I realize now what the answer to all that is, Pure conscionseness. It has no location. It has no thingness to it. But yet all this owes itself to it. It does seem like switching channels on a radio. If your tuned to mind, that's the station you'll recieve. If you switch the mind to pure consciousness, you get that station. You can't have both tuned in at the same time.