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@Oneness Meditation is the practice of slowly letting go of ego/self. The erosion of self to final liberation where there is a tipping point and a breakthrough from self. It requires nothing less than total surrender If you can let go of the illusion of self this very moment and not hold on to one fragment, meditation would not be needed to experience an enlightened state of being. No matter what process is used, they all lead that all important total surrender of self. That is all that matters.

Agreed, I should have added the punchline "your already doing it, you are an illusion".

@Alexandre I question this all the time myself. Not exactly "identify", but more as to except the fact that mind is a part of reality. What is constant? The mind constantly witnessing a changing existence. Through the mind and a sense of I'ness, it experiences existence expressing itself in an infinite number of forms and also the realization of the oneness behind the many. Isn't that part of the miracle of existence expressing itself through the minds awareness of it? There is no "I" - O.K., but what is this unshakable witness that experiences this beautiful diversity of existence expressing itself in so many different forms? What sees these posts and responds to them? Something remains. Everything is in balance when the one is realized as being the source of the many within this realm of physical reality. That is not to say that mind will than cease to exist or we should deny it's existence if the one is realized as the true source of the many. I'm not talking to a point of fault as ego/self that excludes the whole, but to the point that diversity can be appreciated in each individual expression by the mind. I can only go by my experience of the one expressing itself in a multitude of beautiful expressions within existence through the minds eye. by Steve Taylor. If there is one concept which has been under constant attack by psychologists and philosophers over the last few decades, it is the idea of ‘you’ – that you are a real entity or ‘self’. Many modern philosophers and scientists suggest that this sense of being ‘someone’ is illusory, or just a simple product of brain activity. Somehow the billions of neurons in your brain work together to produce it, and all of the thoughts and feelings which it incorporates. This view was expressed very graphically by the scientist Francis Crick, who wrote that: ‘You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.’ From a less biological perspective, the philosopher Daniel Dennett speaks of the illusion of the ‘Cartesian Theatre’, the sense that there is ‘someone’ in our heads looking out at a world ‘out there’, and also watching our own thoughts pass by. In reality, says Dennett, there are only mental processes. There are streams of thoughts, sensations and perceptions passing through our brains, but there is no central place where all of these phenomena are organised. Similarly, the psychologist Susan Blackmore has suggested that the self is just a collection of what she calls ‘memes’ – units of cultural information such as ideas, beliefs and habits. We are born without a self, but slowly, as we are exposed to environmental influences, the self is ‘constructed’ out of the memes we absorb. Modern neuroscience seems to reinforce such views. Neuroscientists claim to be able to ‘locate’ the parts of the brain responsible for mental phenomena such as aesthetic appreciation, religious experience, love, depression and so on, but they haven’t found a part of the brain associated with our underlying sense of self. Therefore, they feel justified in concluding that this doesn’t exist. ‘Ghosts don’t Exist’, says the Ghost There are many problems with the attempt to ‘reduce’ our sense of self to brain activity. This is related to ‘hard problem’ of explaining the origins of conscious experience – so-called to distinguish it from the ‘easy problems’ of mental abilities and functions such as memory, concentration and attention. Whilst we might be able to understand these phenomena, the problem of how the brain might produce consciousness is on a completely different level. The brain is just a soggy clump of grey matter – how could that soggy mass possibly give rise to the richness and depth of consciousness? To think that it could is a ‘category error’ – the brain and consciousness are entirely distinct phenomena, which can’t be explained in terms of each other. And on a more practical basis, after decades of intensive theorising and research, no-one has yet put forward any feasible explanation of how the brain might produce consciousness. The ‘hard problem’ seems completely insurmountable. There is a basic absurdity in these attempts to show that the ‘self’ is illusory. They always feature a self trying to prove that it doesn’t exist. They are caught in a loop. If the self is an illusion to begin with, how can we trust its judgements? It’s a bit like a ghost trying to prove that ghosts don’t exist. Perhaps it may be right, but its illusory nature doesn’t inspire confidence. Dennett and Blackmore are presuming that there is a kind of reliable, objective observer inside them which is able to pass judgement on consciousness – and that presumption contradicts their own arguments. That is the very thing whose existence they are trying to disprove. Related to this, there is a problem of subject/object confusion. All of these theories attempt to examine consciousness from the outside. They treat it like a botanist examining a flower, as an object to scrutinize and categorize. But of course, with consciousness there is no subject and no object. The subject is the object. You are consciousness. So it is fallacious to examine it as if it is something ‘other.’ Again, you are caught in a loop. You can’t get outside consciousness. And so any ‘objective’ pronouncements you make about are fallacious from the start. An interesting question to ponder is: why do human beings invest so much energy into trying to prove that they don’t exist? Why do scientists and philosophers seem so intent on proving that they themselves are illusions? Perhaps there is a kind of repressed suicidal impulse at work here. Perhaps the individuals in question experience a deep-rooted self-hatred and an impulse for self-destruction which, at conscious level, has been translated into an impulse to negate their own identity and existence. More likely, though, these views are symptom of the general nihilism of our culture, the collapse of values which has followed from materialistic science. The fact that these theories have become prevalent, despite being fallacious, shows how well they fit to the present ‘zeitgeist’. Subjective Investigation So does the self exist? Is there really anybody there inside your own mental space? I think the best way to answer the question is to take a different approach. Rather than attempting to analyse consciousness from the outside as if it is an object, the best approach is to embrace subjectivity, and delve into your own consciousness. Try meditation, for example. In deep meditation, you might find yourself in a state of complete mental quietness and emptiness, with no thoughts, no perceptions, no information processing, no concentration. In fact, this state can be seen as the ‘goal’ of meditation (at least according to some traditions). The philosopher Robert Forman has called it the ‘pure consciousness event’ – a state in which consciousness exists without content, and rests easefully within itself. I have experienced this state myself, and am familiar with its qualities. Paradoxically, although consciousness is empty, it has a quality of fullness too. It appears to be full of energy – a powerful energy which has a quality of well-being, or even bliss. (This is what Indian Vedanta philosophy describes as satchitananda – being-consciousness-bliss.) There is also a quality of spaciousness – somehow my own consciousness seems to become wider and larger, to spread beyond my own brain or body. This can lead to a sense of connection or even oneness – a feeling that my consciousness is merging with a force or energy which somehow seems fundamental to the world, or the cosmos. But most importantly in terms of my argument in this article, in these moments, one of the qualities of consciousness is a sense of ‘I’. There is still a sense of identity, even if this sense may be different to the identity of a normal state of consciousness. This identity does not feel separate or boundaried. It feels part of a greater unity, but still has a sense of I-ness. You could compare it to a wave having a sense of its own existence of a wave but at the same time being aware of itself as a part of the sea. There is still an ‘I’ which has awareness of itself and of its situation. From this point of view, it appears that consciousness or identity is not an illusion. In this state, there are no ‘memes’ and no streams of mental processes, but consciousness still appears to exist. I would therefore say that the sense of self is fundamental to us, from the deepest levels of our being. Of course, this fundamental sense of ‘I’ is acted on by all kinds environmental, social and psychological influences, and becomes ‘constructed’ to a large degree. You could compare it to how a Roman fort is built upon and expanded over centuries until eventually develops into a modern city. But there is a fundamental kernel of ‘I-ness’ which is always there, underlying all of the activity and all the construction

@Water I was reading this topic you started. Great direction to head in from the posters.@Natasha @Mal

Yes, this happens all the time. This work is called awakening for a reason. You are starting to see who is living in a dream and who is for real. That includes you most of all. Have compassion for yourself and that will naturally spill over to others too. What is changing is the way you see things. The external world has not changed at all so you can't get angry at it. Realign your awakening awareness with it. Some old ways will fall away to make way for the new. Growth is always the hardest thing for the self when we have to admit that what we were portraying before may have not existed in an awakened state.

Nothing

@Ayla Each grain of sand = one thought of the mind.

When Leo started this forum he referred to it as a "sandbox". What is that sand we play in?

@Mal Trust me, your not going anywhere. This is a long process. It's not like you will suddenly disappear or something. You may have experiences of no-self that are very strong from time to time. But than in no time mind is right back reclaiming it's territory. It's much harder to hold to the experiences of no-self than to be self .

@Mal You are experiencing no-self from time to time? Is that it?

@Actualizer @Mal This could answer that one.

@Mal Spiral dynamics serve a place within minds conceptual framework and has the power to assist in crossing the threshold into liberation. A ladder for mind to climb out of it's hole one rung at a time.

@Leo Gura , is that your way of saying "Don't expect to be farting rainbows"?

@ChimpBrain This explains some of the science about HRV. The moniter trains one to control their parasympathetic nervous system.

@ChimpBrain If you could try one out first, you should. It is meditation because you have to place awareness on the breath and get into a rhythm. If it is accurate, which I presume it is, my heart coherency was way off and my breathing rate was too. It's portable but I don't wear it all the time. Only when doing a session. I just got it so I'll have to use it more to really get to know it but I could see how it would be useful. I tried a 20 min. session with the emWave first and than I did a regular meditation after. If your mind wanders from the breath or you get distracted, it will let you know immediately so you really have to get into a "zone" and stay in it. It has a audible signal too that lets you know if your in a low, med, or high state of coherency so you can close your eyes. I just wanted to try it out and let some family and friends try it too that may otherwise not do daily meditation. So far I don't believe I wasted my money, it's pretty cool. I read the reviews on Amazon.com too before I bought it. It got good ratings by ppl. who meditate.

@ChimpBrain I just got the emWave2 + Heartmath. It's interesting. You have to sync up breathing, mind and heart to get a high coherency score. Low is red , medium is blue and high is green. It feels like you get into a "zone" of concentration or equilibrium when it's held at a high coherency . If I get distracted, it drops off to red in a heartbeat (no pun intended). It is showing me how my mind, heart, nervous system is reacting to everyday stimuli that I would otherwise been unaware of.

@Displayname Check this out, sweet!

@Displayname You are re-thinking your original direction. Do you feel like it's not working for you but your working for it? Myself as a home builder , I gotta say go with the affordable housing. Maybe that's just me because that was always my personal passion. Creating and designing safe and affordable homes that a family can live in. It's wonderful and fulfilling to see that transformation happen before your eyes. When the job is finished and you drive away the last time knowing that a family will spend many happy days together in this home. No regrets here. And housing is changing drasticly too, tiny houses, earth housing, portable housing, container housing, even a house that has a greenhouse built around it.

Keep going. Any meditation is better than none. Just stay with it. " Meditate for 20 minutes twice a day unless your very busy- meditate for an hour" as the old saying go's.

It sounds as if your looking at this as if a "you" will be in a place that is infinite. That would be a very bleak picture from the perspective of mind. A hell of sorts because "you" are in it. Such a place exists only in the mind. Mind or "You" exist within time and space. Existence, from the perspective of mind is also happening within time and space. Infinity has no time or space or "you". That is what makes it infinite. Maybe you had a brief glimpse of infinity, I don't know. But it sounds like your mind than placed itself into that picture after the experience? That is what doesn't fit. Your mind is trying to place it's familiar constructs of time and space (and you) into a field that has no time or space or "you". When "You" become totally non-existant, that's infinity. **I refrained from using the term "eternity" because that implies time. That is a religious idea of an afterlife and something I personally could never except when I was growing up. I don't care how much one likes harp music, you wouldn't want to have to listen to it 24/7 for all eternity.

@All_Around_Me That's cool, languages, multi-lingual.

@All_Around_Me Your gonna do just fine! What is your passion? What comes to you with no effort?

@All_Around_Me Meditation and self inquiry are fantastic tools for finding your life.

What a great place to hide it! Where nobody would "think" to look.

@WelcometoReality That one found me this morning and great way to start the day.