cetus

Imagine a movie and frames are projected on a screen. The screen being awareness of "I am" and the frames being phenomena. Now imagine some of the footage was removed. You know something is missing but there is no experience of it. It's like that. To put it simply you vanish and take all experience with you. Poof- gone!

@UpperMaster Your mentor is talking about "Turiya" (beyond the 4th state). The first 3 being waking, dreaming, deep sleep. Deep sleep being the closest to turiya. The true self being prior to consciousness, beyond experience. Before the first thought of "I" which projects the self and the world. This state can't be conceptualized because it's beyond human understanding/ beyond all concepts. It is the absence of absence.

I certain circles it is a belief that our spiritual self knows it needs to improve certain areas, so we bring ourselves here to grow.

@Cathy92506 What you are referring to is actually called "Cosmic Consciousness". Which is the realization that 'you' are not separate from the universe and all of reality and in fact are the lens in which the universe is aware of itself. Is that a fantasy or is it real? That depends on your direct experience at the moment. At times the universe/reality/you can be very real. At other times not so much. Sometimes you are one with the universe. Other times separate from it. And other times, you and the universe are not real at all.

@PurpleTree It's really simple. What you once thought was you, the world, other ect, it's all God/ Heaven happening all around you. If you search for it, you miss it.

@PurpleTree @Razard86 Sing it with me...

You are a programmer that has created a reality. Every challenge meet is the program challenging itself to grow. "We are all here to do what we're all here to do"

What NDE's have in common is the transcending of the egoic identity (surrender) which leads to awakening to higher Truths. But truth be told no one has to be near physical death to realize these Truths. That is an extreme and excessive way to go about discovering truth. Truth is always within and accessible to those who truly want to know.

@Sugarcoat That's the crux of the matter and is what stands between anyone and God. Would make for a good topic." How do I turn off being "me" even if it's just temporary". To put in my two cents worth, it takes total surrender. Anything less than total surrender of the self-identity just won't do. Plus developing a still mind through a meditation practice helps a great deal. Also, it doesn't hurt to be in a neutral environment so nothing in your surroundings reminds you of you. And then you just let it all go and "STOP" being you. Leave it all behind and just "Be". That's when the magic happens and you expand in infinite directions with no limitations such as space and time to define you. Space/ time/self are all constructs of the mind to be let go of.

Heaven's Gate followers were told by their leader Marshall Applewhite that the comet Hale-Bopp (which was passing close to Earth at the time) contained a craft hidden within it and his followers were to leave their bodies behind in order to "hitch a ride" on the craft that would take them to a higher spiritual realm. As a result, 39 followers took their lives.

You are correct from where you are standing. So, from there, wouldn't it be nice to take a break, even if it were just temporary, from the identity of the self and just Be? Some amazing things could happen.

@SugarcoatYou guessed it. The clean slate you came into this world as you long to return to. But you have collected so much "self" along the way.

Only one way to find out.

Boom there it is. Empty but briming with infinite intelligence. Every first has always been so.

Can't say I have a related book, ect but look at the meaning of Dharma. Coming into alignment with your True nature as it was intended to be. Focus on that. Find strength in that.

What would you expect with all the ego's holding existence in place. If everyone became God realized all at once the world and all experience would instantly cease to exist. Then and only then would Gods desire for non-existence be fulfilled. I say we all join in and give a hand by becoming non-existent. * We may need a few more members to offset the balance.

Finally a true god realization. Funny how once you're realized, God was never far away. In fact, unbelievably close. Like no separation. Look around and know that your eyes are Gods eyes. "They are not two".

@Anton Rogachevski Experience is an event that happens to an individual, ego-self. On the other hand, consciousness may be present in a jellyfish, plant or worm but there is no experience because there is no experience-er.

Every speck of space dust throughout the universe is luminous with consciousness. If we had a space telescope that could see consciousness instead of X-Ray like the James Webb telescope all of the universe would glow brightly with the luminosity of consciousness. Experience on the other hand is a biproduct of consciousness. The SPAM of consciousness.

99.9999999% of most people's daily activity is orientated towards self-preservation.

What poster would you hang today?

Eating from the Tree of knowledge represents the beginning of conceptual knowledge which partitions Adam and Eve from pure consciousness. Imagine for a moment going from pure consciousness to self-consciousness.

I am neither born nor can I die. I have nothing to remember or forget. You are beyond experience. Ever unborn and deathless. Reality is not an event. It cannot be experienced. There is no such thing as the experience of reality. You can only appear to be what you are not. What changes is not real. What is real does not change. You are neither the body nor in the body. There is no such thing as body. The absolute doesn't know itself at all. The I am-ness is part of the play. You are prior to the I am-ness. The world and the mind are not real. But I am not those. I, as the absolute, never had any experience that "I" was alive. Timeless. spaceless existence. It doesn't know it is. That is reality.

We are not bound by physical limitations here. You are much more then that! It's hard to understand but physical limitations are just one example of infinite Love expressing itself in infinite ways.

People sometimes ask, "what is the meaning of life? I respond, what is the meaning of 4th grade? -to graduate to 5th.