Hi all! As you can tell, I am new to this forum and grateful to be here. An abridged version of my story: I underwent enlightenment back in 2018 before I knew what enlightenment was. This came when I was in a severe depression and listened to "The Power of Now" by Eckhardt Tolle. "I" (being my ego) "died" swiftly. If it weren't for that book, I don't know if "I'd" be alive today. Because Eckhardt does such a wonderful job at explaining what ego is and what enlightenment is, it didn't take me long to figure out what had happened to me. I spent months in an enlightened state. I was truly free for the first time in my life. I tried telling everyone that I knew about "The Power of Now", but it turns out the majority of people do not A) understand enlightenment or B) know/care what it is. This is mainly because people view our current shared reality as true reality. Meaning people tend to agree that everyone is a separate individual rather than part of one collective consciousness. I eventually developed mania and psychosis where I believed the radio and TV were sending me messages on how to get to global enlightenment (or world peace). After about 8 months I crashed again into a deep depression. I went back (for lack of a better way of saying it) to identifying as myself (my name, my life situation, etc). A similar occurrence happened recently in 2022. I went through a "re-enlightenment" which again eventually progressed into psychosis. I made it out again and here I am, some months later, finally figuring out what happened to me during both instances.
My main goal now is to help move our world into global enlightenment. There's no time like the now, since that't the only moment that's ever existed. My question now is "how?". A few friends have said that I should write a book. But as it turns out, if I wrote a book, it would in essence be the same thing as "The Power of Now" or "A New Earth". My backstory is not of importance. The important thing is the message, not my egoic tale. I could write a book about that, but I really have no desire to. What's important is that we share a collective consciousness and that world peace is possible. This message is so incredibly hard to share (as our language does not do an adequate job). The perpetuation of inadequate language, measurable time, and body identification keep us in a world where suffering will inevitably continue to exist. I was able to write up a 6 page summary to try and communicate this message better, but that's not going to do much in way of getting published. I tried writing up a book, but I find myself thinking again and again: This is already a book!
Has anyone ever gone through a significant ego death that landed them in a similar situation? And does anyone else have the same goal as global enlightenment? I know it's possible, but the question of how remains. We are on a planet of nearly 8 billion people. Yikes! I can't explain this to my friends, family, or anybody that I know, let alone strangers. I've tried reddit, but that didn't go anywhere. I just want to be in a place where the conversation doesn't end. I'm living a double life of my egoic self (mother, wife, sister, friend, nurse) and my spiritual life (one with consciousness). The thing is... everyone is one with consciousness. The only difference is my awareness of it. Enlightenment should be for everyone to experience, not just the Buddah, Jesus, you, and me. And if all goes well, everyone will have their own story of enlightenment.
I am just a person trying to figure this life out. The problem is my life means not much without it being a part of everyone on this earth. We are all one! Every rock, tree, and creature. The only difference is our egoic lives which is all an illusion anyways. My life up to this point has been to stop suicide, but ending human suffering entails that as well. If you don't believe that global enlightenment is possible, I respect that, but I am more interested in hearing from those who share it as a goal. What do we do to cut through the years and years of not just individual ego (which is hard enough), but also the collective ego of humanity? Trying to teach someone how to become enlightened is like trying to make someone unlearn something. "Unlearn your identity, complete sense of self, and everything you know". Oh how I wish it were that easy. In the context of the universe, we (humans) just got here. It would be nice if we could figure this out and get to "A New Earth".
I hope this post makes any sense at all to someone. I've been trying for months to try and communicate what I'm trying to say, and boy is it hard! I want to provide just enough information to make it make sense. Communication is difficult. I'm learning how to not use phrases like "death is an illusion", "we are immortal", etc. because, as you can imagine, these things sound like I'm "Going crazy". Crazy is just relative is what I'm learning more and more every day.
