Key Elements

Yes, of course. I was responding to the OP. He labels things such as "future" as unclear mind. It doesn't even matter if you're detached from it.

I learned that everything transforms and is temporary. To the truth's "perspective" nothing is grandiose. Truth is detached to all forms. Initially, this not likely to be true for the ego when it first experiences awakening.

Future is an illusion. There is only now. Whatever you do, it takes place in the now.

Even though the suffering is an illusion, it doesn't hurt to make a life purpose that will make others aware that it's only temporary. (And, of course, help reduce / cure the suffering.)

A person doesn't have to turn a blind eye to others suffering. One can at least do something about it as an individual with clear mind using life purpose. You don't have to clutter your mind with unwanted thoughts during the process.

"Reality is already perfect." Not in our world. There's still work that needs to be done.

The definitions of both are the same. No more ego in both of them. The #1 thing I see here is, the ego is very much underestimated.

Going back to the original post... The biggest problem to saying this is, the reality of enlightenment (truth) doesn't have any ego. But, in our world, the life as we know it, it does. That's the biggest difference. I already explained it. Getting an awakening (enlightenment) doesn’t eliminate your ego; it only gives you wisdom. If you want to master and "dissolve" your ego, you got to align it with truth, and that takes practice. Don't underestimate the ego. If we had no ego, that would be nirvana. Life as we know it would be peace.

I already said everything I know. Now, it's up to you to do research or have direct experience of this.

Why not? Don't you want to graduate from this life since it's just an illusion? It's a play. It's a school. It's testing us. You have choice in this life, but you don't have free will. Until the ego completely dies, then you'll have complete free will.

@cetus56 Not so easy to do in this life: The pain is the pain. A person saying, "I am the pain," without suffering is rare. There is a special kind of mole that doesn't have any nerves that could do this. That's why we use our life purpose as a vehicle to actualize with flow -- to reduce our karma and hopefully, by the end of our lives, reach nirvana and graduate from this life so we don't have to be embodied in any ego ever again. Or...we have the free will to go anywhere and become anything, anytime/anywhere after we reach nirvana. That's what it means too, right? Everythingness / Nothingness.

Yes, true. All fields have its validity. What you said here reminds me of some ppl saying that doing science such as becoming a doctor, engineering, IT, computer science, etc are the only marketable fields. That's not true. When parents say this to their children, that could really misguide some of them. There are ways to survive, succeed, and contribute in different fields.

I don't see anything wrong with having "special interests." That's how things progress and reduce suffering in the world. For example, the doctor and the farmer may decide to work together to breed and grow a special plant to cure brain cancer. In other words, the doctor can't do it alone in his lab. He needed the right degree of sun and environment to do that.

I'm not so sure what you mean here. Yes, all fields are equal, of course. We can't all be the same. Some of us have to be farmers, some doctors, etc. But, when we were growing up, we had to learn and develop those skills. Those who are interested in farming learned how to farm. Those interested in being a doctor went to med school.

Yes, exactly! I like what you said there. You're talking about the natural deep force. I call it flow. This is definitely part of enlightenment (truth). Because in the real thing (truth), there is a flow. The ego (our human embodiment), upon initial thought, likes to think of this as a massive, grandiose, powerful, infinite light that flows back into the human body (ego) from the nothingness / everythingness, but in reality (truth), it's just a transformation from the nothingness from the truth's "perspective." No distance at all. No suffering when this happens. Only peace and love as a result. Anyway, we're blessed with different talents, interests, and abilities because of the flow -- go with the flow to create less suffering and peace in our world in our own ways as individuals. Our thoughts are flowing in coming from the nothingness telling us about this. Just let your unwanted thoughts flow away and be present since this creates suffering. This monk is practicing the effortless action. I like to call it meditative flow:

Folks, first find out: 1. What is enlightenment (truth)? 2. What is ego? And then say it. Ppl generally disagree because they don't know what is enlightenment and what is ego. Both of their meanings are too profound to put into words.

Thanks. I noticed something else in this thread. Ego has to be defined better. Ego is not something "right" or "wrong." It's not "good" or "bad." It's something that is quite capable of not aligning with truth.

I also think that at least an hour of exercise everyday is important and taking multi-vitamins along with eating healthy. Sometimes you got to empty your mind of excessive thoughts. Please feel free to share your thoughts about this video. I'm looking for the overall health of the mind and body to maintain long term.

Wait... Here's another way of putting it. Do you define and label doing something as egoic/illusion or truth? Because the definition could go either way. Depends on you.

No one is asking you to do anything. It's your choice. If you want to label doing something as ego, that's your choice too. Labeling itself is egoic: See? What's not egoic is truth (enlightenment). What is truth? Peace, flow, detachment...These are aspects of it, yes. You will experience these if you actually experience truth, yes. Does life itself align with it? Yes, of course. The big question is: is your "ego" aligned with it? That's your choice. Truth means the end of suffering. Are you going to align your life purpose with truth, or go the opposite direction? You have choice. Since the world that we live in is an illusion, it doesn't mean that it's not aligned with truth. It literally came from truth -- no distance.

Tell you something here since this is a good topic. You know how you say that life is a flow. Well, the truth is a free falling flow. That's part of it. You do flow with it. It's just that, are you going to flow with life? Same applies to life itself. Are you going to discover what needs to be done and flow along with your aligned talents, interests, and abilities? When you do this, others see you as a role model through your actions and they may also do the same. It causes a ripple effect.

@ivankiss I understand what you are saying, but the question is, are you going to be the one who makes a difference here? This forum could be a place to learn to communicate with all kinds of ppl. It's a good practice before you start your life purpose. It's not so easy to fully convince ppl or explain to them of the truth if you know what it is. See? You may want to think of a different strategy on your own life purpose if you want to explain it there.

For my language class

Good topic question. Personally, tbh, in the beginning, I wasn't convinced in any way by anyone. Long story. Let's just say, something had to happen to me, and then something else, and then something else, etc. They had to be "ah-ha" moments that awed me. Yes, they were interconnected and out-of-the-ordinary. If you're just trying to figure this whole thing out, I would just try to have a peace of mind in any situation and go for a good life purpose that serves the world for the better -- reduce suffering. Learn entrepreneurship; start with orange and get settled, but be careful not to get stuck in orange and make decisions that are very orange. Along the journey, maybe, perhaps, something will happen. They say, "you get what you deserve."

Thanks. Sure you can. Why not? They say, "The sky is the limit," but then ppl have different talents, interests, and learning abilities. You know, I was thinking, if a person had a kensho enlightenment (sudden), and wanted to incorporate that into a life purpose, but he/she has a very orange type of startup/career/life purpose, it will be very hard to give that up. They'll be really stuck in the rat race and don't have time. For example, if he's a real estate tycoon and owns a lot of casinos as businesses and works at least 11+ hrs a day, it won't be easy to manage. Also, the followers won't be too open-minded. They're there to learn how to make $. (Unless, they get into philanthropy / charity / non-profits -- green.) Green and tier 2 type of life purposes may incorporate enlightenment better. This is how it will feel like if the life purpose is too orange: