charlie2dogs

are you telling me that all these opinions on this forum about what enlightenment is dont mean anything? surely that cant be true, surely all the internet gurus and so called teachers cant be wrong now can they? is it possible that most of the hoopla about enlightenment is just newage nonsense? i can tell you that most of it is nothing more than newage horsesh*t here is how you will know what it is like, when your consciouness has evolved to the point of being self realized you will know what it is like, do you have any idea how to make that happen, no, and neither does your internet gurus and newage teachers, now get on with your personal growth and life purpose study and forget about enlightenment. Those who are self realized dont have spiritual practices, dont have to work on personal growth, and have no need of a life purpose, as they are the life, that happens in the moment of life, the human identity has never experienced the moment of life or what happens in it. the human identity can only speculate, rationalize, and intellectualize about things that it can never understand, but in this newage thinking it really doesnt matter as long as you believe, false belief only gives a sense of false security you have defeated yourself when you take on the false beliefs. it would be much better to throw away everything you believe and just say, i don't know, i don't have any experience in that and leave it there, at least you might have a chance to know, once you program yourself with false beliefs you have little hope for a long long time, if ever. and this idea that everyone will evolve into some grand enlightened being, or there is going to be some mass awakening and everyone will become enlightened is nothing more than a bad dream, or another false belief.

hahahhaha that is the part you have to learn the hard way

it has everything to do with it, if you live and function in the moment of life and are conscious and aware you will know what to do and when to do it

you are exactly right only the self realized know what they are talking about because they have the experience, most is just hearsay, speculation, assumptions, false belief systems, intellectualizing of things not understood. and you never really understand this until after.

do you have any idea how long it takes consciousness to evolve to any degree, there wont be a mass newage awakening, the only awakening will be one of pain, and misery because of the degeneration of the human species, look around you all over the world, when this particular awakening happens many will behave like animals and savages.

if jed said those things you better find you a new teacher before you become more lost than you are .

the only thing that is important right now is what is happening in this moment, are you there , are you conscious and aware of the event that maybe be arising in that single moment, or are you just stumbling along in life sort of in an unconscious manner and having to deal with the consequences of not being there in that moment when an event arose and if you had been there and saw the reality of it you might could have saved yourself some consequences later on, the moment an event arises is the moment to allow it to live or die, if you are there and aware.

you have guilt because you are a human being identity with an ego, you have not conquered anger yet, for as long as you are the human identity anger will be lurking close by and when you least expect it, it will appear out of no where, yes i know you are seeing it but you have not conquered the human identity yet, and to do that requires a fully awakened or self realized consciousness. so the answer to your question is the evolution of your consciousness, now how will you raise it? what can you do to raise your level of consciousness or cause a greater awakening of your consciousness. do you hold a belief system at present, have you examined the programing that you have been subject to and have accepted into your own belief system. so far in your life you have been looking through a cloudy glass, one that warps the perception of what you see, feel, think, and do, how now can you see clearly to liberate yourself from your programing and false belief that is keeping you functioning as the human identity.

everything changes with every moment that passes, the interest you have now, will you have them in 5 or ten years, are you sure, what you see now as a life purpose is nothing more than choosing an occupation until you learn more, or time and change has passed and brought changes to your mind, what do you perceive as a life purpose by the way? how far into the future does this life purpose extend?

when i say experience the whole of consciousness, think about this your physical body is a replication of consciousness, so is your physical body only a set of eyes for you to hide behind, consciousness is carrying the physical body, giving it life, im just saying see as encompassing the whole body and you will have a clearer picture of consciousness itself. some would see it as a ghost clinging to the body but in reality consciousness created this body to experience this life in and is supporting it giving it life and causing the functions of the human body to happen. if you want to become enlightened ask those who are, and they can tell you how to function in a way that enlightenment might find you. how would you know if you were talking to or listening to an enlightened being?

you are most welcome and your response is the best one to give, it leaves the door open for growth,

i already knew that

you are trying to rationalize something you have never experienced, and i think it is because you have listened to the wrong people too long and you have become frustrated in your search, and you have a belief system fueling the rationalizing, and now you have to make enlightment fit what you are. Those who have become self realized were not expecting a shift either, but it happened, to everyone single one of them, and they didnt realize it until after the experience. There is a gate in a manner of speaking and i will use the chakras for an example, many are sitting at the third eye thinking they have become enlightened, believing they have become enlightened, but they have not reached the crown chakra, and they are lost as how to get there. that is where you are right now, no offense meant here, your own words define where you are for those who have experience and the reality of self realization. and i dont mean to make that sound like there are many because there arent many, they are few and far between. if and when you ever become self realized, the ones that are will know and you wont need to tell them because they have been where you are but that wasnt good enough for them, it wasnt liberation,

you said: How exactly do they teach you to expand your conciousness? when you are subject to some things, and you contemplate or meditate those things they expand in your mind and can cause expansion of human consciousness. you said: I dont necessarily need to be enlightened. I Technically already am, but all of my conditioning and attachments have made me feel separate from everything. where did you get this idea that you are technically enlightened if i may ask, if you had been you wouldnt be asking these questions, and you would have already dropped the conditioning and attachments you said: I want to feel completely 'one' with everything and Everyone. And detached from this body. I dont want to preserve anything. can you give me one good reason why you would want to be one with everyone and everything? did you ever consider that an enlightened being might not even make such a statement, that maybe that has nothing to do with enlightenment. you said: My question is whether buddhism will help me feel that connection with life, or whether it is just another organisational ladder to climb and distract me from my purpose. Buddhism can only lead you on a path to expand your consciousness, if, and when possible. contemplating buddhist teachings might even do more for your consciousness than the internet guru's and teachers, but it wont in itself give you what you are asking, and finally what is your purpose, will it be the same 5 years from now, 10, 20 years,

its only hard while you are searching all those different paths, trying all the internet guru's, struggling from one to the other to make sense of it, and then you ask what if all of them are wrong, what now. people are being led on all these paths, around in circles,where are they going, do they ever expect to arrive at a destination, what is the goal, what is the goal , what do you think its going to be like to be enlightened, why would anyone seek it, what do they gain, can anyone say.

enlightenment and self-actualization are separate things, end of paradox

Buddhism is for the expansion of human consciousness. you could spend the rest of your life there and still not be enlightened. Why are you seeking enlightenment, what do you think it would be like to be enlightened?

and that should be important to him and he should have respect for it.

if you are in a peaceful state it should affect him, and he should feel peace surrounding you and in your presence

given the direction you are moving in, and the plans you have for the future, i hope you achieve that.

in order for him to love and respect you, he will have to be love, and have respect for himself, but not from an egoic mind

as you know by now happiness is a state of being, just like love, it take two humans who are love and happiness to create a beautiful relationship. you already knew this didn't you?

mary the real purpose of meditation is to enable you to reconnect with the self, peace, joy, and liberation is in the self, and it seems that your meditation isnt taking you there, maybe you are going about this all wrong, did you ever consider that.

Philip, i feel your pain, you have become so attached to the pain body, with all these repressed emotions that they are now choking the life out of you. you need to step back from your human body and take a good look at it, this human identity that is philip, is not the real being in this drama and all this drama is being created by the human identity and ego. if you are able to take that step back and look at the identity body, and realize that the real part of you is the one doing the seeing of this, you will discover there is no pain there, no drama there, no conflict there, it is a place of peace, the drama is in the identity body that you are playing the part of. look at all the drama, repressed emotions and feeling closely, look at what they are doing to you, and ask yourself what am i doing holding on to all of this when the real me is not this physical body and i dont have to exist as a victim of these things, see this, contemplate it, and if you can experience the real part of you, this other stuff will begin to dissolve and flow away from you, you will actually just drop it and see yourself as you really are and not the one suffering. at that point the pain in the physical body will begin to dissolve, what is manifest in the flesh was created in consciousness before it was manifest in the flesh, so now we have to return to consciousness to begin a cleansing process with will begin to heal the human body.

there are no stages in enlightenment. you are enlightened or you are not, there is no middle ground in this. newageism, has created levels and stages of enlightenment but they are only fooling themselves, most are not seeking enlightenment, most are only dealing with personal issues of the human being, and call that personal growth, personal growth has nothing to do with enlightenment. it is good to become a better human but being a better human wont get you enlightened. As hard as this might be for some of you to grasp, and accept, eventually you will have to if you are ever to become enlightened. if you want to be a better human being then work on personal growth and deal with human issues, if you want to become enlightened seek enlightenment, the process is completely different for them