Infinite

@Lorcan It seems to me like your friend holds certain beliefs about meditation that are in conflict with your experiences. This then created cognitive dissonance in his mind when speaking to him about your experiences, and so, to maintain the status quo of his belief system, he deludes himself by telling you that you're the one deluding yourself.

@Henrik_Sahlen Reading the same book 10 times would be ridiculous. The better option would be to take notes of every key point as you're reading it, then after you've finished the book, periodically review those notes that you've made to ensure that you've retained and integrated the knowledge.

@Salaam Why are you assuming that multiplicity implies inherent separateness? There is multiplicity, but it is the infinite multiplicity of one underlying reality. It doesn't get more simple and obvious than this. The infinite multiplicity of multidimensional existence is all of one reality. Isn't this obvious? There can only be one reality. Even if there are infinite parallel universes and/or dimensions, these infinite parallels are all arising out of one underlying reality. Nobody is saying that there is only one element. You're perceiving it in that manner do to your misinterpretation of what non-duality implies. Non-duality does not imply that there is no multiplicity or multi-dimensionality. That would literally be contradictory to our direct experience. All non-duality implies is that there is one underlying reality, and this underlying reality is the essence of all things. So in regards to your 118 elements argument, there are 118 elements, but they all appear within & exist as one underlying reality. They are 118 aspects of one reality, as is everything else.

How is it even possible to act consciously, when there isn't even a self that does the action?

@Leo Gura But how do "I" act consciously if "I" am not responsible for the actions?

@Oneness Eliminating anything that does no pertain to self actualization should suffice.

@Paul-from-France How do you smell something that is coming from your true self? You cannot smell, taste, hear, feel, see, or think your true self. You're not the sensory phenomenon, you're that which is aware of the sensory phenomenon. You're beyond all sensory phenomenon.

Holy shit, that is incredible! I've only been able to do 90 minutes max! You've just given me a whole new level of motivation.

19

@Vinsanity

@stephanie The point of the process is to untangle yourself from the illusion that's been created. You're not currently capable of enjoying reality as it is. How could you enjoy reality as it is when you believe that you're an individual self? Believing that there is a self, implies that there is a division between you and the rest of reality. You cannot possibly enjoy reality for what it is, when you believe yourself to be something that is separate from it. The point of the process is to merge with reality itself, which only then can you truly "enjoy pure existence and just be". If you think otherwise, try to sit and be for 4 hours without moving, and watch what happens. You'll see that you're completely incapable of doing so, and this is why we undergo the process.

@stephanie Enlightenment is not a belief. Enlightenment is what's left when all beliefs about reality have been eradicated. Anything that is said about enlightenment or how to attain it will sound like a belief, only because we have to use language in order to speak about it. Anything that is ever said about enlightenment is not true. The only purpose of language is to point one in the direction of truth, but the words themselves will never be true. You have to read between the lines of what was said, and stop looking at it from the level of thoughts/beliefs.

@mikeyy How long are you meditating?

I use the label yogi, because yogi is typically a word that defines one who devotes their entire life to meditation. Since it was the appropriate label to describe what I want to do, I used it. The label is completely irrelevant. What's your point? "until a transition from the identity to a being of consciousness occurs, then labels are not necessary to speak to others about personal growth or self realization" How exactly are you going to speak to anyone at all without labels? You're using labels right now. If you weren't, the conversation would look like this: Impossible.

Osho, Sadhguru, Peter Ralston.

This is all obvious to me, but I cannot translate an idea without using labels. If I were to stop using labels, I would have to go my entire life without speaking. I used the label "yogi" because it was the appropriate label to convey what I was trying to convey. Asking why I'm using the label "yogi", is like asking why I'm using the label "banana". Without the label, I would have absolutely no way of communicating to you what I am eating. Clearly the labels are illusory, but there would be no communication without them.

@charlie2dogs What makes you think I'm not seeking that?

I'm in the same boat. 19, done with society's bullshit, and all I want is to be a yogi.

@Algi Strong Determination is my go-to technique.

Just as thoughts are simply arising content within pure awareness, this entire experience of life is simply arising content. I never stopped being pure, empty, transparent awareness.

@cetus56 I say vanish. Mind has to dissolve back into its source, pure awareness.

@cetus56 I don't know if you're going unconscious or not. Based on your description, I really only see two possibilities here. 1.You're becoming so mentally aware that the mind dissolves into 'nothingness'. 2. You're going unconscious. I can't tell you which one it is. When the content within awareness ceases to be, it appears to us as if the awareness ceases to be. This is because we are fixated on the content (what we are aware of), and ignorant of the reality (awareness itself). Awareness itself is neither something nor nothing, but since we perceive ourselves to be its content, we think that it vanishes with the absence of the content. Nothingness only appears to be nothingness, in relation to the belief that there is something other than consciousness (awareness). Awareness is all there could ever be. When you experience "absolute nothingness", which is the absence of experience (content), you then say "I realize that I had vanished". It's not that "you" vanished, it's that what you believe yourself to be vanished. Without being aware of the eternal self, the absence of content gets interpreted as the absence of self. Think about what occurs during deep sleep. In deep sleep we think that awareness vanishes because there is a complete absence of experience. In reality however, the state of deep sleep is pure awareness. Pure awareness simply means awareness without content.

@JevinR Doing anything at all is egoic because it's the ego that is doing. Even if you were "senselessly giving to others", it would still be egoic. It's the ego that asks "what does one get from consciousness?", and it's the ego that replies to the question.

@cetus56 You can't really experience the disappearance of "existential awareness" though, because this awareness is what you intrinsically are. The only awareness that can be increased/decreased, is mental awareness. When mental awareness is lost, this then creates the illusion that existential awareness is lost. When I say "existential awareness", I am referring to the true self. Since the true self is often referred to as awareness, it is important to understand the distinction between mental awareness, and the true self. If this distinction isn't understood, it starts to sound contradictory when talking about raising awareness (mental awareness), while simultaneously talking about how awareness is what you truly are.