Maya_0

I can recognize that form is formlessness right here but its not easy to keep that recognition stable. It's the natural tendancy of the mind to separate out objects in existence and live some sort of conceptual life on the relative level. Also that very recognition of form as formlessness is out of our control. It's just a movie playing. Most beings here will never have that recognition and will live their lives out in the illusion and will incur lots of suffering.

You want to escape it because suffering is inherent in manifestation. The game God is playing with itself precarious, it's unreliable, unsatisfying, and ungovernable. There is no lasting peace or satisfaction to be found inside the movie of form. I can't escape the totality of what I am but I should have the ability (being Infinitely powerful and all) to stop playing the movie, even if the data of the movie still remains in potential.

It's not always straightforward to adopt God's POV because part of God's POV is to ignore or forget that it's perceiving from God's POV. God identifies with form and seems to forget it's inherently peaceful nature. It sounds like you're saying there is no escape from this forgetting/ignorance in successive lives.

I agree. Liberation does not mean form has to cease. It's the identification with form that causes the bondage. Consciousness takes the form of mind and the mind latches onto form and becomes identified as a body. The default state of humanity is bondage unless we take steps to awaken. But what good is awakening if after this life consciousness takes identity again as as another body/form? You're right back in bondage again.

Have you ever experienced a body outside of consciousness?

And He said, “Thou canst not see My face, for there shall no man see Me and live.” Exodus 33:20 Not a Jesus quote but a juicy nondual verse.

For the same reason the majority of people don't take psychedelics: fear and doubt.

The ego is the mind and the mind is absent during sleep. In deep sleep, there is just awareness aware of itself, all alone.

I read this in rupert spiras book "The nature of consciousness". It should answer your question on why dreams during sleep can seem to be more fantastical than the waking state dream.

There can't be free will for the ego, because there isn't one. That is what spirituality concludes: There's no personal you entity. Nevertheless, we must pretend like there is one, and live like we make choices and decisions. You feel depression because you don't know who you are existentially. Find out who you are existentially.

Yes that's all dream stuff and you're beginning to wake up out of the dream of self. Congratulations on making it out of that prison! I will say though if you're still working and in the world with "ordinary" people, it's very easy to get pulled back into unconscious patterns and habits, or fall back to sleep as it were. It's also very normal to feel estranged in society and want to limit your involvement within it.

@Shadowraix No way! There's definitely an asymmetry between pain and pleasure. Think of this offer: I could give you 2 hours of the most incredible sublime pleasure available but in order to you would have to suffer 1 hour of most excruciating severe pain. If you're sane you wouldn't take that offer!

Whatever Leo says about what happens after death is baloney.

@1liamo78 Nothingness is not the space inside a bubble nor the space outside a bubble. It's Nothing. But even that is saying one word too much.

@cetus56 The term is actually PariNirvana (extinction without remainder) , which happens after the death of the body, as distinct from Nirvana, which is extinction but while still living with the experience of being a body.

Think of it like this, if you're Infinity intelligent you should have the power to end experience.

There's no free will for the ego but only God's Will.

Happiness is always available whether you meditate or not.

No one knows what happens after death, any claim someone makes can only be speculation.

That is what the spiritual path comes down to really, entering "no-mind" and being able to stay present in whatever you are doing. "Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.” ~ Chuang Tzu

Really curious to hear people's thoughts on this! This has been a very prevalent phenomenon I encounter ever since I started "waking up." I call them "energies", and I can sense them on my body wherever I am. Some energies are comfortable & serene, like those in nature, and some feel assaulting and harsh, like when walking down a busy city street. I was never before sensitive to energies prior to my awakening and previously never would have believed such a sense be possible. But this phenomenon is very real palpable to me. I don't quite understand how it happens rationally speaking, but my guess is that the ego is the source of these energies. The ego, as a pattern of energy in flux, radiates a field that can be tuned into by other egos who have a heightened awareness. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on how these energies manifest, how sensitive you feel you are to them, and perhaps some tips/tricks on how you personally deal with them, considering they can often be unpleasant sensations. ❤

You can answer them intellectually but that doesn't mean it's going to make sense to you.

0% for the Enlightened

Existence and consciousness are flashes of Nothingness superimposed upon Nothingness. There are no beings, no worlds, no minds, no consciousness, no souls, no events, no time, no space, no Buddha, no Christ, no Self, no God. There is only not-'that' That-- the Great, Magnificent Void, Nothingness, the womb of all existence. Consciousness is neither present nor absent in Nothingness, for Nothingness is actually the root of consciousness. In truth, there is no such thing as consciousness, there is only Nothingness. Consciousness is instantiated Nothingness, as is all of existence. Anything that can be perceived or conceived should be viewed as not final, and therefore discarded. Time, space, form, emotions, thoughts, sensations, consciousness, all of these 'exsist' and therefore rely upon Nothingness. Sunyata, as Nothingness can be called in Buddhism, or Tao in Taoism, sustains everything, including consciousness. It is the vast, empty void of Non-existence that the Buddha calls Nirvana, meaning "extinction" of all 'being.' Nothingness is prior to our experiences, our senses, and consciousness, all of which are dependent upon a myriad of other factors to exist, such as a body, oxygen, sustenance, etc. Nothingness is what allows consciousness to occur because it allows all of 'being' to be.

Completely. But traveling on the spiritual path is the way to get back to the wonder, freedom and bliss you experienced in childhood!