LetTheNewDayBegin

@Joel3102 @sadlabounty @Siim Land Thanks a lot! That's plenty!

Hi there Please recommend me books about healthy eating that you've read. Love.

An enlightened person doesn't need any motivation to do great things! The video is an example of that, isn't it? An enlightened person is rooted in presence and has no desire to change the world, chop the wood or to meditate! Those who sit and do nothing are clearly the ones who got attached to sitting and doing nothing. After enlightenment one notices that it's not the ego that was the problem. It was the identification with the ego that was the problem.

What did the universe think before it burst into existence? The sound of one hand clapping.

@Uncover thank you for posting this thread. It's generated so many awesome responses! How has been your progress so far?

You've acquired some knowledge, but it hasn't yet become wisdom. Have a look around this forum, I'm sure you'll find that missing insight. Here are some from me: * Stop trying to find happiness, embody the happiness. * Don't take concept of time too seriously. Life is always now and will always be now (it won't run away from you). * Think only when you need to think. Excessive thinking takes its source in attachment to something. Let things go.

This is great! This, too.

Well you didn't undersand what I've just said.

Please connect both things. One works with current emotions by getting oneself to the true reason, and the reason is always in you. Not in the past or outside. Maybe the original cause was the butterfly flapping its wings two decades ago but the reason of hate is now and it's in you. Find it.

Where is love in all of this?

But why do you hate these things? Do you feel somehow manipulated to do it? What is the issue here for you?

No there is not.

Hi @quantum , it's quite simple! Absolutely stop valuing lies. Have you done that already?

Wow, such a powerful image, @cetus56 . Have you tried then treating the God's heart as your own heart?

In one of the topics about free will @Leo suggested to explore the surrendering in response. So I went to practice the act of surrender. After a while, I noticed that there is a struggle in my surrendering. I understood then, that I need to surrender "the struggle to surrender" itself. But how to do that without a struggle? Then it occured to me. The answer to "is there a free will?" is, in short, that there is no answer. In fact, there is actually no question. And if there is no question then there is no answer! So if you're asking how to surrender, well..., don't! There is no question. Just sharing. Love.

Thank you @kurt , this is great.

@Motus Also, as the ego dissolves from one's mind, nothing happens.

@kurt does all this mean that seeking the experience of truth (like samadhi) is actually counter-productive towards enligthenment? Would you say that all one needs to do is actually, for the first time in one's life, just stop for a moment?

@jse Great references! The question Do I have a free will? is a false dichotomy. To un-ask this question we can say: The "I" cannot have anything. Or we can say: There is no "self" to have. Now the question "Is there free will?" is not the same. There is no false dichotomy there. If there was, we would need to say: There is no "is". Or: Nothing "is". Do we mean that? On the other hand. by stating "There is no free will" we just answer the question directly.

@Leo Gura, thanks! Somehow I cannot let go of free will. I need to find out why. It's not about control or power. Maybe it's about creation or contribution. I'll try the surrendering path for a bit. I'll get back to you.

Hi! I'm also as confused as somenathpal. And I'm not yet satisfied with the answers given here. Let me maybe summarize what I see, as these things I believe are subtle. Please tell me if you agree or not, as it is a different view. Firstly, there is an illusion of self, there is an illusion of free will, but there is also awareness, which is not an illusion. This awareness is "trapped" in this self, therefore it has become itself just a partial awareness (aware only to an extent of the self), or has it? Secondly, the enligthenment breaks the chains put by self upon the awareness, but even after enligthenment, the self remains... and it still compartmentalizes the awareness! So as it turns out it was the self that got enligthened and not the awareness. Awareness has always been enligthened, it's just that the illusory self has gained direct insight about its very own nature. To conclude, with the unbounded awereness, as the name suggests, there is no separation, thus there is no self. Without the self-separation there is no free will, because thre is no agent capable of doing anything, as the awareness is everything it has nothing other to act upon! But then, from the construct of mind, the great illusionist, a self appears. And with that illusion, the miracle happens, you gain free will. There now is something other, something that can be acted upon. You're now free to explore. You're now free to experience the fruit of the unbounded universe. You're the spaceship for the awareness, a spaceship created to experience itself in its manifestation. Rejoice!