PureExp

@Kenhol Consciousness (aka awareness aka Self) is already witnessing all the minds of all the creatures, including that of you and me. There is only one consciousness. Its all there is. Minds are separate can can access only their own tiny individual areas. Minds are limited, consciousness is not. What you are doing is confusing mind with consciousness. They are not the same thing. Mind is an object, an entity that is experienced, consciousness is non-object, it is the experiencer. Make this distinction clear, and your confusion will be gone. Anyhow, it should be possible to read any mind you want, many people have that talent, some people get a glimpse occasionally. Accessing other's mind is like a bug in this system. We are not supposed to do that to keep the illusion of separation intact, else it destroys the individual-ness. See Francis's explanation (there are more videos by him on the same question).

Very well said. It is shocking to find that all of the body, ego and mind do whatever they do, spontaneously. There are experiments to show that actions and intentions happen before we (individuals) "pretend" to choose them. However, I think, its not purely mechanical. The mechanisms reflect an extreme intelligence. Our actions are perfect, a result of a perfect intelligence. The universal Mind. The individuated mind has limited intelligence. I do see people as robots, but operated by something that operates this whole universe (physical as well as non-physical).

@bigzbigi Thanks again. That actually makes more sense to me than ancient views on chakras, nadis or kundalini. Perhaps because I have a science background and know electricity and brain well (as concepts ). The idea of chakras as rotating electromagnetic fields, generated by electric impulses in nerves is really interesting. Its new for me. So thanks, I got something new to think about. The first thing I immediately thought was - it should be possible to measure those field in real time using SQUID arrays. If you plot those measured quantities on an X-Y graph, you'd visualize a chakra. If that can be done, it will be revolutionary. I've had a very painful blockage in throat, which is easing gradually. Especially, it started healing when I started to write down my concepts (You are right about it, I have too many in my mind). Writing down helped to throw out the useless concepts, but I still have many. What you wrote is precise enough, except perhaps self-love. I've exactly reverse issue, too much self-love, not enough love for others . I'm working on it. About eating habits, my body would spontaneously vomit out any meat etc. Later I'd vomit eggs too and milk was not digested. I never thought it had anything to do with my practice, but when my practice peaked, all those symptoms went worse. These days I can't eat stuff cooked in the same pan in which meat is cooked. I'm hypersensitive somehow. I hope it won't last. I'm learning that others also have such odd aversions (or longings, some people start eating meat), and now it makes perfect sense why traditional practitioners are told not to eat meat. Anyhow, now I sometimes experience blockage in head too. Full head. The "heat" or pressure tries to exit through ears, it won't flow up. Do you have any advice on that? Another question - chakras closely correspond to endocrine glands (pituitary, pineal, thyroid and so on). What do you think is the reason?

@Neo I'm also a student, but I've done almost all stupids acts that are a strict no-no for a path. So I know what not to do That's all I share usually. The answers to self-equiry (contemplation/introspection) do not come through as a voice or a thought or an image. Those are just mind activities that can happen after the answer is already seen. So never expect the thought to appear first which may contain an answer, its exactly reverse, the thought may come as an after effect of answer. See, if you do not already know the answer, what will you think about? what will the voice say if it doesn't know what to say? So knowing comes first, the answer is in the form of an experience. Ok what is this "experience of knowing"? For example, when you see a flower in your garden, and you are curious what color is it, and you ask that question, perhaps just intend to know the color, you will see red (say). The experience of redness is direct knowing. No voice or thought or memory or image told you that it is red. You know it directly. Later once you know the color, the mind jumps in, it forms a thought - its red, and perhaps puts it in a language form, a sentence you hear inside. When you ask - who am I (or what am I), look for an experience, not for a thought. Perhaps who am I is too advanced for some. So start from "what am I not?" (the famous neti-neti formula). Another better version is - "Am I aware now?". Takes a fraction of second to know that. Experience it, taste it, repeat..... Later you are free to form thoughts and do logical analysis on the knowledge (the answer) you just got. Let us know how it goes. Try Leo's stuff, its short and sweet. If you can handle detailed long text, try my blog here. The physiological reflexes you are getting are a common occurrence. Your practice is something new for the mind, it causes very deep changes in it. Since the body is tightly coupled to the mind, the reactions appear in the body. You need not cure them or avoid them, they come and go. I had the saliva problem and sleep problem too. I'd get dizzy, tired and almost felt like fainting. I slowed down, and it passed. This is nothing actually, people get a large variety of "purification symptoms", some painful and some crazy, like non-stop crying or anger or sexual arousal that lasts 24x7 . Read here more, if you are interested. Anyway, if you find all that challenging, I suggest join a good teacher, just listen to him, sit together, do guided stuff etc. Some people find that more comforting than simply reading books/net/videos and doing it all on their own. Those who are serious about the path, take solid actions.

The topic here is how to experience oneness, but your question is also relevant. (For this post I'm assuming awareness=consciousness=witness). Firstly, and foremost, you are always aware. There was never a moment when you were unaware. Awareness or consciousness is ever present. (Try to know it directly, ask those questions while introspecting, aka self-enquiry) What comes, goes, drifts, waxes and wanes is the mind. The contents in awareness come and go. Contents are impermanent, ephemeral. Awareness is the background, the screen on which contents happen. Mind has states, it cycles through states, awareness has no states, it is changeless. Once you realize the above, you will see that in order to abide as awareness all one needs to do is just prefer it gently, shift attention from wandering mind back to awareness. When the mind wanders, the awareness is always there to witness its wandering, it allows all states of the mind equally, it won't discriminate. But eventually the mind itself triggers a reminder to go back into awareness only mode. One needs to train the mind to trigger that reminder more frequently. You can't train awareness, you can only train the mind. An advanced yogi, or monk has simply made the reminding continuous, every second, 24x7. Some can do it even in deep sleep.

@bigzbigi Good post, thank you. What do you think about blockages? And how to cure them? (Especially one at throat).

You are doing great ! "I" is only a concept. You won't find an "I" anywhere, not outside nor inside. What you will find is that there is just "being-ness". I suggest a question - Have I ever encountered anything that is not an experience? If yes, how would it look like?

@Nahm That was deep, perhaps in an alien language

I guess everybody ends up frustrated when they chase happiness in the material things. Some hoard money and stuff all life, some end up in countless relations, some travel, eat a ton of food, play or get into adventures of all sorts. In the end, these things bring a momentary amusement, a distraction that appears like happiness. Ancient wisdom tells us that happiness is not to be found in external stuff. Pleasures don't last, they turn into a pain quickly. Contentment and satisfaction, not greed for more or anxiety that you are not really happy, is the key. Ultimately, you find that both happiness and suffering are just states of mind, they are impermanent like any other mental stuff, illusory. There is infinite peace that lies in the background, which is the witness (consciousness). Its neither happy nor sad, its a blissful peace. That realization (call it enlightenment if you like), will not automatically make you "happy", you will need to get rid of the need to "become happy". That involves detachment and cultivating equanimity. That alone can stop the mad egoic pursuit of happiness and avoidance of suffering.

@kuwaynej Yes, it matters at the level of everyday worldly matters. E.g. Whether to hang a murderer or not. We can't simply say that it was Universe's will to kill and let him go When I say it doesn't matter, I mean at the highest level, from the non-dual level. There is no paradox at highest level. Paradox is at the level of duality. If we=majority, then the answer is still no. IMO, majority consider themselves as separate individuals.

Above post is now a blog article with more details, clarity and faqs. Hopefully it will be of some use.

The answer depends on how you define "we" and "will". If we=individual: No If we=universe:Yes Let's say will = ability to choose one from a set of choices. An individual's choice is just universe's choice, so it doesn't really matter. Problem arises only when you assume that its the individual who chooses. That's plain ignorance.

You are making progress. I'm not kidding Its the Ego reacting automatically and "unconsciously". Ego doesn't like to be seen, or to be addressed directly. It is feeling threatened. And that brings up responses. Its nothing to worry about, it will settle down, as soon as the lower parts to the mind are conditioned in a new way.

You must have noticed that people have huge egos. I'm one of them The ego is an automated defense mechanism, which has evolved for only one purpose - survive and procreate. Its very useful, brutal and is like an autopilot, you don't need to think much, it does it for you. Now, the problem is - it has very limited wisdom, its like an AI, a machine, and it decides on its own what it needs to defend. So it defends the body (of course that's wise), it defends your food, shelter, your hoard of shiny stuff. That's why you don't like when someone touches you, or stares at your food, or enters into your house or steals your belongings. You want to obliterate the intruder. That's ego in action. So far so good, the trouble starts when it encroaches into mind stuff, and calls it its own part. So things you know, things you say and things you believe all become something that must be defended from anyone or anything that dares to oppose or destroy them. So the things you "know for sure" must remain so, ego will stand between them and any new knowledge that might try to get it (Oh I know everything now). The things you have already said must not be changed, no one should dare to call them stupid, they are just perfect, the total truth, and same for your actions (I cannot be wrong, I am fair and just). The ego will hang on to the last straw to "prove" and thus save your words and deed. Finally, any attack on your beloved beliefs sends ego into a fit, especially if its destruction is going to prove that you were an idiot to have believed that (what I believe is truth and nothing but truth, if you don't agree you are the enemy, you are inferior, I deserve more food and females not you). Beliefs are just baseless assumptions, not founded on direct experiences or logical inferences. Their destruction becomes ego's destruction, ego sees it as a lowering of its social status, thus giving it a disadvantage in regard to survival and procreation, its competitors gain advantage if they are proven correct and wiser. Ego doesn't like that. So you will see that those who are "authoritative", old, hold top positions, high in command etc. defend their beliefs most violently. They even manipulate others to believe in the same nonsense they believe, they make followers, to gain more power, to silence their competitors and prevent them from gaining a survival advantage. These are our familiar ego games. Ordinary people will remain ordinary people, can't do much, but such tendencies of the ego become a hurdle for a seeker. His ego stops his progress. He doesn't want to learn, resists removing his old conditioning and beliefs. So as a solution, it is often recommended to surrender the ego. Whom to surrender it? Of course to the knowledge, the teachings. Since a teacher is the source of knowledge, surrendering of ego starts there. If you do not respect a teacher, do not surrender your ego to him, that teacher is not for you, or you won't progress fast enough. How to surrender? Its simple, do not offer any resistance to the knowledge, keep a very open mind, curious, inquisitive, critical and questioning attitude. Be very aware that the incoming teachings, whether truth or BS are not a survival threat. You are safe and sound, they are just words. Never believe the words, get the experience. Because once you believe, the ego will start defending them also. Knowledge has nothing to do with assumptions, you don't even need to remember it, its obvious and self-evident. So whenever you find your ego getting fired up for a fight on that matter of what is "truth/correct/right", just become aware and alert. You do not have to act, or to accept or believe. Just surrender that behaviour and listen carefully to what is being told. Note that the surrender does not mean that you surrender your mind too and become a mindless idiot. Surrender only the stupid part of the mind - the ego. The higher parts must function properly to evaluate and experience new knowledge. In the absence of egoic mess, the mind functions more clearly, quickly and efficiently. The body remains calm and quiet, you can sit with a teacher for long times, and so the result is rapid progress. How to surrender to a teacher? Its easy to surrender to a dead teacher who lived a hundred year ago, its difficult to surrender to a living one, especially if he is right in front of you. The ego defences go up very high, its red alert. Its the job of the teacher to destroy your ignorance, and its the job of the ego to maintain the status quo. It totally depends on the skill of the teacher to make his student comfortable. He may treat you like a friend, and offer just suggestions, not commands. Such teachers are popular for obvious reasons, they are less threatening to any ego. Some teachers will make you obey, will beat you up, insult and treat you like a slave. They are effective and fast, the ego shatters completely, but obviously they are not popular. If you are a hardcore seeker, choose the latter. What if a teacher is a fake teacher? Its dangerous to surrender totally to a teacher, for practical reasons. Many are fakes. Especially the female seekers need to be very careful, because of the rampant abuse they suffer. Most will only lose money and time, but some may get stuck in cults. Not surrendering your mind comes handy here, listen carefully to what ego says, observe, whether the teacher is demanding a bit too much in exchange of a few words, are the demands physical in nature, is he using you not for service but for his personal work? All those questions. Leave immediately when in doubt. Again, a hardcore seeker will take enough risk to find out if its worth staying there. The best surrender is surrender to the Self (you the consciousness). Self is the ultimate guide. All knowledge resides there. Try cleaning up the fog of ego that surrounds the Self. It has to be a 24x7 affair, not a 20 mins a day ritual. When you surrender to the Self, you will find that you do not need to surrender to external things or people. The ego can be ego, others can be others. Be careful here, because the ego will often pretend to be the Self. Take up this practice only when you have tasted the Self for a while, a few years at least.

@d0ornokey Yes, suffering is a blessing in disguise. Its mother nature's stick, because carrots are only 50% effective I call the mental suffering (negativity, emotions of fear, anger, lust etc) as opportunities. These are the moments where we confront the mess in us face to face. If you act on it or let it grow, you lose. I've learnt a hard lesson, the negativity and irrational desires don't automatically die when you know who you are. Everything continues as usual. Cultivation is the answer for it.

Identity (aka person, separate self, ego) is a shifty concept. Everyone makes up their own definition of it.

A short list of teachers. My youtube subscriptions. Q&A A big list of teachers.

@Martin123 I see now what you mean. Thanks for explanation.

@Martin123 If there is no lack, there is no desire. I can't find any example right now. Need to think on it. Yes, desire is not a problem, expecting that all desires must be fulfilled is a problem.

That question obviously comes from the Ego (aka the lower mind). Initially the Ego must be lured into a practice in order to give it something. It demands, it wants gains. So you give it something, tell it you will gain this or that, it can be purely material things (wealth, create your reality stuff, or health, good skin lol) or it can be intellectual (peace, knowledge, better mind and intelligence etc). Later, it refines and sees that it itself is the hurdle, the biggest hurdle, in the path of what the spiritual evolution is about, and then it slowly surrenders. No intentions or desires are left.

I think you are doing great. Those are honest thoughts. I don't have much to say, but my 2c - If you pay attention, the body itself is an experience What does that tells us? The body is as illusory as any other object. So is the brain. There are contents in the awareness that do not arise via a body or senses. They are thoughts, memories, imaginations, hallucinations, and non-physical experiences of non-physical realms (e.g. during dreaming, lucid dreaming and astral projection). Sensory contents are a small part of what we can experience. (See this and this for more) This, IMO, is the classic issue of the mind trying in vain to know the consciousness/awareness. It cannot. The mind cannot find the experiencer, it is itself an experience. The reverse is possible, the experiencer can find the mind. So when the mind is gone (e.g. in deep sleep or meditation), it forms no memories of the experience, and when it comes back, it recalls nothing about the experiencer. So you can't recall your experience of "consciousness without contents". But you can get a taste of it. And surely you can experience it, its the classic Nirvikalp Samadhi. (See this for more).

@Dodoster Who knows the loss of all perception? Just curious.

How will people know what they point to? Especially the newbies. I got all your labels correctly and I can see that you are describing an experience. So its fine for me. I simply know what you mean, the comments are for others. The world and "I" appear exactly at the same time. This is again, my own experience.

@Dodoster All good questions. I have only a couple of comments. First on the title - Perhaps you mean that the Mind stops thinking. This is not my experience. The thinking continues. Try yoga-nindra, aka conscious sleep. It happens to me sometimes, I get conscious of whats going on in the mind in dreamless sleep (perhaps a side effect of trying to stay ultra-conscious during day). There is just a sequences of words, images and sounds, almost random, but seems to have a rough meaning, but its an illusion, like we hear voices in noise of a fan. Probably there are pauses in thinking, but it cannot be confirmed. So why don't we find evidence of thinking in the morning? Its because the memory shuts down in deep sleep state. Whatever thoughts were there, did not get impressed on memory. You just conclude there were no thoughts. If you are interested, refer to the latest research on brain in deep sleep state. It is intensely active. Minds perform thousands of activities, "waking thoughts" is only one of them. Deep sleep is much more than what we know about it. Link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081008101740.htm Second, Consciousness has no levels. Or states. Mind has states.

Sorry if I'm butting in this nice discussion, I'm just curious What is your exact understanding of the guide/teaching presented here on this forum? Hows it a contradiction? There are hundreds of "schools". How'd you decide which one is "right"? I guess you are just asking why not everyone simply agrees on one thing. Can they agree? Wouldn't this earth turn into heaven if we all just agreed? He took a drug Anyhow, his experiences are private and subjective, so are mine and yours too. They cannot be shared. All individuals need to get their own experiences. If I claim that I have experienced what you say, I am "enlightened", it does nothing for you, it proves nothing. You will be left to either believe or disbelieve, take it on faith, and so will be reduced to the level of religion. So try to get your own experience, do not depend on what others say. Others will surely help you to get that experience, but cannot spoon-feed it.