PureExp

Traditionally, the end-goal of human life is considered to be liberation. Where the word liberation essentially means end of suffering, unlimited freedom, unlimited choices, and eternal bliss. More specifically, it is end of the cycles of birth and death of "individuated consciousness" (Jeev). The latter means not much for me from an experiential point of view, but I can see how that can bring on eternal bliss. But I'm not very sure, not really convinced It seems to me that ignorance and suffering, bondage etc are just phenomenal (illusory), and its the Ego (lower mind) that wants to avoid it. Isn't the consciousness already free? Any thoughts?

Free course by Ryan Kurczak - Part 1/10

A person is an illusion, just an idea in the mind. The idea is seen as a container of past events, names, relations, memories etc. In short every experience that comes via this mind-body is tagged as "I", "me", "mine" etc. And this whole house of cards becomes a person. Obviously, it keeps updating moment by moment, its a flow, not a thing. If you see it as it is, its just a body-mind going through various experiences. Its not "someone" that's going through them. Its an universal event, not individual. Now is there a core that remains changeless? Given that there is no person, this question should not arise. But some contents of the "I" container may change so slowly that they appear permanent. But the real nature of all things is impermanence. So everything changes. The only things that does not change is the witness of the change, which is - consciousness.

Good post and I agree with @WelcometoReality My direct experience is that - thoughts, memories, imaginations, emotions are already there, just like colors, sounds and shapes are already there, we as consciousness, merely experience those. We do not "cause" thoughts to appear, they appear, we see them. So not much difference between physical and non-physical contents of consciousness. So why do these contents get divided into two kinds - physical and mental (non-physical)? The obvious answer is - physical contents are mediated via senses, non-physical ones are directly perceived. Our minds organizes physical stuff more carefully, i.e. in space and time, and externalizes them. Why? Because survival of the organism depends on that. The non-physical is not organized much, it is perceived just like an invisible bubble and is non-local, has no shape/color or any sensual qualities. So which is more near to us? And which is more real? Well, depending on your personal tastes, you can call both unreal (illusory) or equally real (they are just experiences, style of appearance/presentation does not really matter). Anyhow, the important thing is, and as you said, one should not identify with thoughts or mental processes (like emotions), or with body (which is a physical object/process). The real you is always the observer, witness, the consciousness... Its the *most* real "thing" there is.

Not exactly a spiritual joke, but made me laugh

There are no two. Inquiry into Raw Experience - Rupert Spira and Rick Archer

You caught him red handed there.

Universal Mind is defined as a collection of all structures of all kinds. There is Change and Change gives birth to all kinds of processes. The structures are formed by self-organizing processes that happen in Presence on the canvas of consciousness, and they are metaphysical in nature, which means they are pure information, patterns of nothingness. Our physical universe, bodies and human minds are tiny parts of the Universal Mind. Universal Mind is near infinite, contains all worlds and universes and is all knowing and omnipotent. We are that universal Mind in fact, we have assumed this limited form and gotten identified with it. All you need to do is realize who you are, and you can enjoy this vast scenery of infinite creation. How? What? Why? All such questions are answered in detail here: http://pureexperiences.blogspot.com/2017/04/mind-map.html

You are making good progress. It all depends on your concept and understanding of the word "awakening", so let us know. Note that everyone defines it differently, but one thing is sure - everyone is already there where they need to be, they only need to shed some ignorance. In other words, everyone is already awakened, they just need to realize what they are. Experiences come and go, but realization stays.

Its normal, don't worry Ego hits back, it wants to survive and purification produces all kinds of bodily movements and sensations and behaviours and even pains. Just remember that all experiences come and go. Nothing lasts. Just be very-very aware, intensely aware of what is happening, and it will lose its grip on you. Try to know more on why this happens, if you are curious, instead of turning it into a problem that must be solved. If you give it serious importance, Ego wins. It is not necessary to drag yourself forcefully on the meditation cushion everyday. If it happens, it happens, else its of no use. Whenever you find yourself free from distractions, sit silently. That's all you need to do.

Its not an assumption, its an experience. If by the word "you" you mean consciousness or the experiencer, then it is always the background on which all change happens. Let us assume that the experiencer changes, then you can question - who or what is experiencing that change? And in response you will see that the change becomes an experience, and the experiencer again stands back as a background. So everything that changes or flows becomes an experience and the "thing" that experiences those changes becomes the experiencer. This division is created by the mind out of oneness. This is the first division it creates. As soon as you include this dividing act into the experience, you will see that there is no experiencer, there is just experiencing - a dynamic oneness.

Not sure about enlightenment, but the thought "I am now enlightened" is surely a trick of mind.

That seems to be the case. And its easy to observe. All you need to do is ask some questions. Have you ever experienced anything besides "experiencing"? In other words, have you seen anything other than "consciousness witnessing things here and now"? You will see that its not possible, because if the answer is yes, then who or what was witnessing that thing, if not you as consciousness? Now, have you witnessed anything independent of consciousness? Again the answer you get is no. The experience and experiencer arise together. In other words, they are one and the same, it is not possible to have one without the other. The division into two is mind's doing. In the light of the above, nothing ever happens or is contained outside the consciousness. Even the thought "I" occurs inside it. The bottom line is - all we know is our own consciousness.

@The IdiotArab Thank you. I hope its useful. @LRyan Yes, I understand it in same way. Except that the "false self" (aka Ego or identity) is itself an illusion. All divisions and illusions are creation of mind. Minds enables a separate individuated experience of human life for the consciousness. However, the price consciousness pays for it is ignorance and suffering. In the last part, he goes on saying that all our minds are also one.... parts of a bigger mind. I call it universal mind. UM is creating everything, as a virtual reality, a dream. In fact I have a feeling that the boundaries between our individual minds are very-very thin, and are also virtual.

@NutellaTC I wouldn't worry too much. In fact I'd feel happy. But I know it scares the hell, only the one to whom it happens knows. So, do some damage control or take preventive measures to make it a bit more comfortable. Become "ordinary" again, do not overdo meditation or any breathing or energy practice. Engage in sports, work, anything that keeps your mind distracted. Eat well (if the body allows, experiment what it allows). Sleep more, because you offer no resistance in sleep, and the waking time is less painful. In short, google other's experiences and find out how they dealt with this situation. You will be surprised how common it is. Slowly shift into a lifestyle that supports it. Surrender. That's all you can do. All the best !

@Mohammad You are thinking in a right direction (in my opinion). A common argument that an idealist would put is - "if a component in a radio is broken, the radio malfunctions, but the news reader in the radio station remains unaffected." So that's the famous radio analogy. I consider brain not as receiver but as an interface. So (according to me, and you don't need to believe me), the brain is not a physical structure, senses are extension of brain (CNS) and are also not physical. Moreover, our bodies and world is also not physical. Obviously, mind is not physical too. Everything is modulations/structures in consciousness. You can think of everything as made of a "metaphysical substance", for convenience. Next, whatever is relayed to mind (perceived) via sense structures gets tagged as "physical", whatever is relayed directly, is "non-physical". So structures like objects, bodies, rocks and planets are seen as physical while thoughts, emotions, memories etc. are seen as non-physical. The division is made in the mind, because of different modes of perceptions. And that elegantly explains how non-physical things like thoughts and intentions act on a body. And how the body in turn can act on matter or matter can register itself on mind via senses. Its not magic anymore ! They are all same - so its a straightforward chain of events. So brains acts like an interface for non-physical<->physical. But all it does is reformatting of modulations in metaphysical substance and integrates the sense perceptions into an overall single mental experience. So in essence, it all happens in consciousness.

In my opinion, the most important quality would be Scientific method. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method Its a continuous process of self refinement. It never stops. Scientists are humans and become dogmatic and fixated on beliefs often. But the new paradigms come up again and again and throw away the stale junk. In short - it feeds on itself, it grows and refines very-very fast. This did not happen in old civilizations. They fell into static wells of beliefs that lasted for thousands of years. But the new science has grown out of old. Its a process of humans falling many times and then again getting up and jumping a bit higher than before. That depends on what people believe constitutes "everything". Isn't it? For most that word means anything that our senses can sense. Bodies, objects, space, light, skies, phenomena of all sorts. People have an extroverted mind, and that mind tells them its all out there, and what they perceive is everything there is. Science investigates exactly that - phenomena. And hence, IMO, people assume that it explains everything. Technology adds to this beliefs. "It works so its the whole truth".

@MochaSlap Its a mess Different teachers and traditions use different words to describe their version of stuff. Its a matter of terminology. The question is - will you blindly believe me if I tell you what they mean and how they relate to each other? The whole point is to know it yourself, and then adopt best words to convey what you know.

Will vs determinism, this debate is age old. As you must be knowing, whenever there is a debate which never settles, it is an indication of partial knowledge, a complete picture is missing. So people go on debating without any conclusion. Ego (part of our mind) is a collection of automatic processes. However, Ego doesn't like itself to be called an automaton. People identify with Ego (99.99% of them) and hence feel offended. Its a prestige issue . Then, on the other hand, declaring that there is no will is going to cause havoc in society. We won't be able to punish criminals for example. No one will be responsible for anything. Even totally materialistic people don't want that. So, what is the bigger picture? You can arrive at a reasonably bigger picture by asking these questions: 1- What exactly is will? Is it just randomness? Is it a magical thing? Is it a made up concept that originates from observing others doing "willful" acts? 2- What is an automatic action? Why are there any actions at all? What happens when we assume all actions and events as automatic? Is it as good as assuming all actions and events as willful? 3- Why do we feel it is necessary to classify actions and events into two classes - willed and automatic? What if we don't classify them in that way? What happens?

You nailed it perfectly there. Great thinking ! Science limits itself by ignoring the vastness of consciousness and focusing on just one of its expressions - structures shared among a specific group of minds. Shared structures = physical universe and specific group of minds = humans. Ironically, this focusing is what makes science super efficient, and only within a few hundred years it has done wonders. The fallacy of many of us humans is that its awesome success makes them believe that science explains everything there is to explain. In its glare, they don't see that science gives us very useful partial truths only. Once you we those pieces, we need to see the bigger picture and use those pieces to complete it. So it gives us rules, and we assume everything must follow those rules.