SOUL

All this is revealing in you is the difference between the happiness that comes from the ego in our consciousness and the fulfillment that comes from the awareness in our consciousness. The ego based happiness is dependent on stuff going our way, it's temporary and the ego is always looking for it's next fix by not being satisfied with what it's already got. The awareness based fulfillment is not dependent on the stuff in life, it transcends the temporary and can be felt regardless of whether things go our way. So we can feel fulfilled in life even when stuff doesn't go our way because through awareness we can be fulfilled with just being.... not being something or anything, just in being. If we get our fulfillment through awareness then everything we do as far as business success, fitness, relationships or any other goal we will have is enriched because our contentment is in being and not dependent on circumstances going our way.

Oh look, another person that has decided to tell me I don't have free will but I choose not to believe them.

@Arkandeus While I can appreciate the passion you have for your spiritual expression but that response was putting more spin on top of the already spun.

The most fulfilling success we can have is to be at peace with reality as it unfolds in the present moment with each moment we can be present in it.

I have read on this forum that someone who is 'enlightened' can rape children and it's not 'evil' because that is a construct of the mind. I have also read that even though someone can genuinely love and care for others, if they are unawakened it's just monkey mind conditioning. My view on it is in attributing an identity of and label on something we actually create it as such for ourselves even if there is not really a distinction inherent of it according to what we call and identify it as.

*Inserts obligatory 'is this thread stupid for talking about people' question.*

There is no paradox in that because emotions are just stimuli which can motivate us to behave and they don't have anything positive or negative about them other than what we give. The way I found effective to manage emotions is to view them from the perspective of helping, hindering or having no effect in me for what I seek to accomplish. This addresses two things that tend to manifest in self conscious, judgment and dualism, first it's far enough removed from moralistic judgment and it also gives 3 different types of influences that an emotions can have in us. People usually just see only two because of the tendency of the mind to form a duality in concept. How emotions move in us to motivate behavior doesn't have to be unconscious conditioned response, this is what awakening and enlightenment does for us, it's illuminates in us what is darkened so we won't have to be enslaved to it..

@Joseph Maynor Well, actually, if stripping concept from reality is a key to enlightenment then even the concept of stripping concept from reality as a key to enlightenment needs to be stripped.... or it isn't. This is why I try not to apply conditions to the unconditional or limit the infinite...so I just let it be and be at peace with what it is.

Stripping concept from reality being a key to enlightenment is a concept that would need to be stripped from reality as a key to enlightenment then.... jussayin

Meditation, consciousness, enlightenment and spirituality are a very subjective experience so I'm not sure who or what can be the arbiter of what is valuable or legitimate. Does this just become another place where group think rules as doctrine and the infinite divergence of personal expression gets shut out? What makes absolute sense to one may be non sense to another so majority accepted ideas and concepts doesn't make for validity. I agree there has been some thread flooding and personal attacking going on but by internet standards it's tame so I hope it's only the most egregious examples of it that get handled and it doesn't end this venue to explore these topics and our experience of them.

Then cease arguing about concepts.... how do you like them apples?

@Joseph Maynor Did I quote or tag you in my comment? I guess you must think it applies to you, this is something you may examine more closely in your self, especially since you just challenged my comment.

The self conscious is a natural expression in consciousness of the manifest that has effects in the body which urges to sustain itself and we as sentient beings happen to be aware of our self conscious. Some people at the behest of their religion or belief will call it evil or sin or a disease or any other number of negative characterizations in an attempt to justify their ideas of it and/or manipulate people into following them and their beliefs.

Using words and concepts to challenge other's words and concepts while denying attachment to them.... a classic blind spot in one's awareness.

It isn't a race and there is nobody to beat, not even your own self, so the comparison of Usain Bolt may not be so apropos to it. Enlightenment is just a word, it's used to refer to the process of awakening of what is asleep in us and an illumination of the darkened in our consciousness. It isn't some achievement to be gained or a destination that can arrived at, it's an ongoing process that is like the waxing and waning of the moon or the ebb and flow of the tides.

Yes, it can.

Sleepy one....awaken.

Hmmmmm... calling someone's genuinely expressed and exercised spirituality "bullshit" isn't insulting?

@Fidelio, The answer you sought from me was very eloquently and effectively elaborated by @Emerald.

I didn't have to make any assumptions, you provided the evidence of it yourself with your own words. Is this lack of self awareness you have one of the eight folds? I'm just wondering...

Why are you so angry? Also why are you so bitter and dismissive of others because their way doesn't mirror yours? What in your spirituality brings you to call other people's way of expressing their spirituality as "bullshit"? If this is the type of behavior and attitude towards others the eight-fold path produces in someone who claims to have it's teachings as second nature to them I'm not sure it's something that benefits anyone.

@Fidelio I was quoting the words you used, that's an appropriate use of them but thank you for your concern about my grammar. I apologize if it made it so difficult to answer me. Can you find it in you to answer the question? What is this everything that is almost second nature to you? I'm genuinely interested to hear your answer.

@Fidelio What is this "everything" that is "second nature"?.... "almost" that is....

@Fidelio So when do you plan to start this "refined, tried and true" method yourself?

You asked what's the difference and I replied in a way to clarify what some of the facets of consciousness are and what people may be referring to with those words. I didn't say anything about theory or that anything is ultimately pointless so not sure how I can reply to those.