SOUL

@Prabhaker Be at peace with what you will.

Very many times, yes I do surrender. It's an amazing experience since it is an emulation of infinite consciousness first moment of being.

I have experienced facing this. One thing to keep in mind, the infinite void is the absence of all things and is eternally devoid... it's the infinite void.

@Prabhaker Trading one belief for another and relabeling it doesn't change what it is.

Well, that's awesome to hear I personally don't let belief be a stumbling block to me in that I don't view them as preventing me from being at peace.

"be·lief/bəˈlēf/ noun an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists. trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something." -------------------------------------------------------------------- "trust/trəst/ noun firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something." It seems the difference you believe is immense is not that at all. Your reply is filled with ideas and concepts you believe in including but not limited to what is a "real man" to you and insulting people who believe. Sometimes limiting beliefs can be about belief itself.

This thread is in need of a group hug

Just be

What is called enlightenment is just being, it doesn't take any work to just be, although to be at peace with it may take some cultivation of the mind. Very rarely will someone have a mind that is predisposed to being at peace with just being because in developing as a child we get conditioned in ways not conducive for being at peace. So when we just be with a mind in unrest we are miserable just being with that. This is why people work to prepare the mind so it's adapted for just being and being at peace with it. Personal development is working with the consciousness for a different goal than seeking enlightenment. It's more focused on finding our personal preferences and satisfying the needs and desires that are typically associated with the self conscious. The overlap of the two differing methods comes where in personal development the individual seeks peace, contentment and happiness with themselves. Someone can find peace and happiness without reaching the type of enlightenment that those who are seeking that, do. Although, it will follow similar ideas and concepts in the mind to find it in both methods. At some point the paths of seeking personal development and seeking enlightenment diverge because of the intent of the seeker.

@Bronsoval @The Universe ..............................................................

I started so very miserable and troubled youth. It can be a challenge to be at peace, en-joy and in love with life.. It took a while to get it though but I can still get distracted, life is complicated sometimes and the ego is easily distracted......squirrel!

@Revolutionary Think Absolutely, everything I do. if something extinguishes joy I stop doing it. That doesn't equate to 'unpleasant' or 'not happy', joy is deeper than circumstances, it's anything that distracts me from just being and disturbs my peace, which is pretty high threshold, though.

Well @Revolutionary Think I don't see a purpose in life, I'm just being. Although, I also don't see my way as "right" so find your own way to what you seek if it brings contentment to do so.

@Revolutionary Think There's always more than one way to the top of the mountain, find your own way.

Where? Here and when.... now.

My, my, my, how mystical.

..............................................................................

To forget what is believed in the mind so all that remains is what is so be it.

Consciousness is infinite potential, awareness is manifest in us as it's genuine nature of infinite potential but becomes determined as a "personality" if we allow the infinite potential awareness in us to agree with a personality.

Physical reality exists as it does regardless of thoughts about it although thoughts are a part of the physical reality. Thoughts are merely a tool used by our brain to display information in our mind to give context to the experience we are having. How useful those tools are for the task varies greatly and if a person finds the ones they have to be useless they can seek to influence the tool kit the mind has. We have thoughts, we are not our thoughts, they are merely tools so don't be our thoughts, don't be a tool.

@Ramu I can understand the passion. I also can understand the frustration with reductionist.ideas from rationalists. It's a paradox in that just being in the now, allowing our consciousness to be filled with just being is something that a conditioned mind may understand in theory but cannot do....by just being, so simple, just being. So a seeker will go through lots of studying, practices and deep understandings just to prepared the mind by undoing the conditioning so...they can just be. Haha. Simple solution that often takes many complicated exercises just to be able to do the simple solution....just being here now. Too often people will get lost along the way in all the concepts, ideas and understandings, too easy to get consumed by this technique or that practice and see it all as the way to achieve "enlightenment" when simply it's..... just be here now. I also acknowledge in saying I am grateful and appreciate the graciousness of your words.

@Ramu You can believe any way you choose to from your own experience but the moment you project that belief onto others and tell them it's their way, too, it becomes dogma. That being said I'm not sure what I said that triggered you, it's straight forward enough, is compatible with what you said and don't know why you felt the need to come at me about your issue with it. Our consciousness gets 'dimmed' by the preoccupation with the temporal life, enlightenment is bringing back the illumination to our consciousness. Ultimately the more deeper enlightenment understandings are ones that may be something a person can aspire to but this thread was started by a self professed "newbie" so I was addressing it in a simplified way. I find that much of the more advanced enlightenment rhetoric can be kind of elitist sounding and very abstract so can be difficult for some to understand. Seems like that issue with "rationalists" is something you may seek to let go of, I didn't intend to trigger anyone.

@Barna Why don't you ask a dog, cat or bird you come across "why" they act to keep life if there is no meaning, I'm sure the answer would be enlightening. Hehe

I'm not one of the people who confuses "illusion" for "does not exist", things are what they are regardless of what we perceive them as. If you don't value living your life for whatever reason then you may not see any value in retaining the information to keep yourself alive and prospering. I'm not here to explain to you "why" you should, that's up to you to figure out. Sometimes self-inquiry can instead be over thinking it.

Who said anything about "bad"? I didn't. Pain is what it is, regardless of what it "means" to us.