eputkonen

Wherever you go...you can't escape yourself.

Why do you believe it all already happened or there is such a thing as fate?

Sure, why not? Enlightened people still have interests.

That which we suppress and repress tends to arise in silence (i.e. meditation). If it is something suppressed and repressed, you were always suffering...just ignoring it and calling life in distraction happiness/not suffering. Meditation does not create suffering...but in meditation there is a lack of distraction and what is suppressed and repressed tends to rise up again.

Without an example, it is difficult to answer you...but if you are not aware of suffering then you are not suffering at that moment. When you are worried and have anxiety...you know you are worried and have anxiety and thus aware of it. if you were not aware of worry or anxiety...you would not be worried or anxious.

Our thinking creates a lot of theories/beliefs that are often not very close to reality. In this way, the mind does hide what-is (i.e. reality). One's beliefs do tint and/or cover what is seen and therefore what-is is not clearly seen as it truly is when there are beliefs and concepts. Another belief or concept though is "to convince my mind to drop all the believes". Beliefs are not overcome by convincing the mind to drop anything. Beliefs and concepts are ignorance...and ignorance is only dispelled by true understanding. True understanding is realized by simply looking and inquiring. There is an old Indian analogy about a piece of rope that is mistaken to be a poisonous snake. It is dark/dim, and so a piece of rope is believed to be a snake. What can be done to overcome this ignorance/belief? You can only get a better look. If you looked at it long enough and deeply enough, you might realize it is a piece of rope. Then understanding dawns as the ignorance is dispelled. Belief is dispelled. Of course, looking at it while simultaneously believing it is a snake is kind of going up hill, the belief has to be overcome by getting a clearer view. Saying you don't need to drop beliefs to see clearly is obviously a mistake, because if you believed it is a snake and really look no further...you are never seeing clearly. We don't challenge our beliefs...we tend to hold onto them. What you are seeing then is your belief and not reality. If you really saw clearly...what is as it is...or in this case a piece of rope...then there would be no belief. The mind, which is not other than our thoughts, conceptions, beliefs, etc. ...are the filters, colored lenses, and blinders through which we see reality (i.e. what-is)...and how can you clearly see anything with that?

Nothing? Perhaps in that it is not a thing...or does not have form. Nothing is everything. Everything is nothing.

Never heard that before. Don't focus on the "I"...it is just a thought. What is prior to the "I" thought?

I wrote a couple blog posts about this topic of reincarnation: http://www.engagednonduality.com/how-does-reincarnation-fit-with-nonduality-or-doesnt-it/ http://www.engagednonduality.com/is-awakening-a-way-to-avoid-reincarnation-liberation-from-the-wheel-of-birth-death/ The quick answer would be - there is no "me"...I was not born, and so will not die or be reborn. The question of reincarnation is only valid for one who identifies with being some one. Some one who is alive now and wonders if he or she will reincarnate. I am no one. I don't care if there is another life or not in the future, because there are other lives now. What I really am is as much you as the person named "Eric"...and so when "Eric" dies...there is still the game of playing you going on. There is no other...no separation.

After enlightenment, suffering and attachment dropped away...and the mind fell silent. I don't have any "third person" kind of experience going on. The experience of life is much the same as it prior to enlightenment, just the lack of confusion and no "me"...and lack of guilt, regret, worry, anxiety, fear, problems, etc. No longer resisting or denying life and all it entails. I met a woman after enlightenment and I eventually married her. She mentions that she has never had such an easy relationship before and we rarely get into fights. Really, the experience of life post enlightenment is not "special" in any way. Just a lack of ownership/identification. I don't see anything in particular in other people...just other people in the game of life. There is the deeper knowing that there is no "me" or "other people". Talking and interacting is no different after enlightenment than before. It is just much harder to find a button to push on me...and I don't tend to fall into another's drama. My behavior changed in that far less affects me negatively. I don't get mad when many others get mad. I forgive and let go what other find difficult to let go. My behavior is more fluid and spontaneous than it was prior to enlightenment. I was a heavy-duty planner with a pocket calendar...now I am not. I really don't stress out about anything. If I notice any inkling stress, I know something within me is resisting what-is and I look more deeply at it. I did notice that after enlightenment things started becoming dry (so to speak) and then I started practicing appreciation and kindness. I am adding softness to this. Not because this will make me a better person, but for my own entertainment and enjoyment. There is just a joy of life. My perception is the same...it is the understanding of what is perceived that changed. There was the deep insight and revelation that there is no "me" and it shattered the identification with a "me". There is no other, so it was a nondual realization. As such, there is no other to fear. There is no such thing as gain or loss. Nothing can harm what I really am...the body/mind will only change forms. Everything constantly changes...nothing is static or unmoving. Everything is temporary and there is little to no control regarding when or how things change. The past is but a memory and the future is but an imagination...both are of the mind. Only now exists. There is not point in resisting or denying what-is. This is all there is...and you are This. I had many strange and interesting experiences prior to enlightenment, but the experience of enlightenment and life after was rather normal.

The only place you can look is internally...there is no outside.

Joy and happiness is our inherent natures. Unhappiness and misery is what comes from the ego. So "experiencing pure awareness without the ego" means there is just the joy and happiness of being. Duality (otherness and separation) is an illusion of the mind...but believing those illusions give rise to sadness, misery, discontent, etc. The separation and otherness is an illusion, but you can still discern between two extremes. A magnet has a north pole and a south pole...but it is still one thing. North pole and south pole is more than just a concept...otherwise why would two north poles repel but a north and south attract? Duality is about separation and otherness...not about ceasing to see distinction between poles of a magnet (for example).

Tomorrow's plans still happen, so I am not sure what you are talking about. But it is like hiking in the woods...you only need to look for your landmark in the distance from time to time to make sure you are on course...the rest of the time, you need to focus on the surroundings. Otherwise, you could fall into a pit, trip over greenery, bump into a predator, or any number of things. The focus is the here and now...otherwise it is just dangerous. If you are instead dreaming about work problems or dreaming about the next vacation...you could hurt yourself because you are not fully aware of what is going on around you. The future is only a thought...and most spend way too much time lost in thought. Problems are self created imaginations (thought)...be it work or otherwise...so it is not shutting down anything, but accepting what is as it is and not viewing it as a problem. You don't ignore the situation (what-is). Also, you can hold a belief after enlightenment, but you are not fooled by it...and know it is simply a belief...a best guess...not the truth. And if the truth is found and to be different from that belief, the enlightened easily let go of the false belief and accept the truth. The enlightened don't bother fighting reality. You call it close-minded...but really it is to be extremely open to allow what is to be as it is. Your belief in what enlightenment is and what it means to be here and now is flawed.

You might need to rephrase or try asking in a different way, because the only possibilities are here and now. You can't act in the past, nor future, nor from any place other than where you are. So what other possibilities are you talking about?

@WildeChilde - no questions linger. Many "Spiritual/Philosophical Questions" can not be answered or are purely theoretical and would not change anything in life (regardless of the answer). So I have let go of many questions and tend to be more practical. Besides, I have also come to realize most "Spiritual/Philosophical Questions" are simply distractions...they keep us for looking at what is really important. Like who/what am I?

Sickness (the potential of it) and death are certainties of life. Will denying or resisting reality and certainty of life help in any way? Or will it simply cause suffering? Or might it actually bring about sickness and death - like a self fulfilling prophecy? You see...stress and anxiety hinder and diminish the immune system...so it is very possible to make yourself sick or even die by excessively worrying about sickness and death. At a minimum, you are just making yourself miserable and suffer by worrying about it. There is no point in fearing sickness or death. Why worry about the inevitable? Your body will once again become sick in this life...your body will die. You need to investigate this for yourself. If you deeply and profoundly see the futility of this fear...and potential harm you are doing to yourself with it...then you may cease doing that to yourself. How miserable would you be if you feared the daylight...would that fear stop the dawn from coming? Just accept it...it will come when it comes...there is nothing you can really do about it. You could also inquire...are you this body/mind. It is only when you deny the fragility of the body/mind and identify with the body/mind that we fear its demise. It is the fragility of the body/mind...not ourselves. Death does not take us...it takes the body/mind. What you really are was never born...you are the Unborn. Until this is realized, there may always be a fear of death.

I swing between Peaceful/Happy and Ecstasy/Joyful...even during pneumonia or in pain because of gout (a couple happenings this year).

Only those who identify with the body and mind...that which was born...fear death. If there is no other and no "me"...not just a mental concept, but a deep realization and understanding...then the end of this body/mind is no big deal. "You'll no longer be able to experience...." - This is the viewpoint of a "me" and a body/mind...but I am not my experience, body, or mind. The end of experience is no big deal. That which I am has never been born and so never dies...the Unborn is what I really am. Also, everything changes and every form will disappear...this sounds horrible if you think you are a form...but to the Formless it is no big deal.

@frnsh, we are often talking about nonduality...and so there is no other. I don't tend to speak of it as scripted and mechanical as some do and I am OK with talking about choice. Saying you have freewill or no-freewill does not really matter...the issues arise when you only say I chose this, but I didn't choose that. There is no other...so either you chose everything or you chose nothing. For me, I feel more juice and life in the freewill paradigm that the no-freewill paradigm.