Shanmugam

@Buba It depends on how you define ego.. I see ego as a function. The sense of a separate self will completely dissolve but the function of ego will continue.. You need ego to function in the world. Before enlightenment, ego strives to protect and enhance the personal separate self. But after enlightenment, ego simply helps you to function in the world. There is no more solid, consistent and separate self to protect. But ego by its very nature is defensive. This defensive nature will continue throughout your life and it is actually an essential function in social life. But you can't feel hurt or insulted anymore because there is no solid 'me' to feel insulted. For your question regarding enlightenment, read this

@Joseph Maynor that depends on how you define it.. Enlightenment, as it is understood in all major traditions of enlightenment is binary.. It just means the complete destruction of separation and disappearance of the sense of a separate and personal self. In this sense, either you are enlightened or you are not. But there is indeed a complete integration and embodiment of it (which takes time) and also an endless deepening.. But this is no longer a personal journey. There is no longer a psychological longing or a feeling of psychological lack after enlightenment. Enlightenment is the end of this lack and incompleteness but also the beginning of an endless abyss.

too many hot threads today

@star ark Bicameral Mind theory actually makes sense.. You can also look up 'Alien hand syndrome' 'Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a condition in which a person experiences their limbs acting seemingly on their own, without control over the actions' There is something called corpus callosum in our brain which connects left brain and right brain. When two hemispheres are surgically separated, it is almost like there are two people in the same body, My left brain can make decisions that my right brain is not aware of and vice versa. Once I read about this, my whole perception of consciousness changed. There are things which are not certain yet. But human beings have a tendency to avoid uncertainty by unconsciously adding their own explanations to fill in the gaps.

@Joseph Maynor If by the word 'judgement' you mean judging what is good or bad, the tendency of comparing oneself to another person in terms of goodness, morality etc just to feel better, than that is probably how people interpret what I say, that is not intentional.. I am just sharing my observations..

What I meant was, if the people who are channelling never heard of Lemuria, Atlantis and the terms like light years etc, they may not say such things.. Their interpretation may be completely different.

There is one interesting information I want to convey here.. There is very common and interesting stuff which happens in India in almost every village of south India. And when I see the nature of these channellings, I see a striking similarity.. In each village in South India, there are village deities. People in the village believe that these deities are like gatekeepers. Here is an example: Often during village temple festivals, some people get into a trance. And then they start to speak, implying that the deity has possessed them. Their voice and face expressions change and they start to foretell the future. They also start demanding things like 'you need to give me this, you need to conduct this festival in such a way' etc.. This is a regular phenomenon and I have seen such things probably hundreds of times and it has happened to a few of my own relatives living in villages... It is called as divine possession. People who seemed to be possessed and people around them are pretty convinced that it is real. But such things only happen in villages in South India. If you visit my place during June-July, you can see this happening everywhere. But such things only happen in villages, and only happens to Hindus. But strangely, these village deities have never possessed anybody in the West and the Aliens you are talking about have never possessed people in my country. So, it is very clear that people only experience things which they already know of. Even though there is intentional fraud in many mediums and channelings, there is also something where people get into a trance and genuinely believe that they are possessed or they are channelling. It is so real for them and they are very convinced. But have you people ever wondered that this is similar to dreams that we get during the night? Such experiences may be interesting but the problem arises when they are given the kind of importance that such experiences don't deserve. The misrepresentation happens only when we give our own imaginary meanings, interpretations and explanations to these phenomena.

Looks like most of the alien entities are targetting the people in the West. I will deal with them if they ever decide to come to East.

Person A: Don't trust that channelling guy, he is fake! Person B: Everything is fake, nothing you see is real.. Person A: I know that buddy, but what I am saying is, he is ripping off people by charging $1000 - $2000 for every session. Something is fishy,. Person B: Even money is unreal! By the way, you are not open minded.. Person A: I am open to everything... I know that many things are possible even though we don't understand it.But the meaning of open-mindedness is willing to change your existing beliefs and assumptions and being receptive to new ideas. But it doesn't mean blind faith. You are just craving for some experiences and your temptations are making you justify this by calling in open-mindedness. Person B: see, this is just your ego getting in the way.. and you are too judgemental too. Person A: First, you need to understand what you really want. Don't you see that you are using spiritual lingo to justify your attachments and cravings? If your interest is in exploring such things it is fine, but just recognize what it is...spiritual seeking is not looking up, looking out or looking something that is 500 light years away! It is just looking in.. Person B: See, everything is fine the way it is.. There is nothing to seek, nobody to get enlightened and everything is an illusion... (person A kicks person B's butt, stamps his face, crushes his nose and hits Person B's head with a stone) Person B: oh my god! It is painful Person A: thats not real buddy.. the pain is just an illusion Person B: oh my God! blood Person A: the blood is not real either, it is a part of illusion too Person B: what have you done, oh my God... Person A: what have 'I' done? there is no 'I' remember? And there is no one doing anything here.. there is no doer! And you don't exist..

You are on the right track... This is the basic criteria for a seeker. People link this with being judgemental.. It is not about being judgemental.. I know these things are traps and totally unnecessary, as far as seeking spiritual enlightenment is concerned.. So this is just a warning in a sincere attempt to help. It is not wrong to be interested in paranormal stuff, UFO's channelling etc.. But there is absolutely no connection between this and spiritual enlightenment. They are actually distractions.. Even if you go through anecdotes and decide to trust just anecdotal stuff, you will still find that all authentic masters discouraged in any interest in paranormal. Go through Patanjali Yoga sutras and he himself says these things are distractions and trap you. Do you need spiritual enlightenment or do you want to fall in love with an alien entity from 500 light years away? You have the choice to choose always! 500 light years is too far away, but your true nature is extremely close... I tend to discourage such discussions as I absolutely know without any doubt that these are distractions and traps for spiritual seekers. But people have their right to get distracted and remain trapped. You have the right to live just like everyone else whose lives are based on beliefs and blind faith alone, no one is stopping. You have the right to delude yourself into thinking that you are highly conscious beings while getting attached to everything that is impermanent and illusory. People have the right to repeat some cliched spiritual quotes to justify what they are doing. No one is forced to consider this serious warning either! It all depends on what you want.

@jse @Mighty Mouse For me, this sounds like a 'joke' thread, intended to make fun of other threads related to channeling..

Since there are a lot of posts in this forum regarding channeling, I just wanted to share something I found. Something to raise your level of skepticism. True-believer syndrome is an informal or rhetorical term used by M. Lamar Keene in his 1976 book The Psychic Mafia. Keene used the term to refer to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon even after it had been proven to have been staged.Keene considered it to be a cognitive disorder and regarded it as being a key factor in the success of many psychic mediums. Examples: 1. In his book The Psychic Mafia, Keene told of his partner, a psychic medium named "Raoul" in the book. Some in their congregation still believed that Raoul was genuine even after he openly admitted that he was a fake. Keene wrote "I knew how easy it was to make people believe a lie, but I didn't expect the same people, confronted with the lie, would choose it over the truth. ... No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie 2. An example of this syndrome is evidenced by an event in 1988 when stage magician James Randi, at the request of an Australian news program, coached stage performer José Alvarez to pretend he was channeling a two-thousand-year-old spirit named "Carlos". Even after it was revealed to be a fictional character created by Randi and Alvarez, many people continued to believe that "Carlos" was real. Randi commented: "no amount of evidence, no matter how good it is or how much there is of it, is ever going to convince the true believer to the contrary. 3.In the book When Prophecy Fails, Festinger and his colleagues observed a fringe group led by Marian Keech who believed that the world would be destroyed on December 21, 1954 , and the true believers would be rescued by aliens on a spaceship to a fictional planet, Clarion. When nothing happened, the group believed that their devotion convinced God to spare the world and they became even more feverish in proselytizing their belief. This is one of the first cases that led Festinger to form the theory of cognitive dissonance. Source - Wikipedia Lesson to remember: Your beliefs can fool you. Seeking is not based on believing. Beliefs can delude you and stop you from seeing the reality the way it is.

@RawJudah He hasn't really disclosed much about his life in his book, except that he was in depression. But he was very much interested in contemplation about life... And when the weight of the separate and personal 'me' becomes too much, it sometimes gets dropped this way.

@Annetta The only way to get rid of fear is to go through it. The more people avoid it, the more stronger it will become.. There is really nothing to lose except the sense of separation. Many people face this fear while meditation and it is normal. But it will go away. No, I am not Prabhakar Here is another quote from Osho for you:

The best strategy for enlightenment is to 'shut up and get out'..

I would agree with what Osho said regarding this:

@Joseph Maynor Actually, monks are the people who are missing out on a lot of things than us... They deny one part of the life while people who are not spiritual seekers are unaware of the other part..But we can embrace both Read about Zorba, the Buddha... That is something Osho said. That's how people of modern days should be. Rich both inside as well as outside!

@snowleopard sometimes I talk while I sleep. And my wife says that I am very fluent when I talk in sleep. I am also conscious of the talking while I do it

@snowleopard If a person feels like channeling, the content could be actually coming from his own mind.. There are lots of states that a person can get into. For me, many things happen when I dream every day and the dreams I usually have during sleep are more vivid and real and different than the dreams I used to have many years ago. I love some of those dreams and enjoy it. But I never give much importance to them after I wake up. You can even talk to your favorite deity in certain meditation states, which is quite possible. But the problem arises when we consider the deity as a real entity living somewhere.

Even I didn't like to do that.. But there are lot of people here who would consider if Sadhguru says it

@Nahm There is a reason why dreams are called as dreams If anything happens, let it happen. If something doesn't happen, so be it. But why dream about it?

@snowleopard I don't agree with everything Sadhguru says, but I totally agree with what he says in this video, about hallucinating.

Yes.. But being open-minded is not same as believing. Being a skeptic is not same as believing either... Skepticism and open-mindedness, both are necessary.

I create funny memes: Reading a lot of discussions here is a way for me to have fun too... I have brandy once in a week, on Sundays.. That is something I always enjoy... Other than that, I play with my son, who is just 1 year old..