Joseph Maynor

It’s alright dude. The path is long. One thing that people have a hard time doing is letting go.

Haha. So true.

There is no your body. You still got some letting go to do. Enlightenment is probably much deeper than you think. Just sayin’.

You are not the dream nor do you have any control over the dream. Make sense? You’re not controlling anything that’s happening in the dream. It all happens on its own. Now, you might have the illusion of control, but that’s a belief about reality not reality itself.

The reason we are hurt so much in youth is because we’re identified with the dream so much. We take the dream personally. In youth, you’re usually totally bought into the Ego paradigm. That’s why everything is so scarring as a kid. You’re taking everything super-personally.

I formed a very strong identity as a child fast. I identified more with Ego most of my life. It’s just been the last couple of years that the dream has been letting that go. Look, here’s the deal, you have no control of any of this. Awareness is there in Ego too. So, in a sense you’re already Enlightened, you’re just befuddled with false beliefs about reality. It’s simple but seems complicated. Trying to have no ego is the ego, so don’t fall into that trap. There is no you that controls reality. That’s the most important thing to get in this work. A lot of people try to act modest and act like they have no ego, but that’s stupid. You have no control over reality. You’re just aware of the dream. You’re a non-changing Awareness of a dream. So, you need to just let go and accept whichever way reality plays itself out. It doesn’t matter because you never change. Awareness is always there — that you can determine through Empirical observation. I used to say the Now never changes, and that’s good too. But Awareness is more accurately what never changes. This is also one reason why it’s stupid and Egoic to feel proud to be Awake. There is no you that did anything! That’s just the dream. Ego is no more bad than anything else dreamed up. Your dream contains this awakening story, that’s all. Nothing in the dream is any better or worse than anything else in it, once you understand that none of it matters. The only real thing is the unchanging Soul or Awareness. That never has changed for you. And that you can discover. That is like a pillar in the center of the ocean, that the ocean itself revolves around. That’s Awareness. That the real you.

The only answer you need is there’s no you in there.

There is no choice after Enlightenment. That’s the point. There is no you that has a choice. All you do post Enlightenment is be reality, whatever it does. This is why acceptance is the only virtue. Reality doesn’t need or include your choices.

You have to accept that there is no control. This means realizing that positive and negative experiences in life are not caused by you.

Insights don’t really seek proof. They are just spontaneous ideas that seem to come up as mini epiphanies outta nowhere.

Buddha is kinda like Socrates in that sense. He was less metaphysical than one needs to be. But he has the right skepticism about theory which is wise. Most of what we believe is indeed humbug. But the Buddha never found the unchanging Self that stands like a pillar in the midst of changing Maya. Some people are a bit too pragmatic to see the bigger picture. Buddha never found the Atman, the unchanging Soul. Shankara fixed that lapse in theory. I’m not saying Shankara is completely right, but he fixed that part of it. Awareness exists and an unchanging, empty thing. Timeless, spaceless, deathless, changeless, permanent. See? The Buddha didn’t see that. He was too pragmatic. Too scientific.

Ego is not just clinging to thoughts about reality, it’s also trying to control reality. Either one of those are Ego. So, conceptual-knowing are controlling are the two sins of Ego. The third is doing, which can be captured under control, but I like to list it as a third sin of Ego. Controlling, knowing, and doing. Those are the three biggies.

1. No. It’s a belief not what is perceived. 2. I feel like I am a permanent pillar of awareness and reality is kind of happening all around me. Beliefs about this are Maya. Being it is already enough. And being mesmerized by it. It all moves without a mover. 3. No. You can’t lose awareness once you get it. 4. Yes. Because I realize there’s no control, all I can do is accept reality. Reality is not always the most pleasant. But I find myself at peace with it most of the time. 5. Love is acceptance of reality and realizing you don’t have any control over it.

It seems like they could agree, no? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankara https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarjuna https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhyamaka

I’m not an emotional person, but this writing brought a metaphorical tear to my eye. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.than.html https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalama_Sutta This version seems to be outlined somewhat: https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wheel008.html

It’s amazing! I can’t believe there is so much wisdom that never changes. We tend to think knowledge is something that evolves. But in some sense wise people of all ages have said the exact same thing. Those basic traps have always stayed the same for us. Even the solutions to the traps have stayed the same.

What is the difference? Consult your experience.

I hear people say -- I am Enlightened! Or, am I Enlightened? Or, not he's not Enlightened. It's this all or nothing, binary kind of thinking. Why not assume Enlightenment is more like a dial that is constantly changing? It's not a binary thing like a two-way switch, it's more like a constantly changing variable or dial of keen-awareness. Honestly, this does annoy me when I see it because I can see the Ego chasing the "state of Enlightenment", which is exactly what will never get you progress in this work. Related post:

Don't get too hung up on words. It's more readily observed than that. You guys are confusing yourselves with all these words -- all these rationalizations. Reason can prove both everything and nothing.

@Saumaya Ahhh! I am loosening up more now.

All confusion is Maya when it comes to reality. Reality is the opposite of confusing. Reality is right there. If you're confused about reality, you're not Enlightened. Enlightenment just is the removal of confusion about reality. Moksha is the removal of ignorance, the removal of beliefs. But there is no you that's removing the beliefs. That's a linguistic metaphor taken literally.

What is pre-conceptually. The unchanging watcher of sense content. That unchanging observer is what reality is. This is the Soul or Awareness or Atman or Brahman or Emptiness or the Void. Maya is our set of beliefs about reality, and assuming that those beliefs are true.

Language might be paradoxical, but reality is not.

It's clear to me that there is no control. Just surrender to being it. The idea there is a choice or control is Egoic.

You believe you are choosing eh?