Brimstone

Thanks @Nahm . What dietary changes would you recommend? Are there any foods that you think invite less attachment to ones conditioning? I agree that meditation has the potential to resolve this also, but would be interested to know what thoughts arise within you as to what specific meditations may be useful for this?

Lol, how many whales?

Just get out of the way of your self @Pure Imagination . There are many paths to realisation, in truth each path itself is actual realisation as hard as it is for the ego to acknowledge anything other than itself. Don't confuse an outcome with what is happening right now. It is actually so easy that it appears hard to conditioning that implies over complication.

No definitely not trying to "develop faculty to distinguish between both", although what you are saying points towards the same thing. What was implied is to actually earnestly follow the thoughts themselves (it could be any thought to be honest) to see where they arise from. If you commit to this you may find that what you are enquiring about naturally resolves itself. Also relentlessly asking the question as to what exactly is doing the pushing may be useful here also. Don't accept the first answer that comes to your mind, keep going until there are no answers left. Is fantastic that you continue to do more and more good things btw.

If you experience consciousness as singular it becomes easy to see how one can tap into any life or experience 'other' than the identity we are conditioned to align with. It explains things like what makes past life and psychic experiences possible.

How do you define enlightened? What is the core message of those in the list that @Nahm provided as to what exactly enlightenment is and what it encompasses?

Does separation exist in consciousness? Apart from your own direct experience have you honestly enquired deeply enough to go beyond your self? The potential and possibilities to explore and see are endless if you let go of 'my' and simply experience Story as a whole. Yet this idea too fails. At the end of the day, every truth that you hold up to the great Truth, falls away and fails in even coming close to what 'It' Is as the experience will always be filtered by a limited set of conditions. That is why what you experience is so precious and beautiful. That is why from a truthful state of awareness absolute humility Is born as you can never possible know anything, and how the source of creation can truly be known as unconditional in its giving and loving, so that 'no one' could ever possibly be unaligned with the unfolding of existence, and thus none of us can possibly ever escape illusion, unless we accept that I am not right as a base. What is honestly gained by arguing with anyone else? I only see that I am right because I see you as wrong, for that is how right and wrong is positioned to cloud ones view, and what separates us from the garden state? In other words as soon as we eat from the tree of knowledge we seperate ourself from ......

How could you not be exactly where you need to be in any moment doing exactly what you need to be doing @Amadeusz ? It may be useful to follow the voice of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as you label them and ask where they come from? Be robust in your enquiry until you have an answer just as you are when you wish to attain any of your goals.

@Aidan it can be most useful finding the part of yourself that you think you love the most and consciously focusing on killing that self image as it actually stands in the way of you breaking through the wall and seeing what is hidden behind the veil. It hurts and it sucks, but it will never be lost as you will continue to do what you do after you have seen through the bs. If you do make it through, you will no doubt want to race out and buy the latest "I am enlightened" t-shirt and flag to hoist put the front of your house, lol, which is a whole other beast, lol, and an idea that must die also.

@Amadeusz sounds to me like you are just conditioned to have a strong internal voice pushing you along your path and you are quite receptive of it. Nothing wrong with that unless you are actually hurting yourself and others. What are the fruits of your labour?

@Scholar my guess is that you are either still quite young, or you are not studying what you are most passionate about and just studying what you think you should. If you are too young, there is nothing wrong with going out and living a little and gaining a bit of life experience. If you are not studying something and are passionate about, something that resonates deep within your core, then self enquiry is the best remedy. No matter what though, you should know that you are exactly where you need to be in any given moment, doing exactly what you need to be doing to take you to the next moment. Thus when you are studying all is well, just as all is well when you are not studying. Also, it might be of value to remove your attachment to a perceived outcome and just enjoy the doing as you are doing and things may open up. As for burning out, we dig and strive until we no longer can. Exhausted we stop, look around, and see for the first time, the magic and wonder of what is.

@Hardkill start with 4 simple words, "I can do it" when you mum says she will sort it for you. Sure you may not get it exactly right to start, but you will get there with perseverance. Or, maybe try something completely different like moving far away so you have no choice other than to sort it out for yourself. Through it all simply trust that life will resolve itself and provide as it always has, and that all will be ok, even if it appears that at times it isn't so great.

What is dreaming without waking? How do you define one without the other?

What is a perspective that does not arise in "I"? Who am "I" though? I understand that psychedelics offer a path of surrender that can be quite useful in deconditioning ones mind to attachment, and the games of the ego, but it is only one of many paths, none more significant than an other, for all reflect your beauty, unconditionally, relentlessly, endlessly. Indras net is very fitting and points towards an ability to see beyond I and to experience through other eyes, although really, is that any more or less of an illusion than seeing from My I alone?

Don't stress hinawashi, you are exactly where you need to be, nestled warmly within the womb of creation... Ask yourself, what is it that dies with the ego? What is it that you are afraid to let go of?

Simply watch the questions and answers, don't attach to either question or answer as both are implicit to confusion. It is much the same as watching clouds in the sky, the clouds come, the clouds go, yet the sky remains unchanged.