Ben

Loneliness is as essential part of living a life through the illusion of self. Anyone who hasn't seen through this illusion has that sense that they are alone. Feeling your "emotions of loneliness" isn't enough, it's only further enhancing your resolve that this "self" exists. If you really, really don't want to experience aloneness again, then you need to see through the illusion. Use your "emotions of lonliness" as your fire, the fire that makes you desperately want out of this awful and confusing mess. Then ask yourself, "who is feeling these emotions? Is there someone there that these emotions appear to?" It will change everything, so make sure you really want it. There's no one there, but you've gotta really push yourself harder than anything you've ever known to see it.

Enlightenment exists, but you'll never, ever, ever know for sure until you see for yourself. Can you convince a fish that there's a world outside of water?

It depends. When you have "no self", the ass simply drops out of your life. Your life is built up through and for "the self" because that's all you've ever known. Once you see it for the illusion it is, and it only takes split second, then "the self" is gone forever and it will never, ever come back. Your self image motivates you in most things you do, perhaps even music. Reaching enlightenment isn't just the bells and whistles that everyone thinks it is, it can actually be quite traumatic in various ways. Sure, there's love, peace, and life becomes effortless, but not necessarily. EVERYTHING will be gone, and that includes possibly your want and drive to do the things that mean the most to "you". Most people don't actually even want what enlightenment actually is, when you get it it's nothing like anyone thinks it might be or like anyone has told you. That's because everything you think is filtered through the one thing that stands in between you and enlightenment, the illusion of self. So my suggestion is to ask yourself, could you bare giving up everything you've ever known? If not, stick with the song writing, and work on self development.

You're better of questioning who is this "you" who wants to die? What would actually die if you died? Is there something there when you think "I want to die?" Be specific. Find out who it is you're referring to. It's not there, you're playing a trick on yourself.

Depends on your goal. If you're meditating for "self development", then meditate for as long as possible. If you're wanting to wake up from the dream of self, then intensity is far more important than duration. The more "desperate" you are to see through the veil then the quicker it happens.

Yes, it exists. It's just utterly different from anything you could ever imagine, because everything you imagine is within the confines of your illusory sense of self. Enlightenment is the absense of everything you know, so of course it's unimaginable while you're living within the confines of the illusory self. There's only one way to find out for yourself, and I'm sure you can guess what that is.

Your own pain and suffering will be the single most important factor in whether or not you awaken. Focus it like a magnifying glass focuses the sun onto your illusion of self.

They are two completely different orders of things. If you just want to be happier and create a better life with cool people and nice things, then take the massive action and never think about enlightenment again. But if you are prepared to lose everything you've ever known and are familiar with, and have the primary motivator for everything in your life destroyed and replaced with a sense of contentment, peace and love, then go for enlightenment and give it everything you've possibly got.

There is no "true self". The self is the primary thing that stands between you and enlightenment. Your mind has associated a mental concept with the actual experience of reality. Everything you see and do is filtered through this "trick of the mind" that we refer to as the "self". This is all and everything you see. The heavy ness in your arms and legs, your moods, your dislike of others, the way you've built your life up, is all, 100% because of this psychological trick that we're taught to play on ourselves from a young age. Entire society is built for selves and by selves. There is no true self, only this lie that causes you to see things through a filter of "self". Keep doing your self inquiry, autolysis, whatever it is you do, but with 1000 times more intensity, and you'll see it and you'll literally lose everything you've ever known.

It's ALL thought. Any possible thing that comes up, no matter how subtle or interesting, is an illusion. What you're calling awareness is just an image of blackness or emptiness in your mind. No differnt, more substantial or special than a belief in the tooth fairy. Don't believe anything that comes up, especially the concept that Tolle has put in your mind that awareness exists.

Hey guys I've been doing daily self inquiry for about six months, I've been having an exoerince lately that suddenly came about which I can replicate every time I sit down to do it. I'm not sure what it is, I'm concerned that it might be something that will hold me back and isn't related to the path to enlightenment at all. Any advice or own related experince you could offer would be much appreciated. This is hard for me to explain but I'll try my best. What's happening is that I really push myself to note what is not me. Every thought, image, concept, notion, feeling, everything I just basically note it as not being true. What happens after I do this with quite a bit of intensity is I start to "float" around, almost like my mind withdraws from something and just starts to get this airy floating and fading sensation. It can be quite disorienting. What's interesting is that I can repeat this experince whenever I want, it just takes quite a bit of mental energy to get me to that point. It kinda affects my sight as well as it starts to fade a bit, but my eyes go wider and I feel more mental energy. So im not sure if this it what it feels like if your awareness levels are raised, or it's just a trap that I'm falling into. Any ideas? Thanks in advance. - Ben

I'd like to hear what others have read that have truly helped them on their path to enlightenment. Only books that have REALLY changed you at a deep level. I'll start it off: The Enlightnement Trilogy - Jed McKenna The Power of Now/A New Earth - Tolle True Meditation - Adyashanti How to Lose Your Mind in Under an Hour - free online Ebook These have shattered my world view and changed everything for me, especially McKenna's books

You ask a question, say, "what are thoughts?" And then you only write what you competely and 100% know is true about the topic. - thoughts are in my mind - thoughts are abstractions - I am aware of thoughts - thoughts are a part of awareness - awareness is everything - I am it would usually take more steps, but it's just an example. Basically the core truth of all questions is "I am", however you have to arrive at this by going through the process yourself to gain any benefit from it. You'll hit a wall with some things eventually and your awareness just won't go any further, for this you just sit at this wall of ignorance and eventually the next step is revealed.

Prescence - Rupert Spira

Jed McKenna, Adyashanti, Rupert Spira

I once read that if you were to 100% realise that one day you're going to die, you would instantly become enlightened. Could the only reason we have ego's ultimately be because we're trying to ignore the fact of our death?

Good question. The best advice I've been given that helped me with this is never, ever, ever, ever believe anything that comes up. Even your "resting in awareness". Is it true?

Adyashanti has another version of Spiritual Autolysis that's very similar, slightly more structured however. It's in his book called True Meditation - worked for me much better than Jeds version.

Faith is a belief, a belief is a thought that you think is true. Could it be that your belief that enlightenment may/may not be true be the very thing that's holding you back from enlightenment?

Ramp up the intensity to the power of 1M and then you'll be somewhere close to the focus and emotional energy that's required to destroy the ego ?