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Ego creates an identity from our experience, this identity can be as separate or unified as we allow it to be and we intend it to be. If we cease to believe in the identity the ego has created previously and instead identify with another that may be altogether different than what was identified with before it is through our 'belief' that this agreement with the identity happens. Even identifying with an infinite absolute nothingness saying we don't exist and calling everything else in life an illusion, a deception and false is done through belief. The ego will eventually identify with whatever we believe in no matter the idea or concept by calling it 'truth' and call everything it's doesn't as 'false' to justify the identification. In experience we can transcend it all through awareness but as long as we have a body that possesses a brain which produces mind the ego collects that experience into identity....even if it is one of awareness transcending it all.

As far as I know death in non-duality is very simmilar to what atheists believe. I've seen it compared to deep sleep, when your whole ego is pulled away. So its basically eternal nothingness, pure conciousness. It might be that the conciousness, which is me, will deceive itself again and imagine itself to be a new human with an ego again. All this spiritual work I did is washed away again. I know it only sounds frightening because my ego wants me to survive, but still. As an enlightened being you may get a glimpse of the truth before you die and take on another body. Why? Why would my true self make me undergo a life of suffering again. Why would I deceive myself to be an animal whose life I think is nothing but pure unconcious suffering? Why would I want to experience myself being tortured to death. I thought of non dual death as waking up and thinking to myself "of course, I am god", but I think this is way to simple. If its more like a deep sleep or coma that idea really unsettles me for some reason. Why are spiritual teachers so chill about it, why would they be cool with the idea of being as an enlightened human and then going on to be an antelope who is eaten alive by a lion.

Alright, so basically my question is - what is the point of attaining it? And this is a naive question I'm very aware, but let me elaborate a bit before I get the holier than thou flood. As I'm not opposing Enlightenment, rather inquiring about the end-game. And I don't mean this as 'I am now enlightened, therefore the work is done' I simply mean the ultimate end-game. Sure, I can get behind the idea of extensive free will, the understanding of truth/mysticism/reality with clarity, and then some(Sure I'm giving shallow examples to relay my point). However, is it then simply the goal to spread Enlightenment as far as possible after that point? To help others come closer with the truth as well? and I fully understand I'm essentially asking to explain this to me in a 'materialist' paradigm, but bear with me here. Sure, let's say 200+ years down the line we don't eradicate ourselves, the planet doesn't meet a catastrophic end and we even advance quite a bit in our technological advances by then. But suddenly - everyone has attained Enlightenment! What then? - And granted this may be very naive to assume that will happen within that time, or even at all - or more so to even ask this next: But then what? Where do our goals shift at that point? It almost appears as if we need that division, just as non-duality needs duality in a twisted sense. And don't take this the wrong way either, when I look around and see nature - it certainly is magical, and seeing such systems even as minuscule as ant-hills, schools of fish and other large-systems work in unison to the point of all reality working in unison- it's absolutely astounding and inspiring and even leaves me in awe wondering where we would be with that type of unification. But.. Do we simply disappear into the nothingness from whence we came? Do we set then our sights even higher with less destructive standards? Do we just simply exist at that point? I feel that maybe Enlightenment may not be the goal here, and sure I've got money on this being the ego really twisting my perception around on this one. But won't we reach the absolute truth after we're dead anyways - therefore to put everything else aside for the absolute truth seems redundant, no? Or is reality SO cyclic that the only path is a form of 'reincarnation' - meaning that we are simply attempting to hand down these methods of teachings to the next 'us' to reach some form of higher evolutionary state of consciousness and potentially transcend this 'dimension' altogether? I really don't expect a correct answer, nor do I think 99% if not 100% of respondents will even get close - as this is simply just inquiry on the topic, I'm curious as to some of you might perceive it as.

@blazed Your body also hates Truth The weed made you go deep precisely because you came into it with a totally open mind, free of preconceptions. That's the ideal state to be in: Beginner's Mind! Unfortunately you balked at Nothingness. God is a frightening thing to behold, especially to a 12 year old

You responded because I posted I have built this theory simply by reacting to all of you as you all react to all the stimuli around you. You could not have responded if I never began the topic. I am controlling you more than you are controlling me and vice versa. It's the chicken and the egg problem again only concerning free will. The nothingness idea of many seekers is the same thing. You need the facts of science to prove the nothingness theory, but then nothing exists so how could the verifiable facts exists in the first place. There always has to be something first and the whole "don't think about it" is meant to be ironic? the topic is flat out saying we cannot chose what to think. If there is no free will then I have no possibility of choosing to care or not.

@DocHoliday ??? These words absolute nothingness words are used a lot on this forum huh. Anyway, thought is the root of fragmentation. Thought is a movement and so time is a movement. What I have been in the past, how I am now in the present, and what I want to be in the future. Thought, the me, and fragmentation are the same movement, which is part of time. This is a movement of psychological time. This movement of time serves as a function. But psychologically this movement has no place, and in fact is the root of conflict.

@Faceless Fragmentation of what? The ego, or the self? This would have to mean that when full integration, contrary to fragmentation, has taken place time would no longer be a manifestation?! I mean sure, when you completely re-integrate into absolute nothingness after death, then time most certainly isn't an issue any longer (seems like there's a pun), but as long as we aren't dead "physically", time does remain relevant and "important" to some degree.

"God" is all that always is, and that which is not, is duality and non duality itself, it is everythig and nothing. It's all that I mentioned until now but at the same time not, because it is indescribable, you can only be it, if you really want to "know" it. You are merely nothingness, but yet, you can take a form, you can manifest yourself. It is mindblowing. It is all a miracle, that's how I feel whenever I approach "God". "What does it do to be instantly defined as god?" People define it as "god", because this is the word which expresses omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience.

Any thoughts on this? I usually hate celebrities coming into politics, but if she decides to go for it she could be maybe the first president to know about enligthenment, and maybe the first president who meditates. I wonder what plans God/mr. nothingness has for us in the next decade

Many people visit psychotherapist complaining about emptiness, nothingness and etc. Is it the same? Were they facing the Truth but did not know it and were terrified? When I was 14 years old, I got a big emptiness, meaninglessness, nothingness inside. I was terrified. I was a watcher. Years passed like this. Then I made my brain busy with school and etc. Do we understand reality by mind? Do we get enlightened by means of mind? When I meditate how do I decide to focus on breath - by mind? No? Can a schizophrenic person get enlightened? What about dumb people? What about people who were born deaf and blind? What can they focus on to be aware of reality? Sounds frightening.

That was very good.. I actually missed this post yesterday.. But I wrote a similar one in Quora regarding Sadhguru, just yesterday It was an answer to the question Is Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev trying to convert Shiva Purana to science? Why does he insist that the fantasy stories in Shiva Purana and other mythological stories are based on science? This question was asked regarding a particular post in Isha blog: http://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/yoga-meditation/history-of-yoga/the-bhrigu-samhita-predicting-humanitys-future/ Here is what I wrote: Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is very clever and extremely creative. Since I have already written a lot about him before in Quora, I will write this answer in a humorous way. Let alone Shiva Purana, he can link the story of Genesis from Bible to yogic culture and interpret it in yogic way if he wants to do that. So the following narration that you will be reading is just imaginary. (By the way, the story of Genesis indeed has a metaphoric interpretation to show how a human being is born with pure innocence, how he is fallen in the process of growth and how he restores the lost innocence and nature. That is a totally different interpretation) Let us assume for a moment that someone asks him a question ‘Is there a scientific and esoteric meaning to the story of Genesis in Bible? Is it in anyway related to yogic culture?”. And let us also assume that he has decided to give it a yogic meaning for some reason. Here is how Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev will probably answer that question: “ See… When they say God created the world in 7 days, it doesn’t mean that there was an old man with beard sitting up there and decided to create the world one day. The story has a huge science behind it. It is a simple story that has tremendous wisdom of yogic science embedded in it and preserved in certain way. Only if you enhance your perception in certain way, you can get the story. Otherwise you will just dismiss it as simple myth. First of all, you must understand that any new blossoming or an activity of creation always happens in 7 installments. Yogic culture has always known this. For example, we talk about 7 chakras. Reaching the Sahasrar, the 7th chakra involves a step by step process which happens in 7 stages. You behave in certain way when your energy is at mooladhara. You behave and experience the world in different way when your energy moves to Svadhistana. So in a sense, these 7 stages of evolution in the spiritual path is like a miniature version of the process of creation itself. When it is said that God created the world in 7 days, you must understand that the process of creation happened in 7 discrete stages, starting from absolute nothingness to the complete physical manifestation of the external world. Today, even modern science says that human evolution happened in 7 stages. Do you people know this? no? ok…(laughs)..Our human race evolved from Homo Habilis and it took exactly seven stages before we could become Homo Sapiens that we are today. If you understand this simple concept, you can understand the whole creation, simply by enhancing your perception. Our yogic culture has always known this but only now modern science is getting it. Now we have a huge statue of Adiyogi here. Do you know why there were saptarishis? Why not 8 or 9? It is because he initiated these 7 sages in 7 different ways, so that they can spread the science of Yoga in 7 different dimensions. Also, the process of creation itself began on a full moon day. Now don’t ask me ‘Sadhguru, how was there a moon before the process of creation itself’… (laughs).. The significance of full moon day does not come from the moon. It is actually the opposite. Because of the tremendous possibilities and high frequency vibrations that is present in a certain day, the moon appears as full moon for us. This happens once in every 15 earth days. It is just a coincidence that a moon is revolving around us, and because of the influence of high vibrations present on that certain period of time, the moon appears as full moon. That is why we have the dome of Dhyanalinga open until midnight during full moon days, because I want everyone to make use of this possibility. The story of Genesis says God rested on the seventh day. This is also symbolic but with a totally different meaning. Generally the 7th and 8th day in a lunar cycle is not good for doing any work, especially when you start something new. The energies are in certain way that it is not conducive for any new work. That is why even today in India people say you must not start anything new on Ashtami, the 8th day. It is better that if you give everything a rest on the 7th and the 8th day and it is better to avoid starting anything new. But these days everything has changed. In the West they think that 7th day means Sunday. No, it is not so. Generally, I don’t talk about these things because If I go on talking about things which are not in your experience, you cannot understand it. Isn’t it? Isn’t it so? Yes or no? Can you understand anything that is not in your experience? But don’t believe in all these things just because I say it. But don’t disbelieve me either.. Because, then you are closing all the doorways to know. “ Not just Shiva Purana, if you want any mythological story to make sense, all he has to tell you is that the characters of mythological stories were all yogis who could manipulate their energies in a ‘certain way’ (it is always a ‘certain’ way) for ‘certain’ things to happen. You just need to enhance your perception to understand it!

Enlightenment has no end. One thinking they have reached it is just another realisation along an infinite plumbline. Our separate identities are very strong. So strong that I think only a few people are 100% free of self, to the point that they could be hung drawn and quartered alive and feel no pain. So, some identification will remain. I find it's a mixture of both of those things you mentioned in the OP. There will be cliff-like falls where identity is torn away from you. You look around and suddenly realise there is no self, nothing outside of self, your true nature is God but you've disguised this, etc. There will be gradual sliding and falling away. You'll realise that the identity has fallen away, but not dramatically. Slowly it has slipped away, like ice melting overnight, invisibly while you sleep. But this is along a never ending downward, outward, inward plummet to God, nothingness, empty source. Imagine a never ending ski slope. You never reach the end because the end doesn't exist. You are on the never ending ski slope.

No, not after true liberation. A man is born into the ego, it is only when he self-inquire and meditate that a doorway is opened, the doorway to his own spirit. The journey is long and full of supernatural phenoma, he literally dies and is reborn, then finally is he liberated (Moksha, enlightenment). He becomes emptiness and nothingness, all identification dies. That's the hero's journey for all saints and prophets.

@star ark imagine I ‘liked’ your post and made that comment and it revealed a lighter tone, almost humorous. You can most definitly be bodyless. The steps I mentioned are prior to the disappearing. Then breathing gets minimum on it’s own. I have no words for how worthwhile it is. It’s like non-gravity feeling, or weightlessness, or flying without movement or the sensation of air. Awesome way to start the day. Also, for what it’s worth, it doesn’t seem like ‘deep meditation’ to me. It seems like the ongoings of my day, with thinking, interacting, etc, are deep or heavier, and the meditation is light or nothingness.

@Dodo Yes but that is all 'content'. Content changes all time depending on whether we are dream / awake / mental state and even still differs from person to person. It is created from nothingness. When we are awake, we tend to take content seriously, we believe it is actual and real. In the dream, we know it isn't real - who is closer to the truth? Why take psychedelics, most believe this leads us closer to truth, or is this just also a change of content? The questions are unanswerable. All I know is that the awareness felt exactly same in the dream, if not more powerful, despite the absurdly different content. It's funny how in dreams, we don't question the content, we just accept it as it is..... we believe that is how it should be. As we do in real life. However, in lucid dreams we see through the illusion. Similar to some of the people who are experiencing awakening and enlightenment in their waking life. You say in your dreams, you dont feel anything?, I often experience emotional pain, fear, humiliation, disgust, trauma, illness, shock, love, sexual feelings, orgasms, even death in my dreams. And it feels just as real and sometimes even more intense. Lucid dreams tend to take the negative emotions away though... I find it hard to separate the two, the dream has obviously left an imprint on me! It's still quite raw..

@Scholar If you haven’t experienced Brahman, then it’s not true for you. When other enlightened people talk about nothingness, you should just leave that. Their words are not at all the truth. Because Brahman can’t be described with words. If you want to know Brahman, go and experience it for yourself. Don’t delude yourself into thinking you know it just because you heard or know a good description of it. Because there is none.

I keep asking myself why I am doing anything at all, and it always seems to come down to trying to avoid or fill the emptiness within myself. I also asked myself what that emptiness really is and why nothing can actually fill it. I had the thought that the emptiness is always there because it is showing me my ultimate destiny, which is death. No matter what is achieved in life, it will always ultimately end in the same way. There is no avoiding it, and maybe the mind somehow knows it. But yet, the emptiness is precisely what is fueling all of my actions. The emptiness is literally the reason why I do anything at all. The trying to fill the existential dread of eventual non-existence is what motivates everything, even though everything is completely pointless. From what I have read and heard, everything really is nothingness, and reality an expression of nothingness. Enlightenment happens on death of me, the realization of the absolute is the realization of nothingness. Is it a coincidence that the expression of reality is fueled by the seemingly same thing as the expression of my actions? I do everything to avoid nothingness, and reality really exists precisely because of nothingness, because of the ultimate limitlessness of itself. So reality, by coming into existence, must fracture itself into expressions or consciousness, it is in some way avoiding nothingness, or trying to fill it with absolutely everything. I also remember that the ultimate goal of buddhism is nirvana, the absence of everything, meaning nothingness itself. The absence of everything means the ultimate absence of suffering. Does that mean that the expression of nothingness, which is everything, is in itself suffering? The avoiding of nothingness seems to be suffering, so doing anything at all is ultimately always suffering. Is that why nirvana is desirable, or not necessarily desirably, but naturally the end product of reality? It's like nothingness is expressing itself and pulling the expression back into itself. All expression eventually dissolves, but the expression exists precisely because it is nothingness expressing itself, so meaning nothingness running way from itself. Because of that it seems to me like existence itself is necessarily suffering, it is almost as if that's the very "point" of existence. Might that also be why evolution is leading us directly to the acceptance of nothingness? To realizing nothingness into all of existence and see no difference in life and death, in expression and nothingness. If the expression of anything is suffering, the point of expression is to eventually become nothingness. I know from a non-dual perspective the expression and nothingness are the same thing, but it still seems like a fundamental force from the perspective of the human mind. Suffering is like nothingness pulling something back into itself, and something clinging to itself. In other words, suffering is not just the inability to let go, it is metaphysically the object or expression resisting the dissolving into non-existence. That is what suffering is, it is not painful, it isn't bad, it just is what it is, and it is expressed within consciousness. This would be so interesting, because letting go of ego would not just be something happening in the mind, it would be something happening in reality itself. Then again, there is really seems to be no difference, because they both are the same thing. Most importantly, this would mean that creativity is a product of nothingness, and literally equal to suffering itself. The act of creation, or the act of nothingness expressing itself, is equal to suffering, because creation is fundamentally running away from nothingness. The fuel for human desire, for human intelligence, and basically for all of reality would then be nothingness. Suffering is not at all bad, it is just what happens. I think I'm not even using the conventional word of suffering anymore, because it is not just resistance, it is the fragmentation, the discrimination itself. That is why nirvana is the ultimate goal, it is not just the cessation of resistance, but the cessation of expression itself. The cessation of absolutely everything. It is not even really a goal, it is just what is happening. Everything is pointing towards nothingness because everything is nothingness and eventually folds back into itself. It's like god exploding while it is absorbing itself. Does any of this make any sense?

No, that's not what I say. It's way more complicated than that. And infinity/nothingness doesn't map to anything, because it is everything.

*My awakening experience seems to have a direct correlation with my dietary changes to 100% raw vegan with no cheating. I thought it would be more appropriate to post here since it's about my direct experience. I have currently been 100% for about 1 1/2 months now. I just wanted share my awakening journey to help inspire those around me. I was divinely guided by the spirit world to go raw vegan fruitarian for many years. I did it once before a few years ago and I was raw vegan for 6 months and I reversed my ovarian cysts. I finally took the plunge a month and half ago and it has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. My depression is diminishing and I’m currently going through a spiritual detox. My thinking, logic and my spiritual connection has strengthened and improved. Old painful memories from the past are coming up in my dreams and I’m being given the opportunity to heal so I can create new abundance in my life. On day 28 of my new diet I had an awakening experience. I was out walking my friend’s dog and my monkey mind shut off for about three hours. Consciousness was experienced and realization of the truth...awareness. Things were complete, whole and at peace. Utter bliss. Problems, stress, worries created by the ego were gone. There was nothingness, and this nothingness gave satisfaction and fulfillment that can not be fulfilled or found through seeking outer experiences. Things were experienced, seen, felt, heard but without expressing opinion or emotion (ego). The ego was gone. The dog would bark at random strangers and the ego would normally get annoyed, but as awareness it was noticed without judgement, emotional output and with indifference. The dog can choose to have it's own experience. Awareness is connected and shared as all one consciousness...it is harmony and it is peace. And that awareness loves and accepts the dog for what it is regardless of it's circumstances. I also wanted to add this.......I (the ego) has been struggling for a long time to find and discover a life purpose. And after having this consciousness experience the spirit world led me to this book by Eckert Tolle called “ A new earth. Awakening your true life purpose.” I knew for a long time the importance of the law of attraction and manifesting your desires but I felt a gut feeling in my stomach that this wasn’t the whole basis of our existence. Something wasn’t right. Yes it is nice to manifest your own reality but I could see as I was cleansing from this detox that my emotions and desires could change instantly at any moment. I also knew that just because you want something and you manifest with the law of attraction it doesn’t mean it will make you happy and fulfill your life. Our ego is a bottomless pit that can never be completely satisfied and is always craving more.... dwelling on the past, and looking too far into the future. When the truth is the present is only thing here to experience and that exists. It is to be appreciated and enjoyed. We are always seeking to fill these gaps and these fears with relationships, addictions, food, money, etc. I was doing this with romantic relationships...I thought I was seeking love but I was really craving an attachment..which isn’t healthy and low vibration. True happiness and success comes from within. I discovered in this new book and through my direct experience that we have two life purposes, an inner purpose and an outer purpose, that are intertwined with each other. The inner purpose ( the primary purpose for everyone) is to become awakened/enlightened to who you really are, consciousness, to get rid of the ego....the end of all suffering. Once you know you are consciousness you can use the law of attraction to manifest abundance but from the right vibration and perspective for your outer purpose. The outer purpose can always change, and be altered, but the inner purpose remains the same. A lot of this may not make sense to you unless you have directly experienced consciousness, the infinite, nothingness, all that is.

@RawJudah I was recently watching a video I rented from the library by Eckhart Tolle where he was talking about his enlightenment experience. I also read in his book "The New Earth, Awakening your True Life Purpose," that he had depression after his first awakening experience for a few years and was on the brink of suicide. This book has really been helping with the awakening process as I'm learning to differentiate between the ego and my true self, awareness. Transcendental Meditation or aka TM mediation says enlightenment is a natural, normal thing. From what I read in Eckhart Tolle's books he was realizing some things logically in his mind about emotions and thoughts as he interacted with people. He was understanding what the ego was and that it wasn't who he really was. Enlightenment isn't one experience and everything is done...it's a process, a transition. And once it is experienced it is hard to go back to everyday life knowing the truth. The book is worth reading and is said to help the transition process. A few weeks ago I had a brush with Consciousness, the infinite, nothingness. It was great. The monkey mind shut off for three hours and was just directly experiencing everything. There was wholeness, completeness, bliss, peace. ... Yet nothing can compare to this experience... No outer experience or life purpose could ever fulfill that need. It's all inner. This awakening experience was random but I've also recently changed my diet, been practicing TM meditation, and have been using reiki and the law of attraction to manifest this transformation faster. @egoeimai

This is just meshing up a bunch of theories though. What I'm interested in is what is the common between all theories which will be absolutely true no matter what. One, whatever it is it has to be known, otherwise it's not relevant. Two, it has to be your present moment reality, because if it isn't it's again not relevant to talk about it. For example, let's take heaven and eternal nothingness. There needs to be a witness to know that heaven and there needs to be a witness to know that eternal nothingness, otherwise it will be just a "skip" action until the knowing appears. The point of Knowing is empty, it doesnt create duality. Even if it's only nothingness, then that nothingness knows itself, in order for this to be a possible afterlife. Or the heaven knows itself, although the concept of heaven allows for a wiggle room for there to be an actual ego self experiencing something external to itself which is amazing.

Here’s good way for open mind every single perspective on any issue especially on philosophical debates is right in its own way - this is very often the case combine all perspectives together and you will form something closer to universal model of reality of this issue for instance, after-life: heaven hell reincarnation being ghost another dimension of beings void or eternal nothingness combine them all together and u will get something close to how things are but Truth is simply about being in your natural non dual state of being (like all animals) when life is absolute meaning for itself, it’s not about opinions or models

I enjoy giving a thumbs up without having to make a post to tell someone I do but tallying those up votes into reputation may lead to ego fluffing. The titles can be enjoyable but them being comparative or a status in nature can also lead to ego fluffing. Of course even member names and avatar pics can be ego fluffing, too..... and the ideas and concepts.... and the techniques and methods..... and threads and replies.... and... well dangit, everything can lead to ego fluffing, can we just remove everything in the forum? Just pages and pages of blankness, that would reflect the infinite nothingness everything supposedly is, right? *sigh*.....

2. Looking the Other Way Yesterday evening was even more eventful than was written about. After meditating and writing on here, I took it upon myself to do something practical about how I was feeling, so I went to speak to my parents about my plans for next year. This went surprisingly well, and now I am able to look forward to those opportunities without the confusion and emotion turmoil which I had previously associated with that topic. All things considered, it was a fairly successful evening. This morning, too, I found out my dad's scans meant that he could probably continue treatment for a while, and that my boyfriend was feeling significantly better. I have, however, neglected a lot today with the excuse of how well things went yesterday and how emotionally exhausting it all was. I was, in effect, looking the other way. And because I was looking behind me to yesterday rather than at the day that was happening right there and then, nothing in particular was achieved at all. Not only that, but I have been feeling a little under the weather and my day of 'nothingness' has allowed me to wallow in that perhaps a bit too much. I'm nowhere near as ill as I could be, but it's all I've had to focus on. As a result of doing nothing much when I could have been doing at least something, I've found myself second guessing my own thoughts again - something I am now good at catching myself doing and dealing with, but also something which by now I tend not to even have to do. By this, I mean that I've been having small worries, blown slightly out of proportion with my mind about how I might be annoying others, not doing things right, wasting my time... etc, etc. Instead of doing something productive, like meditating, I've been doing all sorts of non-productive things such as watching catch up TV, which didn't really deal with any situation. In fact, because I didn't get out of bed and establish a routine today, I hadn't been eating at the right times and this started to feel even more off-piste than I already was. Basically, I wasn't helping myself. However, it's not all bad - I'm looking forward to the next few days at my boyfriend's loads and I've taken the time now to reflect on what could be improved on my approach to the day, which is probably half the battle. However, instead of sitting here congratulating myself, I need to make sure I'm focusing on the right things and not looking the other way.

@Cepzeu Yes I have said that lol. When i gave my example of two states where we have ZERO free will: When we reach the "oneness" state where the self melts away; obviously you cannot have free will there, if you absorb everything and become everything, your will is gone. Also your trips you may not have any control over or free will; or dreams as well. You also have no will; nor even awareness of existence at all, when you're under anesthesia during surgery. If I used this as my reason to say free will doesn't exist, because I've been in that state of literally nothingness at all, wouldn't that be silly. Because then I could argue like a materialist that "see my brain was off therefore there is nothing outside of my brain and there is no afterlife or any metaphysical reality" However, in this "shared reality" we do have free will, because it is in the middle of both states; our "self" is in tact, we experience reality in this consistent form. Notice, no matter what state you may achieve, you ALWAYS return to this state and form of existence. Why is this so if the "oneness" state is the true state? Why can we just be there forever? That is why we cannot say because I reached X state and "saw for myself" therefore free will is an illusion. I could easily argue that it is an illusion that the self melted away during the trips on drugs or self-hypnosis during meditation.