Search the Community

@electroBeam why do you need to do work? If you're happy now you only do work because you think work will lead to happiness in the future, but it doesn't it just takes away the happiness you have. When echkart told first became enlightened he kept having thoughts of needing to do work. But if he did this he never would have continued with spiritually and written the power of now. He did more by spending several months in bliss sitting at a park bench which led him to write his book and help thiusands than he would have just working in same teaching job with minimal impact if he gave into his thoughts saying you should work. Also notice how when you feel good you bring yourself down by feeling guilty 'I shouldn't feel this way' or 'I'm worried something will happen'. Next time this happens why not replace t with a mantra like 'I'm becoming more and more ok with happiness every day'.

Just as Barna said. Love your fears and how it feels. Love you, the anxious one. Love the fear of fear and how it feels. You know what might help? Accepting we're all bliss junkies. Our cravings of overcoming negative states create more resistance. Once we become deeply aware of this and start seeing perfection in every negativite feeling... WOW! You can clearly see why that anxiety is so perfect. And how it is exactly the same feeling as the love you're wishing to feel. Anxiety does not need your intervention to be perfect. Just recognize its perfection. So forget about feeling good and appreciate every facet of reality. Really appreciate anxiety without wanting to overcome it. Life is very ordinary when the only thing we want to feel is bliss. That really really works for me.

@electroBeam that's perfectly normal and you may experience the same sort of thing for a long time (maybe forever). As time goes on you will probably accept these fluctuations more. The main issue your having is that you are desiring a particular state/outcome which is a illusion in your mind. Spiritual work is about being completely content with how you feel, regardless if it's bliss or aniexty.

This is actually your preceived paradigm breaking because some insight you have that challenges deep fundamental assumptions you hold to be true. Awakenings like these can turn into existantial crisis or to pure bliss and a glimpse of what enlightenment is like. The key is to understand that you move within a certain pressumed paradigm but you let everything that doesn't fit open for interpretation. No paradigm is perfect, all are flawed in someway, thats why there exist so many different views.

Thank you guys! Though I am still confused about the idea that all things are neutral. I cannot get moving because of this. I rationalize to myself that pain, laughter, suffering, boredom, excitement, joy, wonder (basically all possible emotions) are equal and that it doesn't matter what I get. I cannot make a decision about what to pursue. Should I pursue joy, or maybe pleasure? How about fulfillment or perhaps sadness? What about melancholy? Is there such a thing as an ultimate feeling (maybe it's bliss)? I'm at a standstill. I don't know where to go... I'm wondering whether I even want growth and self-actualization. I might've been pursuing those things just because I had faith that Leo and the self-help industry knew what they were talking about. But is this what life is all about? What's the problem with pain and all of the "negative" emotions? I don't know what I want...

No formal technique is necessary. Through intention alone you can cultivate all kinds of states - from the mundane to the exalted. Easier said than done though. Sometimes techniques and formal practices only work more easily because they bypass our held beliefs about what we can and can't do. We think we can't just simply relax and be happy for no reason other than because we want to, so we meditate because we believe that will do it for us, and then we reap some of the results. Bashar would call these 'permission slips'. It is possible to create a state inwardly and hold that identity or state firmly, and eventually that identity or reality will be reflected in your emotions, thoughts, physicality, and the rest of your experience allowing for a total transformation. One of the powers behind psychedelics is that they temporarily strip away lots of held limiting beliefs and so it's easier to access states of higher clarity, intuition or bliss - but this dynamic can reinforce the idea we need to do something (take something, do a certain kind of meditation, etc) to reach certain states of being. It is possible to, for example, work yourself into states of really high bliss comparable to MDMA, or to effortlessly receive answers to your questions. This can be done by consciously generating the reality of your desire inwardly. If you continue to look towards your external experience to determine how you aught to feel, think and behave, then you will continue to generate that same reality which is governed by unconscious patterns. If you can consciously hold your inward reality and choose to frame your entire experience as confirmation of the reality that you're now choosing to align with, then it's only a matter of time before it is reflected externally . The art comes in aligning in fulfillment of your chosen reality now. If you are expecting, waiting or hoping for a change in the external reality, then that change won't come because you're still associating with the old experience. If you know you can have anything you want right now by freely and consciously choosing to have it and so you rest in that fulfillment now, then reality will start to quickly align with that experience and generate it in your external experience, feeling, thoughts, synchronicities and whatever perceptions it takes to fulfill your desired state perfectly. It's a bit of an art and there are many different techniques, teachings and approaches on the subject. A lot of it is just removing the barriers and beliefs that say you can't generate your states from within - or that external reality governs in the internal. Experience says that the opposite is true - that the inward reality generates your entire experience. Discovery of this takes some dedication, openness, but most importantly the willingness to find out for yourself.

So this means that a person will experience freedom and bliss while his body continues to degenerate physically and there is no actual recovery from the specific health problems but a disconnection from the experience of pain. But this apparently looks similar to drinking your problems away but not actually eradicating or solving them. The problems continue to remain or even get worse. But the experience changes. How does this bring real benefits

So this means that a person will experience freedom and bliss while his body continues to degenerate physically and there is no actual recovery from the specific health problems but a disconnection from the experience of pain. But this apparently looks similar to drinking your problems away but not actually eradicating or solving them. The problems continue to remain or even get worse. But the experience changes. How does this bring real benefits.

@Loreena idk what EB's talking about but I'd recommend visualizations of type such as filling yourself with all kinds of light, exploding with energy, vibratinf with bliss etc. Also talking to other "light" beings, angels, guides...

I'm currently on my best meditation streak since I started practicing around 4 years ago. I was a dabbler for awhile and feel like I've finally settled in a groove that won't be broken. What changed is hard to exactly pin down because of the sheer volume of events happening in my life during that time. But I'll identify a few: -Having a few enlightenment / bliss experiences. This is probably hands down the most important because it showed me that meditation is not just sitting and wasting time. There are real, tangible results to be obtained and now I knew it for myself. -Taking a 10 Day Vipassana Retreat. Although I was initially worn out when I came back, overall this gave me a huge amount of macro momentum with my meditation habit -Just making the commitment to do it every day, no matter what. Even if that means I'm dead tired and fall asleep half way through, which has happened to me plenty of times -Not trying to jump ahead too fast. It took time to build up to my current habit of 1 hour a day. I did plenty of 20 mins a day, 30 mins a day, 45 mins a day, etc before I got here. So falling off the habit is part of the process. Nothing to do but get back on. God has all the time in the world...literally.

Thanks for the clarifications! In my own experiences with awareness/short periods of enlightenment, I have felt similar to what you experienced in a small way. I have felt at such ease at times and realized, we really are no thing we can see or feel we are just the energy behind or that which came before everything we are now aware of and it's such a clarity. Everything is beautiful and effortless and connected. Then because we are on this earth in a human body, I totally get what you said earlier that we need the illusion of separateness or consciousness would have no way of experiencing itself. The poor human being we are doesn't realize this and we live in turmoil when we forget who and what we truly are. I like what you say to just relax and let go fully and surrender....I can do that...but it never lasts and I go through a drop in consciousness and then I come back. I can see that you having these experiences that I have had multiplied by 1000, that the feeling when you come back into the body would make you feel like WTF do I do now!!! That's scary at times unless you can maintain what you KNOW through the ups and downs of living a human life. That seems to be the challenge we have set up. The old saying Bliss is ignorance seems to play here at times......All of us on here know elements of the truth to our existence and that can either be so beautiful and so enriching and peaceful and full of Love.....Yes.....but to me at times it can feel like a struggle because I always want to get back to the Bliss feeling and not have the human part that has struggle involved. The people that have not searched for answers or who only know life as a body seem to be in a blissful ignorant stage at times. It is really hard work at times to stay present and be aware of our divinity. That's a good thing that these things are not addictive. I do believe it can be a scary thing to experience and I would think that it isn't easy to go through dealing with all the stuff we have accumulated in our lives. It seems to be an ok thing as an eye opener but not something you keep repeating....or maybe it is something to repeat..... I don't know...

You can view 'subtitles/closed captions' in the video by clicking on "CC" button on the video. Transcript: SOMETIMES AS I WATCH PEOPLE PLAYING THE SAME OLD GAMES OVER AND OVER, MY EYES FEEL ANCIENT AND JADED AND MY HEART WEARY AND CYNICAL. I GUESS IT'S BECAUSE I'M SEEING MORE AND MORE MY OWN GAMES AND TRICKS AND I HEAR YOUR MADDENING VOICE BETWEEN MY EARS SAYING, 'THAT'S OKAY - JUST YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT AND LOVE YOURSELF; AND THERE IS NO PROBLEM.' JUST???! I THINK IF YOU SAY THIS WORD AGAIN I WILL SCREAM. WASN'T I HAPPIER WHEN I THOUGHT THERE WAS A GOAL? THE QUESTION IS FROM MA DEVA ANANDO. It is significant. The question can be that of almost everybody who is present. Listen to it. It simply shows a situation that every seeker has to pass. First, Anando says, "Sometimes as I watch people playing the same old games over and over, my eyes feel ancient and jaded and my heart weary and cynical." Please don't try to watch others - that is none of your business. If they have decided to play the old games, if they want to play the old games, if they are happy in playing their old games, who are you to interfere? Who are you even to judge? This constant hankering to judge others has to be dropped. It does not help others. It harms you, it only harms you. Why should you be bothered? That has nothing to do with you. It is others' joy if they want to remain the old and they want to move in the same rut, in the same routine. Good! It is their life and they have every right to live it their own way. Somehow we cannot allow others to have their own way. In some way or other we go on judging. Sometimes we say they are sinners, sometimes we say they are bound to go to hell, sometimes we say they are this and that - criminals. If all that has changed, now a new evaluation that they are playing old games and'I am tired'. Why should you be tired of their games? Let them be tired of their games if they want; or if they don't want, that too is their choice. Please don't watch others. Your whole energy has to be focussed on yourself. Maybe you are condemning others for their old games just as a trick because you don't want to condemn yourself. It always happens; it is a psychological trick: we project on others. A thief thinks everybody is a thief - that is very natural for him; that is a way to protect his ego. If he feels the whole world is bad, he feels good in comparison. A murderer thinks the whole world consists of murderers - that makes him feel good and at ease. It is convenient to think the whole world consists of murderers; then he can murder and there is no need to have any guilt feeling, there is no need to have any prick of conscience. So we go on projecting on others whatsoever we don't want to see in ourselves. Please stop that! If you are really tired of old games. then this is the old game - the OLDEST. For many lives you have been playing it: projecting YOUR defects onto others and then feeling good. And of course you have to exaggerate, you have to magnify. If you are a thief, you have to magnify others' images, that they are greater thieves than you. Then you feel good; in comparison, you are a far better person. That's why people go on reading the newspapers. Newspapers help you very much. Early in the morning, before you have even taken your tea. you are ready for the newspaper. And the newspaper brings nothing like news, because there is nothing new. It is the same old rotten thing. But you feel good: somewhere, somebody has been murdered, somewhere there has been a Watergate, and somewhere something else, and somewhere somebody has stolen, and somebody's wife has escaped with somebody else... and so on and so forth. Watching all that, you relax; you feel, "So, I am not so bad - the whole world is going to the dogs. I am a far better person. I have not yet escaped with the wife of the neighbor. I have not killed anybody yet - although I think of it, but thinking is not a crime where people are actually doing things." You feel good. And the moment you feel good, you remain the same. Please don't watch others. It is not going to help you. You use your energy, your observation, on yourself. And there is something tremendously transforming in observation. If you observe yourself, things will start changing. If you start observing your anger, one day you will suddenly find the anger has no more energy the way it used to have; it is no more so fiery. Something has gone dead in it. If you start watching yourself, you will see, by and by, the negative is dying and the positive is becoming more and more alive; that misery is disappearing and bliss is entering into your life; that you smile more, sometimes even for no reason; that a sense of humor is arising in you - if you start watching - that old depressed, long face is disappearing. A sense of humor is born. You start taking life more playfully, if you watch; seriousness becomes more and more irrelevant. More and more you become innocent, trusting, less and less doubtful. I am not saying that your trust will always be respected. No, that is not the point. You may be deceived more, because when you are trusting you can be deceived more. But even when you are deceived, your trust will not be destroyed by it - in fact, it may even be enhanced. You may start thinking that even if you are deceived - somebody has taken a little money and deceived you - you will be able to see that you have saved the far more valuable thing, that is trust; and something almost valueless, the money, is gone. You could have saved the money and the trust would have gone - that would have been a far greater loss, because nobody has ever been found to be happy just because of money. But because of trust, people have lived like gods on earth. Because of trust, people have enjoyed life so totally that they could feel grateful to God. Trust is a benediction. Money, at the most, can give you a little comfort, but no celebration. Trust may not give you much comfort, but will give you great celebration. Now, to choose comfort against celebration is simply stupid - because that comfortable life will be nothing but a comfortable death. Conveniently you can live and conveniently you can die, but the real taste of life is possible only when you are celebrating at the optimum, at the maximum, when your torch is burning from both ends together. Maybe only for a single moment... but the intensity of it, but the totality of it, but the wholeness of it! And this happens only through observation. Observation is one of the greatest forces of transformation. You start observing yourself. Don't waste your energy for observation on others - that is a sheer wastage! And nobody will ever thank you for it; it is a thankless job. And whomsoever you observe will feel offended - because NOBODY likes to be observed; everybody wants to have a private life. Good or bad, stupid or wise, but everybody wants to have his own private life. And who are you to interfere? So don't be a peeping tom, don't go to people's keyholes, and don't watch. It is THEIR life. If they want and if they love to play the old game, let them play! So the first thing: please stop watching other people; turn the whole energy on yourself. Second thing you say: "I guess it's because I'm seeing more and more my own games and tricks and I hear your maddening voice between my ears saying,'That's okay - just you have to accept and love yourself, and there is no problem.' " I have to repeat it: There is no problem. I have never come across a real problem - not up to now. And I must have listened to thousands of people and their thousands of problems. I have not come across a real problem yet. And I don't think that it is ever going to happen - because the real problem exists not.'Problem' is a created thing. Situations are there: problems are not there. Problems are your interpretations of situations. The same situation may not be a problem to one person and may be a problem to somebody else. So it depends on you whether you create a problem or you don't create a problem but problems are not there. Problems are not in existence: they are in the psychology of man. Just look next time you are having some trip and riding a problem just watch. Just stand aside and look at the problem. Is it really there? or have you created it? Look deeply into it, and you will suddenly see it is not increasing, it is decreasing; it is becoming smaller and smaller. The more you put your energy into observation, the smaller it becomes. And a moment comes when suddenly it is not there... and you will have a good laugh. Whenever you are having a problem, just look at it. Problems are fictitious, they don't exist. Just go around the problem, look from every angle - how can it be? It is a ghost! You wanted it, that's why it is there. You asked for it, that's why it is there. You invited it, that's why it is there. But people don't like it if you say their problem is not a problem - they don't like it. They feel very bad. If you listen to their problems they feel very good. And if you say, "Yes, this is a great problem," they are very happy. That's why psychoanalysis has become one of the most important things of this century. The psychoanalyst helps nobody - maybe he helps himself, but he helps nobody else. He cannot. But still people go and pay. They enjoy - he accepts their problems; whatsoever absurd problem you bring to the psychoanalyst, he listens to it very sincerely and seriously, as if it is there. He takes it for granted that you are suffering greatly, and he starts working on it and analyzing it. And it takes years! Even after years of psychoanalysis the problem is not solved-because in the first place the problem has never been there, so how can anybody solve it? But after years of psychoanalysis, you get tired; and you get finished with the old problem, you want some new problem now. So one day you suddenly say, "Yes, it is no more there, it is gone," and you thank the psychoanalyst. But it is simply time that has helped, that has healed. It is not psychoanalysis. But there are people who would not like simply to wait and watch. When you bring a mad person to a Zen monastery, they simply put him in a corner, in a small hut, far away from the monastery; they give him food and they tell him, "Just be there, quiet." Nobody goes to talk to him; food is supplied, his comforts are looked after, but nobody bothers about him. And what psychoanalysis does in three years, they do in three weeks. Within three weeks the person simply comes out and he says, "Yes, the problem is finished." For three weeks you are left with your problem - how can you avoid seeing it? And no analysis is given, so there is no diversion; you are not distracted. The psychoanalyst distracts you! The problem may have died on its own within three weeks, but it will not die now because with the support of the psychoanalyst it will live for three years, or even more. It depends how rich you are. If you are rich enough, the problem can continue for your whole life. That means it depends how much you can afford. Poor people don't suffer from many problems. Rich people suffer they can afford to. They can enjoy the game of having great problems. The poor person cannot afford and cannot enjoy that game. Next time you are having a problem, look into it, look HARD into it. No need for any analysis; don't analyze it, because analysis is a way of diversion. When you start analyzing, you don't look at the problem. You start asking why? from where? how did it come? - in your childhood, your mother's relationship with you, your father's relationship with you. You have gone astray. Now you are not looking into the problem itself. Freudian psychoanalysis is really a mind-game. and played with great expertise. Don't go into the causes! There is no need because there is no cause. Don't go into the past there is no need because that will be going away from the present problem. LOOK into it as a herenow thing, just enter into it. And don't think about causes, reasons. Just watch the problem as it is. And you will be surprised that looking hard into it, it starts dispersing. Go on looking into it and you will find it has gone. PROBLEMS ARE NOT THERE. We create them - because we cannot live without problems. That is the only reason why we create them. To have a problem is to have an occupation. One feels good; something is there to do. When there is no problem you are left alone, empty - what to do next? All problems finished. Just think: one day comes God and says, "No problems any more - finished! All problems gone." What will you do? Just think of that day. People will be stuck; people will start getting very angry about God. They will say, "This is not a blessing! Now what are we supposed to do? No problems?" Then suddenly the energy is not moving anywhere; then you will feel stagnant. The problem is a way for you to move, to go on, to carry on, to hope, to desire, to dream. The problem gives so many possibilities to remain occupied. And to be unoccupied, or to be capable of unoccupation, is what I call meditation: an unoccupied mind who enjoys a moment of unoccupation is a meditative mind. Start enjoying some unoccupied moments. Even if the problem is there - you feel it is there, I say it is not, but you feel it is there - put the problem aside and tell the problem, "Wait! Life is there, the whole life is there. I will solve you, but right now let me have a little space unoccupied by any problem." Start having a few moments unoccupied, and once you have enjoyed them you will see the fact that problems are created by you because you were not capable of enjoying the unoccupied moments. So problems fill the gap. Have you not watched yourself? Sitting in a room, if you have nothing to do you start feeling fidgety, you start feeling uncomfortable, you start feeling restless - you will turn the radio on, or you will, turn the TV on, or you will start reading the same newspaper you have read three times since the morning. Or, if there is only one way, you will fall asleep so that you can create dreams and again remain occupied. Or you will start smoking. Have you watched it? Whenever you are not having anything to do, it becomes very difficult to be, just to be. I will say again: There is no problem, Anando. Look into the fact of it that there is NO problem in life. If you want to have it, it is your pleasure - you enjoy with all my blessings But the truth is that there is no problem. Life is not a problem at all - it is a mystery to be lived and enjoyed. Problems are created by you because you are afraid to enjoy life and you are afraid to live life. Problems give you a protection - AGAINST life, against joy, against love. You can say to yourself, "HOW can I enjoy? - I am having so many problems. How can I enjoy? I am having so many problems, how can I love a man or a woman? I am having so many problems, how can I dance and sing? - impossible!" You can find some reasons not to sing, not to dance. Your problems give you a great opportunity to avoid. Look into the problems and you will find they are fictitious. And even if you are having a problem and you feel it is real, I say it is okay. Why do I say it is okay? Because the moment you start feeling it is okay, it will disappear. The moment you say to a problem that it is okay, you have stopped giving energy to it. You have accepted it! The moment you accept a problem, it is no more a problem. A problem can be a problem only when you go on rejecting it, when you say it should NOT be so... and it is. Then the problem is strengthened. That's why I say it. People come to me with their big problems and I say, "It is okay, it is very good, you accept it." And I say, "Just you have to accept and love yourself." And I understand, Anando says, "It is very maddening, your voice continuously saying, "That's okay... and there is no problem."' "JUST???!" And Anando says, "I think if you say this word again I will scream." You have been screaming your whole life - whether you scream or not is not the point - you have been screaming your whole life. You have not done anything else up to now. Sometimes loudly, sometimes silently, but you have been screaming. That's how I see people - screaming people, their heart is screaming, their being is screaming. But that will not help. You can scream but that will not help. Try to understand rather than screaming. Try to see what I am telling you. And what I am telling you is not a theory - it is a fact. And I am saying it because I have known it that way. If it can happen to me that there is no problem, why cannot it happen to you? Take the challenge of it! I am just as ordinary a man as you are; I don't claim any extraordinary miraculous powers. I am very ordinary, just as you are. The only difference between me and you is you don't say okay to yourself and I have said an absolute okay to myself - that is the only difference. You are continuously trying to improve yourself and I am not trying to improve myself. I have said: Incompletion is the way life is. You are trying to become perfect and I have accepted my imperfections. That is the only difference. So I don't have any problems. When you accept your imperfection, from where can the problem come? When whatsoever happens you say "It is okay," then from WHERE can the problem come? When you accept limitations, then from where can the problem come? The problem arises out of your non-acceptance. You cannot accept the way you are, hence the problem. And you will never accept the way you are, so the problem will always be there. Can you imagine yourself some day accepting, totally accepting the way you are? If you can imagine, then why don't you do it right now? Why wait? For whom? For what? I have accepted the way I am, and that very moment all problems disappeared. That very moment all worries disappeared. Not that I became perfect, but I started enjoying my imperfections. Nobody ever becomes perfect - because to become perfect means to become absolutely dead. Perfection is not possible because life is eternal. Perfection is not possible because life goes on and on and on - there is no end to it. So the ONLY way to get out of these so-called problems is to accept your life as you find it right this moment, and live it, enjoy, delight in it. The next moment will be of more joy because it will come out of this moment; and the next to that will be of even more joy because, by and by, you will become more and more joyous. Not that you will become joyous through improvement, but by living the moment. But you will remain imperfect. You will always have limitations, and you will always have situations where, if you want to crate problems, you can immediately create. If you don't want to create problems, there is no need to create. You can scream but that won't help. That's what you have been doing - that has not helped. Even primal therapy has not proved of much help. It allows people to scream - yes, it feels a little good, it is a tantrum therapy. It allows you to vomit. It feels a little good because you feel a little unloaded, unburdened, but then within a few days that euphoria disappears; again you are the same, again accumulating. Again go to the primal therapy - you will feel good for a few days... again the same. Unless you understand that one has to STOP creating problems, you will go on creating problems. You can go into an encounter group, you can do primal therapy, you can do thousands of other groups, and after each group you will feel tremendously beautiful, because you dropped something that was on your head - BUT YOU HAVE NOT DROPPED THE MECHANISM THAT CREATES IT. You have dropped something which you were having, but you have not dropped the very factory that goes on creating it. Again you will create. It will not be of much use. It will give you a respite, a rest. But if you REALLY understand the thing. the thing is that you have to stop creating problems - otherwise you can go from one group to another group, from one psychoanalyst to another psychoanalyst, from one psychiatrist to another psychiatrist, from one therapy to another therapy... and everybody will give you a little respite, a little rest, and again you are doing the same thing. My whole effort here is to cut the problem from the very roots. Please don't create problems - they are not, they exist not. And the last thing Anando says, "Wasn't I happier when I thought there was a goal?" Yes, you were happier and you were more miserable too - because your happiness was in the hope; it was not a true happiness. So I say you were happier and more miserable too. Miserable you were here in the present, and happy you were in the future - but how can you be in the future? The goal is in the future. Unhappy you were here; happy you were there.'There' exists not - it is all here. It is ALWAYS here. Everywhere it is here!'There' exists only in the dictionary. So it is with'then'. It is always now.'Then' exists not. Yes, you were happier in your dreams of thinking of a goal, of thinking of a beautiful future. But why does a person think about a beautiful future? - because he is miserable in the present. I don't think about a beautiful future. I cannot conceive how it can be more beautiful! How can it be more beautiful than it is right now this moment? How is existence going to be more happy and joyous than it is this moment? Have a look - how can it be more happy, more joyful? But that's a trick, again a trick of the mind: to avoid the present we go on thinking about the future so that we need not see the present. And the present is all there is. So you are right - you were happier, happier in your dreams. Now I have shattered all your dreams. Happier in your hopes - now I am trying in every way to create the state of hopelessness, so there is no hope left. I AM TRYING TO BRING YOU TO THE PRESENT. You have been wandering in the future; I am pulling you back to herenow. It is hard work. And to take goals away one feels very angry. You ARE sometimes very angry with me. I have taken your hope, your dreams, or I am trying you are clinging to them; you are so addicted to your hope that you even start hoping through me. You start hoping through me: "Osho will do this." This man is not going to do anything. You start hoping that "Now I am with Osho so there is no need to be afraid. Sooner or later I am going to become Enlightened." Forget all about it! ENLIGHTENMENT IS NOT A HOPE! It is not a desire and it is not in the future. If you start living right this moment, you are Enlightened. I am trying to make you Enlightened every day, and you say, "Tomorrow." Then as you will... but tomorrow it will never happen. Either it is now or never! Become Enlightened right now! And you can become because you are... simply deluded, simply thinking that you are not. So don't ask how. The moment you ask the how, you start hoping. So DON'T ask the how, and don't say, "Yes, we will become." I am not saying that. I am saying you are. Somendra!... the goose IS out. The goose has never been in. One just has to be alert in the moment. Just a single moment of alertness, a shock, and you are free. Every day I am trying to make you Enlightened, because I know you ARE Enlightened. But if you want to go on playing the game of Samsara, you can go on playing. Happier, certainly, you were - and miserable too. I have taken your happiness because you cannot hope any more. If you allow me a little more, I will take your misery too. But first the happiness has to go, because misery exists as a shadow to the hope of happiness. So first the hope of happiness has to go, only then will the shadow go. So you can scream if you want to scream, but I will repeat a thousand and one times: Anando, there is no problem. Just you have to accept and love yourself - yes, JUST.

Thank you @Shin I am in a very different place right now, that's right, it's all in our mind. Irritation disappeared right away since it was just masking sadness, then all the sensation was the pressure on my sinuses and throat, but when I was able put the attention on top of my head, I felt bliss

So, I just went through the dark night of the soul, which made everything meaningless, in a depressing manner. I had a ton of spiritual awakening symptoms, some are gone by now, but something wanders my mind. I had this one dream a few days ago where my mother told me to stop running from an entity that was chasing me and I just fell in a total blackness in my bathroom, while everything was disappearing, including my mom, which I was being afraid of initially, but felt like a total bliss once I "died" there(I found out that there were people who got enlightened while dreaming, like Jiddu Krishnamurti) . After that, I woke up with loud sounds in my ears(which I had up until that point, but now have disappeared) and a wild energy rush through my spine. Ever since then, I'm living in the Present Moment all the time, as if I'm constantly meditating. I permanently have the feeling you get after a meditation session, being extremely calm and peaceful. Matt Kahn also helped me a lot, with his love teachings and acceptance techniques. The "problem" now is that my ego tries to grasp this new realization that there's nothing to realize, do, fear and it's kinda confused and apathic. Adyashanti said this is a normal thing after awakening. I also see through my roles everytime I'm in different groups of people, or when trying to impress or manipulate people, and I see through all my schemes and victimizations. My intuition is skyrocketing, basically. I want to know your experiences on the matter and what do you think. I know that I'm not fooling myself, but man, I'm drunk on emptiness, as they call it. Death seems like a concept. Kinda shocking, I gotta say. I also totally relate to what Adyashanti says in this video

I'm posting this topic here and not in nutrition, as this is not about food and it's relation to health. This is about ethics. What we as finite minds relatively see as brains/'systems of neurons' is obviously what allows Infinity to play the game of life - to see itself as a finite mind. We are all one consciousness. I'm as much the pig getting slaugthered in the slaughterhouse as I am this dude typing this text. This is how pigs gets sedated in Denmark before they get slaughtered. Doesn't seem so nice. And Denmark is arguably supposed to be a country where animal welfare is 'better than average'. Eating meat is something we in the western world do only for pleasurement (it tastes good). There are zero health benefits and we absolutely don't need to survive to eat meat, but can do just fine on non-meat-food-sources. An argument for saying 'ok to eating meat' could be that as long as the animals have a decent life until they get slaughtered, then it's fine - because the animals doesn't know they are going to die, they live in blisfull ignorance, and we all know that death itself is perfectly neutral and 'fine' as long as 1. the conscious being getting killed doesn't suffer before getting killed in any way (anxiety, bad mood or pain) 2. no conscious beings are left alive that are hurt by the departure of their friend/beloved one When an airplane with 100 young children crashes and they all get killed - well it's not sad for the children, they died quickly and painless and are no more. Perfect bliss in a sense. However it's sad for the relatives to the children - they are most likely destroyed due to natural egoic reasons. Anyway, obviously, we more or less treat agriculture animals like slaves. Isn't it obvious that they are getting hurt in some way (as in the video)? As you reading this text is just as much the pigs getting killed in the video, why do you endorse the proces above by buying pork roast for Christmas? Let's have a discussion. Please don't talk about health benefits (or cons if they exist) of going vegan/vegetarian - this thread is NOT for that.

Hmm, can you explain this, it seems to be backwards to any idea of what enlightenment could be like. Do you believe an addiction to these things is possible? I'm asking because unless someone stays in a permanent state of GOD or enlightenment, could this not set the stage for a craving for more? To know how much further you can go...to push it in hopes of having it last longer and possibly drive you into a permanent state of bliss?

Ignorance is bliss. Suffering is depressing. Wisdom is peace. This pretty much sums up my view on happiness. With no knowledge you are filled with pleasure and joy, since you are blocking off the knowledge of the suffering in the world. The problem with this is that you cannot stop yourself from gaining knowledge of the world, therefore that ignorant state is not sustainable. No matter what you do, you will die, you will fall ill and you will age, etc. And so will everyone around you. Suffering is inevitable therefore bliss is never sustainable. When you do have knowledge of the suffering you do not have the wisdom to process that knowledge properly. It's like the difference between being intelligent and being knowledgeable. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you do not know how to use that knowledge it will be rendered useless and in some cases harmful. Especially when most people who have lot's of knowledge of the suffering in the world, tend to distract themselves from that knowledge and are afraid of learning more. The wise person at the top has gone through all the suffering and gained all of the knowledge and with that knowledge he can gain peace. I guess you could say being wise is just another section of knowledge, but i think the general point is there.

Here's a thought: What if happiness is an empty glass? What would you put in it? For me, I wouldn't put excitement in it. I'm not saying that excitement is bad. I'm just saying that it could get extreme - in both ways - the positive and negative. If I put peace in it, there are more chances of it being calm and tranquil. Now, bliss is heavenly joy, the enlightenment state. Although, it's a great state, it's going to pass and we still have to come back to this earth phenomenon and deal with different situations.

http://mailchi.mp/bentinhomassaro/2-days-left-until-sedonas-eternal-bliss-live-stream-register-now-1190065 If someone pay for this, could you describe what are the steps of the meditation ? I have like 0 money in the bank that I can use for it right now

Bliss is serene, tranquil, cool, it brings contentment. When you are blissful ,you are at ease, at home. It is ecstasy without any excitement.

So, bliss is peace?

Our happiness is always excitement. Bliss has nothing to do with any emotions (aka excitement). Bliss is tranquil.

@Key Elements If you are asleep, then pleasure is happiness. Pleasure means sensation, trying to achieve something through the body which is not possible to achieve through the body, forcing the body to achieve something it is not capable of. People are trying, in every possible way, to achieve happiness through the body. The body can give you only momentary pleasures, and each pleasure is balanced by pain in the same amount, in the same degree. To the sleeping, pleasurable sensations are happiness. He lives from one pleasure to another pleasure. He is just rushing from one sensation to another sensation. He lives for small thrills. His life is very superficial; it has no depth, it has no quality. He lives in the world of quantity. The non-meditator sleeps, dreams; the meditator starts moving away from his sleep towards awakening. Then happiness has a totally different meaning: it becomes more of a quality, less of a quantity; it is more psychological, less physiological. He enjoys music more, he enjoys poetry more, he enjoys creating something. He enjoys nature, its beauty. He enjoys silence. He enjoys what he had never enjoyed before, and this is far more lasting. Even if the music stops, something goes on lingering in you. And it is not a relief. The difference between pleasure and this happiness is: it is not a relief, it is an enrichment. You become more full, you become a little overflowing. Listening to good music, something is triggered in your being, a harmony arises in you – you become musical. Or dancing, suddenly you forget your body; your body becomes weightless. Pleasure is animal, happiness is human, bliss is divine. Pleasure binds you, it is a bondage, it chains you. Happiness gives you a little more rope, a little bit of freedom, but only a little bit. Bliss is absolute freedom. Pleasure is dependent on others. Happiness is not so dependent on others, but still it is separate from you. Bliss is not dependent, is not separate either; it is your very being, it is your very nature. This moment is all. Now is the only time and here is the only space. And then suddenly the whole sky drops into you. This is bliss. This is real happiness. There is not a single person on the earth who does not have blissful moments sometimes. Even though we have become very unnatural, nature asserts itself; there are moments it takes us unguarded. A bird suddenly starts calling and you fall silent... and suddenly, the benediction of it. Or it starts raining and it takes you unawares. You slip out of your mechanical habit for a moment; you are no more a robot. And the smell of the wet earth.... Anything new, anything that surprises you, brings you out of your robot-like existence, and there is nature in all its beauty. Those moments are rare because they have to come in spite of us.

What you call happiness is a kind of excitement - and what you call unhappiness is also an excitement. You call the excitement that is pleasurable to you as happiness, excitement that is unpleasant to you as unhappiness. Happiness is worthless; it depends on unhappiness. Bliss is transcendence: one moves beyond the duality of being happy and unhappy. One watches both; happiness comes, one watches and does not become identified with it. One does not say, ‘I am happy. Peace, it is wonderful.’ One simply watches, one says, ‘Yes, a white cloud passing.’ And then comes unhappiness, and one does not become unhappy either. One says, ‘A black cloud passing. I am the witness, the watcher.’ This is what meditation is all about, just becoming a watcher. Failure comes, success comes, you are praised, you are condemned, you are respected, you are insulted – all kinds of things come, they are all dualities. And you go on watching. Watching the duality, a third force arises in you; a third dimension arises in you. The duality means two dimensions: one dimension is happiness; another is unhappiness. Watching both, a depth arises in you: the third dimension, witnessing. And that third dimension brings bliss. Bliss is without any opposite to it. It is serene, tranquil, cool. It is ecstasy without any excitement.

When full awakening has become established then it never leaves you, it is always there; just like your shadow it follows you. Then you have become an individual. Then the individuality has also to be lost. Become one from many and then become zero from one. This is the whole mathematics of spirituality -- from many to one and from one to nothingness. One has become the rest. Ordinarily, when you are a person, you are in tremendous unrest. Restlessness is what you are. When you come to full awakening you have become very, very restful. You are and you are rested, deeply rested. In enlightenment you have disappeared, there is only rest, nobody resting... eternal rest. Full awakening you can feel for the first time what enlightenment can mean. The first taste, or the first distinct perfume of enlightenment, comes through full awakening. So full awakening is helpful; but anything that is helpful can be a hindrance if you cling to it and you feel that it is everything. full awakening has a bliss that can fool you; it has a bliss of its own. Because you have not known enlightenment, this is the ultimate that comes to you, and you cling to it. But if you cling to it, you can change that which was helpful, that which was friendly, into something that becomes a barrier and an enemy. So one must be aware of the possible danger of full awakening. If you are aware of this, then the experience of full awakening will be helpful.