Search the Community

@Atticus I think you're thinking that it takes a brain to be aware. It does not. It takes a brain to form thought, memories, emotions, etc., but awareness, is what YOU ARE, not a quality or ability of yourself. It is not a "thing" at all. It's not even nothingness. When you picture nothingness, you probably picture empty space. It's not even close to empty space. It has no qualities at all, other than IT IS. We take awareness for granted, when it is absolutely fundamental for our existence. It actually is existence.. Try to view awareness (being aware) with absolute importance, and deduce what it actually is from there.

These things do inspire me to work on my life purpose with the focus on the nothingness / everythingness (transient morality). Then, I can't think of a better mission in life than to align the life purpose with world peace. Is it possible that these things trigger these kinds of experiences with a combo of meditation / contemplation / self-inquiry? Time to find out. So awesome...

I was doing some self inquiry yesterday and was thinking (not through my mind but through experience): Who is aware of my breathing? I am breathing in and out irregularly and sometimes holding my breath so therefore i am not my breath. And i became fully aware of everything in my body. Am i the awareness of my body? sometimes i am aware of my body and sometimes i am not, my awareness shifts from inside my body, to my external surroundings, to my thoughts. You are always aware, so you are 'awareness', but you are not anything you are aware of/observing. But what about when i am asleep? At this point i literally fell asleep. When i am sleeping, i am not aware. I am still me, even though i am not conscious/aware of existence in deep sleep. So i cant be awareness. So if i am not awareness/consciousness, what am i? Thats when i think: i am nothingness, when im sleeping. So now im thinking, is my journey in this life to get me to consciously feel as calm and unatttached as i am when i am asleep? Because when i sleep, i literally merge with reality without judgement and ego. Is this my true self? Your thoughts are appreciated xxxx

Hello all! So a few weeks ago during my meditation session I started trying to observe things without putting a label on it, I started moving my hand around and looked at my hand to see it as it is, to see the formless thing it was, and then the awareness of my mental sensations shot backward (inward) I felt a huge vast open space and nothingness, it was frightening and i felt a surge of panic, I didn't know who i was anymore, All i felt was a vast ocean of emptiness. It only lasted for a minute and then i lost it again. Since then I ''know'' on an emotional level that I don't exist, because I've experienced nothingness, but somehow it wasn't a permanent transformation like for example Eckhart Tolle went through. Any suggestions to make it reoccur and make it permanent?

It's one of those paradoxes in the Enlightenment game that's not really reconcilable via rationality. To say that Nothingness is self-aware would be to attribute some sort of quality to it, in this case awareness. So no, Nothingness is not self-aware. That implies a "thing" that's doing something. At the same time, Enlightened people would tell you that Nothingness is self-aware. And I'm guessing that's because that's really just the best way you can understand it with your mind. Anyway, it's not really that important. This is not about learning, it's about un-learning. These kind of questions will reconcile when the time comes.

Nothingness can be better described as formlessness. Reality is in essence a nothingness because it is an endless abstraction of transient forms descending from a common root of subatomic energy. Furthermore, nothingness is not aware in the sense of how we are aware during our daily lives or how a dog or cat is aware of their environment. Rather it's awareness is instantaneous and and integral in all matter. It's awareness is the way in which life progresses and balances harmoniously. I hope this helps.

This questions relates to what Leo has said about nothingness in his video "The Enlightened Self - A Description Of Your Existential Nature" and "All of Religion Explained in One Video" also I think. He talks about how nothingness is where reality comes from, how it is the fundamental reality and how that is what you are. Then he says that this nothingness is aware (and self-aware, if I remember rightly). I can't find any description of Nothingness or Emptiness being aware in Buddhism. His discription seems like a much more fanciful one. The Buddhist discription seems very plain in comparison to this all encompassing awareness in which reality exists. So is nothingness aware? How can it be if it is nothingness? Leo, if you could also respond to this that would be great! I commented about it on the video and you replied but I still don't understand this.

Ah nice, cool man. See I view it in much the same way, but the difference is I don't let it all collapse into my mind as one thing (not saying/assuming you are, just speaking in general)... I protect the nuance of it all from being discarded in the name of simplicity. There is connection, but not as complete fusion or nothingness. Instead I see multiple tiers of ecosystems and sub-ecosystems, all connected, but distinct. SHARING sovereignty, as well as sharing in the ability to be moved and influenced by the confluence of other systems moving and inter-relating near each other. I've devoted myself for many years to studying and living and expanding my senses in regard to the actual "substance" that connects and chains all these micro and macro systems together. The push, pull, and balance of connective tension, which in other words could be labeled as attraction, repulsion, and harmony (a flavor of balance akin to what is known as the goldilocks zone). Working to harmonize greater and greater degrees of inter-connectivity, protecting them from collapse into polarities of extremes with their consequent extreme influences of attraction/repulsion, and expanding deeper from the understandings gained from the details in between these shifting tiers of connection. I don't let who I am be consumed by my connections to the rest of the universe. I am both an individual and a part of a larger system, with my own conatus (innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself), just like the cells and organs and bacteria in my body have their own conatus. But, also I have my own sense of satisfaction in devoting myself to something greater then I am, which I also depend on, much like my organs, cells, and bacteria also do. I balance both. Personally, I feel people who don't balance both and let their identity and individuality be consumed or discarded limit themselves from certain thresholds of development. For instance, internalization is the degree to which new information/patterns/connections embed themselves within our body and mind and is a required part of all learning. However, there are different degrees of internalization and one of the deepest tiers is identity level internalization, where information/skills/abilities become a part of who you are and can be accessed and expressed with as much ease as breathing, due to harnessing the automation of such skills that come when one's level reaches such a threshold of integration. What this means, is self-referencing, identity, and many other things are all system level functions with a purpose that is not to be discarded, because of some story of penultimate oneness people are chasing, but instead it is to be balanced and harmonized. Synergized, for continued expansion and evolution. I can see why a person might think that way, but if such a statement attempting to describe reality crossed my mental landscape, I'd be wary of attributing such a simple generalization to such a wide and deeply nuanced topic as connection/attachment. There are many different kinds of connection/attachment and there are many different kinds of ways to relate to different kinds of connection. Is it the attachment itself that causes suffering or the LOSS of connection that does? Is it really suffering we feel or does that label depend upon a multitude of other things, like abundance/diversity of other connections, individual levels of resiliency, chosen ways of relating to the connection and it's impact on our reality, and the meanings or stories we ascribe to it? How does the connection balance in contrast to other ones? Is it a connection that consumes and shrinks who we are or does it expand and nourish us? For me love isn't pure acceptance... acceptance is kind of meh, it's more comfort than love based when it comes to my personal feels. It helps with engendering ease and aiding flow, but that isn't always a constructive thing, because there are shitty patterns in the world that aren't worth accepting and internalizing, like depression patterns or forms of oppression and marginalization. Just like there are gasses and climates physically speaking that would kill me if I just passively accepted them and allowed them to connect and inter-mingle with my body's system. In my experience, intimate, deep-abiding love is a living thing nurtured and protected over time between people. With all due respect, I'd caution you to hold some space for your view of what unconditional love is until you've built that love over many years with another person in an intimate setting. I'm not trying to belittle you with that statement, but instead share with you the realizations I had that only came after I did experience such a thing myself after many years of devotion... I can feel connection and love with everyone, but it's nothing compared to the deep, intimate love that comes from my connection with my wife. They're both nice of course, but there is a difference and we can have both. @Raquel Our first show is up. I thought we did pretty good, it was a little rough and all over the place in some spots, but hopefully people liked it. If you give it a listen, please let me know what you think

Free will vs Determinism debates have always been weird for me... No free will doesn't imply determinism, it's like forgetting about randomness and my simple theory goes: God is randomness in every direction, and the randomness creates random shit and we are one of that shit that that ball of randomness created. Hurray for randomness! Randomness is pretty hard to produce tho, like even computers can't create real randomness. (If they could, maybe we start looking at real super-AI and that's another story - maybe we get obliterated then) So randomness is everywhere around us and we have no idea how it works. It's an explosion in every direction in every dimension, it's a happening without a cause, because what can be more random! Even the almighty infinity, i.e. god, is probably created by randomness. We create more randomness by every little random decision we do as the captains of our ship (be it ignorant captains) and probably that is something God, being randomness, likes, because we enhance him :D(whatever we choose to do, that's why he always laughin at us, we try to be mean but we always work in his favour! Maybe maybe, who cares tho! x) ) . And then the other God, the boss God, 0, nothingness, will claim us again and we will happen again! If the 1 says so! We just dancing between 0 and infinity, or 0 and 1 - in both those ranges exist infinite amount of numbers inbetween!!!!! OMG!!! One of them is us! Then the gods 0 and 1 and 2 and infinity realize they r 1 god and heaven and hell, and you and me and everything else always exists and is part of this big ass axes (in all infinite dimensions) and then I realize I am rambling too much. And I then realize I do not care because the ppl in this thread say I have no free will so that means i can do whatever I want as the captain of my ship and they will be like he didnt do it! Dont blame the captain, he doesnt even exist. It's the ship that is doing everything on it's own, so why blame the captain. My ego goes unpunished. But don't worry, even the biggest ego doesn't exist if you look at it from the right angle! PS: I am the ignorant captain, I am pointing the way to a machine that I do not understand fully (at all) and I try constantly to take credit for what the machine is doing. Will write a book I feel inspired - or will the ship write the book and me just standing there as the captain showing it the way?? When the captain thinks he is the ship, he can't escape from it if it starts sinking!!!!!! Woah that was sick metaphor lol IMHO randomness stems from the mathematical fact that there are infinite amount of numbers between any 2 numbers, but we can pick and choose which numbers we see, or how far down we zoom and dare to dive into. Start imagining, in your mind going deeper and deeper, more and more numbers after the decimal point, and they keep on increasing and generating infinite amount of new numbers between each of the newly generated infinite amount of numbers - so tiny, but so many! Now think about the big numbers (maybe we are one of those big numbers, multiplications of infinities, growing, as all the other infinities that make us grow from the root stem). That's a hard task, generating all those numbers, isn't it. So The universe itself expands in every direction because at the smallest level, imaginary numbers are expanding as we speak. They can't stop, Change is always there, unless we stay on one number. at the deepest level, beyond what the scientist can see, I think we are expanding numbers, going infinitely deep. Creating infinite possibility. We are children of Mathematics! PS: Ego corner: -trust me i've won math competitions -trust me im a programmer x_x -trust me im not crazy, i just wanted to splash on my keyboard, because of randomness. TLDR: If you read it maybe you will think, oh, that's somewhat interesting if u think bout it - especially the last bit (IMHO), might explain the constant expansion of teh universe n shit.. Are we travelling between 0 and 1? Between Bajjilion and BajillionOne Between nothing and God?... I should stop myself man, before I write another page. ... I mean.... I should tell the crew to stop ship!

I have recently been contemplating the ideas about science that I am learning now that I am a high school student and I am 17 by the way and I know a bit about enlightenment. I have tried to grasp the fact that science might be deeply flawed because of a general groundlessness in its assumptions. Here is what I mean: When we do science, we use formulas (a combination of numbers and letters) to describe the objective nothingness that reality is. We also use language and create these models thinking they are real. And I have started to notice that all of these descriptions and formulas - they are ILLUSIONS and the stort they tell is FALSE. It has nothing to do with reality and is a distraction from the truth that science is. When you look at things that are related to science, all there is is what is. There is no H2O, there is no molecule, there is no magnet. All there is is direct experience without any meaning, story whatever. It is just complete fiction. It is kind of funny that there is this distinction between genres that are fiction and non-fiction. Fuck that, it is all fiction - every story, belief, model. Calling a story non fiction is very self deceptive and a lie that the self uses to create reality to its own preference. When I write 2, notice that thing is not two. Two is a fucking story - an illusion. The same goes with all other models. What do you think of science in general. Do you agree/disagree with me on this? What is your idea?

I have watched Leo's video on the Netti Netti method as well as some of his other Enlightenment videos, and I haven't been practicing Netti-Netti yet because of this one hang-up that I'm having. How can I question the self if I already have the intellectual concept in my mind that, " Oh, well Leo and the others tell me that I'm pure awareness or nothingness detached from the identity of the ego- eternal, nondual, etc. etc." So when I'm doing it, that concept always comes up in my mind and I can't shake it. It feels like I can't genuinely question the self because whenever I start to question something such as the sense that I'm in my skull, it always goes something like this. " Am I somewhere in my skull?" " Well Leo said that I'm not because any sensation that you have is not there constantly, you are not aware of the sensation that you are the skull, so at that moment do you disappear?" " I guess not, it also seems like an illusion because it's the center of the senses, but we are not merely a collection of senses." " GAAH what's the point of going on? I already think that I'm nothing or awareness or some crap like that." I don't think that I can genuinely question myself because the conclusion is foregone. I mean, what else can I question other than my senses, my memories, and my mental processes? Or maybe I'm not questioning them deeply enough?

@Leo Gura Yes, I do switch my mind to the absolute nothingness. That's what i mean by being detached with "there is no you." That is always the best. Yes, for the most part, I totally agree. Btw, what was that shroom trip for? What were you trying to get a hint of experiencing? Divine love?

@Key Elements There's no you now. There's just an ever-changing flux of phenomena. Doesn't matter what the phenomena is from the point of view of absolute truth. Whether you're sipping a cup of coffee, floating through astral realms, visiting aliens via a DMT trip, meditating your ass off, or whatever, it's all just phenomena and none of it has any permanence. After the body dies, who the hell knows what might happen? But I would conservatively bet my money that it's the same thing as before you were born. Whatever stuff you cling to now, including your "soul" or any aspect of personality, identity, or being, will be gone. But Absolute Nothingness will remain. So it's a good idea to switch your identity to it, otherwise you're screwed.

Again Leo, you're assuming. How do you know that I have not experienced the infinite consciousness? Enlightenment experiences like these are very personal. Unless I say it...ok, here goes... I was one and a half. I saw / am the nothingness. How does this "feel?" Divine love and peace, like you described in your shroom trip when you were in the bathroom. Words can't even describe this properly. (Now comes 'coral stage.') This isn't the end of the story. Then, there was "blackness," the blackness of space. Then, a lot of sparks were all around me--tons of them--my stars. Then, I started condensing, leaving behind my stars, and was stretched out as if pulled through a blackhole. I was facing backwards when I was pulled through the blackhole. Then, I entered my body with massive, massive light. I saw it from a third person perspective. When I awoke, I was jolted up from my bed. I said, "Oh, I'm (my name) again!" Then, I went to the living room to play with my toys. That 'divine love' that you were describing on your trip didn't last long on me. If it happened naturally, it won't last long. That's why I didn't do the things that you did in your bathroom. The transition from no-self to earth realm is much better because it is done naturally. Anyway, my whole life, I just passed this off as a dream--I thought it was just a nice dream--until I met my friend. I described my "dream" to her. She decided to do a computerized Jyotish on me. She's an expert on this. Jyotish is Indian astrology based on the stars and planets. Then, one of the result was, she saw that the experience I had when I was 1 yrs old was recorded on my results. I was surprised. We didn't even call what happened to me an 'enlightenment experience.' Then Leo, I ran into your clips. You were talking about Ox's tail in one of them. Because of your info, I went to Shinzen Young's clips and I saw Riding the Ox Backwards. Yes, I was facing backwards in my experience. All this is cool and awesome, but what's the point to this whole thing? Number 1: Had I called my friend a "cult," "woo-woo," or a "religious whatever freak," she would have not been my friend and would not even bother doing Jyotish on me. It's complex. She's not just someone like you who keeps saying, "Oh, there's just the nothingness / everythingness." Why even bother to call someone weird names if you know she's a nice person? Number 2: What's the point of enlightenment experiences? Peace-cause that's what you experience at an extreme level. What to do here on earth? Align your life purpose with world peace. I can't think of a better mission / ripple effect. Number 3: This phenomenon we call "earth realm of awareness" based on nothingness/everythingness is weird enough to the mainstream. My point is, how do you know that after we die, we are not going to be some other phenomenon or dimension, even though we are aware that we are nothingness / everythingness? I'm not convinced that earth is the only dimension / phenomenon when there has been so many reports of people seeing their "dead" loved ones (including myself, I have witnessed). It's all in the branch of psychology called parapsychology. ....... Anyway, this is all great. The point is, be detached and do good in this world-world peace. Remember Leo, you made a world peace clip, Spiral Dynamics clip (Graves model ), and Radical Open-mindedness clip. Don't go against your words. Practice what you preach.

I just said in my above statement that the coral stage is still "maya" and "illusion." Psychologists put it like that for a reason. I'm not talking about no-self here. I'm talking about coral stage that's presented in the Graves model. So, no I'm not trying to conceptualize. Don't assume. I know that the map is not the territory. There are two different things I said there. I know that "there is no you," "no-ego," "no-self," "Riding the Ox Backwards," "nothingness/everythingness," etc, etc...This is talked about a lot in this forum and by you, and I couldn't agree more. That's not my point though. What if after "death," there is another "maya," "illusion," and "there is no you stage." Called stage coral in Graves model? Have you ever considered that as a possibility and as a direct experience of it? Check out parapsychology. It has to do with near death experiences and afterlives. It's your choice if you want to look into this or not. You did make a clip on Radical Open-mindedness. Why should we label something as "religion" or "cult" without checking them out with radical open-mindedness, but with a critical mind?

Role for what? They rob you of the illusion of roles or goals. There is a very large variety of direct consciousness experiences possible, whether using psychedelics or concentration practices. They range in usefulness for personal development from 0 to infinity. One psychedelic session could be more life-transforming that 10 years of therapy. Although that's not guaranteed. They go way beyond mere motivation. They can produce genuine enlightenment-like insights. For example you can become conscious that life and death are not real. Or that there is no such thing as a separate ego self. Enlightenment can be defined in various ways. A single enlightenment insight or experience is usually not enough to actually become enlightened. I tend to equate enlightenment with a permanent realization that what you are is Absolute Nothingness, and not the body, mind, or personal identity you presently believe you are. And for me enlightenment means that you no longer believe that what you really are can die, because your true nature transcends time, space, and existence.

If you go back to the beginning of "this" thread and see where it all started it doesn't look like Mathew was the first one to rub someone the wrong way here. I'm sure it was the days leading up to this event that got him banned without warning.I thought the guy might actually let a couple cats out the bag. I was excited. Now it's gonna go back to the same old nothingness. I could share a bunch of good links to some truth but I won't. I've watched 100's of videos and I finally think I got it all figured out.

@Ayla I know you have a degree in psychology and had enlightenment experiences. So, I'm just going to say this. I know you felt that peace aka 'divine love' going back into your body. If you see something other than everythingness / nothingness, that's a coral stage experience according to parapsychology. I know that perhaps someone like Leo is looking for a Riding the Ox Backwards type of experience (Shinzen Young talked about it.) where you are going back into your body facing backwards from the nothingness / everythingness. You get to see the coral stages of that experience too. You also feel that peaceful 'divine love' when you awake. All this is lovely and awesome! We get to learn a lot from this. We see clearly what is the fictional ego. However, we have to take it as a lesson and be detached from it. I know we can't keep on obsessing over this. This phase will pass and will always be remembered. What's the real lesson here? To align our life purpose with peace. Mission: to make a ripple effect toward world peace with our gifts/talents. Can you think of a better mission we can all have in common? We are all from the same consciousness after all. Beyond the coral stage is the nothingness / everythingness, no paradoxes, just 'divine love,' just no-self. We can't put a box around it like coral stage. We are all one. Btw..Shinzen Young just told the story in a metaphoric way. Maybe perhaps the story may sound too 'wooo' to most if he didn't? https://youtu.be/x8aN9O73lgg https://youtu.be/0PQonSiGkVE https://youtu.be/Ozca_5ifwQ0

I'm going to ask you a question. It's the only question you need on this journey. It's so obvious and simple, that the ego makes it into something other than it can handle. But I guarantee you, if you keep asking yourself this one question you will become free. The question is this: "Is there any happiness in chasing, or attending to objects?" Objects are everything that is not you. Anything you can perceive or conceive are objects. What is left is you. This is what these people cannot explain, because they do not know this teaching. Is there any happiness in worldly objects? Is there any happiness in subtle objects like thought, feeling, and perception? Ask yourself this during your day. Do it until it becomes obvious. Dont just say "no" there is no happiness in these things. Because just saying no will keep you dreaming. Inquire. Come to the absolute realization by your own experience that there is no fucking happiness in this fucking world, and this includes your feelings, thoughts and perceptions. That is all you need. Forget about nothingness, consciousness and being all that. As long as you can see you are not your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, experiences you will be able to see that there is a Self that is reaching out to those temporary things. The Self is you, your whole, complete, non-dual nature that needs nothing. When you seek, you suffer, when you understand that seeking causes suffering you will begin to just discard seeking objects. Objects one the most subtle level are your thoughts, feelings, perceptions. Letting go of all that is scary, but once you understand what enlightenment is, you will not want to go back to grabbing onto that shit anymore. And that shit includes your precious enlightenment experiences.

Saturday, 16/07/20 Enlightenment Work: 52 minutes of do nothing in the morning, 60 minutes of the guided (edited) neti neti meditation. As I was really trying to find the nothingness in the neti neti meditation and I failed. And later in that sitting after finishing the guided part, I realized that I want to reach Enlightenment too much, and this wanting/attachment prevents me from getting it or experiencing the nothingness. I need to let go of that and of everything else (like success and good grades in school), but that is hard. How should I do this? Life Purpose Work: I prioritized my values again and tried to figure out my new Zone of Genius, but this is hard. I don't know if the answers I am writing down at the work sheet are right... I wanted to code a little bit, but the Internet was gone. And coding without being able to search for solutions on the Internet is not so sensible. School Work: I summed up stuff for chemistry and wrote it down nicely. And I revised stochastic stuff for math and did a few exercises. I love math, but I hate probability stuff. Things I am grateful for: calling my best friend seeing how depended I am on having Internet access seeing that I am too attached Since yesterday evening our Internet and telephone connection was gone. So until this afternoon I only had Internet access on my phone and that was really slow. I had to do things where I don't need the Internet like school work or thinking about my life purpose. I also stopped procrastinating and started to edit the neti neti meditation. I wanted to do this for a long time, and finally I did it. I edited out of the audio file the stuff where Leo explains things about open-mindedness... which just annoyed me. And I added a few breaks with just silence where Leo is to fast for me.

@Leo Gura I know that I am nothingness, just conciousness and everything around me is nothingness too. So therefore I am everything that I am experiencing in this present moment because the present moment is the only thing that exists, yet time does not exist but our egos have created it. I see the value of enlightenment and its benefits, the end of suffering...but I also know I can spend my whole life pursuing enlightenment and may never achieve it. I've also been told by other people that enlightenment doesn't exist because if I am nothing so what is there to improve upon? What is there to change and make better? What is personal development?...if I am nothingness... I know these things intellectually...I just wish I could experience it on a spiritual level. I just wish I could feel this way all the time and just shut all feelings and emotions off. I know I give meaning to the things around me but life is so hard right now. It's so easy to get sucked into the negativity. This experience was the relief I needed. Earlier in the day before the meditation class my mom had a seizure and I found her laying on the couch unconscious with blood dripping from her mouth, and I had to call 911. It was one of scariest moments I have ever experienced. My dad has stage 4 colon cancer and has been suffering for the last 3 years. I broke off a relationship with a guy this week that was everything I ever wanted in a relationship (including he wanted to seek enlightenment) yet he wanted to use me for sex, without the commitment. (I love myself too much to be treated this way). And I'm trying to start my own business in the holistic field and I'm barely scraping by. When I was shut off....it just felt so great...the freedom was there...and I was grateful for what I have. Does enlightenment allow you to be in this state permanently? Despite the fact that everything in my life is the way that is ( and yes I know I perceive it that way, and I don't have to) there are benefits....I have like a huge amount of free time to meditate and seek enlightenment and my life purpose. I just want to be motivated.

I never realized how amazing vision is until I started self-inquiry. What is vision? Why does it exist? It is through vision that our brain filters perceptions of threats, beauty, food, cuteness, obstacles, etc. When I close my eyes, I no longer have this filter. For survival, I must then rely on my sense of sound and touch to filter these things for me. But what if I become deaf and blind? I can then only feel. But what if I sustain major brain or spine injury, and I no longer feel? What, then, is there to perceive? Thoughts? But even thoughts aren't reality. What if the thoughts stop? That's true nothingness. I really take my senses for granted. It starts with sight and touch. But these senses keep me from the true reality that is nothingness.

Emptiness is a Buddhist state experience. It is meant to describe a part of a process of stages of meditation absorption. It has nothing to do with the nature of life, or reality, and the lay person who is not interested in enlightenment or interested in fitting this description into its proper context need not bother thinking about such things. FWIW, there are stages beyond emptiness. Even in the Buddhist tradition. Nothingness is the Absolute "state" and is where "God" resides. But God is not just nothingness. If you had exposure to the correct information you would know that God also manifests. God manifests a vibration that projects itself outward in the form of archtypes known as the collective unconscious. You are free to live in the collective unconscious, and all that experience has to offer you. It is not "empty" it can be enjoyable. Its highest condition is "Self-Actualization" and an ok life can be made there. Further to that is Self Realization, a condition where one is free from the collective archtypes and where one is living their true nature. This is not for everyone, and not everyone will get there either. But either way, none of this manifest life is "empty". You just have a misguided perspective.

Or maybe you overestimate Shinzen Young? Happiness is what enlightenment is about. Awareness, consciousness, nothingness and all that bullshit are just technical jargon for the dry theory side of it. Enlightenment is about realizing that you don't want to escape this life anymore. It's an understanding of who you are and that the world is dependent on you, not the other way around. Dependency is for those that don't understand themselves and still believe that there is something worth chasing in life in order to complete ones self. It's all about the end of the search.

@-nbolt- As I understand, Enlightenment is realizing that you ARE awareness... (AKA being, consciousness, nothingness, presence, God)