Does Spiritual Seeking Mean That The Ego Is Resisting Enlightenment

[Joseph Maynor]

After enlightenment, doesn't the ego stop seeking almost by definition?  

The spiritual ego is still the ego, no?

What more do you need to find?  The Self hides nothing.

http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/who_am_I.pdf

Edited July 14, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Prabhaker]

5 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

After enlightenment, doesn't the ego stop seeking almost by definition?

You stop seeking even before enlightenment. Enlightenment happens when all efforts are dropped.

[Joseph Maynor]

@Prabhaker I'm starting to believe this.  But there's an egoic fear that crops up saying -- maybe you need to know something more!  But what more could you learn by thinking?  The Self transcends thinking.  Theory building appears to stand at cross-purposes to "knowledge" of the Self.  Once you see the Self, what more could you really gain by theorizing?

Edited July 14, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Prabhaker]

20 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

maybe you need to know something more!

Through words you can't know, still teachings of masters are helpful, words of masters help in unlearning whatever you have learned from the society.

[zazed]

2 hours ago, Prabhaker said:

You stop seeking even before enlightenment. Enlightenment happens when all efforts are dropped.

So much this!

 

Seeking is dangerous, but off-course some seeking can help, and be required to start even.
The danger of seeking to much, is that you start to identify as a seeker. "Being spiritual" becomes your identity, it becomes a way to value yourself as a self.

This will create the biggest ego blockage there is, and is the ultimate ironic joke when trying to become enlightened (for which there is no trying). It can become impossible to escape from this, because everything such a person does will only strengthen the ego. Meditation, contemplation, they all will become tools in the domain of the ego then. The more you practice the stronger this ego will become, because it is how it has learned to identify itself with spirituality itself. It is part of its habits, its values, it very core to "be spiritual". 
Many new-agy types are fully stuck in this mode, (without meaning to insult anyone). It is not such a bad state to be in, it can be blissful/peaceful even.
This state is usually only broken down when something very emotional happens, that shows the incompleteness of this imagined/projected bliss.
 

That is not to say that meditation or contemplation are inherently to be avoided fully. But be careful once the ego or mind claims them for itself.
By ego, i never mean some strange thing to fight against, it is just the human part of us, the monkey, or unconscious thought-stories.
People need to feel valuable to be happy, and the ego provides this function in a way.

If you get a sense of achievement or pride from long meditation sessions, if it gives you perceived value over others, even if ever slightly, tread carefully..

[Nahm]

@Joseph Maynor You go off alone, and there is more. Socially, that you can experience or talk about with the general public, no. 

[Leo Gura]

@Joseph Maynor One enlightenment is just the tip of the iceberg. Chances are you'll still be quite clueless after that first enlightenment. Don't expect to become some kind of Ekhart Tolle or Ramana Maharshi. Ain't gonna happen like that.

[Joseph Maynor]

@Leo Gura  I can see how it can take some time to get used to it and to explore it.  It's a radically different way of looking at and living in reality.  It's like being reborn as the watcher.  Maybe it's a re-incarnation.  Who's to say that enlightenment is not a death and re-birth.  It's definitely a transformation.  How that transformation is conceptualized versus how it happened in reality are two different things.  I get the feeling that most of you believe what happened is that beliefs were changed.  Thoughts were simply held differently.  The ego was forced to eat itself.  It could no longer stand on a rational foundation, it's own standard, so it gave up the ghost!  When you live by the sword you may die by the sword too.  

Edited July 14, 2017 by Joseph Maynor