Can The Enlightened Being Toggle Back And Forth From The Egoic To The Enlightened Paradigm At Will

[Joseph Maynor]

Just curious.  Sort of like one might reminisce of childhood, perhaps.  I don't think you could go back to being egoic though.  Not entirely anyway.  Could you really go back to being 10 years old, even if you really wanted to?

Edited July 18, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Danielle]

The realization is permanent. Ego is like a costume you put on when you're interacting with others, but the identification is forever gone, you can't not unknow what you are. However, in the process there is a stage where person unwilingly falls back into egoic paradigm,but that person isn't enlightened, they still have personal will. So the answer is, as far as I know, no.

Edited July 18, 2017 by Danielle

[Prabhaker]

@Joseph Maynor

Enlightenment is the dewdrop slipping from the lotus leaf into the vast, infinite ocean. Once the dewdrop has fallen into the ocean, now there is no way even to find it. The question of turning back does not arise.

Enlightenment, hence, is the ultimate truth. What begins as flowering moves on the path of awakening, reaches to self-realization. Then one quantum leap more—disappearing into the eternal, into the infinite.

You are no more, only existence is.

I have told you about Kabir, India’s greatest mystic. When he was young, he became self-realized and he wrote a small couplet:

"Herat, herat he sakhi
Rahya, Kabir, herai"

“Searching and searching and searching, oh my friend, the searcher is lost. Seeking and seeking and seeking, the seeker is lost.”

"Bund samani samund mein
Sokat herijai"

“The dewdrop has slipped into the ocean; now there is no way to get it back.”

But it was too early to say that. The dewdrop was still there, slipping towards the ocean, but it had not yet fallen into the ocean.

When Kabir was dying, he became enlightened. He called his son Kamaal and told him, “I have written something wrong. At that moment, that was my feeling—that I had come to the ultimate. Before I die, you write this down, and change it.”

The change is very small in words, but in experience it is tremendous. He has used again the same words:

"Herat, herat he sakhi"
“Oh beloved, seeking and searching, the seeker is lost.”

"Samund samund bund mein
Sokat herijai"
“And the ocean has fallen into the dewdrop; now it is impossible to find it.”

Just a little difference in the words… “The dewdrop has fallen into the ocean” – something of the self has remained in it. But “the ocean has fallen into the dewdrop”… that is the tremendous experience and explosion of enlightenment. The first statement was about self-realization; the second statement is about enlightenment.

From enlightenment, falling is simply impossible. You are gone—and gone forever; not even a shadow or a trace of you is left behind.

[Toby]

@Joseph Maynor when I see your questions that go like "is it A or is it B?" I tend to be reminded of this book-title (great book btw) as an answer:

[Joseph Maynor]

@Toby In order to formulate any question there is a model presupposed.  Same thing with answers.  Your answer is not the Truth either, just a perspective.  A judgment.  If you don't care, then that is ego.  Why not accept my question as reality?  Instead you argued with it.  You staked a position.  You partitioned reality.

Edited July 18, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Epiphany_Inspired]

@Joseph Maynor The more inner child work I do, the more I feel that part of me never stopped being that child....as in:  no need to go back, i'm still partly there...but it's usually more like 7 not 10...for whatever reason...likely trauma...or maybe I just think I look cool with that missing tooth...lol....

[Toby]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

@Toby In order to formulate any question there is a model presupposed.  Same thing with answers.  Your answer is not the Truth either, just a perspective.  A judgment.  If you don't care, then that is ego.  

I guess you don't understand. This is a question for you to investigate "who cares" (about getting answers). It's a tool to point you towards not-knowing and peace. Has nothing to do with putting you down or judgements.

[Joseph Maynor]

 

27 minutes ago, Toby said:

I guess you don't understand. This is a question for you to investigate "who cares" (about getting answers). It's a tool to point you towards not-knowing and peace. Has nothing to do with putting you down or judgements.

I understand.  The nature of this forum presupposes a certain protocol regarding posing issues.  It's the nature of the communication process to frame certain things certain ways, especially within a short amount of space.  It's like trying to find subtlety in a bowl of white rice.  You gotta be bold enough to ask questions though to get any answers.  

Edited July 18, 2017 by Joseph Maynor