Noob Question, What's The Point Of Taking Enlightenment Seriously?

[AlldayLoop]

Serious question. If ~99.99% of people in the whole world never reach enlightenment , then what's the point of taking this enlightenment work seriously? Meaning doing all these meditation practices, concentration practices, retreats, yoga, etc.... couldn't the majority of our time be used on something else that is actually possible (like learning a skill, getting into new hobbies, travelling, making new friends, etc). If most people never reach it, then wouldn't they physically die before even getting a full realization?  

[Max_V]

Enlightenment isn’t lightyears away. It is happening every second of your life. It is not something that can only be obtained by some white bearded man on top of a mountain. It is the simple recognition that you are not thoughts, emotions, a body, or sensations. No, you are aware of all those things. You are the ‘knowing element’ of every experience so you could say, you are all that is. You are intimately one with ever experience but at the same time not dependent on it.

When you explore your own experience with great wonder it is inevitable that ‘you’ will wake up one day.

[ThinAir]

@Max_V  He didn't ask what it is, so i think this didnt answere anything.

i'll try

@alldayloop" what's the point of taking this enlightenment work seriously? Meaning doing all these meditation practices, concentration practices, retreats, yoga, etc..."

 

Through councesness work you'll gain a lot of positive charakter traits, here just a few:

Retreats: boost all the following qualities by x100

Concentration pratice: better focus - get less discractet, means more results in less time - IN BASICLY EVERY CATEGORY OF LIFE

Meditation: more patience, eliminate negative behaviour patterns, calmer mind, more self awareness, reduce depression, regulate moods, reduce anxiety in General,... the list goes on and on and on

The acctual point, i think,  is to reduce suffering to Zero.

But what im tryna say is, you dont have to reach enlightenment to BETTER YOUR LIFE BY A SIGNIFICANT!

Hope this helps a bit

 

Edited October 2, 2017 by ThinAir

[Max_V]

@ThinAir I was trying to let him know that the belief that enlightenment is almost certainly impossible is fake.

[Preetom]

@AlldayLoop I will share a new perspective. It's from the book "The Celestine Prophecy". It resonated with me so much. Very briefly here it goes..

Imagine living the 2nd century (1001-2000 AD) in a single lifetime....

At first of this era, everything was under the command of churchmen. They were the middle men in spirituality and every value of life. The population could only reach spirituality through these churchmen by blind faith. General population couldn't even imagine doing something independently without the counsel of these churchmen.

Now eventually the churchmen abused/suppressed the whole system and the population slowly started to break free of this blind faith. By 1600, it pretty much got out of hand and people stopped taking the churchmen as their supreme counsel. Suddenly the population felt totally lost and mentally/spiritually devastated. Just Imagine being in a blind faith grip for 600 years, with all the assurance of prosperity and happiness in this life and the next came out to be a total folly. Imagine all your psychological shields and webs getting destroyed suddenly. Now you are confused, depressed as fuck and nothing to hold on to.

Then eventually the population decided that they will find the TRUTH of this world by their own effort. Skepticism and questioning and reaching conclusion using one's logical experience started becoming the new rule to understand this world. Science evolved. General people relied on the explorer/scientists to find and present a new truth to them. But alas...nothing comforting came about quickly.

Now the population realized that they are gonna have to stay in this planet no matter what. So why not make us comfortable while the scientists take their time to reveal a satisfactory truth. And boom, science, industry, business started growing like wildfire.

For the last 400 years, all the resources were invested to invent a more cushy, comfortable, pain free life. All of this without a sense of where we are ultimately heading to. No one questioned a damn thing as their lives were getting more comfortable. Civilization started manipulating the earth ruthlessly to meet it's ends. 

But there was a cost. The cost was squeezing every ounce of mysticism from reality all together. So that the most convenient systems could be constructed. 

So by 2000s we realized that we have made our live way convenient. these 400 years brought revolutionary change in life. Now that we have satisfied us to a great degree through materialism and lot of our pain and inconvenience are long gone, the question of spirituality arises once again naturally.

Now in our cushy lifestyle, we find asking ourselves, "Now What?", "Where is this all leading to?''. 

So back to my point, I think mysticism/enlightenment never died. It went through a dormant period. Every single human in this era is destined to face the question of reality sooner or later. We can't shove our heads in sand and pretend to be blind anymore. That existential itch will follow us to our deathbed.

I live in a sort of poor, developing country. From all the rural stories I've heard, I sort of intuitively guessed that people living 50 years or more in the past were not faced with existential questions that seriously. Maybe just during catastrophes or at deathbed. Other than that most people kept on living in the same house, in same fashion generation after generation without questioning much.

But now in this era, even teenagers are being hit by these tough existential topics ruthlessly. Huge amount of people all over the world are intuitively sensing a huge and hidden hollowness in their entire life and perspective. But most of them are unable to do anything due to closed mindedness and attachment to limiting beliefs. 

So in this era and the followings, mysticism/enlightenment is not a choice anymore. its like no matter what the hell you do and achieve in life, at one point of your life you are bound to face these existential questions. This itch will follow you to your deathbed. That's why many spiritual teachers call it a very special era where consciousness itself is breaking free from delusion. Sort of like making enlightenment work easier day by day.

 Hope you get a new perspective on this topic. This universal itch won't stop until the totality of creation readjusts itself to higher consciousness and bring mysticism in its rightful throne.

Edited October 2, 2017 by Preetom

[YaNanNallari]

Even if you won't reach enlightenment the benefits of meditation and self-inquiry are still easily worth it in my opinion. It's a way up there, not as sudden of a jump in consciousness and action as you probably think right now.
Are you doing everything everyday very efficiently, effortlessly and bringing good to everyone with your actions? If not, which is the case for 99,99% of people, you could have use for meditation. Not saying you have to, but I like to look at it this way.

You talked about what we could do alternatively. Developing a skill is a great idea. If it's an useful one that is. Meditation and enjoying life is of course one skill to learn. For the others, why would you? To have fun and stuff like that? You'll be more fulfilled if you follow the path of meditation, so I'm choosing it.

[WelcometoReality]

@AlldayLoop How many percent of the people in the world are actually trying to become enlighted? One percent or less? Let's say 1%. So it's one in a hundred chance to get enlightened.

Besides that I think it's like the teacher of Adyashanti put it.

"Only the phonies don't get enlightened"

Meaning if you really are into sprituality for the truth and not for everything else then you'll find truth.

[Dodo]

7 hours ago, AlldayLoop said:

Serious question. If ~99.99% of people in the whole world never reach enlightenment , then what's the point of taking this enlightenment work seriously? Meaning doing all these meditation practices, concentration practices, retreats, yoga, etc.... couldn't the majority of our time be used on something else that is actually possible (like learning a skill, getting into new hobbies, travelling, making new friends, etc). If most people never reach it, then wouldn't they physically die before even getting a full realization?  

Hint: Don't think in years, think in eons. 

[Whoami3]

8 hours ago, AlldayLoop said:

Serious question. If ~99.99% of people in the whole world never reach enlightenment , then what's the point of taking this enlightenment work seriously? Meaning doing all these meditation practices, concentration practices, retreats, yoga, etc.... couldn't the majority of our time be used on something else that is actually possible (like learning a skill, getting into new hobbies, travelling, making new friends, etc). If most people never reach it, then wouldn't they physically die before even getting a full realization?  

It doesn't matter that 99.99% people don't reach enlightenment. Most of them never heard of it or they treat it as some religious bullshit. You reaching enlightenment or not depends on how much work you put in, not statistics.

[Nahm]

@AlldayLoop what do you think enlightenment is?

[Shin]

9 hours ago, AlldayLoop said:

Serious question. If ~99.99% of people in the whole world never reach enlightenment , then what's the point of taking this enlightenment work seriously? Meaning doing all these meditation practices, concentration practices, retreats, yoga, etc.... couldn't the majority of our time be used on something else that is actually possible (like learning a skill, getting into new hobbies, travelling, making new friends, etc). If most people never reach it, then wouldn't they physically die before even getting a full realization?  

Two things:

If you don't practice everyday, you'll soon forget and go full inconscious, that's the first reason why most people don't reach it.
The second reason is they take it too seriously, which means they're still conceptualizing it, instead of simply being it.

You need to get your practical shit together to make room for a peaceful and more comptemplative life, AND you need to raise your consciousness to better handle the shit you need to do/work on in your life.

One does not go without the other. 

 

Edited October 2, 2017 by Shin

[Brimstone]

Another question to bend the mind, is Enlightenment just another trap of the mind?

Think about it, what philosophy, spiritual doctrine, religous group does not promote truth and in most cases it has a profound impact on the peoples lives.

So what makes Enlightenment the be-all and end all, and how can you be certain that it isn't just another trick of the mind?

[Leo Gura]

@AlldayLoop You got something better to do with your life?

Please share.

[Joseph Maynor]

Enlightenment is a journey not a destination.  There is always more awareness and more mindfulness that can be attained.

So, I wouldn't worry about any percentages.  Just worry about raising your awareness and see for yourself what changes in your life.

Get a taste of the honey on your own tongue and then you will see for yourself.

Probably start with just developing a daily meditation habit.  20 mins to start.

Watch:

 

Edited October 3, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Dodo]

6 minutes ago, unknownworld said:

One can spend their entire life trying to become "enlightened" and never getting there. And another just enjoying what life has to offer. At the end of the day, there really is no difference. Isn't this true?

I think the best is when you merge the two options you portrayed as mutually exclusive (they are not)

[Leo Gura]

53 minutes ago, unknownworld said:

One can spend their entire life trying to become "enlightened" and never getting there. And another just enjoying what life has to offer. At the end of the day, there really is no difference. Isn't this true?

Except are you really able to enjoy what life has to offer?

No

So here we are.

The difference is in the one case you're happy, in the other case you're a drunk, crazed monkey with a Jalapeno stuck up its ass.

[Moreira]

The ego wants enlightenment to have a free suffering and painless life, but enlightenment kills the ego and this is when the conflict appears.

You can start your enlightenment journey whith illusion, make some progress, but when your ego realises he has to die and let go of this illusory self-image, paradigm, personna, that he invested so much effort to build the enlightenment journey becomes a path of resistance, sadness... and the ego says Oh nono! I better come back to my normal life.

The 99.9% doesnt want to let go everything. That's why usually enlightened people is somebody who lost eberything in life and had zero attachments.

When you are broke and living in the streets like Eckart Tolle, o give up everything like buddhists monks...

We live in the most consumist, capitalist age, when everybody is ego centered taking selfies and posting them in insta, which ego want to let go?? Very few.

Edited October 3, 2017 by Moreira

[Dodo]

2 hours ago, Moreira said:

The ego wants enlightenment to have a free suffering and painless life, but enlightenment kills the ego and this is when the conflict appears.

You can start your enlightenment journey whith illusion, make some progress, but when your ego realises he has to die and let go of this illusory self-image, paradigm, personna, that he invested so much effort to build the enlightenment journey becomes a path of resistance, sadness... and the ego says Oh nono! I better come back to my normal life.

The 99.9% doesnt want to let go everything. That's why usually enlightened people is somebody who lost eberything in life and had zero attachments.

When you are broke and living in the streets like Eckart Tolle, o give up everything like buddhists monks...

We live in the most consumist, capitalist age, when everybody is ego centered taking selfies and posting them in insta, which ego want to let go?? Very few.

To let go everything... Who? It's an impossible task, because there is nobody doing anything. 

If you are talking to the body-mind organism, then for it to let go of everything, it needs to simply kill itself.

If you are talking to the subject that is witnessing the body-mind organism's life and actions (the Atman or w/e) then you are talking to no-one. 

Who are you talking to? Who gets enlightened? Who are the other 99.9% who don't get enlightened?

Edited October 3, 2017 by Dodo

[Nahm]

8 hours ago, Moreira said:

The ego wants enlightenment to have a free suffering and painless life, but enlightenment kills the ego and this is when the conflict appears.

You can start your enlightenment journey whith illusion, make some progress, but when your ego realises he has to die and let go of this illusory self-image, paradigm, personna, that he invested so much effort to build the enlightenment journey becomes a path of resistance, sadness... and the ego says Oh nono! I better come back to my normal life.

The 99.9% doesnt want to let go everything. That's why usually enlightened people is somebody who lost eberything in life and had zero attachments.

When you are broke and living in the streets like Eckart Tolle, o give up everything like buddhists monks...

We live in the most consumist, capitalist age, when everybody is ego centered taking selfies and posting them in insta, which ego want to let go?? Very few.

It works just as well the other way too. Imagine if you had everything you ever wanted, and were unsatisfied without. You would have some clarity on seeking love within.

[ajasatya]

@AlldayLoop if you can bear your ignorance about your true nature, go ahead.

i couldn't.