Do Not Strive For Enlightenment!

[WaveInTheOcean]

The purpose of your life doesn't lie in the future but it is present right now in this very moment... you're just not aware of it.

To strive for becoming peaceful/free of thoughts (i.e. "enlightened") implies that you feel messed up right now. In other words, the MAJOR reason that you're messed up is exactly BECAUSE you're STRIVING for "enlightenment". Your strong desire for becoming "enlightened"/peaceful in the future is the very thing that's causing you to be unpeaceful right now in this very moment ... In other words; your pursuit of "enlightenment" (whatever that fucking actually is) is what is causing you to never become "enlightened" / peaceful.

You're not lacking anything. Except awareness. But even awareness you can't be lacking because awareness is everywhere, it's what's always was here and what will always be.
What you "lack" is a transparent perspective on reality, a self-less perspective. A perspective not contaminated by the illusory belief that you exist. Cos you don't. That's the brutal truth. It's so fucking brutal that it's also immensely beautiful. And you can't alter the truth or fuck around with it or run rings around it. You can try, hell, we're all unconsciously trying  / have tried, but in the end the truth (that you don't exist) will always come back and bite you in the ass. So if you still believe that you exist and act like you actually exist as a separate self/human body/person that by all means should achieve something; that can be hurt; that can die; then you will forever suffer.

So you're lacking a transparent perspective on reality. Accordingly, what you want should be a transparant perspective on reality.  In other words, truth is what you should want. 

Watch Leo's videos, watch enlightenment-stuff, read enlightenment-books, go to retreats, do self-inquiry, meditate, do yoga NOT in order to become "enlightened" but in order to build up a transparent perspective on reality -- in order to grasp the absolute truth of reality.

The absolute truth can't be communicated. "You don't exist" is a statement that is only relatively true, and hearing it and believing in it doesn't make much of difference. You have to literally experience the Truth, i.e. experience no-self to actually "get it".

As a matter of fact, you don't know what the fuck is true about reality or what the fuck is true about who you are. And if you don't have a relatively strong desire to find out what the truth actually is -- whatever it might be -- then my advice would be to immediately stop the "search for enlightenment". Because that would imply that you instead are 'seeking' because you desire "peacefulness" -- or what other juicy adjectives people label enlightenment/Buddah-hood with -- and that will never lead to anything, except maybe some useful insights that can improve your life somewhat..., which I mean is all fine and all, it will just never lead to the actual "thing" that Leo, Jesus, Buddah etc. are talking about.

You should desire the Truth only. And the reason you should desire the Truth should be grounded in nothing except the desire itself for the Truth.

Let me repeat: Your strong desire for becoming "enlightened"/peaceful in the future is the very thing that's causing you to unpeaceful right now in this very moment. And this is true about everything, not only enlightenment. You have to become present in this moment right now to fully appreciate life. You have to let of your attachment to life in order to fully enjoy life.

For example, if you desire a girlfriend, success, or sex, then when you finally get it -- the girlfriend, the success, the sex -- you will for a short amount of time feel happy. But not because you got it, but because the desire for it is now gone... The worrying/anxious thoughts of being afraid of 'never getting it' are now gone; cos you got it; BOOM, desire is gone, and you now feel relieved, and mistake that for actual happiness. But you see, you were so anxious about getting it that you actually never truly got it, you only got the relief of not having to worry anymore. The thing itself you didn't get.

Why? Let's start with success, cos that one is easy. You didn't get success for the obvious reason that success as a matter of external "thing" you can achieve to make you happy is an illusion... you can never get it; I mean the happiness through that.  *ding dong, you don't exist, remember?* Sure it seems like you can achieve success, and yes you can, but it won't make you happy. What made you happy momentarily was the relief of not having to strive for it anymore, not the success itself. Success is a homo sapiens-, ego-created, cultural-created concept, and most people believe in it as a way to happiness, so of course you do too, because you're programmed to fit in by nature. That's all success is. 

So when you finally got the success, yes, you will momentarily be happy (because of the relief of not having to worry about it). But soon after, what will happen? Yes you guessed right, the ego will create new things to worry about, and the most obvious ones are: "How do I maintain my success?" "How do I achieve more success?", and now the desire for success will come again, just as intense as before, and thus the hamster-wheel continues forever and ever.

With sex it's quite similar. You were so anxious of getting it that when you finally got it... you... Well first of all, you probably destroyed the experience to a large degree by being so anxious about it that you forgot being present and just enjoying the experience and giving your love. This in itself makes you want it again, cos you actually didn't really get it. Secondly, it's the same mechanism as before. Sure, sex is great, but becoming attached to it ensures that you will never fully experience it... Instead you mostly experience the relief of not worrying about getting it anymore... but soon you worry about it again, and thus the hamster-wheel continues. So in order to fully enjoy physical intimacy you have to let go of the attachment to it.. surprise, surprise, paradoxes everywhere.

When you finally get the girlfriend, you feel happy. Not because of the person/the girlfriend, but because you don't have to worry about getting one anymore. But the ego will soon create new things to worry about. You will after some time maybe become so afraid of losing her that you will "squeeze" both her and the relationship itself to death with your "love".

Nothing is permanent. Everything in life is transient. Thoughts, emotions, happenings, people, relationships.... life!.
The ego's strict demand for permanence in every area of our existence is one of the primary causes of human misery. Because there is no such thing as permanence in life at all. And unconsciously demanding illusion and unconsciously running rings around Truth naturally leads to disappointment and suffering.

Life is so beautifully ever transient, ever changing. Don't fight it. Let go and accept what is, and you will see how beautiful it all is.

The future doesn't actually exist. Just like the past doesn't actually exist. 
'Future' and 'past' are mind-created concepts, which help us to navigate in the world and survive and accomplish things ("success").
Future and past are nothing but ideas. All there is is right now.

Edited October 4, 2017 by WaveInTheOcean

[WaveInTheOcean]

Here are two great short 5-min speeches by Watts, Krishnamurti and Terence McKenna:

 &

 

[Blissout]

"BECAUSE you're STRIVING for "enlightenment""

This is not correct.

Most Yogis who got self realized strive and had a strong desire for liberation, hence their success in reaching enlightenment.

[WaveInTheOcean]

58 minutes ago, Blissout said:

"BECAUSE you're STRIVING for "enlightenment""

This is not correct.

Most Yogis who got self realized strive and had a strong desire for liberation, hence their success in reaching enlightenment.

I don't think so.:> I think they had a desire for truth. Maybe a desire for liberation can also lead you there, but at some point you have to drop the search anyway, because it's false to believe you're not already 'liberated'. It's like knocking your head against the wall only to realize there is no wall.

[WaveInTheOcean]

10 minutes ago, Shiva said:

Partially true.

Yes, in order to reach enlightenment you will ultimately have to let go even of the desire to become enlightened. But this is like the final step.

Until then you better have a strong desire else you won't do what's needed.

I don't get this. Don't you have to have a desire to "build up a transparent perspective on reality and a desire to grasp the absolute truth", which basically is the same as a desire for enlightenment? (just trying to understand)

There is a difference between a desire to know the truth and a desire to become peaceful/free of thoughts/'enlightened'.

Realize that you don't know the truth. You have no clue what you really are and what the nature of reality is. Have a desire to find that out, just because it's fascinating to know the truth, not because you want to become 'liberated'/peaceful/'enlightened', etc.