How Has Your Life Changed Since You Have Pursued Enlightenment Work

[Joseph Maynor]

I’m thinking one of the downsides of social media is — our actual lives are hidden from view — and our actual lives are the most important thing to us, are they not?   We ask every esoteric question imaginable except this one: the one question closest to the ground and furthest away from the abstracting mind.  We get so caught up in the mental-masturbation questions that we don’t even ask the most simple and basic question — how has all this shit actually benefited your life?   This stuff ain’t rocket science folks!  I know the mind wants to turn it into rocket science, but that it is not.  It’s about self-improvement.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Sage_Elias]

Ok here are some ways that my life has changed since I started doing this work one(1)  year ago.

•  now have a good sense of direction in life. I can see that raising my consciousness is the most important thing I can do in life.
•  life purpose discovered. 
•  stopped wasting hours of my life each week at church listening to preachings about heaven and hell
• Dropping out of college to become an autodidact ( less deadlines and no tests == more freedom)
• Becoming more conscious of the monkey chatter in the mind through meditation each day
• Better understanding of the dysfunctions in society
• Daily yoga practice
• Increased discipline
• Better able to surrender to what is.
• Now I live a much simpler life and there is more peace.
• Also...and very important...I can see all my neurosis, addictions and attachments.

 

[pluto]

Life has changed in many ways but ultimately one way. Like waking up from a dream, literally. I feel now as 10 years ago i was merely existing in someone else's world, now i see how it was merely an illusion but a creation of my own and how i perceived it and that now i know every moment that even the slightest choice of change can create a whole new one

[hundreth]

I would say for me, the biggest difference is that my decisions in life aren't driven by FEAR. This affects all aspects of life.

[Azrael]

I found peace, knwoing of who I am and trust in myself.

[egoless]

2 hours ago, Azrael said:

I found peace, knwoing of who I am and trust in myself.

Did you ever suffer from depressions or bad moods after your Enlightenment?

[Joseph Maynor]

I'd say for me the biggest change is my relationship with the mind and corresponding decrease in suffering.  By way of background: I've always been a very cerebral person and I kind of made a home for myself in my mind at a very young age.  I was good in school and was an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science student at UCLA before eventually graduating with a BA degree in Philosophy.  I became a freelance paralegal after college and eventually started my own legal services business, which I run to this day.  I basically learned Law School on my own by buying all the law books and studying them on my own, but I'm not a lawyer,  So, this is not to bore you here.  This is to show you how much of my life has been about the mind.  And I was/am writing my own original Philosophy to boot.  So, mind, mind, mind, right?

Lately in my enlightenment work, I've been really able to see the mind for what it is, warts and all.  And the mind has a lot of warts.  I can see now how much of my life was like holding onto the horns of a raging bull but not even realizing it.  Kind of like the idea that we are all spinning really fast as the Earth turns but we don't even realize it -- we're not aware of it.  But now I see the mind for what it is, and it's not me at all, contrary to common-sense belief.  The mind is like a foreign entity, to coin a metaphor.  And foreign entities are to be kept an eye on, not to be let in through the front door of the house.  The mind has very muddy feet.

All morning this morning I've been paying attention to the monkey-mind.  I have a habit of walking to work in the morning and that's a really good time for me to observe the mind in action.  I was floored today just how much was going on.  It  makes me realize why exercise in the am is good to calm that sucker down.  When I focus on reality minus the mind I can ground myself now in a way that at least provides a perspective on the mind, like the white of a painting canvas or the silences in music.  The disjointed, discontinuous melody of the mind is presented in high-relief and laid upon the table for examination.  It's a frustrating examination too because I have a dog in the fight as it were, nipping at my heels as I do this work.  The mind is too close for comfort, is it not?

One of the things I lost with enlightenment work is my interest in intellectual pursuits.  I was/am writing a book on Philosophy, my own original Philosophy, but now I don't know if I can continue that work.  This is because the assumption there is that thought can yield a kind of truth, which now I am highly doubtful of.  So, we'll see how that one plays itself out.  I'm just gonna let that one sit for now and just watch it.  I trust that my authentic self will do what is best at the day's end.  But, I am at the point in this enlightenment work where I can see the mind for what it is and how it augments reality -- and most importantly how it causes so much suffering.  The mind does great things -- but it causes an enormous amount of suffering too.  However, if you understand how the mind operates, your awareness of it does work to clean it up some, and you can do things to calm it down with things like awareness, meditation, exercise, ample sleep, proper diet, staying away from dirty influences and information, etc.

So, in conclusion -- the key benefit to me has been the dis-identification with the mind, which has led to an enormous decrease in suffering in my life.  

Edited October 10, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Nahm]

I thought I would die.

[WelcometoReality]

@Joseph Maynor No more doubts about myself or the world. Everything is crystal clear, even the confusion.

[egoless]

@Joseph Maynor Your life journey is very interesting and inspiring. How did you manage to change your careers so many times and so drastically. I struggle to change even my first career which is finance and I don't feel I belong to it. 

[Azrael]

5 hours ago, egoless said:

Did you ever suffer from depressions or bad moods after your Enlightenment?

Bad moods, yes. Of course. When you work 40 hours a week in 4 days and have massive stress on work, you'll be in a bad mood. So the body will suffer just from the symptom. Psychologically it is not nice, but not comparable to before, because no one suffers from it. It's just stress on the body.

Depression, no. But can happen as well. You can have any emotion pre / post enlightenment. It'll just be different because your "you" won't suffer from it because it's resolved.

It's kinda like this. Picture you make a house of sand on the beach (your ego) and you play that you live in that house. You play it so damn much and all of the time, that you actually believe that you do. Everybody else is also doing it. Now, at some point your house of sand gets destroyed and you instantly realize that this house was never of real substance + you see what is going on.

Now, before your house was destroyed it rained sometimes and you'd get really worried because you thought the rain might kill your house. You are asking me right now: "Does it still rain?" (Do you still experience bad emotions?) Of course. It's just that there is no house no more, that I try to protect from the rain. But it's still rain. It'll still make me wet and cold.

[Brimstone]

As always, great questioning @Joseph Maynor 

The premise of your set up is perfect although you stop short by boxing it as just social media. Do we not all wear different masks for different occasions? Even your good friends and family do not know the full you, and what goes on within you. 

As a side note, what do you think would have a better outcome;

How has your life changed?

How has your life changed other that you?

Namaste

[Nexeternity]

- I kind of see how everything happens by itself... its a weight off my shoulders.

- Theres not that heavy rigidity that used to sorround my life purpose.  I do it but there is less obsessing about it.

- I demonize much less... I can see that whatever I am judging is something Im projecting.

- I can really soak up life even though I dont have alot of money, not worried about status, sex, and money like before.  I can really enjoy looking at the sky, birds, plants, running water, or whatever as cliche as this sounds.

- I can hear my inner muse much better than before heh.

- I tell the truth more and can more easily catch myself manipulating.  

This work is awesome.  I felt like it brought up all my bullshit to the surface real quick so it could be purified.  Still got my whole life to keep learning more and more though, but looking foward to it  

[cirkussmile]

How does the dream look like? Do you really think it matters when it's not real? 

Anyway

No job, no home, no direction and no one really understands. 

This work leads to less and less and that is how it should be. Adding more is only good for realizing that it's not needed. 

 

[phoenix666]

I didn't get rid of all my neurosis, addictions and negative thinking. but I am much more aware of all of that, which already makes it much better. like the moment I become aware of 'bad' thought patterns, they start dissolving.

I am much calmer, got rid of anxiety (that I didn't even know I've suffered from) and I started enjoying small  things. my life is simpler. I have something strong and reassuring in me, which I can hardly find words for....maybe the best word would be 'trust'. trust, that everything will work out. that what is, is exactly what should be and will help me on my journey to raise my consciousness. 

[Heart of Space]

I quit abusing drugs.  I have 80% less anxiety.  

I love more deeply.  I feel compassion for people who I previously have perceived as antagonists in my life.  

I've gained a deep understanding of the mechanics of my ego and mind.  

I've let go control of my reality to God.

And this  is only the beginning for me.