Why mostly depressed people search for Enlightenment?!

[egoless]

Recently I was thinking. The majority of stories I've read about Enlightened people are somewhat the same. Most of them have been depressed their whole lives and had hard childhood. Then they started searching for liberation and Enlightenment happened. For example, Eckhart Tolle. His depression triggered Enlightenment. Even me myself and I am sure many of you have been depressed to some extent in your life. We started searching for answers. Why don't we see people who are happy and successful searching for those answers? Then the logical question arises - maybe Enlightenment is a self-induced belief to achieve liberation from the depressed state??? Let us critically discuss this topic.

P.S. make a list of Enlightened people who were successful and happy before searching for Enlightenment.

Edited November 23, 2017 by egoless

[Max_V]

I know that Rupert Spira and Peter Ralston were both just very interested in exploring their experience. 

Ofcourse suffering can be a big motivator to find freedom but some people are just genuinly intersted in reality 

Edited November 23, 2017 by Max_V

[egoless]

45 minutes ago, Max_V said:

I know that Rupert Spira and Peter Ralston were both just very interested in exploring their experience. 

Ofcourse suffering can be a big motivator to find freedom but some people are just genuinly intersted in reality 

What about self-induced belief possibility

[LaucherJunge]

I mention this quite often, suffering is what pushes you the most. The exception to this seem to be people like Sadhguru and Osho who were born kind of special already, very near to enlightenment or people with special sensory abilities.

[Shin]

Most people are inconscious, which means they think they already know everything that matters (especially reality and god).
So unless their paradigm is shaken really really bad, they have no reasons to be interested in spirituality.

Unless you're naturally extremely open-minded and/or are interested in reality/dreams/alternate state of consciousness, you can't just stumble upon and say "oh this seems to make a lot of sense, totally not some religious/hippie bullshit"  

 

 

[egoless]

@Shin however you want to admit or not. This path is also very close to religion. First, you need to believe in the possibility that it may be True to start practice. So there is still an element of initial belief here. Then there is a confirmation bias - look it up in the google. That means that people are tend to lookup the information which fortifies their existing beliefs.

[LaucherJunge]

@egoless
You don't need to believe in order to try something. A confirmation bias is also not needed, I stumpled upon spiritual videos without even looking for them.

[egoless]

@LaucherJunge what do you mean confirmation bias not needed though  it means cognitive bias. It just happens.

Nobody will do 10000 hours of meditation and self inquiry without initial belief. Think for yourself.

Edited November 23, 2017 by egoless

[LaucherJunge]

@egoless Usually you don't look up for information that fortifies your beliefs when looking for spiritual videos you actually destroy your current beliefs, atleast the people who are new to this, which we are talking about here. 

[Nahm]

I was severely depressed, tried pills & dr’s, didn’t help, started meditating and wtf-ing, saw there was a lot more going on than I realized, then started creating enlightenment. 

[Max_V]

@Shiva Interesting, you are one of the few haha.

I started because of suffering and using meditation as a way to 'overcome' suffering. Now after a couple of deep meditative states and seeing for myself that 'I' cannot be located, I started becoming genuinely curious like yourself.

But being that from the get go is pretty rare 

[Arman]

probably looking for an escape from suffering more than for enlightenment itself

when depression has been overcome and well-being is stabilized I think a more authentic search begins  

[egoless]

25 minutes ago, Max_V said:

@Shiva Interesting, you are one of the few haha.

I started because of suffering and using meditation as a way to 'overcome' suffering. Now after a couple of deep meditative states and seeing for myself that 'I' cannot be located, I started becoming genuinely curious like yourself.

But being that from the get go is pretty rare 

Exactly and that's what I'm saying. Most people start this journey to escape their hardships. Which might lead to bias beliefs. And maybe, just maybe Enlightenment is yet another belief and that's it.

[Dodo]

 

3 hours ago, Max_V said:

I know that Rupert Spira and Peter Ralston were both just very interested in exploring their experience. 

Ofcourse suffering can be a big motivator to find freedom but some people are just genuinly intersted in reality 

This is one of the best parts about Enlightenment. When shit hits the fan, I am always 10 times more determined in my spiritual work than when things are going fine in my outer life. I take more risks when I am in a slump, it's like the fire that motivates you to go deeper. 

When things are going great I don't want to die! When things are going aweful, I am all for it! Come on Ego death LOL! 

[egoless]

@Shiva realization and belief are not that far away from each other. Have you never experienced the false realization? When you were deeply sure that you knew something then the mindfuck happened?! 

 

[egoless]

@Dodo that only strengthens my suspicions. And it should yours as well. When you are in trouble you are more exposed to biases and false realizations which supposadly will bring you liberation. Think about it. 

You begin to seek liberation so desperately that you may even change your whole brain chemistry with false ideas...

[phoenix666]

I stumbled onto this path because of suffering as well. I slowly came to the realization that nothing I thought I wanted actually made me happy. everytime I lost track of consciousness/spiritual work, it was suffering that pulled me back into it.

lately I feel some sparkles of curiosity that motivate me, but it's still mostly through depressive states of mind: loneliness, the feeling of being lost and of emptiness.

[egoless]

1 minute ago, phoenix666 said:

I stumbled onto this path because of suffering as well. I slowly came to the realization that nothing I thought I wanted actually made me happy. everytime I lost track of consciousness/spiritual work, it was suffering that pulled me back into it.

lately I feel some sparkles of curiosity that motivate me, but it's still mostly through depressive states of mind: loneliness, the feeling of being lost and of emptiness.

So maybe all these Enlightenment stuff is just our mind'sproduct of false liberation? Our mind becomes so deeply depressed that it will do anything to save us. And that's what we call Enlightenment? Isn't that a possibility? Why not???

[phoenix666]

@egoless there is only one way: let's find out ourselves <3

[egoless]

1 minute ago, phoenix666 said:

@egoless there is only one way: let's find out ourselves <3

But there is the problem. If you find out yourself you may be trapped into that false realization and think that finally you understand it - Finally! You got Enlightened! And nobody will be able to proove you that it is just another product of shift in your brain chemistry!