Why mostly depressed people search for Enlightenment?!

[Joseph Maynor]

I didn’t seek enlightenment, I actually resisted it.  The only reason I came to know about it or pursue it was because of Leo’s work.  I was interested in personal development long before I knew about enlightenment.   I would cycle back to Leo’s videos on enlightenment from time to time, and finally this year it started to resonate with me.  I’ve been watching Leo’s vids since 2014.  

Regarding depression.  The Mind causes depression, so enlightenment is the big fix for that, if you’re looking for a sustainable solution to the problem.

Edited November 23, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Natasha]

1 hour ago, egoless said:

I have had these experiences you are talking about and not a single one. I can sit for an hour with the still mind - close to 0 thought. Why so many of you here assume that you know my current progress? I still question everything and I recommend you to do so. Nobody knows yet what is human brain capable of. There have been numerous miraculous cases when human brain completely altered whole body chemistry. Thus the experience as well...

Still mind and 0 thought would not be enough. You need a no-mind perspective. No-mind can't trick you 

[egoless]

1 minute ago, Natasha said:

Still mind and 0 thought would not be enough. You need a no-mind perspective. No-mind can't trick you 

Yes and I have had those non-dual moments. Even without shrooms during the meditation.

[egoless]

@Shiva Meditation and not eating sugar solely won't take you far. Zen monks need decades and even then some of them never get Enlightenment. If you are serious about Enlightenment that should be your full time job. Otherwise you are just splitting yourself into two and wasting your time. Meditating even 1 hour per day won't get you there because as you said you don't abstain from anything. And right after your meditation practice you go outside and get sucked back into reality content.

Edited November 23, 2017 by egoless

[Natasha]

1 minute ago, egoless said:

Yes and I have had those non-dual moments. Even without shrooms during the meditation.

Good! Now stabilize in non-duality by embodying it. 

3 minutes ago, egoless said:

And right after your meditation practice you go outside and get sucked back into reality content.

Yep. That's why meditation alone is not enough. No-self can't be sucked into anything. 

[egoless]

@Natasha Did you already attain that state though? 

[haai14]

@egoless when you get enlightened you dont say im enlightened. You stop caring about anything even that fact that your enlightened. there is a saying that when your enlightened you dont prefer enlightenment over nonenlightenment. So it cant be another belief because you completly drop all beliefs and that cant be a ultra belief because your not like i dont got beliefs its just the way it is. And dont think about enlightenment as something more valuable then ego perspective or that it it goal of life. It will just make your life easier. Its no more true than ego perspective because all illusions are real but they make you suffer. Alan watts had a great metaphor. when you look life thru microscope and thru normal eye, both perspectives are true just one is small and one big ( i cant think of an good way to put it).  I hope i made sense.

Edited November 23, 2017 by haai14

[Shin]

25 minutes ago, Natasha said:

Still mind and 0 thought would not be enough. You need a no-mind perspective. No-mind can't trick you 

You mean when you are totally still but you can still sense your mind seeking in a non-visual/words/sound way (I don't even know how to say that lol) ?

It's starting to fade away, but it was there for a loooong time.

[egoless]

@Shiva I'm not saying that it is so, but imagine we are in a Matrix - created by machines when the software limits our understanding that we are in Matrix. But they have implemented the antivirus program called Enlightenment for special, unruly brains to satisfy their curiosity and suspicions. 

[egoless]

4 minutes ago, Shin said:

You mean when you are totally still but you can still sense your mind seeking in a non-visual/words/sound way (I don't even know how to say that lol) ?

It's starting to fade away, but it was there for a loooong time.

No I mean complete stillness. Just pure blackness and surrender. Me just existing in the moment. I am serious I have an ability to meditate like that. And I can never get tired of it, I can go for more than hour like this but then at some point the mind reminds me that there is life duties outside so I have to leave this trance state.

Edited November 23, 2017 by egoless

[Natasha]

Just now, egoless said:

this trance state.

It's not about being in trance state. You still go about your daily business, but with a no-self perspective.

[Shin]

Guys, enlightenment is just the default state, nothing special about that.

Don't think it's something special or rare, it only limits you.

[Natasha]

13 minutes ago, Shin said:

You mean when you are totally still but you can still sense your mind seeking in a non-visual/words/sound way (I don't even know how to say that lol) ?

It's starting to fade away, but it was there for a loooong time.

I mean there is space in your scull and no identity lives there. 

[Joseph Maynor]

7 hours ago, egoless said:

@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.

Great insight.  Spirituality is being more attuned to reality which causes the Mind to release the Ego paradigm over time.  Religions ape spirituality but never leave the Ego while doing so.  Science can also ape spirituality, and any ideology believed in fervently does too.  Once you discover what true spirituality is, you can see all this in high-relief and know why it is the way it is.  True Spirituality is the raising of awareness.  Through increased awareness over time, the Mind is forced to check itself.  That’s why you need faith at first.  You need to get over the Mind’s resistance to question itself before you have the awareness experiences in your pocket.  The more awareness of reality you have, the more the Mind backs off from trying to bend and twist reality around the paradigm of the Ego.  And you get some nice releases.  This is the process of enlightenment.  This is not conceptual, it is like having what you thought of as reality suddenly shift.  Like when you were finally told — No, Santa Claus doesn’t exist!  Sorry.  For a kid, that is tough thing to swallow.

Edited November 23, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Ascend]

I'm a little late to this topic but of course, you've hit on something important. Of course many unhappy people here are looking for enlightenment (before self-actualizing first). And many here are deluded as well. No one here is enlightened - no one is even close. And this forum, while providing much value in some aspects is becoming quite cult-like. 

The reason so many people are seeking enlightenment here is not because it's a genuine desire (for a minority few it may be), but for most it has become another escape. They have an aversion to Life, the earth, physicality, and their resistance towards WHAT IS is driving them look for the "escape". A desperate search for the magic pill of "enlightenment" that will solve all their earthly problems.

Edited November 23, 2017 by Ascend

[Shin]

29 minutes ago, Natasha said:

I mean there is space in your scull and no identity lives there. 

Almost there !

In 10 years: Almost th ... 

[nick96]

I think Eckhart Tolle said that suffering in the west is the main road that brings people into spirituality . 

It was for me.

[Shin]

Ok i just talked to a good friend, and everytime it was his time to talk i focused really hard on my sense of self.

Good exercice to do, but you will look very weird while doing it, so do it with your bestie

 

[egoless]

26 minutes ago, Shin said:

Ok i just talked to a good friend, and everytime it was his time to talk i focused really hard on my sense of self.

Good exercice to do, but you will look very weird while doing it, so do it with your bestie

 

Don't do that. If you are trying to train you awareness there is a better way to do that. You should concentrate on the channel from which you receive information. In your example it's your friend's voice - so you label it in your head as hearing channel and then just absorb it in the moment without judging.

[Leo Gura]

A fool will only learn through suffering. The reason most people do anything is because they want to escape suffering. Anything from losing wieght to buying a new computer.

The key to life is to be conscious enough to motivate yourself into action without life having to kick you in the ass.

I was never depressed. I do this work because it's the most beautiful thing to do. For me, understanding reality is the greatest reward of being alive. Nothing else compares. And this has nothing to do with escaping suffering.

You need to learn how to change from negative to positive motivation. Otherwise your life will be miserable and mediocre. Doing the bare minimum is not how life ought to be lived.

Living to escape suffering is just so boring. If that was my life, I would rather kill myself. You have this INFINITE creation to take part in, and all you can imagine to do is live to escape suffering???