Had a taste of ego death, is enlightment worth it?

[Guest thesmileyone]

16 hours ago, SOUL said:

You said this in another thread

In this thread you say all of this....

So there are a bunch of beliefs in that second quote..... will you be dropping them? Even the idea that beliefs are coverings to be shed is a belief.... so, drop that one, too.

It's living your life in contradiction, do you want your light to shine? Let it shine!

Can you show me what in my second quote are beliefs?

[SOUL]

1 hour ago, thesmileyone said:

Can you show me what in my second quote are beliefs?

Just about all of it.

Edited January 18, 2018 by SOUL

[Guest thesmileyone]

How are these beliefs, I am already enlightened...they are facts, that I can share with you because I have gone beyond the process.

 

Instead of criticising me you could learn from me and make your path easier.

[playdoh]

@cetus56 @cetus56

Thanks friend ?

[playdoh]

And thanks everyone else for your thoughtful replies ?

[Nahm]

On 1/17/2018 at 9:33 PM, playdoh said:

So I have a question after some deep contemplation yesterday. I guess you can say I had a taste of ego death when i woke up this morning and it wasn't very nice. Just felt like all my defenses were destroyed, I felt so vulnerable, this when when I realized how much our ego protects us. And now I'm questioning whether this is worth it or not. My question is, does this feeling of dread remain permanent until one becomes enlightened? Or do you start to feel better and receive some of the benefits of enlightment after a while? And if so how much better do you feel and after how long will you start to feel better? Because let's say you are 10 years at this and you still haven't become enlightened. And 10 years turns into 20 and so on. If you're going to  feel miserable the entire time then one should really consider whether they want to do this or not 

You should start to feel benefits in weeks. If not, double check your techniques. But, do it for the ‘me time’, like, give a big “fuck off” to everything for a bit. There are no bad trips, and no unwanted effects from the practices. If it seems like it, keep going, and in hindsight, you’ll always be glad you did. You’ll have a broader vantage point & more clarity, and it will make sense. I’ve done practices daily for a little over twenty years. It has enhanced my life incrementally from being overweight & depressed, taking pills, a negative future outlook.. to healthy, fit, happy and just being present more.  When you’re in that bind, where you question if it’s worth it (though, you already know it is) that’s when you dig deep. Or YouTube “motivation”. Lol.  I’ll make a post on non duality and the basic of meditation techniques. Seems like a good time, forum wise.

 

[playdoh]

@Nahm fantastic

[AlwaysBeNice]

It might not be so helpful to think of enlightenment as what it is, because you can't grasp it anyways, though it's always called freedom or liberation.

And you can see that enlightened people are always happy, and you can see that young children are generally happier than adults, closer to the natural state, same for animals I think.

But perhaps it might be more helpful to see what it means to not be enlightened: fear of other people, fear of death, fear of live, fear of pain, fear of loss. In other words, not free, but in your mind.

[cetus]

@playdoh I'll try to answer your question " Ego death--is enlightenment worth it". I know exactly how your feeling about enlightenment after an ego death experience. Like there is no underlying structure supporting your life and it feels empty. But that's just how it feels at first and it's really all just psychological shit. So I just wanted to let you know there is something that does fill in the empty feeling and it's huge and totally amazing. And believe it or not, it's always been right here with you. In fact it's so much of what you are you probably see right past it all the time and take it for granted.

 This is where this is heading. As the ego/self slowly falls away you exist more and more as consciousness. So consciousness itself slowly fills the empty void that ego death creates. Less ego/self = more consciousness. Than finally comes the total realization that consciousness is everything and there is no separation of you or anything from it. So I just wanted to share that thought. I know ego death can leave you kind of empty feeling. But cheer up, consciousness is everything-everywhere and so are you. And that's not a just words but the truth of enlightenment.  Can you see that? And more importantly, actually be that? Everything in reality is one thing- consciousness and everything that is separate is illusion/mind. Make that distinction and live by it and it will give you something to work with that will piece this all together in a really great way.

[SOUL]

@thesmileyone Allow me to offer my apology to the enlightened master for mentioning what my simple awareness observes.