Happiness and non-duality/enlightenment confusion

[ConsolePeasant]

People often speak of enlightenment and being one with everything as a joyous feeling. But I am having trouble understanding how this happens. Isn't happiness an emotion- something that comes from the ego? If you are experiencing pure awareness without the ego, how can you be happy? Also, isn't happiness a concept of duality (happiness vs. sadness, love vs. hate etc.)? Thank you in advance for your insights 

[Prabhaker]

Happiness depends on unhappiness. Bliss is transcendence: one moves beyond the duality of being happy and unhappy. 

Bliss is without any opposite to it. It is serene, tranquil, cool. It is ecstasy without any excitement. This is what meditation is all about.

[ConsolePeasant]

2 minutes ago, Prabhaker said:

Happiness depends on unhappiness. Bliss is transcendence: one moves beyond the duality of being happy and unhappy. 

Bliss is without any opposite to it. It is serene, tranquil, cool. It is ecstasy without any excitement. This is what meditation is all about.

I'm afraid I still don't understand. Aren't all those words just synonyms for happiness? Regardless, isn't it still a "positive" experience (opposite of negative)?

[Prabhaker]

5 minutes ago, ConsolePeasant said:

Aren't all those words just synonyms for happiness?

Forget about dictionary meaning - bliss, spiritual joy, is without excitement, it is not happiness.

[eputkonen]

1 hour ago, ConsolePeasant said:

People often speak of enlightenment and being one with everything as a joyous feeling. But I am having trouble understanding how this happens. Isn't happiness an emotion- something that comes from the ego? If you are experiencing pure awareness without the ego, how can you be happy? Also, isn't happiness a concept of duality (happiness vs. sadness, love vs. hate etc.)? Thank you in advance for your insights 

 

Joy and happiness is our inherent natures.  Unhappiness and misery is what comes from the ego.  So "experiencing pure awareness without the ego" means there is just the joy and happiness of being.

Duality (otherness and separation) is an illusion of the mind...but believing those illusions give rise to sadness, misery, discontent, etc.  The separation and otherness is an illusion, but you can still discern between two extremes.  A magnet has a north pole and a south pole...but it is still one thing.  North pole and south pole is more than just a concept...otherwise why would two north poles repel but a north and south attract?  Duality is about separation and otherness...not about ceasing to see distinction between poles of a magnet (for example).

Edited April 9, 2018 by eputkonen

[Markus]

@ConsolePeasant Happiness isn't really an emotion. Happiness is contentment, the absence of suffering. Joy or bliss can be of the emotional variety. But the joy or bliss accompanying true enlightenment is not an emotion, it is seen as an aspect of the Self, which is Sat-Chit-Ananda (being-consciousness-bliss). Can't describe what that's like and why it's not an emotion, since I'm not there. But perhaps Ramana can, so look it up.

[Nahm]

@ConsolePeasant

Hiding

Thought is a perception filter one uses to perceive two, creating the illusion of duality (if believed to be reality); self / other,  happy / sad - things which seem to exist because they are not their opposite. But what is relative is not absolute, it’s illusionary - happiness “is”  is contingent on sadness  “isn’t”  - they are thoughts and emotions. The belief in the illusion as real conceals the truth. This is ego. A rollercoster of emotional bs.

Seeking

Without thinking (filtering), one is aware of the illusion, and therefore is aware one is not the illusion (neti neti), and is liberated from illusionary doubt and fear. A state of Oneness, or Wholeness of the awareness. Some stop here, because, well, it’s pretty nice. No more highs and lows, no ‘tide’ of life dictating / triggering emotions. It’s a warm & cozy state. Relief. Peace.             Some go on though. 

Found

Being, is Self awareness of what one is. Because thinking and awareness take place within Being, thinking and awareness can not encompass, and therefore can not communicate, Being. (The Cosmic Joke)  As I type, and you read, to you, I am illusion, and you are thinking. A total Being communication breakdown! lol.  Being is absolute, blissful, the default state, the actual reality, extraordinary. Being is not an experience of Oneness, nor an experience of the realization of illusion, nor the experience of wholeness - it is the realization of what you are, for realz. Being is transcendent, or encompassing of, awareness, and thinking. Being, there is no illusion, only Self, eternal & infinite. 

You have hidden in forgetting that you hid. It’s brilliant. The illusion is more than the thinking can grasp. Doubly brilliant. The Being encompasses the awareness. Trips to the brilliance.   Enjoy it. 

[Forestluv]

Notice how retreats describe finding inner peace, love, joy and serenity. Sunsets and butterflies.

Why don’t retreats ever describe losing self control and going into full-on panic, terror and insanity.

It’s all part of the deal.

[pluto]

*ecstasy without any excitement*

Perfect <3