Necessarity of reading books on non-duality

[molosku]

In the end of stage turquoise Leo mentioned that you should read at least 30 books on non-duality if you are serious about awakening. I would like to get some perspective on this. Several teachers I have studied joke/talk something along the lines of "the truth is not found in any (sacred) book". I heard a story from somewhere where Ramana told his pupils to throw their spiritual books into a river.

 I have had a few experiences myself where I realized how silly it was to look for myself anywhere but within. Early this summer I had an LSD/meditation induced awakening where I basically exploded out of bliss, and at that moment I thought to myself "If/when this has faded, if there is one thing I must not forget, it's this: it is within"

I reached a point early on this year where I was practicing quite hard for my level, and studying theory and listening to teachers. I felt like all the knowledge was starting to be really distracting, like my monkey mind was constantly blabbering about non-dual theory. Now I have not read any non-dual books for a while nor listened to teachers and I feel like my mind is clearer and I can focus on my actual experience better.

Is this a path thing, or is there some crucial value in books that I'm not getting? I understand that books can point out potential traps of the work, but... I don't know.

 Anyone here who has awakened and can say that books helped in that process? @Leo Gura is the only person I have encountered who has recommended extensive reading on the topic. Anyone here who has read very few books and has had success just by practicing? 

I'm not interested in speculation from users who have intentionally read/not read books and had awakening spiritually, sorry. You are all great but I don't think you can give much value here, as I said it's more of a speculation than an opinion from experience.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2018 by molosku

[tsuki]

@molosku

I link my first deep awakening with reading Martin Heidegger's Being and time.
It is a book that gives you tools for self-contemplation and I used this knowledge to explore myself.
I did not know that I was looking for enlightenment at the time and I think that it is an important factor that prevented me from distractions.

There are benefits to reading, because books are food for thought when you try to re-contextualize them to apply them to your everyday experience.
It can be beneficial for enlightenment, but if you do that to read what enlightenment is, it may get tricky very fast.

The problem with spontaneous awakenings is that you have no context to ground your experience and it becomes very difficult to integrate it.
In my case, proper integration took place a few years after the experience. Only after I learned things from @Leo Gura's channel. By no means I was hopeless on my own, but knowledge helped me a great deal to re-connect to what had happened. 

The question of whether I'm fully awakened, or not remains open (even to me), so you will have to judge for yourself whether this post is of any relevance to you. If full awakening (whatever it means) is the main criterion for you, you may have a hard time getting responses here, as even Leo seems to be seeking it via 5-MeO.

Edited July 18, 2018 by tsuki

[molosku]

@tsuki thanks for your reply! 

I'm not concerned about one tablespoon of enlightenment/ full enlightenment, all I want to do is know what I am. But yeah, I get the sense that the part of me that want's to read is my mind, which is trying to grasp. I have heard it over and over again: "it's the simplest thing". How come I need to read about the simplest thing? Beats me. Waiting for mr @Leo Guras soul crushing hammer of reality to drop on this thread...

[tsuki]

12 minutes ago, molosku said:

all I want to do is know what I am [...] "it's the simplest thing"

@molosku You are a thing that does not know what it is (without knowing that it is a thing that does not know what it is).
It is simple, unless you put it into words. The only words that are of value are the ones that confuse you into looking with your own eyes.

[PsiloPutty]

Tsuki, I wish everyone here wrote like you do. Easy to understand.  

[starsofclay]

I would assume that the reading of books would not be to find truth in the words, but to open your mind and understanding to find truth for yourself.  It's possible that just participating in the forums is a good alternative to reading the books, although you have to have a really open mind and only let things you learn on here open your mind and don't take everything to heart. 

[tsuki]

25 minutes ago, PsiloPutty said:

Tsuki, I wish everyone here wrote like you do. Easy to understand.  

@PsiloPutty Can you tell me more about what I write? Why is it easy to understand?

I'm asking because I oftentimes experiment with putting enlightenment to words and I don't understand the meaning as I write them.
I can tell that various things that I do (not only say) are an expression of enlightenment, but there is still this vagueness about what links all those expressions. I believe that repeated exposure to these expressions of awakening will deepen my understanding and allow for more clarity. This is my main motivation to write on the forums.

[PsiloPutty]

I understand that. I mean more your writing style than anything. I've mentioned this a few times to others, but I find many posts here to be too cryptic for me to pull much meaning out of. I know that enlightenment is more nebulous than other topics, but I can, at the very least, follow the intention of your posts. Some folks go way over my head and I can't even get the gist of what they're trying to convey.