Is enlightenment awareness of awareness?

[CreamCat]

This video says so. Is it that simple? I was already aware of my own awareness. Does it mean I had been already enlightened? Am I the light that shines light on experiences including thoughts and feelings? The light is already enlightened?

What I need to do is just allow awareness to come to the foreground rather than thoughts, feelings, and raw experiences?

Edited October 13, 2018 by CreamCat

[i am I AM]

This is true except consider the part of the sentence "need to do" ,and that you may be putting the "cart before the horse" here.

[Erlend K]

Awareness of awareness, i.e. being aware that you are aware of something is what psychologists call metacognition. This is completely different from the transformation of mind "Enlightenment" normally refers to. Of course, one might import the sequence of letters "E-n-l-i-g-h-t-e-n-m-e-n-t" into whatever language game one wants to play, and declare anything as "Enlightenment".

[Joseph Maynor]

In part.  Enlightenment is God Awareness (1) discovering Himself, (2) realizing that He's aware of illusory Maya, and (3) liberating Himself from the illusion of Maya.  God is Awareness, but it's an Awareness that fully understands who He is.  Most people don't know who God is because their Awareness is stuck in Maya, which creates the phenomenon of Ego.  Maya is the illusions created by Thought and Experience that aren't actually real in reality. 

So, Enlightenment is really the discovery of the true Self and seeing through the illusion of Ego.  And Ego is much broader than the Egoic self.  Ego is Awareness being trapped in the illusions of Thought and Experience.  How do I support these claims?  My own Enlightenment work and awakening experiences.  Of course I didn't always think of Enlightenment this way.  What I've presented here is a very Stage Coral view of metaphysics. 

Stage Turquoise has a different metaphysics which is actually quite common for them I find.  Turquoise tends to think of Consciousness as including everything and thinks of everything as part of Consciousness.  Turquoise thinks of Consciousness as a grab-bag that includes everything.  Coral thinks of God Awareness as being aware of illusory Maya.  Really the issue of Maya comes to the fore at Stage Coral.  Turquoise doesn't really talk about Maya. 

Turquoise and Coral think very differently as to what "everything is one means" as my Journal Vol. 7 (Turquoise) and Journal Vol. 8 (Coral) attest to.  Everything changed for me when I moved from Turquoise to Coral, including but not limited to my metaphysical understanding of non-duality.  Non-duality means something very different to a Green, Yellow, Turquoise, and Coral person. 

When I hear Turquoise people talk about non-duality now it kinda makes my ears cringe.  When Turquoise people talk, it's not long before my mind starts screaming, Ego!  But Turquoise it not a selfish Ego, it's all the parts of Ego that aren't selfish but are still Ego -- like clinging to Experience.  Turquoise understands the illusion of Thought but they are blind to the illusion of Experience, which Coral fully understands. 

Clinging to Experience is Egoic too not just clinging to Thought.  Turquoise doesn't really fully grok this.

Edited October 13, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[i am I AM]

Uhhhh...don't conceptualize any of what we said @CreamCat ? 

[Consilience]

34 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

In part.  Enlightenment is God Awareness (1) discovering Himself, (2) realizing that He's aware of illusory Maya, and (3) liberating Himself from the illusion of Maya.  God is Awareness, but it's an Awareness that fully understands who He is.  Most people don't know who God is because their Awareness is stuck in Maya, which creates the phenomenon of Ego.  Maya is the illusions created by Thought and Experience that aren't actually real in reality. 

So, Enlightenment is really the discovery of the true Self and seeing through the illusion of Ego.  And Ego is much broader than the Egoic self.  Ego is Awareness being trapped in the illusions of Thought and Experience.  How do I support these claims?  My own Enlightenment work and awakening experiences.  Of course I didn't always think of Enlightenment this way.  What I've presented here is a very Stage Coral view of metaphysics. 

Stage Turquoise has a different metaphysics which is actually quite common for them I find.  Turquoise tends to think of Consciousness as including everything and thinks of everything as part of Consciousness.  Turquoise thinks of Consciousness as a grab-bag that includes everything.  Coral thinks of God Awareness as being aware of illusory Maya.  Really the issue of Maya comes to the fore at Stage Coral.  Turquoise doesn't really talk about Maya. 

Turquoise and Coral think very differently as to what "everything is one means" as my Journal Vol. 7 (Turquoise) and Journal Vol. 8 (Coral) attest to.  Everything changed for me when I moved from Turquoise to Coral, including but not limited to my metaphysical understanding of non-duality.  Non-duality means something very different to a Green, Yellow, Turquoise, and Coral person. 

When I hear Turquoise people talk about non-duality now it kinda makes my ears cringe.  When Turquoise people talk, it's not long before my mind starts screaming, Ego!  But Turquoise it not a selfish Ego, it's all the parts of Ego that aren't selfish but are still Ego -- like clinging to Experience.  Turquoise understands the illusion of Thought but they are blind to the illusion of Experience, which Coral fully understands. 

Clinging to Experience is Egoic too not just clinging to Thought.  Turquoise doesn't really fully grok this.

What do you mean that experience is illusory here? Why would pure, present moment experience not be consciousness? And why are you seperating your self from it? That distinction seems like a conceptual duality

[Forestluv]

@CreamCat I would be mindful of chasing an elusive idea of enlightenment. Deepen your practice. Raise your consciousness. 

[Joseph Maynor]

12 hours ago, Consilience said:

What do you mean that experience is illusory here? Why would pure, present moment experience not be consciousness? And why are you seperating your self from it? That distinction seems like a conceptual duality

There is a part of Experience that is real and a part of Experience that the Mind sort of assumes is there.  Ditto for Thought, which is a type of Experience.

What is "pure present experience"?  I don't understand that terminology.

I'm not separating myself from anything, I'm realizing that something that is taken to be there is an illusion.  I consider myself to be a non-dualist.

The insight is not everything is Consciousness, that's a Thought, a belief.  The insight is everything is in my consciousness, and that is confirmed by seeing.  But it also has limited use too.

I.  Some contemplation questions:

1. How many minds actually exist in reality?
2. In what sense do other people actually exist in reality?  In what sense does the mind sort of assume stuff is there but it's not actually really there?  You gotta be very literal and actual.
3. How many awarenesses are there in reality?
4. Is external reality more Thought than it is seeing?  What's the percentage?
5. How many beings actually exist in reality?
6. What are other people really, in terms of Thought and Experience?
7. What is that part of your reality that never has changed?
8. What happens when Awareness refuses the illusion of the Mind?  How does life proceed after that?
9. What if you were the only being that exists in reality and you exist all alone?
10. What if reality is like watching a movie and thinking its real, getting lost in it as if it's real?  And also discovering you're the watcher, you're not really in the movie at all.

Leo is getting at this in his Actuality video where you look at your hand.  When you look at your hand, can you appreciate the difference between what is actually there and what the mind takes to be there?  What's the gulf between those two. 

II.  This is a good exercise:

Look at your hand.  Write down the gulf between what is actually there and what the mind takes to be there or otherwise augments to the the raw and actual Experience.  See, you gotta become very literal, very mindful, very actual to reach Stage Coral.  Coral is very no B.S. to the augmentations of the mind.

So, look at your hand:

1. What is actually there?  What is being experienced?  What is experiencing?
2. What does time have to do with things?  It appears as if time is a factor.  Change is a factor too, the information received (seen) is not static.
3. What Thoughts is the mind associating with this changing Experience?
4. What sensations is the mind associating with this Experience?  I.e., feeling myself move my hand.  Wiling myself to move my hand.
5.  What is the Thought "this is my hand"?  Or even "my hand"?  Or even "hand"?

Edited October 13, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Consilience]

@Joseph Maynor thank you for the questions. Im just going to have to contemplate all of this as you suggest... 

[CreamCat]

@Serotoninluv I am feeling that I may be putting the cart before the horse by focusing too much on enlightenment before building up fundamentals. Building up fundamentals means eating right, sleeping right, breathing right, and so on. I want to become a functional human being before seriously pursuing enlightenment.

I think TJ Reeves' take on spiral dynamics is useful. He sees lower stages of spiral dynamics as foundations for the higher stages. For example, you master Beige by eating right, sleeping right, and so on. You master Purple by making at least 5 good friends, improving your relationships with your family, and nurturing your tribe. You master Red by developing motivation and drive. If you get C- on Beige, you need to work on Beige again until you get A+ on Beige. This means you need to work on your sleeping pattern before working on higher stuff.

[Forestluv]

@Joseph Maynor Great contemplative questions!

#9 kinda freaks me out when I contemplate it because it can feel so real. I can get to a mind state where I really don’t know if I’m the only person in the world. Then, I experience a mind state where I am alone as the only real person. Once I get there, I can go in different directions. I usually end up in a scary place. Sometimes I can have a hard time getting out of it and can go into trip-like states.

It’s the only contemplative I’ve done that has that effect on me.

I think it would make a great premise for a movie. 

[Forestluv]

@CreamCat

I think you have a lot of seeking energy within the timeline. What wevtruly seek is to come back home to this moment. To be whole in this monent. It’s not to be found in the timeline - not  past or future. You will never arrive there, because there doesn't exist. What you truly seek is here and now. You can only wake up now. To whatever is hapoening now. 

We are on a journey to where we have already arrived. 

[CreamCat]

@Serotoninluv What about achieving success in one's niches? Do you have recommendations for that? You plowed through decades of hard work to obtain tenure which gives you wiggle room. You know what it takes to achieve something big.

[Forestluv]

13 minutes ago, CreamCat said:

@Serotoninluv What about achieving success in one's niches? Do you have recommendations for that? You plowed through decades of hard work to obtain tenure which gives you wiggle room. You know what it takes to achieve something big.

That’s a good point. My job security allows me to pursue spirituality without stress. It’s easy for me to say all we want is in the moment, because I have an easy life now. 

Regarding success: I earn an average salary in the U.S. More important to me was job autonomy, security and time off. I’m liw stress and have a lit of time fir spirituality.

Yet what is  “success” depends on the person.

[DrewNows]

@CreamCatI would see daily life goals/routines/practices to all be separate from the idea of enlightenment 

Also what does "success" as @Serotoninluv  says, have to do with enlightenment? 

6 hours ago, CreamCat said:

What I need to do is just allow awareness to come to the foreground rather than thoughts, feelings, and raw experiences?

This would be resistance to what is. first is the awareness of these experiences, there will be a holistic understanding to nature of experience, thought, relationship to self, and psychological time

Then i suppose there will be an awareness of the awareness 

[CreamCat]

44 minutes ago, Serotoninluv said:

Yet what is  “success” depends on the person.

Success for me is

• Financial security
• Autonomy
• Self Control
• Excellence
• Mastery

By the way, I can see typos in your sentences. Either,

• your keyboard is dying, and you need a new keyboard
• Or, you need to work on your Beige concerns by going to sleep.

Edited October 13, 2018 by CreamCat

[Hellspeed]

Enlightenment is restarting the growth, as you were a child again, but with a whole new control upon emotions.

[Telepresent]

9 hours ago, CreamCat said:

@Serotoninluv Building up fundamentals means eating right, sleeping right, breathing right, and so on. I want to become a functional human being before seriously pursuing enlightenment.

Fundamentals of what? If enlightenment means Truth (as it does to me but I accept maybe not to you) then functional humanity actually has nothing to do with it. Truth is pre- and post-

However, it will probably be fucking unpleasant to live without the things you list.

Just know where your focus is. Truth can't give a single solitary shit if you die in agony. That's how truth works. If you are dying in agony, then that is true, and no wishful thinking will conquer it. 

So find your focus, and go from there