Temporary Enlightenment?

[Tony 845]

@who chit Ive basically cut out all meat & try to drink as much water as possible, "i" would like to be enlightened one day.

[Arthur]

@Elysian Thank you very much for describing this experience.

If you don't mind and have the time, please look at the end of the post I'm attaching. I've listed what I noticed at the end of the page.

I think I have a similar awareness to what you've described.

 

Edited October 23, 2018 by Arthur

[Elysian]

3 hours ago, Arthur said:

@Elysian Thank you very much for describing this experience.

If you don't mind and have the time, please look at the end of the post I'm attaching. I've listed what I noticed at the end of the page.

I think I have a similar awareness to what you've described.

 

It seems similar in ways, like the dissociation from mind and body. To me this was the bread and butter of the experience. I used to take psychedelics in the past, and at least for me a defining characteristic was states of awareness being forced onto me/accepted by me, that would show me what could be but never left me In at those heightened states. Personally it felt undeserved which led to me seeking the states of awareness through focused effort.

My experience was similar to psychedelic trips in that it was temporary, but the start of it was from an 'Aha!' Moment, followed by more insights, and through effort to shift my awareness the experience continued to unfold. I don't know about you, but for me psychedelic experiences were always hard to integrate because everything was so rushed and chaotic. With mine there was more room to soak it in, no body load to eat up any of my attention, it's allowed me to get some bearing on where to go from here. Hopefully your experience being extended over days will give you the proper time to integrate it as well.

The best I can describe the experience to see how similar ours were, is there were simply three separate and distinct things: body, mind, and awareness. Becoming that separate awareness that instead saw of my body, as this body. My mind, as this mind. 

I, or awareness, never became unaware of anything that happened with body or mind, I simply was able to expand my awareness to include being aware of what they were doing, and simultaneously be aware of other things. That was bizzare, and so convenient. I remained aware of all the processes going on with body and mind, while also watching 30+ cars maneuvering around me in their totality. Which was just a weird way of watching all 30 at the same time, really neat.

I never felt worried about the state, for me, other than peaceful the next best descriptor I could give would be relieving. Not having to carry around the weight of caring about things that mean nothing in reality, but everything to the ego. It felt like Atlas dropping the world, finally standing up straight to get a clear view.

It's not surprising to me your girlfriend would notice that you look at her differently. I looked at everything differently, not just literally with my eyes, but also from the lenses of pure awareness. How could you look at her the same knowing she is at her core a point of consciousness confusing itself with the ego of that mind? Luckily for me I am single and have no need to contemplate what that Truth you experienced means for a romantic relationship. It's something to consider for sure.

The best advice I have is continue meditating, be with that state of awareness, observe it, take it all in. For me, it seemed to be a sign that I was on the right track, and knowing what it might be like to 'get where you're going' is a great incentive.

Note: if you two have been together for some time, she probably knows 'you' better than anyone, so if anyone would notice something isn't the same it should be her.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Elysian
Adding note

[Arthur]

@Elysian Thank you for responding and elaborating more on your experience.

I can relate very much to what you said about experiencing your body, mind, and awareness of the surroundings. It feels like I'm keeping everything that's going on around me in my awareness. I can't be surprised by anything. I do all the things effortlessly. Almost like my brain reached 100% capacity and hyper-alert all the time. I feel various sensations in the body as if I'm perceiving them from a distance. 

My mind sort of became passive. It moved to the background and became as equal as all the perceptions around me. Mind became quieter, but It would still occasionally arise. Whatever it says though, feels not very important compared to whatever is happening around me, like a nice story that is not ultimately real.

My girlfriend and I are very close and we live together. She's not a student of Spirituality and I didn't tell her what happen, but she noticed something different in the way I look. It almost feels like I look through her. Like I know she and other people are living somewhere out there in the mind but not in the present moment. It's not a problem though, if anything, she likes my state peace and happiness.

In the post, I've expressed that I am concerned, but it not a type of fearful concern, more like curious. I feel at peace no matter the circumstances, even though this is quite a change from my previous state of awareness.  It's not even the trip experience that i'm curious about, but the after effects on my consciousness.

I don't have a big Spiritual framework to put the experience in. Right now I'm rewatching a lot of the teachings I knew to refresh my memory. I definitely feel that I understand more deeply what different teachers are talking about. It's very different than what I thought it would be.

 

[Elysian]

37 minutes ago, Arthur said:

@Elysian Thank you for responding and elaborating more on your experience.

I can relate very much to what you said about experiencing your body, mind, and awareness of the surroundings. It feels like I'm keeping everything that's going on around me in my awareness. I can't be surprised by anything. I do all the things effortlessly. Almost like my brain reached 100% capacity and hyper-alert all the time. I feel various sensations in the body as if I'm perceiving them from a distance. 

My mind sort of became passive. It moved to the background and became as equal as all the perceptions around me. Mind became quieter, but It would still occasionally arise. Whatever it says though, feels not very important compared to whatever is happening around me, like a nice story that is not ultimately real.

My girlfriend and I are very close and we live together. She's not a student of Spirituality and I didn't tell her what happen, but she noticed something different in the way I look. It almost feels like I look through her. Like I know she and other people are living somewhere out there in the mind but not in the present moment. It's not a problem though, if anything, she likes my state peace and happiness.

In the post, I've expressed that I am concerned, but it not a type of fearful concern, more like curious. I feel at peace no matter the circumstances, even though this is quite a change from my previous state of awareness.  It's not even the trip experience that i'm curious about, but the after effects on my consciousness.

I don't have a big Spiritual framework to put the experience in. Right now I'm rewatching a lot of the teachings I knew to refresh my memory. I definitely feel that I understand more deeply what different teachers are talking about. It's very different than what I thought it would be.

 

It's really fascinating to see what the mind is capable of when you can focus in and out with all of it's strength at will. I'm curious if the space you're referring to, which even the space from the body is definitive in that state, is because of expanded awareness outside of the body. Maybe by at least a few feet or so. Similarly to the space that can be created when remote viewing or Astral projecting. I only say that because it certainly felt like the body was within this awareness, but this awareness wasn't perceived to be the entirety of the universe. At least not to me, it seemed to be within a relatively close distance to the body in timespace, a point of consciousness instead of the entirety of the cosmos. But that's just my take on the few hours I had.

My concern with the girlfriend would be my view of 'her'. My only conversational interaction with another person during my experience, although I didn't care at all how they felt or thought about me, I for some reason genuinely cared about how I would affect their ego, since that is what they associated with. I typically do care about such things, but even with the space between awareness and mind, their seemed to be a caring, loving force moving through me. It wasn't simply awareness choosing to interact with mind in such a way, or mind doing whatever it wanted. It's really difficult to explain. I was curious how that would play out with someone I knew closely.

I recommend just watching some people who are enlightened speak. Mooji and Sadhguru are my go to's, especially Sadhguru. For some reason during the experience, their enlightenment pierced through so clearly, as if it was enlightenment reflecting itself back at me. It was very easy to recognize that state in others. It's crazy how they explained enlightenment before this experience, it might have sounded preposterous or at the very least in no way relatable. Many might see them as woo woo snake oil salesmen, but it just goes to show you the level of ignorance the ego can have, even of some of the brightest minds this world has to offer.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Elysian
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[Forestluv]

7 minutes ago, Elysian said:

I recommend just watching some people who are enlightened speak. Mooji and Sadhguru are my go to's, especially Sadhguru. For some reason during the experience, their enlightenment pierced through so clearly, as if it was enlightenment reflecting itself back at me. It was very easy to recognize that state in others. It's crazy how they explained enlightenment before this experienced might have sounded preposterous or at the very least in no way relatable. Many might see them as woo woo snake oil salesmen, but it just goes to show you the level of ignorance the ego can have, even of some of the brightest minds this world has to offer.

The power of direct experience. Once a person transcends rationality, they will relate to post-rational being very differently.