Let's see if I have a good handle on this enlightenment thing (long post)

[WorknMan]

This is my treatise on enlightenment; I woke up this morning and felt compelled to write this. If anybody in the know actually reads the whole thing, please provide feedback in regard to how off the mark I am. I have pretty thick skin so am open to criticism.

Anyway, without further ado...

There is a sort of existential restlessness in all of us; a sense of separation that most people refer to as 'the void'. I don't think a lot of people really stop to think about what this void actually is, but it certainly preoccupies a lot of their time, and I doubt there's a person reading this who doesn't know exactly what I'm talking about.

In fact, if peoples' first prime directive is to survive, their second prime directive is to fill this void. They figure out all sorts of ways to do this - some turn to religion, some look for love, some devote their life to the service of others, some go on political crusades, some try to become famous and/or make as much money as they can, etc. Once this void is filled, we call that 'happiness'.

But, here's the problem; this void is permanent, and if you put your happiness into impermanent things and you lose said things, then it's right back to shitsville for you, and you will have to start all over. This is what we colloquially refer to as suffering. And even worse, in the back of your mind, there is that little thing called death, which is when the void swallows you whole, for eternity. So the insanity of life stems from trying to run from something that is going to catch you sooner or later. There have been billions of people who have lived on this earth, and not a single one of them will ever escape it. (With the possible exception of Chuck Norris... that man will probably kick death's ass.)

Thus, is it any wonder why so many millions of people, many of whom are stuck in wage slavery and lead meaningless lives, have to pop happy pills just to get through the day, or just say 'fuck it' and put a hollow-point bullet through their temple? We have constructed an entire society who's job is to distract you from what I described above. But, no matter how much money you make or how many hot chicks you manage to bang, or even how many people love you, at some point, that thing you've been running from all your life will be staring you right in the face.

So, what to do then? Well, we need to take a closer look at the nature of this void. I think most skeptics who don't believe in souls or an afterlife would say it is where your consciousness goes when you die. So then, where EXACTLY is the void? 'Well, it doesn't actually exist', many people would say. But if it doesn't exist, why the fuck do people spend all their lives running from it? And moreover, how does your consciousness actually get there (as in, does it travel by bus or take an Uber), and what happens to it when it arrives? What you're basically saying is that there is this thing called non-existence where the void is, and that is where your consciousness goes after death. But if there was a place called non-existence for your consciousness to go to, wouldn't it be part of existence?

I'm going to suggest that this void DOES exist, and that it's possible to fill this void permanently. And THAT is what enlightenment is. It is unity where there once was separation. But, saying you can fill the void is a bit of a misnomer, because you ARE the void. 'WHAT?', I hear the people gasp. You see, your consciousness doesn't go to the void, because it's already there. This void is not nothingness or non-existence, but it is an infinite, intelligent, formless singularity from which all things arise.

If you doubt me, just think about it for a second - if you have a self aware thing and a non-self aware thing, doesn't it make more sense that the self aware thing came first? So instead of consciousness being in reality, it's actually the other way around, making reality an infinite hallucination or dream. So the little Wizard of Oz in your head you call 'me', your identity... the thing known as I or self (and what people involved in consciousness work call ego), is nothing but a fiction. And what you REALLY are is pure consciousness that is observing reality through a body and a brain that it does not directly control. (Hence, no free will.) So rather than consciousness being localized to your skull, it's more of an all-encompassing, 'universal consciousness' that all of our brains are jacked into.

When enlightenment happens, there is a permanent shift from your ego to this universal consciousness, which people who have experienced it (either temporarily or permanently) liken it to waking up from a dream. It will be the most profound thing to ever happen to you, and will be beyond compare, even if you manage to live the kind of life that most people only dream of. And when you are enlightened, you can pursue your passions in life without this neurotic desire to feed an ego that can never be satiated, and which will otherwise lead you around by the nose your entire life, like a dog on a leash.

'Well, great... sign me up!', you say. 'How do I get enlightened?' Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, it's not that simple, because technically there is no 'you' to be enlightened. The process is similar to being struck by lightening. You can't make it happen - it just happens. There are some things you can do to help it along though, and the site where I'm posting this too has a lot of videos describing how to do that, along with a couple of sticky forum posts.

Now, I gotta be honest - unless you're lucky enough to have enlightenment spontaneously happen to you (which is about as likely as literally getting struck by lightening), it's going to take awhile, and as someone who's been blindly stumbling down this path for a long time, it can be downright unpleasant at times. You're going to have to shed every belief you've ever held sacred, like a snake shedding its skin. As Jed McKenna says, 'enlightenment is Detaching. Detaching from everything you love, everything you are, and everything that characterizes your membership in the human race. And that's just for starters'. At a certain point down this path, you will get to a point where you can't turn back, and from that point on, you will be like a vampire walking among humans. You will only exist in modern society as sort of an interloper, seeing reality as it actually is, instead of through a lens that distorts it, as 99% of the population does.

BUT, there are lots of enlightened people out there (you may even live next door to one), and I don't know of a single one of them that has said they regretted going through the hell it takes to get there. I think probably its biggest benefit is that you will no longer fear death. And, although I'm not entirely convinced yet that enlightenment is actually a thing, it seems like something worth pursuing. If you don't think so, that's fine. Go out and make your millions, or whatever it is you want to do. If you ever get to the point where you realize none of that shit is filling the void anymore, you can always come back here. We'll wait for you.

And, that is all - good luck! Peace and love to you all