I am enlightened. Sincere seekers: ask me anything

[Karas]

Is this correct description of ego ? 

[memocappa]

9 hours ago, winterknight said:

Non-existent

No. It makes you an “expert” or some others might say a “preacher”. And that still lives in duality. Ego is a tricky thing, but I enjoy reading your insights.  

[winterknight]

6 hours ago, Karas said:

Is this correct description of ego ? 

What is your doubt? Can you put it in your own words?

[FredFred]

Comparing the first moments after the shift of perspective, is there a difference between an awakening experience and an actual enlightenment?

From what I understand, the ego structure crawls back after an awakening experience but it doesn't after an actual enlightenment. Directly after the shift of perspective, will one be able to tell if his "experience" is a awakening or an enlightenment?

[winterknight]

47 minutes ago, FredFred said:

Comparing the first moments after the shift of perspective, is there a difference between an awakening experience and an actual enlightenment?

From what I understand, the ego structure crawls back after an awakening experience but it doesn't after an actual enlightenment. Directly after the shift of perspective, will one be able to tell if his "experience" is a awakening or an enlightenment?

Yes. If there is even the smallest doubt left, it isn't the real thing.

[Waken]

1 hour ago, winterknight said:

Yes. If there is even the smallest doubt left, it isn't the real thing.

How do you know this? Or, what makes you say so?
Just curiosity, thank you

[winterknight]

2 minutes ago, Waken said:

How do you know this? Or, what makes you say so?
Just curiosity, thank you

I know it in a way that can't be understood until you know it too. I say it because it's useful advice to seekers who are easily confused about enlightenment experiences.

Edited May 22, 2019 by winterknight

[Karas]

I think ego is a sense of separateness but not the character knowing itself as imagination . Can u describe ego? 

Edited May 22, 2019 by Karas

[winterknight]

58 minutes ago, Karas said:

I think ego is a sense of separateness but not the character knowing itself as imagination . Can u describe ego? 

I don't know what you mean by "not the character knowing itself as imagination."

Yes, ego is the sense of being a separate entity.

[Karas]

 The distance between ego and no self seems to be very small and ego is immediately attached to no self and take ownership . How do we reduce this attachment ? 

[winterknight]

1 minute ago, Karas said:

 The distance between ego and no self seems to be very small and ego is immediately attached to no self and take ownership . How do we reduce this attachment ? 

No self is not a thing such that there can be "distance" between it and ego, whether that distance be large or small.

Follow the path -- do the reading and thinking and engage in relentless self-inquiry.

[Angelite]

On 5/16/2019 at 7:04 AM, winterknight said:

I don’t answer questions about “my” experience because the answers are always misleading. If you have questions about your path, though, you’re welcome to ask.

Now I can understand this, guru@winterknight  

Hihi

[Preetom]

@winterknight

I got a question about the self inquiry practice.

Even though we know that the Self cannot ever be objectified, still do I need to keep on looking hard as if I am trying to grasp and find this sense of I? Or should i sort of  rest in the rememberance that i am already the self, leading it towards a surrender and nonattachment towards phenomena.

Did you personally counter every single distractions and thoughts with the question to whom is this thought until the final breakthrough happened? Or did you stop asking the questions after a while?

[Bill W]

Hi,

This might be a non-starter for you....... 

My question is; Should I knuckle down with one approach and type of teaching for now (just so I can start putting some real work in, and getting better habits?) or should I continue with 'information gathering phase' and 'research' for now? I'm not looking for you to name one teacher, or book, or system necessarily but feel free to. I know information gathering and research will be on-going process in a way to keep myself openminded and hungry, but I fear I will use this an excuse to not start the real work.

In my mind, I feel I don't really care what Enlightenment is, or isn't. For me it's all relative. I want to be more enlightened than I am now. I know this might not fit with whatever the favoured enlightment 'model' is. I'm chasing improvement rather than perfection/bliss. 

Some context below.

• I get easily bogged down in reading as much as I can, and taking ideas from literature to practice in real life. However, I seem to be always in 'information gathering phase', convinced that the next book, or teaching will be "the one" and set me on my way. 
• For the last few months I've been getting my feet wet with basic Buddhist teachings. I'm also finding parts of the Bible incredibly uplifting, and much more practical than I thought the Bible would be. 
• I don't know what I think about God. I'm not sure who God is or how God works. I (think) I believe at the minimum there is some Higher Power relevant and active in my life. I feel like I am looked after and that I am supposed to follow a path. 
• With the thoughts I am conscious of, my immediate and primary goal is to manage my general fear, insecurities, to be able to better handle uncertainty, to better management resentments I hold against people, and to move away from my ego (as I understand my ego to be). To move away from animal instinct behaviour. I want to be cool, calm, and collected. Kind to others. Forget myself. Get outside my own head.
• My most cherished values at the moment seem to be around openmindedness and humility. If I can get these right I think other good stuff can manifest, such as compassion, forgiveness, gratitude and resilience. I have all these qualities to a degree, but I want more, and better still, I want to reflect these more in my behaviour. 

[winterknight]

1 hour ago, Preetom said:

@winterknight

I got a question about the self inquiry practice.

Even though we know that the Self cannot ever be objectified, still do I need to keep on looking hard as if I am trying to grasp and find this sense of I? Or should i sort of  rest in the rememberance that i am already the self, leading it towards a surrender and nonattachment towards phenomena.

Well, the Self cannot be objectified, but the "I" can be. That's the funny thing. But what it means for the "I" to be grasped as an object (because: by whom? what? how?) is of course precisely what can't be talked about.

To answer your question, either way works, and I'd sort of try the second at times when you get tired of the first. But the second entails the first. After all, who is faced with this choice between two options? Who is trying to "rest in the remembrance"?

So basically one way (concentration on self-inquiry) or another (concentration on surrender) one tries to quiet the mind, detaching it from other phenomena, and focusing it on one of these thoughts. Then look within and ask: "what exactly is it that I'm doing, and who is doing it?"

Quote

Did you personally counter every single distractions and thoughts with the question to whom is this thought until the final breakthrough happened? Or did you stop asking the questions after a while?

Well, to be clear, you don't need the words "to whom is this thought" -- you need a redirection of attention towards the I.

It can be totally silent and almost effortless.

But what a redirection of attention towards the I means is and is not obvious. You try your best to redirect it towards the I, notice that sometimes what you've thought is the I is something else, and keep trying to redirect.

At a certain point -- if it is hasn't happened already -- you should have a breakthrough, but then it's very likely you'll fall away from that breakthrough. So then you redirect attention again and try it, and this time it should be a little easier. Rinse and repeat.

And I definitely went between this and surrender.

Edited May 23, 2019 by winterknight

[winterknight]

53 minutes ago, Bill W said:

Hi,

This might be a non-starter for you....... 

My question is; Should I knuckle down with one approach and type of teaching for now (just so I can start putting some real work in, and getting better habits?) or should I continue with 'information gathering phase' and 'research' for now? I'm not looking for you to name one teacher, or book, or system necessarily but feel free to. I know information gathering and research will be on-going process in a way to keep myself openminded and hungry, but I fear I will use this an excuse to not start the real work.

In my mind, I feel I don't really care what Enlightenment is, or isn't. For me it's all relative. I want to be more enlightened than I am now. I know this might not fit with whatever the favoured enlightment 'model' is. I'm chasing improvement rather than perfection/bliss. 

Some context below.

• I get easily bogged down in reading as much as I can, and taking ideas from literature to practice in real life. However, I seem to be always in 'information gathering phase', convinced that the next book, or teaching will be "the one" and set me on my way. 
• For the last few months I've been getting my feet wet with basic Buddhist teachings. I'm also finding parts of the Bible incredibly uplifting, and much more practical than I thought the Bible would be. 
• I don't know what I think about God. I'm not sure who God is or how God works. I (think) I believe at the minimum there is some Higher Power relevant and active in my life. I feel like I am looked after and that I am supposed to follow a path. 
• With the thoughts I am conscious of, my immediate and primary goal is to manage my general fear, insecurities, to be able to better handle uncertainty, to better management resentments I hold against people, and to move away from my ego (as I understand my ego to be). To move away from animal instinct behaviour. I want to be cool, calm, and collected. Kind to others. Forget myself. Get outside my own head.
• My most cherished values at the moment seem to be around openmindedness and humility. If I can get these right I think other good stuff can manifest, such as compassion, forgiveness, gratitude and resilience. I have all these qualities to a degree, but I want more, and better still, I want to reflect these more in my behaviour. 

Keep gathering info and also start practice. You do need to keep reading and thinking until you have more of an understanding of what's going on.

Here is my set of recommendations, which basically revolve around a contemporary version of a Hindu school of thought called advaita vedanta. I'd follow that set of links. In particular, to manage general fear and insecurities, I'd recommend psychoanalysis (a specific kind of therapy). 

If you want a practice to start immediately, start with self-inquiry. It also has the virtue of being the practice you can end with... 

[Bill W]

@winterknight Thank you. I will take a look. 

[winterknight]

44 minutes ago, Etherial Cat said:

@winterknight

If I am the consciousness, including both my inner and outer experience, and both are illusions anyway subject to change, why do so many spiritual teachers recommend presence to inhabit better the body?

They recommend presence in the body (though that's not my recommended technique) because it's a way of quieting the mind and getting away from verbal thought. Though experience is an illusion, it's not enough to simply think that. It has to be realized in your experience. That's what all the practices are for.

Quote

Should I focus on being the global observer of my experience or should I try to ground myself in my flesh and be from here?

 

Neither. You should engage in constant self-inquiry.

[Aldo]

@winterknight  what is your view on psychedelics?

[winterknight]

1 hour ago, Aldo said:

@winterknight  what is your view on psychedelics?

They can be useful to open your eyes and provide some insight and motivation, but I don’t believe they can replace the rest of the spiritual path. You must still deal with your intellectual doubts and your psychological obstacles. And you must still look inward, whether in the depth of a psychedelic experience or not, to clear away the ignorance.