Please just be !

[Shin]

Spiritual awakening isn't an activity, a lifestyle or a goal.
 

It isn't an activity because once you realize that you are which is aware of the mind, and not the mind itself, there is nothing you can do.
Living in the present moment, being conscious/aware, alert, is your natural state (which is not a state, but language).

Until then it feels like doing something, like forcing yourself to be conscious, because you're still fundamentally believing you're a mind trying to get rid of its content.

If you see clearly that you aren't the mind, even if it's active, dumb and negative, it really doesn't matter to what you really are.
So the best way to actually have a peaceful mind, is to stop to be mad at yourself for not being peaceful, accept that it's the case and just be present.

Notice that I didn't say a "clear mind" or an "empty mind".
This is a fantasy, a goal that you're pursuing, which puts in the futur (which doesn't exist) the discovery of your true nature, which doesn't depend on having a clear mind at all.

 

It isn't a particular lifestyle, because the only thing you're "doing" is being conscious.
Sure you may stop some activities, but only because they are neurotics, hurting you, or that you weren't really interested in doing them in the first place.

So going into an Ashram, to a retreat, taking Ayahuasca, becoming a monk/zen student, all of this is unnecessary and can actually be a huge distraction for the ego.

Your mind loves to associate itself to communities, dogmas, and mental positions, so doing anything that you consider "spiritual" is by definition a delusion.
There is no activity that is spiritual, because spirituality is just being conscious and realizing more deeply your true nature, which is totally independent of any activities whatsoever.

 

It isn't a  goal, because a goal implies that you're not already yourself, and that you can train yourself to be it.
Back to the first point, it can feel like that until you know what you are, but once you do, meditation and other spiritual practices are the same exact thing as being present.

Notice this, it is the same thing, which means you can self-inquire/meditate or whatever wherever you are and whatever you do !
It can't be a goal because the only way to deepen your realization is to be here, now, present.

This is beautiful because you don't have to worry or to stress yourself anymore to get it or to chase it.
You may ask: "But wtf is he talking about, I clearly am not Enlightened !"

In a sense you aren't, but see this more like a continuum than a binary system.
Sure, there is a clear threshold which has a massive change in perspective, but for most people this happens gradually …

It's not even actually happening, you're just realizing what you always were, even when you were totally inconscious you were it the all time !
There is a huge downside to expect this massive shift in consciousness, it makes you chase after an experience, which is not different than chasing happiness in traditional means like relationships/money/sex/drugs.

If you can already not associate your sense of self with thoughts and emotions, then stop chasing and just be present.
If you really want to do something, do this, whatever you do go deeper in it.

Don't chase anything, just be totally and utterly uninterested about the past and the future.
Even things you want to do in 5 minutes, even in 5 seconds, 1 second …

Whatever you need to do throughout your day you will remember if it really matters to you, you don't need to think about it !

Live in the present moment so fully, that you can't chase anything anymore, because there is nothing to chase if you're content and fulfilled by resting as yourself.
If you can actually manage to get to that point, then enlightenment is only a matter of time, because the very nature of the illusive sense of self is seeking ...

 

Edited December 27, 2018 by Shin

[Shin]

Please realize this !

 

[Forestluv]

@Shin It’s so cool to observe your maturation. Nice work. ♥️?

[Shin]

6 minutes ago, Serotoninluv said:

@Shin It’s so cool to observe your maturation. Nice work. ♥️?

One day !

Oh wait … 

[Preetom]

''Why don't you be you(in the mail box), and I be me(on the other side of the screen)'' 

[Forestluv]

2 minutes ago, Shin said:

One day !

Oh wait … 

Yes. We had arrived all along. . . ☺️

[Shin]

2 minutes ago, Preetom said:

''Why don't you be you(in the mail box), and I be me(on the other side of the screen)'' 

 

What is this supposed to mean ? ?

[Preetom]

''Give your attention to the experience of seeing rather than to the object seen and you will find yourself everywhere.''

''The greatest discovery in life is to discover that our essential nature does not share the limits nor the destiny of the body and mind.''

''Looking for happiness in the body, mind or world is like looking for the screen in a movie. The screen doesn't appear in the movie, and yet, at the same time, all that is seen in the movie is the screen. In the same way that the screen 'hides' in plain view, so happiness 'hides' in all experience.''

''To invest one’s identity and security in something that appears, moves, changes and disappears is the cause of unhappiness.''

''Total openness, pure sensitivity, unconditional allowing: this is not something you, as a person, can do; it is what you, as pure Awareness, are.''

''The separate self is not an entity; it is an activity: the activity of thinking and feeling that our essential nature of pure Awareness shares the limits and the destiny of the body and mind.''

''All experience is illuminated, or made knowable, by the light of pure Knowing. This Knowing pervades all thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions, irrespective of their particular characteristics. We are this transparent, unchanging Knowing.''

-Rupert Spira

[TheAvatarState]

@Shin This is all very good and nice to say, as someone who is already "on the other side" in a sense. But such practices like psychedelics, retreats, etc., are fundamental in gaining this understanding. In gaining the proper body of EXPERIENCE to start embodying what you said above. Take a random person of the street, or even many people on this forum, and they won't be able to resonate with or understand a word you said. Personal development techniques that you say "aren't necessary" are what allowed you to speak the language you now talk in, and make no mistake about it, you ARE speaking a completely different language. An earned and hard-fought language that very few people can truly understand.

Appreciate what got you here, and please don't dismiss them to newbies. It's like climbing a building with a ladder, pulling the ladder up with you on the rooftop, then shouting down, "Follow me! Not necessary!" Perhaps you're thinking, "But climbing a building is a goal, you missed the whole point of my post!" Yes, I get that. But try to understand from the perspective of the person on the ground. All he sees is you on top of a building, and what you see is that the building is a strange loop, and that you're actually standing face to face. The difference is that you're basically in a different dimension, and the other is still trapped in the mind.

[Forestluv]

1 minute ago, TheAvatarState said:

It's like climbing a building with a ladder, pulling the ladder up with you on the rooftop, then shouting down, "Follow me! Not necessary!" Perhaps you're thinking, "But climbing a building is a goal, you missed the whole point of my post!" Yes, I get that. But try to understand from the perspective of the person on the ground. All he sees is you on top of a building, and what you see is that the building is a strange loop, and that you're actually standing face to face. The difference is that you're basically in a different dimension, and the other is still trapped in the mind.

What a wonderful analogy ?  

[Solace]

We are perfect. Reality is inside of us. Everything is made of Love, dancing within the light of consciousness; radiating from our hearts.

[Arthur]

In the big picture, none of us are doing this. 

Not the act of seeking, nor the act of surrendering.

You are not in control of either one. Its easy to prove if you try to imagine the thought you're going to have in the next 10 seconds.

In a sense, I'm not writing this, and you are not reading this. It's all being played and it's all karma. Circumstances are infinitely complex and destiny is inevitble. As the awareness watching the movie, we have zero influence over the plot.

"You're not doing it, it's doing you" - Alan Watts.

Awesome post man! very profound insights.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Arthur

[TheAvatarState]

@Arthur Interesting you brought that up. That means none of us are here on our own accord. We were meant to be here. Not "chosen" by an external force, but by the internal force which led to my inevitable reading of your comment, which led to my inevitable positive reaction, which led to my writing of this post driven by my passion for Truth. We're not plotting the course, we are the course. Not even the universe knows how this is all going to play out, but it does everything it can through the present moment to evolve. Now, I don't know for sure if what I just said is true, but it seems nice. However, I'm seeing more and more evidence that might totally shatter this popular notion of "The present moment is all that exists." That's true in the absolute sense, but we live in a fundamentally relative world... 

As an example of how it could be different, what if this infinite void not just existed in one present moment, but versions of this reality existed simultaneously at infinite points in "time?" Wouldn't TIME have to be an infinite and indescript aspect of this infinite intelligence/consciousness? There's quite a bit of evidence for all of reality in all of time to be accessible through the now, like remote viewers sensing things in the past or future, QM proving that this is all a probability field that materializes when viewed, etc. Even I have had some interesting and downright scary  interactions with time, such as speeding up relative to my friend, and sensing things that were probable in the near future. I'm starting to believe that anything is possible at this point, lol. Just some food for thought.

[Shin]

Everything you can think of is possible.

Even the things you can't.

[Shin]

https://www.trinfinityacademy.com/courses/enlightenment-1-part-2-person-wakes-up-to-presence/lesson-10-there-is-only-now/

 

?

?

[NoSelfSelf]

Yeah but if you are ambitious it will only make it that you pursue stuff more intensly like life purpose..

[Joseph Maynor]

Enlightenment is a very tricky thing but a real thing.  I’ve confirmed that in my own life.  And there are different phases of the Path too.  Some of those phases can be shocking reversals of prior phases. This is why you don’t really want to cling too much to beliefs about Enlightenment because you might prevent your own growth on the Path.  Let Enlightenment do you and just see how that works without worrying too much about theory.  This is almost impossible to do early and even during the middle part of the Path because one needs to cling to theory before they can let it go.  You don’t break up with your girlfriend until after she’s been your girlfriend.  You have to go through the whole process.  Theory is part of the Path.  I can see people who are at that part of the Path now.  This is what I call the Spiritual Ego phase of the Path.  This is the kid who suddenly becomes the Punk rocker in school.  He was a nerd last year and this year he looks like the stereotypical punk rocker.  He’s gotta go fully in that identity.  Ditto for the hippy.  Ditto for the preppy and the jock and all those identities. The pendulum has to swing into the identity stage and then it swings out later.  Enlightenment is no different.  People try so hard to be Enlightened, to appear Enlightened, to convince themselves that they are Enlightened.  But what is Enlightenment really in your life after all that garb has been removed?  Who is that kid underneath all that punk rock clothing?  It’s the same nerdy scared little kid as before now seeking for a different identity.  People do this with Enlightenment too.  Now I get to be the Enlightened One — the Spiritual Ego.  Now I have an identity.  I got the Mohawk and the leather jacket with all the pins on it and Doc Martins and the wallet chain and the safety pin through my nose.  Now I have an ideology too, a new lingo, and a new set of friends who are all doing the same thing I’m doing.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Joseph Maynor