Anyone here had an enlightenment experience?

[Emerald]

6 hours ago, Dhana Choko said:

I have had multiple enlightenment experiences and I have experiences of being connected to that state actually daily. It is hard to explain. It is like the darkness that is around me is just moving a way little by little and the feeling is just there, all the time, more and more and then I get glimpses of some light every day. It is a very nice process. I have had moments of huge insights more than I can count. It is quite exhausting to even think about them, what I have understood etc. - It is just too much. I do not have words for all of it. 

What do you think happened that enabled you to live this way? Is there a moment when everything finally clicked?

[Emerald]

5 hours ago, walt said:

What is being labelled as an 'enlightenment' experience is for certain an experience.   The experience may point in a direction that is totally foreign to rational thought.   Experiences are not permanent.   They last for a particular duration and then morph into something else or end.  Every moment of life is an experience if one looks at it closely.   To experience literally means to go through.  We go through the events of childhood at different stages - those are all experiences.  We study and learn new things ... those are experiences.   We have a cup of coffee ... that is an experience ... The next cup of coffee is another and possibly very different experience.

Valid questions to ponder would be "Do we learn from an experience?" ,  "What did we learn?",  "How is my journey in life changed by the experience?".   It is sad to note that in terms of humanity as a whole - which has gone through countless experiences, does not seem to learn much from the experiences.   For example: World War I - was supposed to be the war to end all wars ... then,  WWII, then Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc... 

What is the value of experience if one does not awaken to what it is pointing to.   We have all had thousands of experiences, and maybe what we consider to be those super special ones, we call them "enlightenment".   Well they may be enlightening for sure, especially if we abide with the revelations presented to our awareness.  I do not say "act" upon because somewhere along the line one might realize that there is really no 'separate' you to perform any action.   The "doer" is part of the illusion of one's dream world.   However, there is no harm in thinking of acting upon the insight or changing one's attitudes of thought and/or behaviour because of seemingly very meaningful insights.

Honour enlightening experiences for what they are.   They are NOT enlightenment in the sense of some fantastic ideas.

Yes, I have had several - but when I sense that it is basic curiosity asking then I hesitate to talk about it.

joy

 

Thank you for the reply. I don't ask this question out of basic curiosity, but more-so to find others who have had similar experiences to what I have had. It can be a bit lonely having experienced ego transcendence for a short time, then to come back to the egoic perspective without anyone to talk with about it who will understand. So, in hopes that I might get some good information on how to go further, and also make a place for people to share, I've created this thread. So, I promise not to take your insight interpretations too seriously or become misled by them, if you're comfortable sharing.

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

I don't ask this question out of basic curiosity, but more-so to find others who have had similar experiences to what I have had.

In the initial post of this thread I read: "I wanted to know if anyone here has had a real-life experience of oneness, enlightenment, or the truth of no self. I had two such experiences myself (albeit artificially induced) and I'd love to hear about your experiences. " - This does not tell us what this "real-life experience of oneness" was, the specifics of what you took to be "enlightenment", or what is this "truth of no self" that you mention.  Therefore I can only see concepts in those words and would generally say - yes, I have had such experiences, but I am quite certain that they were nothing like what you personally might have experienced.  I have no idea how those concepts link you to "reality".

At any rate, they were experiences.  That is the only thing for certain.   We can compare how we felt,  what we thought about it,  and perhaps to where it might lead; and that would be a nice conversation, perhaps the one happening in this thread.   One thing that I can say freely is that nothing that I used to value is important any more.  There is no more perspective from a "personal" sense and yet it appears that there is a person doing things.  It is very liberating.  And everything has become 'sacred', but these are only words and concepts - as the song says "Words is all I have ...".

joy

 

[Baby]

I have had experiences though I often think of them as a trick of my ego... 

[johnde]

i don't know where to start. its first time doing this and its scary for me. i'm glad I seen your question and I hope I didn't missed interpreted what you're asking .so here it goes.Forgive me but i'm not a good speller or typer. I been on this journey or awareness thing . it has been exciting and scary at the same time. it started about 7 years ago  when i attended a tantra yoga class.  During the class one of the exercises was a MIRRORING EXERCISE . i was pair up with another lady student.The instructor explain what we were to do.   I'm not sure how to explain what happen next. when we put our hands up with about 1 inch between them we felt this undeniable electric current. we both were looking at it and wondering what it was. my partner was saying " this is interesting" she said that three times. I drop my hands and said. "that's just static electricity " I knew it wasn't but I was scared or a ass. We then put our hands back up and the electricity came right back.  The instructor them called  the class to sit down  so we didn't get much time to play with it. I did go up and ask the instructor about what we felt and she  just said it was our life force energy. I didn't think she knew what I was talking about because she said it so quickly. So I asked her again. she looked up at me and said" YES that's your life force energy' I then went and sat down. She then talk about it but I didn't understand any of it. I was kind of embarrassed. I wish I was smarter back then and started asking questions. So I guess my question is  What the #### is happening to me. I almost feel like crying because i feel i'm asking someone who might know what's up. thanks for being here. johnde  ( I'm so glad I didn't post my picture. this all could be embarrassing for me.) Take Care.

[Azrael]

@Emerald Wilkins I agree that OBE's are more of a sensory than a spiritual / enlightenment experience. However, when I started this just blew my mind. The real deep and spiritual experiences were either achieved through deep meditation, mostly random and not in any way controllable, after a long strong determination sit in which my mind completely surrendered or through ... the good stuff.

SWIM became more and more interested in psychedelics and especially in high doses of LSD and DMT, because both have the potential to give you deep insights. So, after lots and lots of intellectual research SWIM did look experientially into this and had the longest and deepest spiritual experiences and has been able to re-create lots of them through meditation. SWIM always tried and tries to heavily target this experiences to get spiritual and scientifically analyses what is just sensory and how does actually your nature change / your view on reality changes.

However, in SWIM's mind such a behaviour can only be useful if your a very careful, mentally strong and are willing to integrate these experiences through meditation or something similar. A lot of negative shit in the end will come up, that you have to deal with, in any route of administration. The later described here can overwhelm some mentally not so prepared people with that.

So, SWIM recommends to always do your homework and don't do something that you read on a self-help forum with blind faith.

Cheers 

[Neo]

It seems pretty clear to me from people's comments that there are experiences which the ego goes through in meditation and it has effects and then there is something else entirely which changes the person completely to such an extent the person cannot look back or even commit completely to words what has happened.

[Volodja]

I had one, 3 years ago. Inside me was light, and i felt all body, and some vibration. It was the best feeling in my life.

[Ayla]

5 hours ago, Neo said:

It seems pretty clear to me from people's comments that there are experiences which the ego goes through in meditation and it has effects and then there is something else entirely which changes the person completely to such an extent the person cannot look back or even commit completely to words what has happened.

Yes.

 

[so here we are]

 

 

 

[Nic]

For me it struck when I didn't expect it. Being totally at ease with the present moment, happiness was a constant state for a couple weeks before, embracing everything, smiling to what life has to offer. I just got back into meditation habit as well. Those experiences happened while I was walking in nature listening to the last lesson of my spiritual master, which is basically a mediation to love unconditionally. 

The way it felt was like being eyes with extensions, body parts that move not because "i"tell them to do so, but because they had to. There was no choice. My eyes were not focussing on particular objects most of the time... I also felt like being completely flat, to "non existent"(the body disappears), not a 3 dimensional being but thin as a line. I had the feeling my brain was being sucked out of me. I still had thoughts but it felt like drops landing on a hot stone, they were evaporating without me having to do anything about it, I could not cling to any of them, thoughts felt like & made the typical sounds of drop landing in the bathtub. I was hearing the voice of my master through the headphone in the background, I could not cling to words he was saying either. The only thing in the foreground was "sensation". The lessons I was listening to tells you to express love towards anything without reason, I believe that I became that love.

Time was given to me, there was no other choice than to be present. I saw the world for the first time as it is, and there was nothing more beautiful than this realization. It literally struck me in Aw, speechless of the scenery that was in front of me, a scenery that I see nearly everyday when I go for a walk. I cried my eyes out for two hours. 

It stops progressively when I got back home. Not clinging to the experience, I had the same experience on the next day doing the same thing again. 

The emotion was nothing I experienced before. In contrast to mediation, the identification of the feeling of being one with everything didn't disappear after I made the mistake to want it make it last longer, or that I identify with the feeling of it. In that state, I just couldn't escape it, it was forced on to me.

By that time I didn't label it as an enlightenment states, Leo did that for me after I watched videos where he makes attempts to describe what enlightenment is... before that I didn't know what to call it, just maybe, moments of Grace, but fairly, I didn't know what happened, it was just magic. The word Enlightenment has so many concept attached to it, I don't really like to use it. Before this experience I thought that you have to look for enlightenment in order to find it. And maybe enlightenment isn't what I now think it is... I just don't know and I don't really care.

I Am still not looking for enlightened states, it will strike again when and if it needs to. I don't know what is awaiting for me at the next corner. I Am just very grateful to have lived those intense moments. I do see life in a different manner, I don't think my life has to have a meaning anymore.

In one sentence, I just want to smile to life more often than I ever did, that's about it!

I hope you like that description of what I label now as enlightened states... Wish you all a very nice day

Edited April 1, 2016 by Nic

[Emerald]

6 minutes ago, Nic said:

For me it struck when I didn't expect it. Being totally at ease with the present moment, happiness was a constant state for a couple weeks before, embracing everything, smiling to what life has to offer. I just got back into meditation habit as well. Those experiences happened while I was walking in nature listening to the last lesson of my spiritual master, which is basically a mediation to love unconditionally. 

The way it felt was like being eyes with extensions, body part that moves not because "i"tell them to do so, but because they had to. There was no choice. My eyes were not focussing on particular objects most of the time... I also felt like being completely flat, to "non existent"(the body disappears), not a 3 dimensional being but thin as a line. I had the feeling my brain was being sucked out of me. I still had thoughts but it felt like drops landing on a hot stone, they were evaporating without me having to do anything about it, I could not cling to any of them, thoughts felt like & made the typical sounds of drop landing in the bathtub. I was hearing the voice of my master through the headphone in the background, I could not cling to words he was saying either. The only thing in the foreground was "sensation". The lessons I was listening to tells you to express love towards anything without reason, I believe that I became that love.

Time was given to me, there was no other choice than to be present. I saw the world for the first time as it is, and there was nothing more beautiful than this realization. It literally struck me in Aw, speechless of the scenery that was in front of me, a scenery that I see nearly everyday when I go for a walk. I cried my eyes out for two hours. 

It stops progressively when I got back home. Not clinging to the experience, I had the same experience on the next day doing the same thing again. 

The emotion was nothing I experienced before. In contrast to mediation, the identification of the feeling of being one with everything didn't disappear after I made the mistake to want it make it last longer, or that I identify with the feeling of it. In that state, I just couldn't escape it, it was force on to me.

By that time I didn't label it as an enlightenment states, Leo did that for me after I watched video where he makes attempts to describe what enlightenment is... before that I didn't know what to call it, just maybe, moments of Grace, but fairly, I didn't know what happened, it was just magic. The word Enlightenment has so many concept attached to it, I don't really like to use it. Before this experience I thought that you have to look for enlightenment in order to find it. And maybe enlightenment isn't what I now think it is... I just don't know and I don't really care.

I Am still not looking for enlightened states, it will strike again when and if it needs to. I don't know what is awaiting for at the next corner. I Am just very grateful to live those intense moments. I do see life in a different manner, I don't think my life has to have a meaning anymore.

In one sentence, I just want to smile to life more often than I ever did, that's about it!

I hope you like that description of what I label now as enlightened states... Wish you all a very nice day

That sounds a lot like what I had experienced. Funny enough, I didn't call it enlightenment before I watched Leo's videos either. I just called it a lack of psychological problems. So, before I found Leo's videos, I was just trying to forcefully get rid of my neuroses and complexes to "get back" to that state. It was the exact opposite of unconditional love and acceptance. 

[Nic]

7 minutes ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

I was just trying to forcefully get rid of my neuroses and complexes to "get back" to that state. It was the exact opposite of unconditional love and acceptance. 

This is what got you to those enlightened states? That means that it really doesn't have any rules at all! It just happens... 

Edited April 1, 2016 by Nic

[werlight]

On February 8, 2016 at 6:36 PM, Emerald Wilkins said:

I wanted to know if anyone here has had a real-life experience of oneness, enlightenment, or the truth of no self. I had two such experiences myself (albeit artificially induced) and I'd love to hear about your experiences. 

@Emerald Wilkins @Leo Gura

@Nic @cetus56 

I've had many experiences, all of them beautiful. The last 3 were very, very profound and mystical. The last one was breathtaking.

I didn't understand exactly what “We are One” meant. And I wanted to know.

I had been immersed in a deep state of being for months and my vibration was extremely high. When I asked What does we are one mean ? My awareness was somehow taken back before everything that IS came to BE. Before we decided to express to create and enter form.

We were “pure awareness, pure love and pure light.” Imagine an immense sea of pure light vibrating as pure love. That is what we were. We were blissful, we were complete, We were ONE !

I remained in this state for days ! .. It was not only a vision. I physically felt everything that happened.

Then I remembered ( and felt ) why we decided to express (create everything) the reason or purpose of FORM/creation

[Nic]

What I forgot to mention is that after my experiences, I went from eating 14 times meat a week to one time... if even one... I don't buy meat anymore, I eat meat when there is nothing else to eat.  So I don't consider myself vegetarian, but close to it.

I wanted to become vegetarian before that but I never found the will to change my ways. This experience made me more empathic that I was and gave me the kick I needed to stop that nonsense eating behavior. 

After that I also did also 5 full days water and herbal tea fasting. Not saying it was easy, but it was not that hard too as didn't think of it as negative or positive at all. I just wanted to know what it feels like and follow my intuition, open to new experiences. I did also cook a lot during those 5 days to not throw away my food that I had bought the day I decided to fast, and then put it in the freezer without touching it. This could be considered as torture, but it really wasn't. Coming out of it was less controlled though, the ego, the survival instinct, the addiction of eating struck hard, I didn't came out of it as Zen as hoped to... and made some "mistakes" about the amount of the stuff I put in my mouth but maybe next time I'll know how to handle it... 

Edited April 1, 2016 by Nic

[cetus]

@Arik @werlight @Nic @Emerald Wilkins My experienced happened when I dropped all sense of self. I could feel that consciousness was no longer localized at my body location but surrounding me and extending outward. I remember a distinct shift in awareness as if awareness had come to a point of perfect focus. I never experienced that happening before. It was scary to let go like that for the first time, but still something about it felt right.  So I let totally go and instantly I became pure being. It was as if my soul or pure being was floating in a ocean of pure bliss and silence. It felt like "home". I don't remember closing my eyes, but I was no longer seeing my physical surroundings. That happened twice.  The first time was in Sept. and again in January. The first time my eyes were wide open. The 2nd time I was meditating. I felt that sudden shift in awareness that I never knew existed before.  I don't know what happened. It felt like I went into another dimension it was so distinct. Very different! After it happened I thought "What the heck was that?" I never expected that to happen at all. I still don't really know how to explain it. Maybe that's just the way it is. I remember that all questions ceased to exist and everything was well taken care of.  So no need to even ask. It was beyond everything within existence, but yet it was the source of all existence. It truly felt like home.                                                                                                                                                           Just to add a note: After the first experience happened, I sat here and knew "That infinite stillness and silence surrounds us at all times". Where we come from and where we return to is always present. We never left it "  Everything that happens within existence is happening within that source of infinite silence at all times.

Edited April 1, 2016 by cetus56

[Nic]

2 minutes ago, cetus56 said:

It truly felt like home.

Oh yes it did!

[werlight]

1 hour ago, werlight said:

@Emerald Wilkins @Leo Gura

@Nic @cetus56 

I've had many experiences, all of them beautiful. The last 3 were very, very profound and mystical. The last one was breathtaking.

I didn't understand exactly what “We are One” meant. And I wanted to know.

I had been immersed in a deep state of being for months and my vibration was extremely high. When I asked What does we are one mean ? My awareness was somehow taken back before everything that IS came to BE. Before we decided to express to create and enter form.

We were “pure awareness, pure love and pure light.” Imagine an immense sea of pure light vibrating as pure love. That is what we were. We were blissful, we were complete, We were ONE !

I remained in this state for days ! .. It was not only a vision. I physically felt everything that happened.

Then I remembered ( and felt ) why we decided to express (create everything) the reason or purpose of FORM/creation

@Emerald Wilkins @Leo Gura @Nic @cetus56

The first of my last 3 experiences was also very beautiful .. and it came a few days before my second final awakening experience. I wrote it down .. this is exactly what happened:

" I tuned my feelings into the music, as I usually did during meditation. Once again light surrounded my head but this time the energy was so strong that it clouded my vision. My entire body was vibrating in love. 

I can't explain exactly what happened next, but somehow my awareness was transported to a different place. It was a place of endless emptiness with a huge radiant light in the distance. I was there, staring at the light deeply humbled by a beautiful vision of love and unity. Tears of joy fell from my eyes as words flowed through me directly from this place of love and light.

“ light, love and compassion surrounds me .. my entire body shines and vibrates in awareness.. i am there..

i see the light, bright and clear and millions shining in joy, a sea of light, stillness and wisdom..

i am there, as a witness, it is a gift to be remembered and shared.

we are pure love meant to shine bright and illuminate the skies..

no fear, no sadness only eternal peace and joy.. we are together, together as one.. this is the truth, the only reality..

it is time to remember who we are, it is time to be awake..

we are all made of light”

Eventually the sensation of light went away and my awareness returned. A profound peace and sense of grace came over me, at the same time my emotions were at a state of euphoria and excitement.

Edited April 1, 2016 by werlight

[werlight]

1 hour ago, cetus56 said:

@Arik @werlight @Nic @Emerald Wilkins My experienced happened when I dropped all sense of self. I could feel that consciousness was no longer localized at my body location but surrounding me and extending outward. I remember a distinct shift in awareness as if awareness had come to a point of perfect focus. I never experienced that happening before. It was scary to let go like that for the first time, but still something about it felt right.  So I let totally go and instantly I became pure being. It was as if my soul or pure being was floating in a ocean of pure bliss and silence. It felt like "home". I don't remember closing my eyes, but I was no longer seeing my physical surroundings. That happened twice.  The first time was in Sept. and again in January. The first time my eyes were wide open. The 2nd time I was meditating. I felt that sudden shift in awareness that I never knew existed before.  I don't know what happened. It felt like I went into another dimension it was so distinct. Very different! After it happened I thought "What the heck was that?" I never expected that to happen at all. I still don't really know how to explain it. Maybe that's just the way it is. I remember that all questions ceased to exist and everything was well taken care of.  So no need to even ask. It was beyond everything within existence, but yet it was the source of all existence. It truly felt like home.                                                                                                                                                           Just to add a note: After the first experience happened, I sat here and knew "That infinite stillness and silence surrounds us at all times". Where we come from and where we return to is always present. We never left it "  Everything that happens within existence is happening within that source of infinite silence at all times.

Amazing how we all get to the same place of light and stillness. It is not a coincidence. We all come from the same place.. Our home is the same.

[Nic]

@werlight

Yep!

But For my part I don't draw any conclusions if it was the same place or not or if it is coincidence or not... It is amazing however that we seem to relate the same thing though!

Maybe they are things that are deeper than this and even if it looked like the end of the road, it might only be the beginning. It wouldn't be the first time that we would have been duped. The universe is big, possibilities are endless. They are dimensions that we cannot grasp with our mind that is for sure. I don't pretend to know the truth. I just can try to describe, in that case rationalize, what happened in that moment.

I enjoy reading that others can relate to those experiences, it's like describing an orgasm on the spiritual level. In french we call orgasm "the small death" it is quiet close to it somehow, but more like a new birth... It felt like I was a new born baby actually, I didn't have the feeling that anything died, like the ego, it probably just wasn't there.