Can you hold on to consciousness or is it an illusion?

[Alex bliss]

I have heard nisargadatta talk about holding on to the "i am" feeling?? What is this I am feeling?? I am more identified with the image of body I have on my mind. It would be great if leo made a video on nisargadatta maharaj teaching. 

[Inliytened1]

@Alex bliss you are consciousness, fundamentally.  Consciousness is the substrate of reality.  You are that.  You are really itself.

The you that you are currently identified with is being imagined by You as consciousness.

Edited August 26, 2019 by Inliytened1

[Mason Riggle]

I've never heard of nisargadatta.. but there is a powerful quote by Alan Watts that I feel gets to the heart of the paradox.  

"Am I doing this, or is this doing me?"  And the answer is, 'yes!'  it's both! 

Think of the sentence.. "I am experiencing all of this"..  experience is not just something 'happening to you'.. it's also something 'you are doing'.. and there's nothing you 'need to do' in order to do it. 

"I am driving this car" seems like something you do.. the same can be true for "I am experiencing all this."

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by Mason Riggle

[Alex bliss]

 

 

Thus it means getting enlightenment doesn't change anything. 

 

 

[Mason Riggle]

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
Zen proverb

[Alex bliss]

@Mason Riggle what's the point of enlightenment if it doesn't change anything. My pain sufferings fear sadness meaninglessness.@Inliytened1

[Inliytened1]

@Alex bliss it does - it will transform your entire life - but you'll have to put the work in.

[Mason Riggle]

@Alex bliss many people often wonder what they will gain from enlightenment, but it's more about what you lose.. the neurotic questions, the fear, your anxieties.. 

[Alex bliss]

@Mason Riggle @Inliytened1 Explain the difference between ordinary people  vs realized people

[Mason Riggle]

@Alex bliss Hmmm.. I think it would be similar to the difference to being asleep, and being awake.. when you are asleep, and dreaming, you do not realize you are dreaming.. when you are 'awake'.. you realize you are actually dreaming. 

 

[cetus]

58 minutes ago, Alex bliss said:

What is this I am feeling?? I am more identified with the image of body I have on my mind.

"Go back to that state of pure being where the 'I Am' is still in it's purity before it got contaminated with 'I am this' or 'I am that'   -Nisargadatta

[Alex bliss]

@cetus56 how do you practice that I still don't get it 

[Alex bliss]

@cetus56 easier said than done..its pretty hard to actually do practically.

[cetus]

1 minute ago, Alex bliss said:

@cetus56 how do you practice that I still don't get it 

By staying in the awareness of that part of you (the "I Am") that never changes. 

[Alex bliss]

@cetus56 how to hold onto it? By meditation?

[cetus]

21 minutes ago, Alex bliss said:

@cetus56 how to hold onto it? By meditation?

Meditation would be good. It's very subtle because it has no qualities to it. But it was there to witness your birth and it will be there to witness your death (and everything in between). It is there now silently watching every thought you have.

[tedens]

@cetus56 Like a crouching tiger, a hidden dragon?

[cetus]

@tedens

[Nahm]

2 hours ago, Alex bliss said:

I have heard nisargadatta talk about holding on to the "i am" feeling?? What is this I am feeling?? I am more identified with the image of body I have on my mind. It would be great if leo made a video on nisargadatta maharaj teaching. 

Focus on that you exist, look not with your thinking but feel that you exist. Feel existence.  This can ‘uproot’ the “ I “, the stories, the preferences, partitions, beliefs, grievances, etc. Where ever you are, there is nothing. Literally, there is no thing there, no I. Nothing. Feel into “it”. See. 

The I, is of parts and pieces, identity, conditions. None of which exists. Feel - feel - feel - there is nothing there!

There is no I, right now - notice what arises to the contrary, just be aware of “that”.

Notice, you created “it”.

Just now, you did. 

There is nothing.

[Alex bliss]

@Nahm do I have to push away all the sensations and thought in order to get hold of that awarness??