If everything is an illusion why drink water ?

[Bill W]

The illusion is the illusion which means there is actually no illusion to begin with, so drink up and do the work but drop the mental masturbatuon 

[Lento]

@SoonHei ??

Another way for answering the question:

Which is more illusory? The water, or the question?

[allislove]

Because it feels good. 

[Shin]

16 minutes ago, Lento said:

@SoonHei ??

Another way for answering the question:

Which is more illusory? The water, or the question?

The illusive self asking an illusory question about an illusory paradox

????????

 

[Highest]

The illusion-creating machine is the mind, creating all kinds of illusions like illusion itself, reality etc. Find the source of the mind, you will find pure emptiness. Find the source of "I" and you will invetiably find emptiness aka no-self. 

But there is deeper to go. The Self with capital S aka God. After going full circle so to say, illusions will be illuminated by the clear light of awareness. Then you will become conscious that there is no difference between reality and illusion, illusion and reality. When both the notion of reality and illusion collapse, you are left with nothing but non-dual awareness aka "There is only I".

When the notion of seperation and duality itself collapses, you are left with nothing but God-awarness where you become conscious of:

1. There is only I.

2. I am the Creator.

3. I am the One and Only.

4. I am all Alone as totally indivisibly One.

5. I am God itself.

The ego will come back, it's not easy to hold on to this state of consciousness and awareness. Never the less, what you become conscious of in this state cannot ever again be made unconscious of. 

Know that you are God, but for practical reasons just respect the illusion ?

Edited December 17, 2019 by Highest

[Highest]

An illusion which never the less you created, which never the less is within you. Nothing can touch you, for you are Everything. No power of illusion can touch you, for you created it all. 

Find out what you are! There is nothing more to do. As Ramana said, find the very source of "I am". Don't stop until it dissolves and you become fully conscious that you are God. 

This is a simple one directed process, never the less nothing is more powerful. Keep your mind and heart on the question of "What am I?" or "Who am I?" Keep it there, be intensely focused in it. Put your entire life to find out the answer.

By becoming conscious of this one question, all questions will vanish as now you know what cannot be again be unknown. 

[Ero]

@Nak Khid

Drink or not -

there's a perceived difference for the ego that refuses to see itself as an illusion. After that occurs - there's no difference if you'll die of thirst. Asceticism is a very real practice. 

Now... 

You are parroting the idea of an "illusion" and do not have a clue of what it points to. Humble yourself and focus, rather than posting needless posts. 

[bejapuskas]

You can question an illusion with more illusion. Any question is illusory and any answer is illusory. Even the distinction between the answer and the question is illusory and the concept of an answer being an answer (to a question) is also illusory. You aren't digging deep enough.

[undeather]

I love how you all buy in some Neo-advaita vedanta interpretation of non-duality because daddy Leo said so in his videos.

I would almost bet on the fact that a majority of you guys didnt get that from your own experience, but more likely learned about it conceptually and then interpreted your experience through that lense. I guess that after all that, we still are those story telling monkeys Mckenna talked about.

Still apprechiate every and each one of you obviously <3

Edited December 17, 2019 by undeather

[silene]

If everything is an illusion then: 

1. The question "If everything is an illusion why drink water?" is an illusion, so doesn't require an answer. 

2. Any answers I can give are also illusory, so don't help. 

3. My mind, which is thinking about this question, is also an illusion. It's an illusion having illusions. 

4. It's illusion all the way down. Nothing is real. We have no reliable yardstick to measure what's true and what isn't. 

The proposition that everything is an illusion, is absurd, paradoxical, at least in a conventional sense. An illusion is the mind misinterpreting real physical data. Like real hot air in the desert being misunderstood as a lake. We need both illusion and truth for us to understand either. 

[pluto]

Maybe channel Mahavatar Babaji or ask Victor Truviano.

Neither of them consume food or water.

Edited December 17, 2019 by pluto

[SgtPepper]

What I don't get is when one reaches a non-dual state then the differences between illusion and Truth will not exist.

There is just ISness and Pure Being. So this dichotomy that materialism is an illusion, but Truth is No Self does not sit wholesomely with me.

Truth is and "illusion" is too. If anything there is shift in one is perceiving reality:

such as instead of seeing oneself as a person experiencing the cosmos, we see that we are the cosmos experiencing a person.

Does this mean the experience of a persona is false? and in what sense? since it is all one.

I have experienced non-duality several times, but to then approach "Life" as if it were not real or valuable becomes unhealthy to me since non-dual experiences show me that loving the "illusion", is to love myself in every way.

Whether it is illusion or not, does not matter since it IS the case. So the truth is there is a No Self that imagines everything, but how is that any less true then the self that is part of the imagination from a non-dual perspective. To be One is to live fully which means to also live the illusion of ego. 

[Inliytened1]

@SgtPepper well said.

Everything is an illusion in the sense that it is mindstuff and appears physical and has a ground.  But physical is within mind stuff.   Mind stuff is all there is - so illusion IS reality.  

Then you have the illusion of the ego.  You can become conscious that your true nature is consciousness imagining you are ego.  This allows you to see through the ego and accept what is instead of resisting Truth all the time which is what the ego always wants to do.  Because it is a self.  It is selfish.  Consciousness is selfless.   In that way you accept everything - and suffering diminishes.  Does it vanish completely? Probably not.  Because while the story of the self exists it has to survive.  And survival is suffering.  But we can still tame the ego through wisdom and acceptance of what is and through that attain liberation.

 

[WelcometoReality]

@Nak Khid You don't have to if you don't want to. That's the beauty of it all. You're free to do anything you want.

But the enjoyment I get from drinking cold glass of water when I'm thirsty, yeah I'm gonna keep drinking it.

[silene]

25 minutes ago, SgtPepper said:

What I don't get is when one reaches a non-dual state then the differences between illusion and Truth will not exist. 

My glimpses of nonduality have so far all occurred when my thinking has stopped. Is nondual awareness incompatible with thought? If so, then when we're in a state without thought, cognition, recognition, interpretation, mental map-making, then we aren't having illusions, truthful concepts or anything abstract like that. Just pure awareness of sense perception. Maybe. I'm still looking. 

[Forestluv]

Because snorting it burns my nose. 

[Lento]

1 hour ago, silene said:

My glimpses of nonduality have so far all occurred when my thinking has stopped. Is nondual awareness incompatible with thought? If so, then when we're in a state without thought, cognition, recognition, interpretation, mental map-making, then we aren't having illusions, truthful concepts or anything abstract like that. Just pure awareness of sense perception. Maybe. I'm still looking. 

That's because you assume non-duality to be something different from any other mundane moment.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Lento

[silene]

@Lento I get what you've saying in theory, but in practice I'm only aware of nonduality at 'special' moments, when my mind is in a state of stillness. Perhaps that's just my nature, or state of development or something. Anyway, just curious if anyone here experiences nonduality while thinking. 

[Lento]

@silene

"Look at your hand, right now! That's God." -- Leo Gura

Drop the assumption that there is something called "non-duality" or "God". Then think whatever you want, and there you will have it. (You already do, you just don't think so).

[Inliytened1]

44 minutes ago, silene said:

@Lento I get what you've saying in theory, but in practice I'm only aware of nonduality at 'special' moments, when my mind is in a state of stillness. Perhaps that's just my nature, or state of development or something. Anyway, just curious if anyone here experiences nonduality while thinking. 

There are different levels of consciousness.   A non-dual state of consciousness is a different level.  It is pure Being - mystical, divine, infinite and blissful.   It is also frozen as it outside time and space.  Time and space are imaginary.

Your finite mind collapses into Universal Mind.  The finger becomes the hand.   The finger is the hand, but it awakens to being the hand.  

And yes it is often accomplished via stillness of the mind.