Anybody here experienced non duality without knowing about it?

[An young being]

Is there anybody who has not read anything about non duality from any source, but experienced it through enlightenment?  ( The source maybe Wikipedia, some articles or videos about non duality, Hindu or Buddhist religious scriptures pointing to the idea of non dualism etc. ). The point is to know whether the experience of people who already have the idea of non duality embed in their minds and the people who don't have idea in thoughts but experienced enlightenment coincide. Any thoughts about it are also welcome.

[Recursoinominado]

A lot of people experience it through psychedelic experiences without any previous knowledge of it but they mostly  also doesn't know what the hell happened, usually dismissed it as some silly hallucination.

[allislove]

Quote

Anybody here experienced non duality without knowing about it?

Everyone does it NOW Lol 

The whole spiritual path is about "KNOWING", knowing who you are, that you are NOW, non-dual one  

[student]

The experience of "non duality" is not dependent on knowledge. We are all made in a way to be able to penetrate into reality (non duality). Even if one hates the word "spiritual", "mystical", be a "scientific/logical" person etc. it doesn't matter, because the reality of who you are doesn't change based on what beliefs you hold. Still, the beliefs can hold you back from experiencing non duality, because that first experience is greatly based on open mindedness. The more freer you feel, the better. You cannot feel free when your mind is always talking, knowing.

The only problem that could possibly exist if you don't have the esoteric knowledge on what you just had experienced, is that there will be low chances of furthering that experience. Of re-experiencing it and deepening it. You need to actively WANT it. If you want it, knowledge about it will be immediately seeked, and when you have it it only acts as a guidance to the experience. The experience is devoid of "knowledge".

 

summary

1. You can have a mystical experience without any knowledge.

2. After you have it you will either seek knowledge about it or not. (if not you will either start blabbering non sense about it or not talk about it at all and forget it eventually)

3. You will get the knowledge and seek the experience ACTIVELY.

4. When you will be experiencing it the knowledge becomes obsolete.

Edited June 14, 2020 by student

[An young being]

41 minutes ago, Recursoinominado said:

A lot of people experience it through psychedelic experiences without any previous knowledge of it but they mostly  also doesn't know what the hell happened, usually dismissed it as some silly hallucination.

But are there any experiences by such people which is documented? Like people sharing their experience after having psychedelics which is related to the experience of non dualism?

[An young being]

28 minutes ago, dimitri said:

Everyone does it NOW Lol 

The whole spiritual path is about "KNOWING", knowing who you are, that you are NOW, non-dual one  

Yeah, I am trying to understand this reality, but what if we are led to experience non duality because we already had firm belief that non duality can be the only truth and our consciousness is projecting an illusion of the same, which is what we wanted it to be.

[An young being]

18 minutes ago, student said:

The experience of "non duality" is not dependent on knowledge. We are all made in a way to be able to penetrate into reality (non duality). Even if one hates the word "spiritual", "mystical", be a "scientific/logical" person etc. it doesn't matter, because the reality of who you are doesn't change based on what beliefs you hold. Still, the beliefs can hold you back from experiencing non duality, because that first experience is greatly based on open mindedness. The more freer you feel, the better. You cannot feel free when your mind is always talking, knowing.

The only problem that could possibly exist if you don't have the esoteric knowledge on what you just had experienced, is that there will be low chances of furthering that experience. Of re-experiencing it and deepening it. You need to actively WANT it. If you want it, knowledge about it will be immediately seeked, and when you have it it only acts as a guidance to the experience. The experience is devoid of "knowledge".

 

summary

1. You can have a mystical experience without any knowledge.

2. After you have it you will either seek knowledge about it or not. (if not you will either start blabbering non sense about it or not talk about it at all and forget it eventually)

3. You will get the knowledge and seek the experience ACTIVELY.

4. When you will be experiencing it the knowledge becomes obsolete.

Okay, this clears my doubt to a huge extent, but can you share some documentation of people or some other kind of proof like where people without non duality knowledge but with experience are interviewed and their experience is found to be same as that of people who have both knowledge and experience of non duality?

I am a beginner level seeker and I would like to have some knowledge on what I am pursuing before putting my time and effort on the same.

[allislove]

16 minutes ago, An young being said:

Yeah, I am trying to understand this reality, but what if ...

How does this "if" feel to you?

If it feels not great - let it go  

[Recursoinominado]

@An young being yeas, of course, here in this forum you can find several reports of people experiencing non-duality prior to any knowledge of it.

Obviously, after the fact, when you study non-duality, you can remember and make sense of that experience you once had. 

[student]

I don't have that proof (interviews, books etc). I personally only watch videos or read books by already accomplished individuals (yogis etc.) People that attained liberation.

My only proof is 1. My actual experience. I've had my first mystical experience by accidentally meditating [relaxing completely and trying to think of nothing]. I have a neurotic environment, family, so it was pretty easy for me to just wanna "throw" it all out naturally (my thoughts, sensations etc.) 2. Conversations I've had with non-spiritual seeking folks. I don't hold myself back in talking about my mystical experiences. I must mention that these people although not "spiritual" they are educated, wise, intelligent people, can be found in a scholastic environment. Not intelligent at all in the spiritual sense (they may have no interest in religion, god, spirituality etc.), but very receptive of life. The more receptive, aka not close minded, the more your consciousness expands. The more open, the more freer. Less boundaries. By being receptive you judge less, you are more humble, less knowing (although they have plenty of knowledge).

By just being receptive, welcoming life with hands wide open, you are able to experience all sorts of "unusual" things, for example, tears of joy flowing by just "existing"/"be"-ing, being suddenly one with your cat, the wind that you hear outside (in that moment "outside" doesn't exist, also "hearing" ---> it is all One). Love being literally the air, and at the same time not feeling yourself anymore in your body, aka being everything.

These things can be experienced, even if only for a few seconds.

 

Some of these people also have an intense life of their own. They have a LP (using the terminology Leo uses), or at least some kind of activity they put their mental, body and emotional efforts in. This can lead to experiences of non duality.

This is achieved through concentration. Deep concentration. You need to understand that concentration means, in other words, being distraction-less. Meditation is that, Yoga is that. But you don't need to meditate or know what that is. You can paint something, write intensely, compose music. Maybe you can find proof in these areas rather than searching on the internet for "spiritual" folks.

What is rare is not non-dual experiences but liberation which is a totally different thing. That's... a life purpose itself.

Knowledge expands your consciousness. But your first mystical experience doesn't depend on that. It only depends on your open-mindedness. Nasty people won't experience this. They are too distracted, preoccupied with other things. You don't need to believe in god to be open minded. Read spiritual books. This does nothing. Just have respect for life, people, feel free inside. It is all experiential as you can see. After you read a book what you are trying to do afterwards is to actualize it, isn't it?

[An young being]

1 hour ago, dimitri said:

How does this "if" feel to you?

If it feels not great - let it go  

@dimitri , yeah I will, just exploring all possibilities!

1 hour ago, Recursoinominado said:

@An young being yeas, of course, here in this forum you can find several reports of people experiencing non-duality prior to any knowledge of it.

Obviously, after the fact, when you study non-duality, you can remember and make sense of that experience you once had. 

@Recursoinominado, ok, I am a little new to this forum and haven't gone through the old threads, but I have started to, and I am finding more clarity as well as questions as I go deeper. I have also started to meditate deeply to experience it on my own.

13 minutes ago, student said:

I don't have that proof (interviews, books etc). I personally only watch videos or read books by already accomplished individuals (yogis etc.) People that attained liberation.

My only proof is 1. My actual experience. I've had my first mystical experience by accidentally meditating [relaxing completely and trying to think of nothing]. I have a neurotic environment, family, so it was pretty easy for me to just wanna "throw" it all out naturally (my thoughts, sensations etc.) 2. Conversations I've had with non-spiritual seeking folks. I don't hold myself back in talking about my mystical experiences. I must mention that these people although not "spiritual" they are educated, wise, intelligent people, can be found in a scholastic environment. Not intelligent at all in the spiritual sense (they may have no interest in religion, god, spirituality etc.), but very receptive of life. The more receptive, aka not close minded, the more your consciousness expands. The more open, the more freer. Less boundaries. By being receptive you judge less, you are more humble, less knowing (although they have plenty of knowledge).

By just being receptive, welcoming life with hands wide open, you are able to experience all sorts of "unusual" things, for example, tears of joy flowing by just "existing"/"be"-ing, being suddenly one with your cat, the wind that you hear outside (in that moment "outside" doesn't exist, also "hearing" ---> it is all One). Love being literally the air, and at the same time not feeling yourself anymore in your body, aka being everything.

These things can be experienced, even if only for a few seconds.

 

Some of these people also have an intense life of their own. They have a LP (using the terminology Leo uses), or at least some kind of activity they put their mental, body and emotional efforts in. This can lead to experiences of non duality.

This is achieved through concentration. Deep concentration. You need to understand that concentration means, in other words, being distraction-less. Meditation is that, Yoga is that. But you don't need to meditate or know what that is. You can paint something, write intensely, compose music. Maybe you can find proof in these areas rather than searching on the internet for "spiritual" folks.

What is rare is not non-dual experiences but liberation which is a totally different thing. That's... a life purpose itself.

Knowledge expands your consciousness. But your first mystical experience doesn't depend on that. It only depends on your open-mindedness. Nasty people won't experience this. They are too distracted, preoccupied with other things. You don't need to believe in god to be open minded. Read spiritual books. This does nothing. Just have respect for life, people, feel free inside. It is all experiential as you can see. After you read a book what you are trying to do afterwards is to actualize it, isn't it?

Yes, you are right. The best way to prove something is to experience it first hand ourself and I am moving in that direction steadily. But, now I have known about non duality through books and internet, I cannot remove the knowledge from my memory to experience it without knowing about it. That's why I am interested to hear experiences of people who had never had a knowledge of oneness and see if the insights were similar or something entirely different.

[allislove]

@An young being let your gut feeling be the compass of exploration ?

[Dodo]

The question makes no sense to me

 

Edit: to clarify why it makes no sense to me: Nonduality is simply being. Has anyone experienced being beforw they knew about it? Ofcourse?! Only Everyone ever. Even your dog

Edited June 14, 2020 by Dodo

[Espaim]

You mean a "mystical experience", yes?

I did and that resulted in a huge panic attack.

It was the ultimate introduction to spirituality 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Espaim

[Dodo]

1 minute ago, Espaim said:

You mean a "mystical experience", yes?

I did and that resulted in a huge panic attack.

Your experience right now is also mystical but your mind has normalised it. 

[Espaim]

3 minutes ago, Dodo said:

Your experience right now is also mystical but your mind has normalised it. 

deep

[Member]

A year ago I had no idea about ego death or non-duality but I had the chance to experience it. It changed my life and I have no idea how I got there... it was like a gift for me.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Member

[Forestluv]

@An young being I had many “nondual experiences” before I knew anything about nondual theory. I knew that experiences were unique, yet I didn’t even know there was a word for it. Then a couple people in my life told me “Oh yea, that’s nonduality”. I was like “There’s a word for it? What’s this ‘nonduality’ thing?”. I then started watching nonduality speakers and was like “Omigosh! That’s it. They know what it’s like!”.

[An young being]

2 hours ago, dimitri said:

@An young being let your gut feeling be the compass of exploration ?

2 hours ago, dimitri said:

@An young being let your gut feeling be the compass of exploration ?

?

 

1 hour ago, Dodo said:

The question makes no sense to me

 

Edit: to clarify why it makes no sense to me: Nonduality is simply being. Has anyone experienced being beforw they knew about it? Ofcourse?! Only Everyone ever. Even your dog

So, are you telling that we are always in a non dual state of being? What we perceive is what we are being, in my understanding. Currently, I perceive myself as a separate entity, so I am not in a state of non duality, so I have no experience of it.

 

52 minutes ago, Member said:

A year ago I had no idea about ego death or non-duality but I had the chance to experience it. It changed my life and I have no idea how I got there... it was like a gift for me.

 

44 minutes ago, Serotoninluv said:

@An young being I had many “nondual experiences” before I knew anything about nondual theory. I knew that experiences were unique, yet I didn’t even know there was a word for it. Then a couple people in my life told me “Oh yea, that’s nonduality”. I was like “There’s a word for it? What’s this ‘nonduality’ thing?”. I then started watching nonduality speakers and was like “Omigosh! That’s it. They know what it’s like!”.

Thank you for sharing your experiences !

[Heaven]

From my experience I believe that without any teaching I would never experience non duality.

I believe that kids are more pure than adults and they have certain experiences but they don’t label it as such so they don’t really remember it as well.

There are some gifted people that are born more conscious than others. 

What matters the most is that in the process of quieting your mind almost everyone can get there.