An anxious enlightened person

[Heaven]

Is that possible to feel anxious in every day life as an enlightened person?

 I took my practices to the next level lately but it also increased the contraction/my anxiety in my body..Or maybe now I’m just more aware of that.

When I rest in being it all disappears but when I try to function some complicated stuff I get lost in my mind again and get anxious.

Thanks for the help..

[eputkonen]

No.

After enlightenment, it is clearly seen there is nothing to fear...nothing to lose...etc.

What could possibly cause anxiety?

Edited January 18, 2021 by eputkonen

[Moksha]

Anxiety is the arsenal of the ego. Expect it to fight, tooth and nail, before it finally dies. Let go of the past and the future, which are lies, and ground yourself in This, which is all there is. Nothing that is real can be threatened. Take peace in this realization, and be.

[Tim R]

Enlightenment isn't feeling nothing and becoming completely stoic and emotionally immovable.

You can still be sad or worried or whatever, but you're not attached to these things anymore. In fact, you can feel your sadness or your joy much richer, but without being consumed by them.

[Vibroverse]

Enlightenment is realizing that you were in a dream and you didn't know all along. After enlightenment you don't immediately become free from the ego. It will take time. Enlightenment is just understanding that you have an ego, while before you were not even aware of it. 

[VeganAwake]

34 minutes ago, Heaven said:

Is that possible to feel anxious in every day life as an enlightened person?

I know what you mean...but the question assumes there is Currently a person that is anxious.

There already isn't an anxious person. 

Only anxious patterns of thought being identified with as 'MY' thoughts, and thus creating a seemingly anxious experience.

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by VeganAwake

[Javfly33]

It can happen that you experience anxiety, but there wouldn´t be the concept of "anxious person". 

So don´t kid yourself you are not enlightened.

[Enlightenment]

@Heaven Yes, it doesn't change your predispositions to mental disorders either. It's easier to bear anxiety when you're enlightened tho

Quote

"Ok, so that was a bit of a digression. Now, we go back to, I’m claiming that I had attained Third Path. So, now, we’re talking about the mid-90’s through the early 2000’s, and I was really depressed during this time. So I had access to all kinds of remarkable mind states, all these jhanas, and yet, my life was in a shambles, my brain chemistry was scrambled. I was taking Prozac and whatever antidepressants seemed to work best. I tried several. I was taking an anti-anxiety drug at night, in a very low dose, but I couldn’t sleep at night. So, here I am, you’d think that, according to all of the legends about what an Anagami is, a Third Path practitioner, I should have been really together, and I wasn’t.”

 

[Carl-Richard]

Anxiety has different components depending on your definition. It has a mind component and a body component, and they normally tend to interact with oneanother. You might think of something and then feel something in the body, or you might feel something in the body and interpret that as something the mind associates with a certain feeling, effectively creating a self-fulfilling profecy, a feedback loop of sorts.

When you see through the workings of the mind, obviously the relationship you have to the mind component will change drastically, in the sense that it will not pester you with repetitive cycles of stories, fears, do's and don'ts. Still, the nature of the body component is more or less the same, but it can be recontexualized based on the accompaniment of thoughts or lack thereof. By that, I mean that the increase in heart rate, rush of energy, and tingling sensations doesn't necessarily have to be associated with something scary or negative.

[Heaven]

2 hours ago, VeganAwake said:

I know what you mean...but the question assumes there is Currently a person that is anxious.

There already isn't an anxious person. 

Only anxious patterns of thought being identified with as 'MY' thoughts, and thus creating a seemingly anxious experience.

I always resonate with the things you’re saying?..So how my mind can be less attached to this thoughts pattern?

[mandyjw]

What does the anxiety feel like in your direct experience outside of thoughts about it? Is it still anxiety?

Does it feel good to have the concept of an enlightened person who doesn't have anxiety? Does that feel absolutely inspiring and incredible? If yes, that's fine.  But if it feels like you're a failure in comparison, then throw that idea out. Anxiety and self-judgement go hand in hand, so it's possible that your idea of enlightenment and feeling as if you're falling short is actually creating the anxiety. Or vice versa.  

How does anxiety feel compared to how excitement feels? What's the difference in attitude and perspective of the thoughts about excitement verses to the thoughts about anxiety? When you do something completely new and unknown isn't there a mix of both? Wouldn't it be natural to feel a little of both as you explore this new realm of yourself? 

[VeganAwake]

5 hours ago, Heaven said:

I always resonate with the things you’re saying?..So how my mind can be less attached to this thoughts pattern?

Notice that thoughts and emotions just seem to arise. 

Is there a thinker or chooser of these thoughts within the body?  

Or is it just habitual patterns of thought arising with the immediate assumption/identification as MY thoughts. ❤

 

 

 

 

 

[Nahm]

@Heaven

Thought says anxiety is in the body like my kid with chocolate all around his mouth says he didn’t eat my donut. 

[Heaven]

@mandyjw This feeling(Let’s not label it) create me shortness of breath which makes me headaches. So yea I wish to let it go..

@Nahm @VeganAwake For some reason I resist the present moment so I work on acceptance and relaxation into the moment..The more I merge into reality the better I feel.

Thanks for the help?❤️

[WelcometoReality]

On 2021-01-17 at 8:03 PM, Heaven said:

Is that possible to feel anxious in every day life as an enlightened person?

 I took my practices to the next level lately but it also increased the contraction/my anxiety in my body..Or maybe now I’m just more aware of that.

When I rest in being it all disappears but when I try to function some complicated stuff I get lost in my mind again and get anxious.

Thanks for the help..

Anxiety might still appear and if it's sticky there mught be an underlying belief around it. Then you can inquire into it to resolve the root cause.

[cetus]

On 1/17/2021 at 2:03 PM, Heaven said:

When I rest in being it all disappears but when I try to function some complicated stuff I get lost in my mind again and get anxious.

Being is watching the mind getting lost in complicated stuff and becoming anxious. It's O.K.

[Breakingthewall]

anxiety is the resistance to what is, and enlightenment the cessation of resistance to what is, so no. imo enlightenment is the total fusion with reality, the end of anxiety

[Heaven]

4 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

anxiety is the resistance to what is, and enlightenment the cessation of resistance to what is, so no. imo enlightenment is the total fusion with reality, the end of anxiety

Thanks for the answer. This is exactly my conclusion.

[Tovius]

Next time you feel depressed or have anxiety, close your eyes. Go into this feeling and realize that it isn't anything other than a vibration. It's not actually depression that you're feeling, it's a vibration. It's not anxiety that you're feeling, it's a vibration.

Next time you feel anxiety come, let it come and go head first into it. Literally feel that it isn't anxiety, just a vibration that your mind interprets as anxiety by assumption. 

I realized this a few weeks ago through a wave, I went head first and felt it. There's not actually any emotion there. 

Edit: go headfirst into the feeling with the intention to discover what anxiety really is. 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Tovius

[Forestluv]

@Heaven It depends on how you define “enlightenment”. If our definition of enlightenment includes an abiding state of peace and joy, then an enlightened person can’t have anxiety by that definition. 

I prefer to use the term “awakening”, aw we become more awake of our true selves. 

Consider this example: last night I had an awful dream in which I witnessed someone getting murdered and I couldn’t help them. It seemed so real that when I woke up it took a while to realize it was just a dream. I’ve now been awake for five hours and it’s still stuck with me. I can clearly see that it was just a dream, yet my body is still bothered by it. I can still feel it. Does that make me any less awake? It depends on how we define “awake”, yet I would say no. I’m not sleeping right now and I’m certain it was a dream.

In general, as there is increased awareness and awakening, body anxiety decreases. Yet neuroses can continue in the body. Yet the relationship with those neuroses can change, such that they aren’t so bothersome. There are all sorts of practices to release conditioning. I wouldn’t put all my eggs into awakening as a cure. 

Imagine go to a virtual reality arcade in which you get to play a random character. In turns out you get to be an elephant that has residual anxiety from trauma as a baby elephant. You are enlightened in the sense that you realize you are not actually a neurotic elephant. That can reduce some of the anxiety, yet there is still neuroses conditioned in that elephant. If we want to have a peaceful, serene elephant mind-body, we would need to do things like go to virtual elephant yoga classes and do elephant Breathwork to purify it out and heal.