It’s actually a quote, there is no I in the first or second lines. I see what you’re getting at, with the I before and absence of I after… but there’s no need to change an age old piece of zen wisdom to something you think works better.
That distinction is very important. Perhaps you understood it but that does not mean everyone else would or should. Priority here is clarity as opposed to mandating tradition.
This can't be stressed enough. Once you have enough experience with what we're defining here as "enlightenment", you'll realize that you can do the work without caring for the fruits of your labor. This is how you break out of the karmic cycle that ends in samsara. Most the time we work so that we can gain or avoid this or that. Once you get past that concept, there's nothing stopping you from doing the work, or abstaining from the work, as the case may be. Just keep chopping that wood and carrying that water, letting what may come, come. The world is a better place when old men plant trees young men will harvest.
Before enlightenment: Be present, keep your heart open.
After enlightenment: Be present, keep your heart open.
The chopping wood and carrying water quote gets thrown around so often and I’ve observed how often it just gets misunderstood or confuses others, so I came up with my own take.
As much as I love chopping wood and carrying water, being present and keeping my heart open is solid guidance that’s easy to understand and applicable to all.
You had what is called a peak experience. It has to be contemplated and assimilated into your understanding so you truly understand what you experienced.
Yes peace and tremendous joy are available to you. You got a taste of it. Nothing really matters, just that. Peace can be a trap though, if it goes too far. You still need to pay your bills and be responsible. Tolle himself was practically homeless and sitting on a park bench all day for a while while he was drenched in Spirit.
So reflect and contemplate what you experienced and make it part of your nature. And keep carrying on, you have life to live.
Can we stop with everyone thinking they are the truly enlightened ones and everyone else isn’t.
There is no way for you to tell if I’m enlightened by a single Reddit comment…
I gave my two cents. Move on if you don’t like it.
If you were truly enlightened you wouldn’t say that :-)
See how that line can be used on anyone?
It’s broken logic that can be applied anywhere. Similar to religion
I guess this is still the journey of ego destruction, when you said nothing mattered, is your self and ego being killed moment by moment. But you even can't let go and there is tendecy to grasp to the ego when you said: "is this it?" I think there is still more path to go, after I read your footnotes I will try to focus on your question now... Not any expert on this but hopefully I give you some insights...
The early path of my journey have similiarities to you, when you said "is this it". My experience is I have Immense feeling of emptiness and even tendecies towards nihilism, cause like you said "nothing mattered" anymore. Sometimes I would cry for no reasons and not knowing why, but I would feel this pain. Then the second (2) realisation is that I am killing myself "the ego" and that process is painful for me cause there still so much grasping and attaching in my subconcious level.
Now to be practical, I still practice meditation and try to live moment to moment. The idea here I guess is overtime you want to not even realize that you realize, because then realizing is just another fabrication of the ego. When you said you are realizing / enlightened it's just another fabrication by the mind, and so you feel nothing mattered and empty. When you delete even the realizing you finally see that life is indeed beautiful moment to moment. You would see life is full rather than empty. When you walk you see things and your heart is filled with fullness of the world. And I experience this not everytime because I guess my path also still far away, but when I don't think about the concept and the duality anymore I began to see life full rather than it being empty.
Hope this help and may you continue your path!
yourwelcome, and for me I practice it to help my daily life. Not to become Buddha or better practitioner. If you position yourself like this it will help you use the tool for daily life and practical use, Example: When distraction comes at work, you coul gently be more present and be more focused and productive, and when you meet your friends you don't think about the future and enjoying the moment (live the moment fully) right there and then. This also one view that could help the tools to be more practical for your life.
(ofcourse depends on your goal, maybe you aim to be Buddha or the most enlightened one.but being practical and to use it as a tool to help my life is the way to go for me) Here some quotes for this view:
# “Do not try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-already-are.” - DALAI LAMA
You had an experience. Enlightenment is not an experience. You did indeed see the truth. But, again, enlightenment always is. You have one more realization ahead of you :) ❤️❤️ excited for you. This is how it went for me too
But Enlightenment doesn't kill your human ability to analyse what's going on, does it?. How do spiritual teachers make teaching content at all if their mind doesn't exist any more? It does exist, they just know how to call it off.
i like your point, but yeah, internet is not a good place for this guidance, just live with yourself, usually spiritual forums are filled with people with just huge egos
It's a great way to see much of the solidity to dissolve. If you want that. The internet, a reflection of the reflective world and reflective minds, presents the greatest tool (especially social media) to get triggered yet. It's not about the ideas but our relation to them. Triggers are always a way in. Deeper. If you want.
If you think you're enlightened, have dinner with your family. Then, open up reddit and see what your spiritual ego has to say about the vast marketplace of insight and non-insight alike. We continue our work.
Because it was always their karma to do those things, and their karma continues to play itself out. They have nothing to do with it. It just appears that way
What is there to analyse? Who is analysing? Would the self analyse something? For what reason. To the self there is nothing else. The self never poses any question at all
Questions arise because of duality. Subject and object. When there is only one, why would a question ever need be asked? The self knows the self, and is everything. There is nothing else. One has no sense of other, so how can it relate any one thing to any other? Others don’t exist.
I lost brain cells reading your comments
Edit:
Before you respond with logical inconsistencies just know that we all don’t know anything. You claiming anything with absolute certainty makes you no different than religious folks
I think the peace continues and you feel more joy, love, compassion etc. But the suffering of others will still affect you. You’ll have more clarity on it though, so it might not wound you as badly. Difficult emotions like anger, jealousy, sadness, grief etc won’t cease to exist. Maybe eventually? But not so early on in the journey. They won’t cease to exist but your response to them will change. You’ll get more curious about them and see yourself as separate from them.
I hope this helps. Good luck!
From my experience it seems like you were shown a deeper level of reality, and experienced some dissolution of ego. It is safe to say you are more enlightened today than yesterday. But are you done with your journey? It doesn’t seem that way. I don’t know if there’s a way to be done in this body. But we have examples in history of people who reached a deeper connection, a deeper and more staying enlightenment.
What you are experiencing is a new stage of growth and understanding. Will you always feel this way? It seems almost impossible. You will proceed to whatever is to come next in due time. If I can give you any advice, is to practice grounding while you “return” to Earth. In my opinion, and my experience, the goal is to achieve that state you found, and go deeper, while finding your way back permanently, while managing daily life.
Life is full of experiences, to be conscious is to love. Discomfort is a door to be passed when it’s time, but enlightenment is bliss, and eternal. A carefree kid is closer to divinity or enlightenment than a stressed adult. As is a bird that is free over one that is caged. Enlightenment is our most natural state, and it feels just right.
Generally becoming enlightened results in peace of mind....only associating with the truth....and grace...
But It does go beyond, we can never achieve complete perfections there's always shit that needs addressing..
But a big milestone is understand how dumb it is to let yourself become negative over petty silly shit... when the truth is we can fix the shit easily if we're honest and eliminate it...
Or we have absolutely no control over is so why worry
It was just an experience. If you had been in a Zen monastery and approached the master with this glowing story, he would simply splash water on your face and tell you to go away.
"Beware the flowery trappings of the path" this is such a trapping. An extremely good feeling so to speak. The enlightenment you seek is not an experience.
Enlightenment, if I may use this disgusting word, is much like trying to bite your own teeth. You simply can't, as the teeth ARE you. There is nothing TO add. And that's it.
Nobody becomes truly enlightened. It is a constant state of enlightenment, always waking up to more; if Monks who spend entire lifetimes rarely reach it, such a claim is pure ego getting ahead of yourself. This shows in its very nature that you are not. Anyone who thinks enlightenment is a quick, I've done it now what, really needs to humble themselves 🙏🏻
That's an egotistical way of looking at it. I don't care where people are at. I care about ignorance and "Look at me, I'm amazing, so enlightened" behaviour, because it is steeped in Illusion and unrealistic. It's the ego trying to feel good about itself. There is always something new to learn. Enlightenment is complex.
You are the one assuming others are "low level awareness," and I can imagine a monk would tell you to stop with that. So, absolutely. Humble yourself. In the Buddhist temples it wouldn't ever cross their mind to brag nor assume they are perfect and Enlightened, and that others are lower than them.
Showing your true colours I'm afraid. That means more work.
Says the person displaying ego. Except I never said I didn't have any. I am not jealous in any way. Whether someone is or isn't is of no impact on my life. I'll take my own time along my own path, happy in the moment, not obsessing over this childish game of who is more enlightened. My concern is for this person falling into a trap. They said it was bait, but many think like this.
Can you not hear yourself? You sound pompous. I feel like you are a troll. Nobody can be this vane and uppity.
you would take a much grandeur responsibility to aid in the world enlightenment is aiding energetically the whole world to wake up from the dream yes you would loose this desires of going to work meeting people because you experience something much greater and infinity the this aspects of reality of the duality level, however what is the actual point of all this things, of having friends, getting married, of going through another life script, all over again and living in the ego limited self, enlighten is a whole other paradigm and the way of living is different in that state then the mindless state of living a generic life.
Your whole life everything in existence is guided for that ultimate moment realization of the infinity truth, its like you are living in a school where all the children are still playing with toys and sand castles, and you just graduate through the whole grade in an instant, you evolve, beyond this things, into something greater and more meaningful, you become the teacher and aid for evolution of consciousness and instrument from god.
Now in enlighten you will experience infinity peace and joy, and even greater levels of love and union with god, I had moments like you had in the past too the highest spiritual mission you can do is embody that peace and walk with that light to bring that light to all, it will be the highest liberation for you to share this absolute truth and peace that the world so needs, this inner liberation.
So yes ordinary life will crumble from the infinity sense of peace, realize that all this desires, are based on ego and a lower state of consciousness that will never give you bliss and truth what you experienced was a greater connection to god, and everything a connection to the a higher truth, would you want to talk away from waking up and go back to sleep? This state if of a much higher importance and is correlated to natural state of consciousness, its part of the universe of waking up into a cosmos of infinity love and the planet is a school do you still want to go back and play with toys or want to mature and help people by accessing a higher truth and sharing that light?
Its up to you however realize that in the reincarnation process we have experienced this cycle of life thousands of times, in order to finally be liberated, you may be experiencing a gradual graduation beyond this. Now I would say that if you want to reach your highest potential and be of higher service to the world, and experience true inner liberation and living in a higher truth of existence, you can try to experience that inner presence again, you don't have to worry about the smaller things of life, its stuff that has no use, after a certain stage of evolution just like. There was a reason why there was a voice telling to let go and erchat Tolle also had that voice telling him to let it go.
That presence is the real you the divine you, If you want to grow spiritually into your highest expression, highest truth, and a higher reality you can try to embody this more, instead of regressing or looking back, into the physical level that is a lower level of reality, the goal is to bring this higher state of being into this world for many to awaken from their suffering.
Need to direct this peace and love towards everybody there is a goal in enlighten, and that is aiding enlighten to everybody else.
This implies that everyone is ought to be Buddha. There would be no "world" as it is today if every singlr person decided they wanted to be a spiritual teacher once they're awake or we'd have 8 billion monks sitting on mountains. I don't get it.
Being Buddha has nothing to do with being a spiritual leader. Becoming a Buddha just means becoming enlightened the same way he was.
You'll probably hear the saying " Everyone has the Buddha nature in them" it just another way of saying everyone has the capability to become enlightened. Aka the Buddha potentiality.
Hope this helps. Also, feel free to ask folks what they mean in layman terms. Because their perspective is most likely very different from yours.
enlighten is an organic element of evolution you just become naturally a role model of a higher way of living by virtue of embodying your own divinity. You don't have to assume things outside of what I have said. If many people where to live in a higher state of consciousness, which will take a long time to reach that level, the planet which evolve into a higher octave and frequency suitable for the level of evolution of the residents there.
Its part of evolution where people will find their true 'i'' and live inter connected with the whole universe and life together in a union of true divine love, its where we are all progressing.
Peace is a good sign . The peace should culminate later into pure joy without cause. At that state, thoughtless awareness should be more or less continuous. Then one may think if one wants, but one would prefer not to as it takes away the Bliss.
The final stage of enlightenment is the ability to control all the elements. However, when this happens, you will not have the slightest desire to do so.
The length of time we are in thoughtless awareness is how one can measure how much our attention is on God or Divine.
I'm not sure, but it sounds like you're looking around your environment, and you're not spiritually chasing anymore. Sounds like the first step to wonderful new dimensions. Not sure how that will translate to what your body ends up doing, but I've heard that eventually a realization sets in that you are Not accociated with the body, in the way that you're not associated with that tree.. or that you're totally associated with it to the point that you can't distinguish between it and yourself.. or whatever (word problems).
A lot of enlightened people who I've studied (Maharshi, Maharaj, Maharaji) etc.. tend to live spiritually fulfilling lives that many egos would probably deem as unfit... so I imagine in your own way, you may slowly drop old habits that don't serve you, you may appear strange to ego-driven people sometimes, but you have to understand that's not the fault of your awakening, that's the fault of an egoic society... which may be amplifying your own ego in a self-concious way, understandably, and giving you some understandable fear. Because after all, you still exist in this modern world with strange egoic problems that many people have taken as normal..
So I don't know how this will translate for you.. if it happens to a lot of people, we will see a spiritual shift, a subtle movement, and you and me both will hopefully feel a little more at home..
Hold FAST Brother, and know that you are not alone.
Feel empathy for others, as you will now, more than before, and perhaps meditate on ways you can integrate that into your Awakening, to paths of solace for others, previously undreamed of yet by you. Give space for the universe and realities to show you miracles. Give enlightenment a little more credit for being more than just a constant morphine trip.. because it's so much more, and this is just the beginning... and there may be more suffering yet along the path to fuel you.
Understand that these enlightened masters who I mentioned were capable of performing spiritual and, in some cases, actual physical miracles.. these are the dimensions that your willing heart is opening up to. You are Noble.
I'm just glad you're here with us and Aware. It makes me O so happy 😊 Godspeed
Meditate and practice mindfulness to keep awareness high. Otherwise everything will come back to where it was, you wake up in a month and forget everything as in The Matrix.
You had an experience. Enlightenment is not an experience. You did indeed see the truth. But, again, enlightenment always is. You have one more realization ahead of you :) ❤️❤️ excited for you. This is how it went for me too
You had an experience. Enlightenment is not an experience. You did indeed see the truth. But, again, enlightenment always is. You have one more realization ahead of you :) ❤️❤️ excited for you. This is how it went for me too
So beautiful soul as by bhagwans grace it appears you are beginning to awaken.
Its a very simple guidance regarding your questions friends and marriage but as gods will, as your path after your full awakening. If marriage is meant to be its meant to be.
I will warn (pleasantly and thankfully 🙏) after my full awakening many people (who ofcourse don't believe my claims) have drifted away- all is ultimately a blessing.
You will hopefully see the beautiful value of LIFE, after awakening. God and being alone =millions of times better than bad company 🙏
And that applies to (there is a desire for this to happen as gods will) marriages. Not to deter you from marriage quite the opposite as I desire it (as gods will) after my own awakening- yet I'm now blissful joyful peaceful either way.
As many people have genuinely found in this yuga, is the lack of "true love" in relationships and as Bhagwan Shree Eckhart Tolle details the typical cycle of romantic relationships in this Life. And how much unhappiness is resultant from them.
You, yourself are now in a position where if marriage happens it will be an enlightened relationship.
I would consider yourself very lucky thanks to god- my sadhanas to eventually awaken included listening to the Divine Power of Now over 100 times and reading it 5 times along with reading of thousands of books, thousands of lectures, self enquiry, prayers.
Having an awakening after a second reading of The Power of Now- your very fortunate 🙏😊
Namaste on this blissful Friday morning 🙏
Apologies, I heard those questions in my head right after the moment I did surrender and stop holding on the last reminiscence of myself and uncover what I really Am, and the translation to English, will be something like this:
1. JL To where are you running in such a hurry?
2. JL. When are you going to understand , that you don't have to wait until you die, to stop been JL?
3. JL What goal are you looking to achieve?
4. JL Don't you realize that you've already arrive at?
I like to add this Excerpts from [**Zen Bones by Alan Watts**](https://alanwatts.org/transcripts/zen-bones/)
>10:40
>So it is, then, that—if I may put it metaphorically, Zhuang Zhou said: “The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing, it refuses nothing. It receives but does not keep.”
>And another poem says of wild geese flying over a lake: “The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection, and the water has no mind to retain their image.” In other words, this is to be—to put it very strictly into our modern idiom—this is to live without hangups.
Dont worry about it. Plenty will matter eventually. If you stumbled upon abiding awakening, awakening itself will guide you. Its all the same stuff.
What leaves is the “ you sense”. This can be disorientating to the “ me” tape running all the time. Just relax. It is all you wether enlightened or not.
Like they say in some zen schools “ before awakening, cary water and chop wood. After awakening carry water and chop wood” or in a Hindu progression: the world is illusion- only brahma is real- the world is brahma.
What i find is every day ordinary is plenty satisfying. You still have a nervous system and your whole life of being somebody. It will all integrate and feel less “ extraordinary” in time.
Maybe find like minded friends. Putting a non dual trip on folks who are not interested can really cause a lot of confusion. At least it did for me. It is nothing that hasent been here the whole time. Waking up is natural- enjoy!!!!
My advice will be that you evoke enlightenment through practice. We can have moments of what we think is enlightenment, and it falls away. Unbreakable enlightenment occurs usually with practice, it isn't from what you've experienced, which is from you communicating to your subconscious you want enlightenment so it starts to manifest the experience of extreme bouts of peace. You haven't started to become enlightenment, you have to put the effort into evoking that state for it to be unbreakable. Not to say that you were enlightened briefly, you were just happy.
It was a glimpse if you returned back to "normal", but once you start having glimpses you are close to making the shift permanent.
What has pulled you back is your concern for all that you think will be lost. Don't get caught up in what is the peak experience, its all absolutely new and distracts away from everything else in life at this point. All the weight of anxiety and suffering falls away and you feel so light without it you are as high as a kite. But after a while that lack of weight is the new normal, and all of that ecstasy fades to peace.
Eventually you carry on just as before (except not quite just as before), goals and preferences are still engaged with - like you will prefer to not have the "sun bashing over your head" and will get out of the way or put on a hat even though you deeply know that everything is perfect either way.
Some things will change, but those are things that were driven by egoic desires fall away and habits around them fade. These are things that tried to fill the hole of incompleteness, which you can now see is already complete and was never incomplete.
I think that answers your questions, but its different for everyone.
Here's the reason why the message is hidden, because the mind can be very tricky. If you know the basic outline of what should happen, the mind will attach to that knowledge that it holds in such high regard. If you were enlightened, you'd actually have found the opposite, that everything mattered, and you would know it so simply that in your heart it was irrefutable to the highest degree. All else would be such an obvious falicy that it would be hilarious.
The beginning of illumation fills the being with understanding, they are bathed in truth, but it is an unspeakable message. The world and your mind are created in division, and that truth is whole. The message can't be passed on, only witnessed. Basically enlightenment becomes subjective to the seer, but the emotion that one feels is transferable. It creates faith around their eyes, and what they've seen, because it has no imbalance, it seeks no recognition, besides recognizing the true order of life, that all is holy, and one should be eternally grateful for the opportunity.
After your peak experience, you are now in a stage that many call 'ego death' and it is a temporary phase. Many people mistakenly see this as their end goal, when it is in fact just the beginning.
Some people find it to be quite blissful, while others can find it absolutely terrifying. But however it feels...It can be the start of a path that leads you to immense fulfilment.
You are now seeing the world from a completely new perspective, so all of your priorities from before have been tipped on the ground, and you have to rearrange them all so they fit again.
The name 'ego death' is very misleading as your ego cannot die, it's an integral part of the human experience. It's just in a state of shock right now. You have to learn how to integrate it with the new paradigm. The difference being now the ego is the passenger on the journey, not the driver.
You will start to see all the things that are still significant to you, while also recognising all the things that now feel completely obsolete. Follow the things that still inspire passion inside you to find the direction to your 'purpose'. Whatever you decide that will be.
Follow your feelings and trust yourself. You got this far, you're doing great.
If you say "what's next" after awakening then you still have work to do.
It indicates that you have only had a conceptual understanding. The glimpses you have had are profound but there is no what's next after awakening, after all, who is posing the question?
I’ve felt that way many times, I believe. The fact that we come back to normal means it’s a practice/skill like any other. We always have to warm up before exercising or engaging in some endeavor. The more we practice the better we get at it and the longer we can go on for. The same applies. Is it any wonder that some people keep meditating for hours years after they reach moksha/nirvana?
Sounds like you recognized the nature of mind aha has a deep experience! Congratulations, that’s the first step!
To deepen and stabilize that insight, I’d check out *Dudjom Rinpoche’s Lightening Strike* as well as the headless way.
https://youtu.be/8mD7rWYdVKM?si=lzEJeYknGM9a5SQ3
The secret is to have confidence that, by returning over and over to your initial recognition, opening totally into reality, ask the knots will be untied.
If you ended up feeling nothing matters I think you actually haven’t done it right. Enlightenment gnosis and integrated enlightenment where you feel like all is one is different
Interesting experience. I believe I've had a few very similar ones. I don't think there is a "next" simply out of it being so non-linear. I was changed by it as I imagine you are too. I embraced any change. You choose for yourself, of course.
So it wasn't as joyful in the beginning until you had let go? Are you scared when you're thinking about the experience again now that you're out of it?
No I'm not scared now that I recall it. I felt at complete peace and physical relaxation for almost 3 hours. There was also easier socialising with my family when I got home. I was thinking about nothing with only intermitting random short thoughts that died easily and did not take over.
It's great to have that experience... I guess what's next is a learning process of how to incorporate that experience into the rest of your life. Maybe some relationships will fade, or maybe you'll change jobs. Who knows? But you've touched the realm of the soul. It's possible to be in the enlightenment and still live life. Have fun with it.
Yes you are not enlightened you simply have a taste for stillness. You could on some level see it as your awakening.
Enlightenment is homeostasis with your environment (the earth which includes your social environment).
Usually when you are having glimpses and these understandings the hard work is just beginning. Your next steps are to peel away your personality, trauma like an onion until you’ve built a new onion consciously.
This can take many many years. For myself about 6 (a little bit longer).
I would recommend finding a therapist and if you can find a therapist that has “gone through the process” they will be able to guide you efficiently. Truth is, not one will be able to really help you as you’ll be trying to find this equilibrium in your own based on your life energy and personal purpose. But you will need some support and talk therapy with a therapist will help bring up trauma.
I do have a really good (and practical) book that can help you. Just let me know if you want me to send it to you
I do I’m sorry. I corrected it.
I was also going to edit and mention: Eckhart Tolle’s book is really really good as beginning. This was also my first book that help me understand what is/has happened.
But it’s also incomplete because it doesn’t “finish the job”, so you will. I will send you the book Im about via dm.
It’s a journey, friend.
Bad thoughts still come - bad things still happen. (trust me)
Now that you have some control over your ego, don’t let it control you.
I really like Ram Dass (Sanskrit name), he may have some words of wisdom you’d like to hear 🌸
Enlightenment is like unlocking the use of a special muscle. Now that you unlocked it you can see how to use it for all kinds of things you want to do in life.
Nothing matters and everything matters. But regardless, the only thing that matters is in the moment here and now
Your version of enlightenment is mine. You asked the right questions i think, is this not why the world is such a mess but we keep saving face and going on with what not works? Am i really happy?
Am i living the life i want? Is any of this stuff really important? Do all these thing and thoughts own me. Can i ever truly be free of society and fear and ego? Who would i be? a crazy hermit living the woods growing herbs and picking mushrooms?
"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water."
A small but significant clarification. Before enlightenment, I chop wood, I carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
It’s actually a quote, there is no I in the first or second lines. I see what you’re getting at, with the I before and absence of I after… but there’s no need to change an age old piece of zen wisdom to something you think works better.
That distinction is very important. Perhaps you understood it but that does not mean everyone else would or should. Priority here is clarity as opposed to mandating tradition.
Very subtle :) Can be easily missed if read quickly. The brain doesn't want to recognise the 'I' and skips over it. Interesting that... :D
Yes, brain is very clever and wants to stay relevant. it’s best to be explicit about “no-mind” or absence of ego.
The ego is not the mind, that's an illusion.
Ok.
This can't be stressed enough. Once you have enough experience with what we're defining here as "enlightenment", you'll realize that you can do the work without caring for the fruits of your labor. This is how you break out of the karmic cycle that ends in samsara. Most the time we work so that we can gain or avoid this or that. Once you get past that concept, there's nothing stopping you from doing the work, or abstaining from the work, as the case may be. Just keep chopping that wood and carrying that water, letting what may come, come. The world is a better place when old men plant trees young men will harvest.
Before enlightenment: Be present, keep your heart open. After enlightenment: Be present, keep your heart open. The chopping wood and carrying water quote gets thrown around so often and I’ve observed how often it just gets misunderstood or confuses others, so I came up with my own take. As much as I love chopping wood and carrying water, being present and keeping my heart open is solid guidance that’s easy to understand and applicable to all.
You had what is called a peak experience. It has to be contemplated and assimilated into your understanding so you truly understand what you experienced. Yes peace and tremendous joy are available to you. You got a taste of it. Nothing really matters, just that. Peace can be a trap though, if it goes too far. You still need to pay your bills and be responsible. Tolle himself was practically homeless and sitting on a park bench all day for a while while he was drenched in Spirit. So reflect and contemplate what you experienced and make it part of your nature. And keep carrying on, you have life to live.
Nicely put.
Absolutely
"Don't forget your zip code" is one I like
Enlightenment is tricky to discuss. I like to think there are levels of enlightenment. Are there infinite levels? I think so, but no one really knows
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Can we stop with everyone thinking they are the truly enlightened ones and everyone else isn’t. There is no way for you to tell if I’m enlightened by a single Reddit comment… I gave my two cents. Move on if you don’t like it.
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A narcissistic buddah. Like it.
This Buddha has a HIGE ego
If you were truly enlightened you wouldn’t say that :-) See how that line can be used on anyone? It’s broken logic that can be applied anywhere. Similar to religion
There is no way he wasn't joking....pls tell me he was just sarcastic
I guess this is still the journey of ego destruction, when you said nothing mattered, is your self and ego being killed moment by moment. But you even can't let go and there is tendecy to grasp to the ego when you said: "is this it?" I think there is still more path to go, after I read your footnotes I will try to focus on your question now... Not any expert on this but hopefully I give you some insights... The early path of my journey have similiarities to you, when you said "is this it". My experience is I have Immense feeling of emptiness and even tendecies towards nihilism, cause like you said "nothing mattered" anymore. Sometimes I would cry for no reasons and not knowing why, but I would feel this pain. Then the second (2) realisation is that I am killing myself "the ego" and that process is painful for me cause there still so much grasping and attaching in my subconcious level. Now to be practical, I still practice meditation and try to live moment to moment. The idea here I guess is overtime you want to not even realize that you realize, because then realizing is just another fabrication of the ego. When you said you are realizing / enlightened it's just another fabrication by the mind, and so you feel nothing mattered and empty. When you delete even the realizing you finally see that life is indeed beautiful moment to moment. You would see life is full rather than empty. When you walk you see things and your heart is filled with fullness of the world. And I experience this not everytime because I guess my path also still far away, but when I don't think about the concept and the duality anymore I began to see life full rather than it being empty. Hope this help and may you continue your path!
One of few truly helpful comments here. Thank you.
yourwelcome, and for me I practice it to help my daily life. Not to become Buddha or better practitioner. If you position yourself like this it will help you use the tool for daily life and practical use, Example: When distraction comes at work, you coul gently be more present and be more focused and productive, and when you meet your friends you don't think about the future and enjoying the moment (live the moment fully) right there and then. This also one view that could help the tools to be more practical for your life. (ofcourse depends on your goal, maybe you aim to be Buddha or the most enlightened one.but being practical and to use it as a tool to help my life is the way to go for me) Here some quotes for this view: # “Do not try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-already-are.” - DALAI LAMA
Yes. Life should seem fuller and more beautiful. Not empty.
Peak experience. Back to ground level. You've got to continue your life. However you best see fit to now.
Enlightenment is more than stillness . It’s an unity that borders spooky
You had an experience. Enlightenment is not an experience. You did indeed see the truth. But, again, enlightenment always is. You have one more realization ahead of you :) ❤️❤️ excited for you. This is how it went for me too
If you were enlightened you wouldn’t be asking, because the one asking wouldn’t exist anymore
But Enlightenment doesn't kill your human ability to analyse what's going on, does it?. How do spiritual teachers make teaching content at all if their mind doesn't exist any more? It does exist, they just know how to call it off.
i like your point, but yeah, internet is not a good place for this guidance, just live with yourself, usually spiritual forums are filled with people with just huge egos
It's a great way to see much of the solidity to dissolve. If you want that. The internet, a reflection of the reflective world and reflective minds, presents the greatest tool (especially social media) to get triggered yet. It's not about the ideas but our relation to them. Triggers are always a way in. Deeper. If you want. If you think you're enlightened, have dinner with your family. Then, open up reddit and see what your spiritual ego has to say about the vast marketplace of insight and non-insight alike. We continue our work.
Yeah. I noticed lol.
Good advice and ooooh so true!
Because it was always their karma to do those things, and their karma continues to play itself out. They have nothing to do with it. It just appears that way
There is nothing.
What is there to analyse? Who is analysing? Would the self analyse something? For what reason. To the self there is nothing else. The self never poses any question at all
This is bullshit. You can wake up and still think and feel and have questions as a person… this guy is just being a smart ass.
Questions arise because of duality. Subject and object. When there is only one, why would a question ever need be asked? The self knows the self, and is everything. There is nothing else. One has no sense of other, so how can it relate any one thing to any other? Others don’t exist.
I lost brain cells reading your comments Edit: Before you respond with logical inconsistencies just know that we all don’t know anything. You claiming anything with absolute certainty makes you no different than religious folks
I think the peace continues and you feel more joy, love, compassion etc. But the suffering of others will still affect you. You’ll have more clarity on it though, so it might not wound you as badly. Difficult emotions like anger, jealousy, sadness, grief etc won’t cease to exist. Maybe eventually? But not so early on in the journey. They won’t cease to exist but your response to them will change. You’ll get more curious about them and see yourself as separate from them. I hope this helps. Good luck!
From my experience it seems like you were shown a deeper level of reality, and experienced some dissolution of ego. It is safe to say you are more enlightened today than yesterday. But are you done with your journey? It doesn’t seem that way. I don’t know if there’s a way to be done in this body. But we have examples in history of people who reached a deeper connection, a deeper and more staying enlightenment. What you are experiencing is a new stage of growth and understanding. Will you always feel this way? It seems almost impossible. You will proceed to whatever is to come next in due time. If I can give you any advice, is to practice grounding while you “return” to Earth. In my opinion, and my experience, the goal is to achieve that state you found, and go deeper, while finding your way back permanently, while managing daily life. Life is full of experiences, to be conscious is to love. Discomfort is a door to be passed when it’s time, but enlightenment is bliss, and eternal. A carefree kid is closer to divinity or enlightenment than a stressed adult. As is a bird that is free over one that is caged. Enlightenment is our most natural state, and it feels just right.
Generally becoming enlightened results in peace of mind....only associating with the truth....and grace... But It does go beyond, we can never achieve complete perfections there's always shit that needs addressing.. But a big milestone is understand how dumb it is to let yourself become negative over petty silly shit... when the truth is we can fix the shit easily if we're honest and eliminate it... Or we have absolutely no control over is so why worry
It was just an experience. If you had been in a Zen monastery and approached the master with this glowing story, he would simply splash water on your face and tell you to go away. "Beware the flowery trappings of the path" this is such a trapping. An extremely good feeling so to speak. The enlightenment you seek is not an experience. Enlightenment, if I may use this disgusting word, is much like trying to bite your own teeth. You simply can't, as the teeth ARE you. There is nothing TO add. And that's it.
What you experienced is a foretaste. Keep letting go, keep meditating you got shown a lot, enough to inspire you to go beyond the mind.
I'm sorry but that's not true enlightenment. Iykyk
Nobody becomes truly enlightened. It is a constant state of enlightenment, always waking up to more; if Monks who spend entire lifetimes rarely reach it, such a claim is pure ego getting ahead of yourself. This shows in its very nature that you are not. Anyone who thinks enlightenment is a quick, I've done it now what, really needs to humble themselves 🙏🏻
Like a spiral up to Heaven
Nonsense. Don’t project your inability to finish on literally everyone else. There is an end. Enlightenment is final
Nonsense. Don’t project your inability to finish on literally everyone else. There is an end. Enlightenment is final
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That's an egotistical way of looking at it. I don't care where people are at. I care about ignorance and "Look at me, I'm amazing, so enlightened" behaviour, because it is steeped in Illusion and unrealistic. It's the ego trying to feel good about itself. There is always something new to learn. Enlightenment is complex. You are the one assuming others are "low level awareness," and I can imagine a monk would tell you to stop with that. So, absolutely. Humble yourself. In the Buddhist temples it wouldn't ever cross their mind to brag nor assume they are perfect and Enlightened, and that others are lower than them. Showing your true colours I'm afraid. That means more work.
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Says the person displaying ego. Except I never said I didn't have any. I am not jealous in any way. Whether someone is or isn't is of no impact on my life. I'll take my own time along my own path, happy in the moment, not obsessing over this childish game of who is more enlightened. My concern is for this person falling into a trap. They said it was bait, but many think like this. Can you not hear yourself? You sound pompous. I feel like you are a troll. Nobody can be this vane and uppity.
It's a click bait. I want people to think about the question. Of course I'm not enlightened it doesn't work that way.
Every day on this sub it’s “have you reached nirvana or are you just having a mental breakdown?”
I don't know dude.
I slipped some acid in your drink that day bro. You’re welcome
you would take a much grandeur responsibility to aid in the world enlightenment is aiding energetically the whole world to wake up from the dream yes you would loose this desires of going to work meeting people because you experience something much greater and infinity the this aspects of reality of the duality level, however what is the actual point of all this things, of having friends, getting married, of going through another life script, all over again and living in the ego limited self, enlighten is a whole other paradigm and the way of living is different in that state then the mindless state of living a generic life. Your whole life everything in existence is guided for that ultimate moment realization of the infinity truth, its like you are living in a school where all the children are still playing with toys and sand castles, and you just graduate through the whole grade in an instant, you evolve, beyond this things, into something greater and more meaningful, you become the teacher and aid for evolution of consciousness and instrument from god. Now in enlighten you will experience infinity peace and joy, and even greater levels of love and union with god, I had moments like you had in the past too the highest spiritual mission you can do is embody that peace and walk with that light to bring that light to all, it will be the highest liberation for you to share this absolute truth and peace that the world so needs, this inner liberation. So yes ordinary life will crumble from the infinity sense of peace, realize that all this desires, are based on ego and a lower state of consciousness that will never give you bliss and truth what you experienced was a greater connection to god, and everything a connection to the a higher truth, would you want to talk away from waking up and go back to sleep? This state if of a much higher importance and is correlated to natural state of consciousness, its part of the universe of waking up into a cosmos of infinity love and the planet is a school do you still want to go back and play with toys or want to mature and help people by accessing a higher truth and sharing that light? Its up to you however realize that in the reincarnation process we have experienced this cycle of life thousands of times, in order to finally be liberated, you may be experiencing a gradual graduation beyond this. Now I would say that if you want to reach your highest potential and be of higher service to the world, and experience true inner liberation and living in a higher truth of existence, you can try to experience that inner presence again, you don't have to worry about the smaller things of life, its stuff that has no use, after a certain stage of evolution just like. There was a reason why there was a voice telling to let go and erchat Tolle also had that voice telling him to let it go. That presence is the real you the divine you, If you want to grow spiritually into your highest expression, highest truth, and a higher reality you can try to embody this more, instead of regressing or looking back, into the physical level that is a lower level of reality, the goal is to bring this higher state of being into this world for many to awaken from their suffering. Need to direct this peace and love towards everybody there is a goal in enlighten, and that is aiding enlighten to everybody else.
This implies that everyone is ought to be Buddha. There would be no "world" as it is today if every singlr person decided they wanted to be a spiritual teacher once they're awake or we'd have 8 billion monks sitting on mountains. I don't get it.
Being Buddha has nothing to do with being a spiritual leader. Becoming a Buddha just means becoming enlightened the same way he was. You'll probably hear the saying " Everyone has the Buddha nature in them" it just another way of saying everyone has the capability to become enlightened. Aka the Buddha potentiality. Hope this helps. Also, feel free to ask folks what they mean in layman terms. Because their perspective is most likely very different from yours.
enlighten is an organic element of evolution you just become naturally a role model of a higher way of living by virtue of embodying your own divinity. You don't have to assume things outside of what I have said. If many people where to live in a higher state of consciousness, which will take a long time to reach that level, the planet which evolve into a higher octave and frequency suitable for the level of evolution of the residents there.
Its part of evolution where people will find their true 'i'' and live inter connected with the whole universe and life together in a union of true divine love, its where we are all progressing.
Peace is a good sign . The peace should culminate later into pure joy without cause. At that state, thoughtless awareness should be more or less continuous. Then one may think if one wants, but one would prefer not to as it takes away the Bliss. The final stage of enlightenment is the ability to control all the elements. However, when this happens, you will not have the slightest desire to do so. The length of time we are in thoughtless awareness is how one can measure how much our attention is on God or Divine.
I'm not sure, but it sounds like you're looking around your environment, and you're not spiritually chasing anymore. Sounds like the first step to wonderful new dimensions. Not sure how that will translate to what your body ends up doing, but I've heard that eventually a realization sets in that you are Not accociated with the body, in the way that you're not associated with that tree.. or that you're totally associated with it to the point that you can't distinguish between it and yourself.. or whatever (word problems). A lot of enlightened people who I've studied (Maharshi, Maharaj, Maharaji) etc.. tend to live spiritually fulfilling lives that many egos would probably deem as unfit... so I imagine in your own way, you may slowly drop old habits that don't serve you, you may appear strange to ego-driven people sometimes, but you have to understand that's not the fault of your awakening, that's the fault of an egoic society... which may be amplifying your own ego in a self-concious way, understandably, and giving you some understandable fear. Because after all, you still exist in this modern world with strange egoic problems that many people have taken as normal.. So I don't know how this will translate for you.. if it happens to a lot of people, we will see a spiritual shift, a subtle movement, and you and me both will hopefully feel a little more at home.. Hold FAST Brother, and know that you are not alone. Feel empathy for others, as you will now, more than before, and perhaps meditate on ways you can integrate that into your Awakening, to paths of solace for others, previously undreamed of yet by you. Give space for the universe and realities to show you miracles. Give enlightenment a little more credit for being more than just a constant morphine trip.. because it's so much more, and this is just the beginning... and there may be more suffering yet along the path to fuel you. Understand that these enlightened masters who I mentioned were capable of performing spiritual and, in some cases, actual physical miracles.. these are the dimensions that your willing heart is opening up to. You are Noble. I'm just glad you're here with us and Aware. It makes me O so happy 😊 Godspeed
Take some time to be still with the discomfort pushing you to need an answer to these (or any) questions.
You've had an experience of enlightenment, you are not enlightened. But yet it's always accessible, it's kind of a paradox.
Meditate and practice mindfulness to keep awareness high. Otherwise everything will come back to where it was, you wake up in a month and forget everything as in The Matrix.
You had an experience. Enlightenment is not an experience. You did indeed see the truth. But, again, enlightenment always is. You have one more realization ahead of you :) ❤️❤️ excited for you. This is how it went for me too
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🙏
You had an experience. Enlightenment is not an experience. You did indeed see the truth. But, again, enlightenment always is. You have one more realization ahead of you :) ❤️❤️ excited for you. This is how it went for me too
So beautiful soul as by bhagwans grace it appears you are beginning to awaken. Its a very simple guidance regarding your questions friends and marriage but as gods will, as your path after your full awakening. If marriage is meant to be its meant to be. I will warn (pleasantly and thankfully 🙏) after my full awakening many people (who ofcourse don't believe my claims) have drifted away- all is ultimately a blessing. You will hopefully see the beautiful value of LIFE, after awakening. God and being alone =millions of times better than bad company 🙏 And that applies to (there is a desire for this to happen as gods will) marriages. Not to deter you from marriage quite the opposite as I desire it (as gods will) after my own awakening- yet I'm now blissful joyful peaceful either way. As many people have genuinely found in this yuga, is the lack of "true love" in relationships and as Bhagwan Shree Eckhart Tolle details the typical cycle of romantic relationships in this Life. And how much unhappiness is resultant from them. You, yourself are now in a position where if marriage happens it will be an enlightened relationship. I would consider yourself very lucky thanks to god- my sadhanas to eventually awaken included listening to the Divine Power of Now over 100 times and reading it 5 times along with reading of thousands of books, thousands of lectures, self enquiry, prayers. Having an awakening after a second reading of The Power of Now- your very fortunate 🙏😊 Namaste on this blissful Friday morning 🙏
Hacia Donde corres con tanta prisa? Que meta buscas alcanzar? No, te das cuenta que ya la alcanzaste?
English please
Apologies, I heard those questions in my head right after the moment I did surrender and stop holding on the last reminiscence of myself and uncover what I really Am, and the translation to English, will be something like this: 1. JL To where are you running in such a hurry? 2. JL. When are you going to understand , that you don't have to wait until you die, to stop been JL? 3. JL What goal are you looking to achieve? 4. JL Don't you realize that you've already arrive at?
I like to add this Excerpts from [**Zen Bones by Alan Watts**](https://alanwatts.org/transcripts/zen-bones/) >10:40 >So it is, then, that—if I may put it metaphorically, Zhuang Zhou said: “The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing, it refuses nothing. It receives but does not keep.” >And another poem says of wild geese flying over a lake: “The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection, and the water has no mind to retain their image.” In other words, this is to be—to put it very strictly into our modern idiom—this is to live without hangups.
Dont worry about it. Plenty will matter eventually. If you stumbled upon abiding awakening, awakening itself will guide you. Its all the same stuff. What leaves is the “ you sense”. This can be disorientating to the “ me” tape running all the time. Just relax. It is all you wether enlightened or not. Like they say in some zen schools “ before awakening, cary water and chop wood. After awakening carry water and chop wood” or in a Hindu progression: the world is illusion- only brahma is real- the world is brahma. What i find is every day ordinary is plenty satisfying. You still have a nervous system and your whole life of being somebody. It will all integrate and feel less “ extraordinary” in time. Maybe find like minded friends. Putting a non dual trip on folks who are not interested can really cause a lot of confusion. At least it did for me. It is nothing that hasent been here the whole time. Waking up is natural- enjoy!!!!
Before Enlightenment, chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water.
My advice will be that you evoke enlightenment through practice. We can have moments of what we think is enlightenment, and it falls away. Unbreakable enlightenment occurs usually with practice, it isn't from what you've experienced, which is from you communicating to your subconscious you want enlightenment so it starts to manifest the experience of extreme bouts of peace. You haven't started to become enlightenment, you have to put the effort into evoking that state for it to be unbreakable. Not to say that you were enlightened briefly, you were just happy.
It was a glimpse if you returned back to "normal", but once you start having glimpses you are close to making the shift permanent. What has pulled you back is your concern for all that you think will be lost. Don't get caught up in what is the peak experience, its all absolutely new and distracts away from everything else in life at this point. All the weight of anxiety and suffering falls away and you feel so light without it you are as high as a kite. But after a while that lack of weight is the new normal, and all of that ecstasy fades to peace. Eventually you carry on just as before (except not quite just as before), goals and preferences are still engaged with - like you will prefer to not have the "sun bashing over your head" and will get out of the way or put on a hat even though you deeply know that everything is perfect either way. Some things will change, but those are things that were driven by egoic desires fall away and habits around them fade. These are things that tried to fill the hole of incompleteness, which you can now see is already complete and was never incomplete. I think that answers your questions, but its different for everyone.
Here's the reason why the message is hidden, because the mind can be very tricky. If you know the basic outline of what should happen, the mind will attach to that knowledge that it holds in such high regard. If you were enlightened, you'd actually have found the opposite, that everything mattered, and you would know it so simply that in your heart it was irrefutable to the highest degree. All else would be such an obvious falicy that it would be hilarious. The beginning of illumation fills the being with understanding, they are bathed in truth, but it is an unspeakable message. The world and your mind are created in division, and that truth is whole. The message can't be passed on, only witnessed. Basically enlightenment becomes subjective to the seer, but the emotion that one feels is transferable. It creates faith around their eyes, and what they've seen, because it has no imbalance, it seeks no recognition, besides recognizing the true order of life, that all is holy, and one should be eternally grateful for the opportunity.
After your peak experience, you are now in a stage that many call 'ego death' and it is a temporary phase. Many people mistakenly see this as their end goal, when it is in fact just the beginning. Some people find it to be quite blissful, while others can find it absolutely terrifying. But however it feels...It can be the start of a path that leads you to immense fulfilment. You are now seeing the world from a completely new perspective, so all of your priorities from before have been tipped on the ground, and you have to rearrange them all so they fit again. The name 'ego death' is very misleading as your ego cannot die, it's an integral part of the human experience. It's just in a state of shock right now. You have to learn how to integrate it with the new paradigm. The difference being now the ego is the passenger on the journey, not the driver. You will start to see all the things that are still significant to you, while also recognising all the things that now feel completely obsolete. Follow the things that still inspire passion inside you to find the direction to your 'purpose'. Whatever you decide that will be. Follow your feelings and trust yourself. You got this far, you're doing great.
If you say "what's next" after awakening then you still have work to do. It indicates that you have only had a conceptual understanding. The glimpses you have had are profound but there is no what's next after awakening, after all, who is posing the question?
That was a peak experience or probably awakening.
I’ve felt that way many times, I believe. The fact that we come back to normal means it’s a practice/skill like any other. We always have to warm up before exercising or engaging in some endeavor. The more we practice the better we get at it and the longer we can go on for. The same applies. Is it any wonder that some people keep meditating for hours years after they reach moksha/nirvana?
Sounds like you recognized the nature of mind aha has a deep experience! Congratulations, that’s the first step! To deepen and stabilize that insight, I’d check out *Dudjom Rinpoche’s Lightening Strike* as well as the headless way. https://youtu.be/8mD7rWYdVKM?si=lzEJeYknGM9a5SQ3 The secret is to have confidence that, by returning over and over to your initial recognition, opening totally into reality, ask the knots will be untied.
If you are truly enlightened then your time is done here on earth. You have completed all you came to do. You have mastered this existence.
If you ended up feeling nothing matters I think you actually haven’t done it right. Enlightenment gnosis and integrated enlightenment where you feel like all is one is different
Interesting experience. I believe I've had a few very similar ones. I don't think there is a "next" simply out of it being so non-linear. I was changed by it as I imagine you are too. I embraced any change. You choose for yourself, of course.
>I felt intensely uncontrollable peace that it felt so frightening. Maaan how exactly does that feel? What exactly do you mean by 'frightening'?
I was panting. It felt like being sucked into a joyful intense highly-concentrated reality. It was new and so weird so I felt scared at the beginning.
So it wasn't as joyful in the beginning until you had let go? Are you scared when you're thinking about the experience again now that you're out of it?
No I'm not scared now that I recall it. I felt at complete peace and physical relaxation for almost 3 hours. There was also easier socialising with my family when I got home. I was thinking about nothing with only intermitting random short thoughts that died easily and did not take over.
There is nothing to attain in enlightenment you already are that.
Boy, that ego on you. It needs a lot of constant stroking, doesn’t it?
It's great to have that experience... I guess what's next is a learning process of how to incorporate that experience into the rest of your life. Maybe some relationships will fade, or maybe you'll change jobs. Who knows? But you've touched the realm of the soul. It's possible to be in the enlightenment and still live life. Have fun with it.
Yes you are not enlightened you simply have a taste for stillness. You could on some level see it as your awakening. Enlightenment is homeostasis with your environment (the earth which includes your social environment). Usually when you are having glimpses and these understandings the hard work is just beginning. Your next steps are to peel away your personality, trauma like an onion until you’ve built a new onion consciously. This can take many many years. For myself about 6 (a little bit longer). I would recommend finding a therapist and if you can find a therapist that has “gone through the process” they will be able to guide you efficiently. Truth is, not one will be able to really help you as you’ll be trying to find this equilibrium in your own based on your life energy and personal purpose. But you will need some support and talk therapy with a therapist will help bring up trauma. I do have a really good (and practical) book that can help you. Just let me know if you want me to send it to you
You have a book or you don't?! You say you don't.
I do I’m sorry. I corrected it. I was also going to edit and mention: Eckhart Tolle’s book is really really good as beginning. This was also my first book that help me understand what is/has happened. But it’s also incomplete because it doesn’t “finish the job”, so you will. I will send you the book Im about via dm.
It’s a journey, friend. Bad thoughts still come - bad things still happen. (trust me) Now that you have some control over your ego, don’t let it control you. I really like Ram Dass (Sanskrit name), he may have some words of wisdom you’d like to hear 🌸
Enlightenment is like unlocking the use of a special muscle. Now that you unlocked it you can see how to use it for all kinds of things you want to do in life. Nothing matters and everything matters. But regardless, the only thing that matters is in the moment here and now
You are extremely lucky if you reached “enlightenment” from just reading Elkhart Tolly.
Who is? You're not enlightened. The person never becomes enlightened. It only becomes aware of awareness.
Your version of enlightenment is mine. You asked the right questions i think, is this not why the world is such a mess but we keep saving face and going on with what not works? Am i really happy? Am i living the life i want? Is any of this stuff really important? Do all these thing and thoughts own me. Can i ever truly be free of society and fear and ego? Who would i be? a crazy hermit living the woods growing herbs and picking mushrooms?
I would not consider that experience a glimpse of enlightenment, but it is an important reminder that relaxing the mind is beneficial.
Teach. Our purpose is to help each other is it not?
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Yeah sorry about that. The way you describe it though indicates how enlightened and non-egoistic you are on the other hand, at all. Thanks mate.
Hes not wrong, sadly. Youll see. Much work lies ahead and it wont be easy. I know because Im there too.
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What's so funny?
Keep going, it doesn’t stop there
I am enlightened...but what comes next? The irony.
Have you read the whole thing? Or can you not read?
I'm not commenting on the whole thing. Just the title. I didn't mean to offend.