Inliytened1

@Tom T join a gym - preferably one with a sauna and a steam room. Do some weights and cardio - then sit in the sauna and take a cold shower after. You will feel great!

I think what @Serotoninluv is pointing to when he says Everything is Infinity. And one can become directly conscious that reality = Infinity. Infinity = God. God = Being = Absolute Love and Absolute Divinity. All form (every thing) is both within God, part of God, but also identical or = to God/Infinity. In order to take a form, Infinity/God must be formless (nothing). Thus formless = form. The finger is part of the hand but simultaneously is the hand. There is no such thing as not a thing because not a thing is in your mind as a concept. Thats why one can't grasp Infinity with the mind. So relative to what you take Pantheism to truly mean would answer as to how accurate it is in describing the nature of reality. It is relative or course as all language is. As Einsten points out language cannot capture Being. Form must collapse into Formlessness or Being to grasp it because it is Being itself. Requires an awakening.

@Nahm Behold the paradox that is reality! It is so mind bending and infinite ?❤

Nor did i. You wouldn't as your limited self because then you would stop being you and you would be your grandma. But as you i had a mystical experience in which my consciousness was so elevated that i became directly conscious that i was everyone else. It made me sick and depressed actually for a few days until i returned to normal consciousness. I could barely function... That feeling passed. It would be hard to function being directly conscious that you are everyone. But in a sense this realization is also peaceful.

Great inquiry this is the ultimate question. I can say this. You can have the realization or awakening mystically that everything is consciousness. Its a giant mind. You can have the realizaton or awakening that everything is One. That you are also every other conscious Being on the planet. This means that at some point you will experience what its like to be every other being. You will experience what it is like to be your grandmother because, well, you ARE your grandmother. Its radical and its scary. All of these dimensions or perspectives are happening simultaneously. As nuts as it sounds I have had both of these. You can say I'm deluded if you want to - i wouldn't blame you one bit. So your grandmother exists but its just as imagination - and its you imagining you are her but in a simultaneous dimension. You are looking back at yourself when you talk to your grandmother. The freakiest part is that you are imagining all of it as God simultaneously including your little self. Ta da!

@Philipp it's not that nothing matters its that material desires are seen for what they are. Shallow and false just like the ego. You would have to go back to being unconscious to live that lifestyle again. (You can fool yourself but at the end of the day from the Absolute perspective you know what is reallly going on). You have seen through all of reality. So it's not that its depressing or dark - In fact reality becomes more beaitiful. Just looking around your room becomes magical. Everything is magical. And everything is you so you take a deeper interest in "yourself" from a higher POV.

This is true. You won't have any desire to go back to this stuff afterwards. Do this stuff now and get it all out of your system.

@Nadosa it sounds like an identity crisis. And ego backlash. You are aware of your true nature now but your ego refuses to accept it. Try easing your ego into the fact that it is just a backstory You're truest nature is that you are consciousness or awareness itself. So when you are meditating and wondering where the i is just embrace that you are simply pure consciousness. You are eternal and formless. It's beautiful and elegant. Just be at peace with that. It may take some time but these feelings will pass. It is still very fresh.

Ignorance is bliss

This. The aloneness is from the Godhead perspective. God has its own perspective. The giant Mind imagining this whole thing - including little you. And the giant Mind is You.

@Harikrishnan it wasn't his ego that imagined that it was him as God. I believe that if he used mysticism to become omniscient he could potentially have healed himself. I have not healed yet but i have had mystical experiences where some real amazing things happened so i believe healing is totally possible. So perhaps he didn't reach that level or he had no fear of death thus had no desire to heal "himself" as he knew he was God.

@Identity In a sense because you ARE the Absolute - you are the whole but you are also the part. But right now in your finite form you are the part trying to make sense of the whole. Paradoxically as the part, you are also the whole simultaneously. In fact the two are the same - or One. The whole is the formless (pure Being) and the part is the form - ie thought, understanding, and rationality. So it is as if you are trying to make sense of yourself from yourself. The finger is trying to point back at itself but it can't because it IS itself!

Then continue on but maybe switch up the other stuff you are doing at home because you are getting bored with the same old stuff. Maybe it's youre intuition telling you there is something else you should be doing that will provide deeper fulfillment.

Only you know - but it sounded like that from what you described. Perhaps you are just in a rut. If so, maybe take a step back from spirituality and just enjoy life for now. Find some things that give you joy again.

Sounds like your depression is coming back maybe talk to a therapist.

God is It's paradoxical so don't try to make sense of it.

??

You can understand it as a concept but its not the same as direct actuality.

You become directly conscious of it for yourself. This is prior to knowing. You BE it. So don't rely on any teacher or take this on as a belief as that would be a mistake. You are your own authority in the end.

We aren't really disagreeing its just subtle distinctions. I know it is One - and it's only me. But it's me as God not my little finite self. That is not the same as solipism - look it up. Moreover from the egoic perspective you can actually play in the dream as if there are other people. And in that way it actually becomes so from that perspective - as reality (you are reality) is completely relative and subjective. In other words reality is just shifts in perspectives. You are doing it right now because you are in duality in fact that is how duality is created. As God i cut my finite self off from other parts of myself in order to create duality or limitation.

Its not solipism. Solipsism states that only the ego mind exists. Its Solipism as God or universal consciousness. Yes you are alone but as God not the ego. There is a distinct difference. That won't comfort @Shaun of course - but it is what it is. What he is also missing is that as God he is imagining everyone else including his little self. He isn't imagining them as Shaun. And as God he has also divided himself and is being all and everything simultaneously - so that from his little Shaun perspective there ARE other people. It is relative to perspecive. Are you guys seeing how this works....

@dyslexicFcuk so it does seem from your post that you do indeed intuit that there is something more to reality than it just being a clockwork universe. If that were not the case then you probably wouldn't be innately curious and on the forum. For example - when you ask the question - when a tree falls in the forest and no one is around - does it make a sound? This question should innately bother you. (And it seems to) It should bother you because you think to yourself - how could something exist if no one is conscious of it? It makes no sense as to how or why the tree could or would need to be there. It breaks the mind so to speak. However - if reality is pure consciousness then you are left with a satisfying answer and solution to the problem. And you can become directly conscious that this is indeed the case. When we say you can become directly conscious we really mean that the "you" collapses into pure consciousness - much like a wave function of pure potentiality collapses into a particular subatomic particle or "possiblity" within quantum mechanics except in reverse. In other words right now you are a possiblity that will collapse in the reverse direction into pure potential. You realize that you are consciousnes itself. So back to your concern on enlightenment being the end of suffering - while it is liberating beyond words - you do ultimately return to a finite possiblity again after the direct experience of Being. Here the real work commences. There are still more awakenings and realizations to come, and you can realize that duality and non-duality are One and identical. The form and formless are identical. Science and rationalism are not frowned apon but embraced. The unification of science and mysticism ultimately will mean the evolution of science to new heights. And the work commences with the realization that God exists - but not in the way the religious pre-rational minds think - but from the trans-rational perspective. With this, One then is not so concerned with physical or emotional suffering as they have seen beyond it. They grasp all of reality and now strive to embody God in finite form. Physical suffering may continue but one begins to transcend emotional and mental suffering as a result of being so much more conscious. Even physical suffering can be transcended through deeper consciousness. Problems that arise in your life can easily be overcome because you have such a deep understanding now of how reality works. This in itself is a relief from suffering. Conflicts still arise but can be conquered through an understanding that you never had prior to being awake. Thus the path to completely relinquishing all suffering only begins with enlightenment - it doesn't end with it. Thus enlightenment isn't an on off switch (although in a sense it also is as becoming pure Being cannot be captured with language) as there are facets and degrees and multiple mystical experiences followed by an embodiment phase which could span decades. If it is something you choose to pursue i wish you the best. Also i want to add that i have never taken pyschedelics but i think i may be naturally inclined to spirituality because the tree question you mentioned bothered me back when i was 10 yrs old though at the time i dismissed it - and i noticed that to some the question makes no sense. I was a materialist and an atheist before stumbling into spirituality.

@ShaunDuring some awakenings - for me - there was a window after awakening or a non-dual state in which i lingered between perspectives. Between your Egos perspective and the universal or God's perspective. I drifted between a non-dual state and duality for a few days because consciousness was elevated through the roof. It did feel like i was going insane for a while. I had to really work to focus on something of form because i would still be between states and defaulting to a formless or non-dual state. (Which was complete bliss) So for me there was a window or period of time like this. Also following days of total bliss there was some depression. The ego has died and was reborn so to speak so there is some backlash. Mysticism is serious business. But i will say that it completely passes. At least for me. Consciousness returns to a human level after a time. That time may be different for everyone. I wouldn't trade being awake for anything. Some people may not experience these things at all i can only speak from direct experience.

Indeed its all being imagined by consciousness.

The bottom line is: Forget the bottom line if you want Truth. You won't get there with logic or rationalism. Being itself is Truth. To reason whether its worth seeking enlightenment is to have gone too far. Hopefully that answers the question as to whether its worth pursuing. It's so worth pursuing that it negates the question. Reality is inherently paradoxical so throw reason out the window when trying to pursue it and forget that you are pursuing it. Heck forget that you are.