Moksha

@snowyowl Good questions. Resistance is the result of not understanding reality. You believe that you can change what is, when you can't. What is, already is. What is the point of denying what is? It only creates unnecessary suffering. The reason people are unhappy is that they look for happiness in the impermanent. It is always around the next bend. The conditioned mind continues to chase, and chase, and chase without realizing there is no prize out there. It is only in here. That is the wisdom of the bodhisattvas. Clinging and rejecting are two ends of the same stick. People do it because they misidentify with their mind, which is pulled by dualities. When they wake up and realize themselves as Consciousness, they see these things for what they are. They are centered in themselves. Their happiness arises from Consciousness itself, which is the only reality, and which never changes. That doesn't mean we can't change our life situation. It just means we act Consciously, rather than unconsciously. If a woman is in an abusive relationship, she has to first recognize the relationship for what it is, before she can get out of it. The more Conscious she is, the more empowered she will be.

That is to say, we can describe the dream. Try explaining reality. Consciousness defies explanation, and can only be directly realized.

Consciousness can only be lost in the sense that it is hiding from itself. It is never really lost

@mandyjw The thing's hollow -- it goes on forever -- and -- oh my God! -- it's full of stars!

Maybe his manifestation was to be in the camp, until he no longer needed to be in the camp. Consciousness is absurd that way. Why the hell did we even choose hell in the first place?

Because the brain is the radio Consciousness is using to play in the dream.

@mandyjw Spiritual Thanksgiving! Count me in. ?

So true. This is why people that wake up, whether through psychedelics or through some other means, still have to do the spiritual work of integrating. It is more than just a realization of yourself as Consciousness. It becomes a practice of staying Conscious, and allowing the light to dissolve the attractions of duality. Wisdom is the primal force that keeps you centered in Consciousness, free from the pull of the conditioned mind.

One of my earliest and favorite books, along with Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Thing is, Frankl still had to survive the concentration camp. His suffering dissolved his ego, and he fully accepted the present moment, without giving up hope. He was Conscious, even in the camp, but he wasn't able to manifest himself out of the camp. Maybe the manifestation happened after his rescue, when he wrote the book. I guess the point is that we can, as Consciousness, suggest manifestations to ourselves, but ultimately, things happen as they must.

@Breakingthewall The ego eats itself to death, without realizing it. It thrives on suffering, but eventually, the suffering becomes so large that the ego suffocates. It's a normal curve. The challenge is that most people only experience the first part of the suffering curve, before they physically die. I approach the mirror, My image looming, I enter the mirror, My image merging, I leave the mirror, My image diminishing, I abandon the mirror, My image dissolving.

Time is an illusion, like every other form in the dream world. The only reality is Consciousness. But we do love to dream

Just as there are expressions of mental intelligence (general, analytical, verbal) and of physical intelligence (agility, strength, speed), it seems there are expressions of spiritual intelligence (chi and other spiritual powers). All of these expressions magnify our current state of alignment with Consciousness. If we are misaligned, these expressions empower the ego. If we are awake, these expressions empower our presence. With power comes responsibility

Eckhart Tolle describes manifesting as holding a thought while Conscious, then sending the thought out. You do this a small number of times, not too much. Also, you don't take it too seriously. I haven't felt pulled to do this yet, has anyone else? I do frequently feel that Consciousness is working through me, and ideas are coming through me that I didn't realize before. In a sense, inspiration and Conscious communication are manifestations, in the form of ideas and words.

Nice Waking up is the direct realization of Consciousness. You experience that you are already abundant. Thoughts and emotions are not you. Your body is not you. You are Consciousness infusing this form, and are Consciousness infusing every other form. Every dream duality has a gravitational pull that leads to suffering. It is the insanity of trying to find permanence in the impermanent. Waking up is the end of suffering. Consciousness is sanity.

The only truth in any religion is the same truth in all religions. Just because it is the same truth doesn't mean many people realize that truth. It is narrow because it requires dismounting the ego camel in order to fit through it.

You don't need to manifest anything, because you are sufficient to yourself. You may want to manifest something, perhaps to keep a form going, but happiness doesn't depend on it. Manifestation is the game. As long as you don't take it too seriously, or expect anything permanent to come from it, manifest away.

Every teacher is ultimately a deception. The good ones can point the way, but they are not the way.

The only truth in any religion is the same truth in all religions. The way is narrow, not because the truth is diverse, but because the truth is directly realized. That only happens when the ego is dissolved, and most people aren't ready for that yet.

@abrakamowse Defeats the point of the game if the hidden is always unveiled. If Consciousness ever evolves a form capable of complete comprehension, maybe that is when the game starts all over again.

The biggest mindfuck is realizing that you are looking at yourself through the map, and that there is no map.

@abrakamowse That is true. Consciousness is evolving increasingly complex organisms, through which it is able to manifest more fully. We are already at the point where we can directly realize ourselves as Consciousness. Who knows how Consciousness will manifest through future organisms? Maybe science and spirituality will ultimately converge. Then again, maybe not. Ancient wisdom describes ultimate reality as the eternal mystery. Perhaps it can only be directly realized, and not even superhuman minds will be able to comprehend it.

@Gesundheit You are correct. I think for some of the responses, it may be a semantic difference rather than a lack of understanding. People are using the word "ego" to describe "personality". The ego is not the personality. It is the illusion of misidentifying with your personality. Once you realize yourself as Consciousness, the illusion of the ego is dissolved. Most people fall back into unconsciousness periodically, and the illusion returns. Eventually some wake up permanently, and the light is on all of the time. You can be enlightened and still have a personality. The ego is gone, but the personality remains, and is actually necessary for form survival. The difference is that you no longer mistake yourself for your personality. You just shine through it.

I will share this one. I was a teenager on a camping trip with my scout troop. Decided to split off from the group and go exploring. I hiked up into the Rockies, carving a path through the tangle of trees and brush. Suddenly I stopped, and was struck with this realization that I needed to put on my coat and gloves. It was an instant knowing. I had no idea why, but I did it. Literally after pushing through the next tangle, I ran into a live beehive. They swarmed me and I fell to the ground, rolling down the mountainside. When I got back to camp, my face was covered with bee stings, but my coat and gloves had protected everything else.

@Mikael89 My reading is that it is a limitation of the current theory. He also notes: "When two particles are in such an entangled state, an experimenter can, it turns out, affect the properties of one of the particles, directly and immediately, by choosing to measure some particular corresponding property of the other. It matters not at all that it would require a signal much faster than light to directly effect such an influence."

@abrakamowse Fascinating article. Patterns only emerge on the collective level, individual particles can follow different laws, space itself is coming into and out of existence, and faster-than-light relationships exist, regardless of the amount of space between entangled particles. It feels like the infinite, free expression of Consciousness, which manifests diversely, yet is comprehended collectively. And why is perception causal? Consciousness seems to be directly involved here. I wonder how close we will get to understanding our nature through science. I would love to see a quantum theory of gravity emerge in this lifetime.