Moksha

Consciousness = infinite = perfectly consistent = perfectly inconsistent. Consistency is Consciousness imbued in every form. Inconsistency is the infinite variety of Conscious manifestations.

Cool, van Gogh primal

Meditation doesn't make me feel depressed. Depression was the reason I started meditating

Pretty sure I've been here every day since I discovered the forum. I love it, and am thankful for the people I've "met", and the lessons I've learned here. @Leo Gura ? ? ?

Scientifically define Consciousness. Oh, and...the ultimate dipshit is the scientist with his head so dipped in shit that he can't see shit for dipshit

The present moment is a portal to reality. It is not ultimate reality.

@mandyjw No. No. That's not true. That's impossible! Noooooooooo!!! OMG, we tell a good story.

Enlightenment is a permanent state of awakening. Even then, the light can still grow brighter or dimmer, but it is always on.

@The0Self Is knowing itself not the ultimate illusion?

Isn't that the purpose of the antagonist in every good story?

Consciousness has no gender. Maybe boring, but at the end of the day (which is always), there is no gender. Aren't puppets fun though?

The ancient gurus used meditation as a paring knife. They peeled away each layer of their personality that was impermanent, turn by turn, until the only thing left was the solid core of Consciousness. Don't chase after "being". It will elude you, because it can't be caught. It is already there, deep inside of you, waiting to be released. When the time is right, you will be flooded with it. If you can create spaciousness in yourself by pulling back from your thoughts and simply observing them, that will be a good first step.

Yes The best stories open the most doors.

Welcome back Fighting only builds resistance. Meditation is judo, not karate. Allow everything to happen, even explore it, just don't identify with it.

When you wake up, you will realize that you and everything else are the same. Yes, stories about others waking up mean nothing for your own awakening They may act as pointers, but only you can awaken, and when you do, it will be a direct experience, not a thought.

The snake was the most subtle beast in the garden. The best lies are founded in truth. The lie was not that there is no spiritual death, but that Eve and Adam would live in the garden forever. Classic ego move: Swapping what seems to be changeless for what actually is changeless.

The biggest self-deception was mistaking my thoughts for myself. I suffered a lot because of it, but didn't know why I was suffering, or how to escape. I found a good therapist that carved out space for me to explore. I studied the insights of ancient and modern people that realized peace. I started meditating. All of this made a good garden. But I had built the same garden years ago, only to revert to complacency, once the storm had passed. My early garden fell fallow. This time, it was different. The decision that exposed my garden to the sun was the primal choice to let go of my suffering, no matter where it took me. I released my claw grip on the precipice that I had clung to my entire life, and fell into the void. I saw my conditioned mind for the devil that it was. Scary, confusing, but also liberating. The light caught me, and kept me safe in the middle of the void. My garden sprang to life. I finally found abundant peace. If there is a current self-deception, it is the desperate whispering of my ego back on the precipice, promising peace without a price, if I would just come back. But I know better, now. I hope I will always know better.

The core problem is identifying with the conditioned mind. When you realize that you are not your thoughts, there is suddenly spaciousness. You experience being the observer of your thoughts. It's like jailbreaking out of your conditioned mind, and directly realizing the Consciousness that you are.

Honesty about uncertainty is the beginning of wisdom Now learn to enjoy the spaciousness of the uncertainty. It's like floating in a void with a smile on your face. When you not only see it, but embrace it, everything finally makes sense. Not to the mind, but to the soul.

Yes To use the mind, rather than being used by it, is to live Consciously. The mind then becomes a magnifying lens for creativity and abundance, rather than a magnifying lens for confusion and suffering.

@Endangered-EGO I've found that any time I start judging others, it is my ego sneaking in the back door. Maybe try seeing religions as allegories for universal truth. I started doing this when I studied Eckhart Tolle. He frequently brings up teachings from Jesus, for example, but in a universal light. Christians might see the "Kingdom of Heaven" as this literal place in the sky with gates of pearl and streets of gold. Instead, Tolle translates it as "Dimension of Spaciousness", and it suddenly makes sense. Aldous Huxley had it right. There is a Perennial Philosophy that pervades all religions and appears in every age (per Eknath Easwaran): There is an infinite, changeless reality beneath the world of change This same reality lies at the core of every personality The purpose of life is to discover this reality experientially, that is, to realize God while here on earth People give it different names, but the underlying truth is universal. The error is in identifying with the names, rather than realizing the truth itself. The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao. By manifesting this, maybe we can provide the space for others to move beyond the literal to the transcendent. Ultimately, it is up to them, but in the meantime we can still directly enjoy the truth that underlies all of it.

@Mvrs How appropriate

The promise of free truth was the original lie. Eve wanted to know good and evil, without realizing that knowledge would bring death. The pursuit of anything: truth, happiness, even love, results in death. There is always a price to be paid. All of these are different names for the same thing. Truth is Happiness is Love. The price is always the same: Death of the illusionary self. Enlightenment collapses into a singularity, like everything else.

Heaven is inside us

@Raptorsin7 It sounds like you are on a good path. Simply recognizing that your thinking is not in alignment with how you feel is a critical first step. Rather than bringing your thinking into alignment, try allowing some space between and around the thoughts themselves. Thoughts are less like a wild horse to be tamed, and more like a horse trapped in a stall, that simply needs a spacious pasture in which to roam. Have you tried meditation? The practice can help you learn to focus on your inner body, and become comfortable with allowing space in your life. Even simple practices of "no thought" can be useful. For example, do you think about driving from point A to point B, consciously making every choice about which corner to turn, or that red light means "stop"? Or do you just get in your car and drive? Try applying this to other mundane activities in your life. When you get up in the morning, instead of consciously thinking about getting dressed, let your mind relax and just focus on allowing the space within you to arise. Pay attention to the moment, without naming anything. Feel the texture of the fabric as you pull your shirt over your head. Notice the aliveness in your feet as you put on your shoes. You will get dressed without even thinking about it, yet the experience itself can invoke a whole different level of awareness. The mind tends to get us into trouble more often than not. Learning to be aware, beyond thought, is a pathway to peace.