Moksha

@peachboy Unconsciousness is relative to consciousness. It is the negative state, or absence of consciousness. There is no lower structure than the absence of consciousness. Emptiness is emptiness. First-person unconsciousness is the lack of consciousness in the individual. One could argue that consciousness requires individuality, and unconsciousness is the ultimate unity. When alive, people vary in levels of unconsciousness, until at death they dissolve into utter unconsciousness because they no longer exist. First-person unconsciousness is certainly impossible, but this could be true because consciousness requires personality to exist. Just because the probability of first-person consciousness is 100% doesn't mean the probability of no-person consciousness is 100%. Un-experienceable doesn't prove that experience always exists. All of this to reiterate that I agree with your conclusion about consciousness Not because it is logically unavoidable, but because it can be directly experienced, beyond logic.

Yes to everything you observed. The "energy" you describe, expanding to fill the bounds of spacetime, is Consciousness infused into the world of form. It is Atman. But there is another dimension. Beyond spacetime, underlying the world of form, is transcendent Consciousness, which created the world of form: Brahman.

@peachboy I agree with you, but not for logical reasons. Levels of consciousness exist, but you could equally argue that consciousness sinks to zero at death. In the absence of first-person consciousness, the probability of first-person unconsciousness persisting after death alchemizes into absolute certainty. Conceptual arguments for consciousness are unavoidably self-defeating. Ultimately it has to be directly experienced to be understood.

@Nahm So beautiful. Especially as a parent, which is a microcosm of the universal message ?

Emptiness and fulness are two ends of the same stick. Consciousness is infinitely spacious, and it is infinitely abundant. It is not just the void, but it is everything arising from the void. The ultimate reality is beyond all things and beyond nothing.

"Selfishness" is unavoidable, because Self is all there is. "selfishness" is identification with the ego, which is illusionary and only leads to suffering. We just need to be the Selfish love that we are

^^^ the problem.

Yes Enlightenment dissolves the ego enough that "you" sink from the surface as a wave, and are more deeply settled as the tidal current beneath the wave. There is still a distant sense of individuality, but a deeper realization and connection with your source, which is the ocean itself. Meditation sinks you to the "middle" of the ocean. Less surface movement, more power and stability. When you physically die, even the tidal current disappears, and you dissolve back into the primal ocean that you are. Or to use another analogy, "you" are traveling back along the ashvattha tree, which grows upside down, with its taproot above and its branches below, back along the tree to the root from which you sprung.

The ultimate Mystery is beyond name, analysis, or conceptual comprehension. It is not only emptiness. It is not only fulness. It is not only nonexistence. It is not only existence. It is not only nothing. It is not only everything. It is not all of these. It is not none of these. It is transcendent to all dualities. It is the ultimate singularity.

Great quote. When the mountains become mountains again, somehow they surpass their original majesty. They are infused with aliveness that you could barely sense before, and are more precious because you see them as they are. The same is true for the human and every other form.

@Member One time as a kid I dreamed that I dreamed that I was dreaming. Now that is a mindfuck

@Danioover9000 Yes, I see personality as a plaything for Consciousness, along with everything else in the world of form. It is infused with Consciousness, but is created by Consciousness. That is why people (and you, Crysty!) are so beautiful. We're like snowflakes; even twins aren't truly identical. I love our diversity. It makes sense that Crysty would evolve, just like everything else does in the world of form. Even ghosts eventually evolve, if the stories are true about them being trapped and sometimes receiving release. Given the high resonance you feel with her, she could in a way be part of you. Maybe not though. Have you asked her if she existed before she met you? I know she described living in a lush green world with exotic foliage, but I wonder if she lived there before she met you? Maybe she doesn't understand or is not bound by time? From your descriptions of her teleporting, we know she isn't bound by space either. Dreams are a portal to ourselves. Sometimes the scene is silly; other times it is life-changing. But it's always a view of ourselves to ourselves.

@zeroISinfinity Never underestimate the wisdom that is The Force We love you too.

@Preetom ?

@Shunyata Everything is just Consciousness happening to itself. From my perspective then, it was something external to me, happening to me. It didn't feel like a dream; it was more like a spiritual struggle. Now, I see it as "my" Consciousness moving along the path of waking up to itself.

@Shunyata It's possible. My "dreams" didn't wake me up spiritually, but I believe they were part of the journey toward waking up.

We create our own reality It seems like beliefs shape our experience of reality, but don't actually create anything. Consciousness itself is the creator. I could see anything happening, even (and perhaps especially) in the absence of beliefs.

You have had a realization. Now the next step is to be the realization

Lol, you're welcome to it. I don't want to experience it again, ever

@Shin Right? I used to be religious so I believed in stuff like that. Then I became a scientist and stopped believing in stuff like that. Now I'm just being, with no beliefs really at all. Can someone point the way to the Lost and Found? Oh, here I am

@Member At least I'm not the only one. Guy's gotta get some sleep you know?

@ajai Passionate, and thank you for the lesson on India. I have so much respect for the wisdom that has washed out of your country, and watered the fields of the world.

@Danioover9000 Crysty fascinates me for some reason. Please tell her I think she's beautiful My sense is that personality is bound to the world of form. Personality, at least as we understand it, is the result of biology and conditioning. Maybe something needs to exist in the world of form in order to have a personality. I don't experience Consciousness as being any personality; it just is. Crysty could be an objective dream form, more refined than we are, that has experienced her own conditioning. Or possibly she was created by someone with consciousness, and is a splinter of that someone. I suspect she doesn't know, either way. Nor does she need to know. She is delightful just being who she is. The deal with my bed shaking went on for years. It didn't happen that often, but when it did, it freaked me out. I would be asleep, feeling my bed shaking, then wake up gasping, with my bed still moving. I've wondered since then if maybe I was just thrashing in my sleep, and causing the bed to shake, but it didn't feel like that. I remember vividly dreaming about doing battle with something evil. Back then, I believed in the actual reality of evil, and it felt like a struggle with the devil. Now I don't know what to make of it. Maybe it was just me thrashing around. Or maybe it was a true spiritual conflict. I'm just glad I don't experience it any more. *peers at his bed suspiciously*

@Nahm ? I'm still learning about Siddhartha (reading The Dhammapada now). I know more about Eckhart, and for him the awakening was the end of questioning. He realized that he no longer suffered, but he didn't know why he no longer suffered. It wasn't until 3 years later that he ran into a Zen master, who taught him that enlightenment is the state of "no mind". He realized that the reason he no longer suffered was that he was no longer being thought. Now, he is just being