Moksha

It's a good analogy for the ego. The mind is an endless moth-maker. Every thought flies blindly toward the fire, mistaking it for light, only to be consumed. It is an insane, insatiable kamikaze process that only ends when the absolute awakens to itself, abandoning its pursuit of transient fulfillment, and abiding in the light of itself.

Psychedelics are climbing up the mountain and falling back, ad infinitum. Just kidding, psychonauts They do have a place for some people, and have been used in various forms for millennia, but the insights are insufficient for remaining awake until they are integrated. The same can be said of other spiritual practices. Contemplation is common to both Raja and Jnana. With Raja, it includes meditating on a particular insight, allowing it to arise and deepen without interference. With Jnana, contemplation is proactively and solely directed toward the core insight of absolute realization.

There's a difference between disappearing and being beyond the illusion of appearance. The absolute is awareness, which doesn't appear or disappear. Any appearance or disappearance isn't real. Directly look inside yourself and see.

You're correct, the absolute is infinite, limitless and indefinite. Form and formless are just dualities within the dream, god awareness is beyond both. This is what happens when words try to explain the inexplicable. They turn away in fear. Let's call it Nameless Mystery ftw

Changeless, timeless, infinite, motionless, immaterial, energyless, inexperienced, unconditioned absolute reality.

It makes every spiritual discussion a moot point, yet here we are Welcome to the forum btw!

I prefer awareness or god or absolute, but it is the same regardless of the name. It is infinite reality, within and beyond imagination, whatever you call it.

Nor is there proof for other states of the dream, beyond direct experience. Whether you are dreaming, or dreaming within the dream, as long as you identify as the character you are still entirely entangled in the dream.

Everyone goes through the same graduation ceremony, but does it really matter what their major is? Some people are science geeks, some study theology, some are athletes, some express themselves through art, and some philosophize. What matters isn't what classes they take, but whether their major meets their unique characteristics and circumstances. I see spirituality as five primary paths, but there are countless varieties and combinations of each path. Using the analogy of hiking up a mountain to the summit: Hatha (physical yoga) is applying brute force to move upward in any way you can, without worrying so much about the intricacies of the path. It is calming the mind through physical yoga and spoken mantras, and is the slowest path. Raja (meditation/renunciation) is moving upward by deliberately pushing against the rocks beneath your feet. It is moving away from thoughts and mind attachments, toward freedom. Bhakti (devotion) is clinging to the rope and climbing, while someone above you helps to pull you upward. It closes the distance by moving toward the radiant absolute in a realized other. Karma (selfless action) is laterally traversing the cliff, to help someone on the same level as you, and then climbing together along the gradual ascent. It is realizing the absolute through service, by seeing the same essence in yourself and others. Jnana (knowledge) is the pure realization of remaining still, clearly seeing yourself already at the summit, and teleporting to the top. It is direct inner inquiry, and is the fastest way, but also the most rare.

Who opens its eyes in the morning, washes its face in the mirror, walks through the day, observes its dreams at night, continues even in deep sleep, and still remains regardless of the appearance of death?

Back at you, especially the reader's digest version, solely because I can't help reading the entire treatise otherwise, and my eyes aren't getting any younger ? Despite their intimidating battlecries in the arena, even gladiators are absolutely silent, if you can just convince them to lay down the sword and look within. Who is there to entertain again?

For your contemplation. The absolute is beyond existence and non-existence. It imagines the cosmos, appearing as existence, but this is only an appearance. It imagines the void, appearing as non-existence, but this also is only an appearance. There are infinite dualities within its dream, but the dualities of the cosmos and the void are of the highest order. The meaning of existence and non-existence is the means of their imagining. Meaning is the manifestation of the absolute. Beyond meaning there is only the unmanifested mystery of Tát (the Sanskrit name for "That").

Word has it that aliens have evolved beyond the need for space travel, and have realized they are always home. No more need for phones.

True, but also true of Buddhist mysticism, Hindu mysticism, Muslim mysticism, Christian mysticism... What is the common thread, beyond beliefs?

In the flow state, the sun still rises and sets, but no longer falls below the horizon. Regardless of present luminosity, there is always clarity.

@r0ckyreed ⚡Carpe diem, anchor awareness in the doing, and everything you do will be amplified.

To appreciate the best movie of all time, you have to see more deeply, beyond the sand, sweat and blood, to the absolute love within the character, despite whatever armor it may be wearing.

Careful, the "B" word is quite triggering for certain GQs tumbling through the corridors of the dungeon.

@r0ckyreed One thing to consider is that life is a series of stages, and the right path for you during one stage may shift to a different path at a later stage. At this stage of your life, you are in rajas, or passion which compels you to engage productively in the world. It is your current destiny, and is worthy of being embraced. Eventually you may or may not transition to sattva, which is serenity without the need for external engagement. Whatever the stage, you can still be centered in awareness. The playing out of your life purpose varies according to what is needed in that moment.

@CARDOZZO Don't settle for anything less than direct realization. All is a play in consciousness. All divisions are illusory. You can know the false only. The true you must yourself be. There are the two -- the person and the witness, the observer. When you see them as one, and go beyond, you are in the supreme state. It is not perceivable, because it is what makes perception possible. It is beyond being and not being. It is neither the mirror nor the image in the mirror. It is what is -- the timeless reality, unbelievably hard and solid. There is only light and the light is all. Everything else if but a picture made of light. The picture is in the light and the light is in the picture. Life and death, self and not-self -- abandon all these ideas. They are of no use to you.

If true awakening happens, it's only a matter of time before the entire tower crumbles. I had many glimpses of the absolute during my life, even long periods of service and lumination, but it wasn't true awakening. When the absolute awakens, there is no doubt. It doesn't need to ask apparent others for validation, permission, or acceptance. You directly realize that you are them, and they are you. The boundaries within you, and between you and other forms, begin to melt. You see the absolute in all. Integration, which I see as keeping the portal open, happens naturally. My daily habits and relationships with others evolved. I was deeply drawn to the writings of mystics, beginning with the Bhagavad Gita and extending to other traditions. I saw beyond their words to the light that resonates within. Insights spontaneously began to flow. My beyond dreams, which I had as a child, returned (this part I prefer to keep general). It has been a natural process, but hardly easy. My sincerity has been tested to the dregs. It is frighteningly beautiful. The light continues to grow, and I love my person more purely than I could when I identified as it. I've seen a change in your posts the past few weeks. You're starting to understand, and have moved beyond pursuing extreme experiences for their own sake, to focusing your intent on integration. Keep going, that is how you unlearn enough to remain open to infinity.

Have you considered that losing the fun in games may be an inner pointer to losing identification with relative reality, i.e., finding yourself? Why not let go of all addictions while you're at it? Maybe the absolute within is discovering itself, despite its best efforts to remain entangled within its dream. If nothing created is fulfilling, discover the love in what is not created.

The absolute is mystery to the mind, and first nature to itself.

Never say always Ramana Maharshi awakened at the age of 16. I didn't awaken until I turned 55, and meditation came after rather than before. The absolute is nothing if not creative in clearing the pathway to itself. If your mind is wild, meditation can help to tame it, but not everyone is ready even for meditation.

The physical motions of yoga, the spoken mantras, and the mind-stilling training of meditation are progressive inward steps toward direct realization. Some people bypass these practices by diving into the deep ocean of self-inquiry. It is the clearest path, but not many have the lung capacity to sustain such a dive. What matters is not what works for others, but what prepares the absolute to awaken itself within you. Begin by asking, "Who am I?" and see how deep the question takes you. If there is no answer yet, try a more gradual approach. You have nothing to prove and everything to gain by finding what works for you.