Moksha

@Squeekytoy The site of silence

@Squeekytoy You're correct that the current state has to become unbearable before the misidentified absolute is ready to awaken in most people. I'm not referring to sneak previews, but the main event. Still, there is value in spiritual practices. Before awakening, they can prepare you for the silent shock. After awakening, they can help you remain silent.

To the breaking point, the more occupied your mind is, the more difficult to disidentify from it. Beyond the breaking point is being. The flow state is not only freedom from identification with the mind, but it is unconditional energy which enhances everything, including the deliverables you produce at work.

Great to see you back @Dodo

Yes, but then lose even the outlier identity. Delight in realizing that the essence of you and the people pleasers is the same. The appearance of higher (hubris) and lower (shame) resolves into absolute love.

It's not coincidence? Within the dream, except in the rarest cases the absolute is born within a form that it mistakes for itself. Even in the womb, the form develops aversions and desires. These attachments multiply and tighten, and identification with the form becomes more deeply entangled by the conditioning of the relative cosmos. The absolute is entirely lost and bound by the maya of its imagination. To perpetually realize itself, these attachments to the cosmos must dissolve. There are initial glimpses of its true nature, through windows of meditation, psychedelics, contemplation, service, or devotion. These glimpses come and go, and can only be sustained through surrendering the attachments of the mind. Initially, there is enormous resistance. Who is willing to let go of pursuing every desire and fleeing every fear? Inconceivable, until the absolute within the mind begins to realize that these desires do not fulfill it, nor does fleeing fears keep it safe. Inevitably, these attempts not only fail, but they deepen the experience of its suffering. The absolute sees that nothing short of surrendering its attachments will set it free. When it has finally suffered enough, it lets these attachments go. It is the humble triumph of the prodigal son returning home. The light of its true nature floods through the form, gradually dissolving the attachments that remain, until the form becomes the unobstructed conduit of the absolute. This is lucid living, within the dream.

The unbounded has no frames. It is absolute reality, beyond all dreams. The absolute looks through infinite mirrors, binding its awareness through them. Sometimes it loses itself entirely in them, and sometimes it realizes itself, but the frames through which it looks are still the boundaries of imagination. Even when the absolute is lucid within the dream, there must be the wispiest frame for the dream to appear that it exists. Regardless of apparent lucidity, they are dreams and all of them eventually dissolve back into the unbound absolute which always is.

What's wrong with stirring the pot? At the surface, the ladle returns liquid, but in the depths there are delicious chunks of meat.

Hi @Lilia it's great to have you on the forum, and deepest regards to you and your loved ones in Ukraine. I have been contemplating this as well. The best teachers are a prism through which the light of the absolute shines, communicating at different frequencies. Each color is close enough to the learner's current understanding that it resonates and takes them to a higher frequency. It is all the same light, suited to the needs of the learner. It's not enough for the teacher to be entirely selfless. Absolute white doesn't resonate with most people. The teacher needs to learn to be selflessly shrewd. Another analogy is the ladder of enlightenment. If the teacher only extends a ladder that is missing all but the highest rung, how can anyone climb it? The ladder needs to include all rungs. It's why Jesus taught in parables. They are more scalable. In his early days, Ramana Maharshi taught silence as the deepest truth. Eventually he learned to teach at lower levels, since silence was unattainable by most of his students. The absolute realizes itself in forms, and through them projects its light to help realize itself in other forms. It is cascading waves of light within the dream.

As someone raised in a fundamentalist religion, you could say my mind was immersed in the river of shame. If only they had stopped at physical baptism, I might have suffered less, then again the shame became the key that set me free. Thank you, brothers and sisters, for the shame ?

@Breakingthewall Psychedelics can help you see through the window, but that is the relatively easy part. Integrating what you have seen, and keeping the window open, is the flow state. Otherwise you are perpetually bound to the method that is supposed to set you free. No matter what is realized on psychedelics or through any other practice, it won't shortcut the detachment from the self. Lucid dreaming requires surrender of the absolute within the mind to the absolute beyond the mind. The mask has to not only fall to the floor, but be kicked off the stage. For me, it is suffering and the letting go of suffering that allows that grace. It only takes the tiniest particle of truth to set you free, but it must be absolute.

Awareness amplifies. Focusing on your fears intensifies them, while directly realizing the absolute dissolves the appearance of everything else. You have seen through the window to yourself, now you just need to learn how to keep it open. When it has suffered enough, the dream self submits and becomes the portal to the absolute.

Regardless of the reason for the disorder, self-realization helps to dissolve it. After enough suffering, eventually the mind surrenders. It sees its limitations, and lets the absolute in. Sincere trust turns into love, which integrates everything. You don't have to master meditation to begin healing. Even 10 seconds of unconditional silence will plant the seed for miracles. Just be patient and let it grow.

It's rare, but even awakening therapists can provide space for your own awakening. The purest listen in silence, and ask an occasional probing question, which encourages you to realize. They are your companion and friend on the journey into the absolute. Eventually you see that they are you. Reminds me of when my son was little and we played Oblivion together. He was scared of going into the crypts, and always asked me to sit there next to him when he first entered the gate to face the skeletons. Now he's mature enough to battle on his own, but I'm still there with him.

Jesus hinted that there was deeper meaning beyond his words. He fed them milk, because they weren't ready yet for meat. Even the whisper of truth was judged as blasphemy by the pharisees and sadducees. Only the poor in spirit who realized themselves as such were willing to listen. The Mosaic law was given to humanity in its infancy. Their god was seen as jealous and vengeful. Jesus taught them love and they killed him for it. Parables are deeper than teachings because they symbolize truth, without entangling people in beliefs. They teach at the level of the listener. The immature mind only enjoys the story of a wise man building his house on the rock, while the clear mind sees itself in the meaning beyond the words.

The mind incessantly asks questions, and the answer is always silence.

@Yimpa Enjoy the deep dive ?

It's like sitting at the back of a massive theater, surrounded by silent presence, watching a movie that is flooded with light.

Why not find a qualified therapist who can also provide guidance with your meditation practice? I've noticed that deepening phases are often accompanied by anxiety, which gradually settles as the mind adjusts to more docile states. It's like scuba diving for the soul. You need to take your time, rather than helter-skeltering into the murky depths. Patience, diligence, and unconditional love toward the self will eventually get you here.

Just because god loves you doesn't mean it is going to shape the cosmos to suit you. God loves you so much that it will shape you to suit the cosmos.

Now that is direct knowledge

Demons vary according to the person's samskaras (blockages). You may not fear snakes, for example, but probably safe to say that death is a common samskara. Especially ego death.

@Breakingthewall Hell is a preference hierarchy: 1) Archdemon 2) Demon 3) Devil 4) Imp There's nothing wrong with dissolving a few imps first before moving on to devils and demons. Eventually though, you have to face the archdemon of death, and love the smug off its face.

It is the simplest and the rarest realization. Don't let the mind deceive you into believing that dissolving demons is only possible in extreme states. Take any desire or fear that you have, it doesn't matter. You already have the power to let it flow through you. What you lack is motivation. For example, I hate snakes. They have always freaked me out. I could convince myself that willingly holding a snake is inconceivable. It is a lie. What if the life of my daughter depends on it? Amazing how instantly the will arises to meet the moment.

It's easy to mistake good fortune for flow. When the energy of current events aligns with your desires, life is easy and feels free. It's only when the energy shifts, and opposes your desires, that life becomes difficult and feels like bondage. Now is the window for realizing the absolute within, by allowing all energies that you encounter to flow through you without resistance. Until you surrender, the winds of life will continue to assault you, and make you suffer. Life will be entirely conditional, depending on which direction the winds blow. Freedom is living in the flow state, regardless of what energies you encounter. It is the unconditional nexus of being in the world, but not of the world.