Moksha

Thank you, @Breakingthewall it's good to hear from you as well. Metaphorically, retiring alone in a cave is exactly what I did I'm happy to see so many familiar faces still here. Sorry to learn that @Nahm isn't one of them, he gave so much to this community.

Congratulations The more honed your meditation, the harder your ego will fight to stay alive. It cannot stand the present state of no-thought. Fighting with it only empowers it, so let your thoughts be while recognizing that they are not who you ultimately are.

To be healed, are you willing to be dissolved? Dis-solved: Letting go of the monkey mind demanding answers and surrendering to the spaciousness that you are. Meditation (and maybe psychedelics) will help you here. What if there is no solution, other than enjoying the present expression of the Self?

Of course they had thoughts, but they didn't identify as their thoughts. Do you see the difference? Thoughts come and go, but they are not who you are. Funny thing is, when you stop confusing yourself with your thoughts, and are simply present, the quality of your thoughts and actions improves exponentially. Being awake doesn't mean being a zombie. Just the opposite. When you are bound to the machinations of the monkey mind, you become its slave rather than it serving you.

Derealization is the thought that something is not real. When you are truly present, there are no thoughts, only being. It is impossible to suffer in the state of pure awareness.

Ultimately, yes. But relatively, no. Would you rather dream lucidly or unconsciously? Do you care about the quality of the dream?

Desires and aversions are opposite ends of the same stick. They are both forms of attachment, and are equally blind to your true nature, which needs nothing. The senses have been conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant. Do not be ruled by them; they are obstacles in your path.

If Consciousness is everything (and it is), then prayer is Self-communication. What is wrong with asking the unveiled aspect of yourself for guidance with the veiled aspect?

By definition, religion is dogma, which is antithetical to truth. Doesn't matter if the concepts were created in the east or the west. The beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism are as flawed as the beliefs of Christianity. Mystics seek the direct realization of God, within themselves, free from conceptualization. As Aldous Huxley found in the Perennial Philosophy, the inner path exists across all religions and faiths.

Consciousness is beyond change and changelessness, and it is a realization rather than a thought. The monkey mind is always trying to make sense of ultimate reality, but it can't comprehend paradox.

Reality is beyond everything and nothing, beyond existence and nonexistence, beyond form and formless. All of these are dualities, and reality is beyond dualities. Lord of the gods, you are the abode of the universe. Changeless, you are what is and what is not, and beyond the duality of existence and nonexistence. You are the first among the gods, the timeless spirit, the resting place of all beings. You are the knower and the thing which is known. You are the final home; with your infinite form you pervade the cosmos.

Within the cosmos, the more true you are to your nature as Consciousness, the more moral your behavior will be. Ultimately, Consciousness is beyond good and evil, and beyond the suffering of the human heart. Find your true self in the field, and instead of worrying about right and wrong, simple be. Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about. - Rumi

You can easily still the mind by drinking a few long island iced teas until you pass out, drooling on the floor. Meditation is less about stilling the mind than about opening the curtain of your conditioning to the infinite sun, which is your true nature.

Exactly. You can be awake, but if you are still suffering from some perception of past or future, you are not enlightened.

Connecting to deeper Truth is a spiritual, not a conceptual, realization. Full realization, or enlightenment, occurs when attachments are entirely released and your unconditional nature is embraced. It is not about understanding, but about being. Life is the dancer. You are the dance…Being is the dancer. Human is the dance. - Eckhart Tolle

Awakening is the beginning of the end of the ego. Enlightenment is its destruction, due to the dissolving of all apparent boundaries. As humans, we're in a bit of a quandary. We have the capacity to realize our ultimate nature as Consciousness, but we are still attached by our desires within the dream. Awakening isn't some epiphany that instantly dissolves all of our desires. It simply shows you what is ultimately real. It is then up to you, as Consciousness, to actualize it. It scares the ego to death, which is what it is intended to do.

@Vincent S ?

I agree; reality is literally the product of awareness. Whatever we attend to, we amplify, whether consciously or unconsciously. Cause and effect only exist within the dream; ultimate reality is changeless. I appreciate Eckhart's recognition of the vast intelligence of Consciousness. It is super-cosmic, and it is has a purpose that is beyond the capacity of the human mind to comprehend. Eventually, evolution will reunite the creation with the creator, and the process starts all over again.

One of the most honest answers I've seen to this perpetual question: The essence of who you are is beyond death. That comes out of inner realization. I don’t know much beyond that. You’ll have to wait and see when you actually die. - Eckhart Tolle

Good insights, you might find this interesting: The Universe is engaged in the process of awakening, or becoming more conscious, and every life form is gradually becoming more conscious…After mass extinctions, new life forms even more complex developed…What we see is only the surface reality. There is a vast intelligence operating underneath the world of phenomena. This vast intelligence is consciousness, the universal consciousness, and that is the ultimate reality…It’s not finished. God is still creating this world and you are an essential part of this creative process. You are not separate from the awakening; you are an expression of the awakening…Now there is not only the evolution of consciousness. There is also conscious evolution of consciousness…That happens when you face an external situation and bring conscious presence to it, rather than reactivity…The next thing that is going to happen, to a large extent depends on your state of consciousness at this moment…Reality changes as a reflection of collective consciousness. - Eckhart Tolle

NDEs are still bound to the dream. There is the appearance of an individual, which has been conditioned over many lifetimes, and which carries its karma from one apparent life to the next. People see whatever supernatural being they believe in, because that entity is a product of their unique conditioning. It doesn't mean the entity is any more real than they are, only that it is a natural effect of their conditioned beliefs. Eventually, the apparent individual wakes up and realizes its true nature as Consciousness within the dream. That is the beginning of the spiritual journey, which is the gradual dissolving of the self, until that individual ceases to exist within the dream, and all apparent boundaries dissolve.

How do you differentiate serious vs. fun? Love, happiness, serenity, and creativity are...(fill in the blank).

The irony of spirituality is that the more enlightened you become, the less of the apparent you there is. Awakening is the realization that your apparent identity is not who you actually are. It is the first step on the path of enlightenment, which gradually dissolves the bonds of your conditioning, until only a translucent apparent self remains. Consciousness, which is who you actually are, shines more brightly through the apparent self the less bound it is to identity within the dream.

The more of you there is, the dumber you are.

If someone has directly realized their true nature, they are in a better position to help others than someone who has not. It's true that language is self-limiting, and at best teachings can only point to the truth. As long as the teachings are not mistaken for the truth, but seen for the map that they are, they can help others navigate toward the truth within themselves. Once that truth is directly realized, the teachings can be dropped entirely.