Moksha

Enlightenment means to be filled with light. There is still a translucent shell of the apparent self, but it is filled and overflowing with the Consciousness that is our true nature. I differentiate the term from awakening, which is the seeing of your true self. It is a critical first step, but not yet the purification of the conditioned mind. As the Buddha put it: Few are those who reach the other shore; most people keep running up and down this shore. But those who follow the dharma, when it has been well taught, will reach the other shore, hard to reach, beyond the power of death. They leave darkness behind and follow the light. They give up home and leave pleasure behind. Calling nothing their own, they purify their hearts and rejoice. Well trained in the seven fields of enlightenment, their senses disciplined and free from attachments, they live in freedom, full of light.

There are credible accounts of people who have had a near death experience, where they were separated from their physical body but still had a form identity, and were able to perceive events around them. For example, one woman heard and reported on a conversation between her husband and the doctor down the hallway, which she wouldn't have been able to hear in her normal state. I don't believe anything about what happens after death of the apparent form, just presenting it as a possibility.

Near death and other paranormal experiences suggest the possibility that the apparent form of you perpetuates in some way after death, as a continuation of the dream. Ultimately, whether Consciousness imagines the same or a new form doesn't really matter, does it? Your true identity is always Consciousness, whether or not it appears to be other than it is.

I agree with you. Not only is it impossible for concepts to capture reality, but they can become a barrier to realizing who you are. Awakening is direct realization, and it is entirely non-conceptual. When we identify with concepts, even spiritual concepts, we hinder the awakening process. It is a form of slavery, as you describe. Ideas about spirituality are not spirituality. At best, teachings can only point toward and prepare you for awakening. The awakening itself happens when Consciousness is ready for it to happen. Teachings like those in the Bhagavad Gita and the Dhammapada can point toward truth, but only when they are seen as the scrawlings of fellow mystics on the map, and are not mistaken for the territory itself.

Leo has said in the past that he is not enlightened. What is enlightenment, other than the direct realization and actualization of your true identity, within the dream?

Every concept, including the concept of letting go, is bound to the dream. I'm not suggesting that the finger is the moon, only that it points toward it. We don't understand how Consciousness dreams, only that it appears to do so, including appearing to awaken to itself within the dream. Spirituality is the game of Self-discovery that it plays. Once the appearance of you has awakened to its ultimate nature, there is no need for spiritual teachings. However, these can help you cross the river to the true shore of yourself.

The letting go is of the appearance that you are something other than your ultimate nature. It is seeing truly, within the dream. Spirituality is Self-realization. It is the reason the dream exists in the first place As Aldous Huxley put it: The Perennial Philosophy appears in every age and civilization: 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

Spirituality is the letting go of concepts, attachments, and aversions, or awakening to your ultimate nature within the dream.

What is the difference between losing your mind, and losing identification with your mind? You can still be enlightened, and enjoy the apparent human form, without ultimately identifying with it.

The Buddha compared the mind to an elephant: Long ago my mind used to wander as it liked and do what it wanted. Now I can rule my mind as the mahout controls the elephant with his hooked staff. Meditation is the exercise of learning to ride and guide the elephant, rather than being trampled by it. It can be a beautiful, powerful beast when it is properly trained.

God, as a pointer, is a blessing and a curse. It resonates with the mysterious truth of ultimate reality, but it can be heavily laden with conditioned beliefs. I'm all about God, absence the concepts. Let go of the idea of God and be it.

Awakening puts the ego on high alert. Enlightenment unravels it entirely. The closer you get to enlightenment, the less of you there is to be enlightened, until there is only light, which is who you actually are.

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@Endangered-EGO I see prayer as an appeal of the human form, which is Consciousness appearing as other than itself, to its ultimate nature. The ego has no power over whether the prayer is answered, and the greater the ego, the less likely the prayer will be heard. Exactly ? Ultimately, there is no you to be making a choice in the first place, and everything within the dream is determined by Consciousness. Within the pinball machine of the cosmos, there are apparent causes and effects, but it is all determined by the player that sets the ball in motion.

When you realize that regret, guilt, and anxiety not only accomplish nothing, but actively sabotage your presence, it is easier to let them go. A conceptual realization isn't enough though. The suffering has to go bone-deep for most of us to be willing to release it.

Consciousness can dream anything it desires to dream, into existence. Does that mean you can LOA yourself into being a billionaire? Since ultimately, there is no you, it is a silly question. Within the dream, if Consciousness desires for you to be a billionaire, it will happen. Just realize that Consciousness is calling the shots, not you. The less of you there is, and the more your ultimate nature as Consciousness is present, the easier it will be to manifest within the dream. If you find yourself attached to the outcome of being a billionaire, it's a sure sign that there is too much of you trying to make it happen. Wake up, within the dream, and enjoy it for what it is. There's nothing wrong with intent, but realize that it is about the journey, not about the destination. The moment you place the LOA prize above presence, you have fallen back asleep.

Absolute truth cannot be known, only directly realized.

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I agree that there is a purpose for the dream, but I see it as creativity, which is the inevitable manifestation of love. Only the ego is capable of boredom.

I haven't seen the video, but it is a death wish, for the ego: allow all boundaries to dissolve.

If your career goal is to do mental health therapy, a graduate degree in psychology will help. You will need it for licensure, and for credibility with your patients. However, sounds like you are more interested in spiritual coaching and helping others actualize their life purpose. In that case, the advanced degree is not going to help much.

Welcome to the forum, @thenondualtankie ? As I see it, we are only willing to face our fears when the alternative is even worse. From the spiritual perspective, this is actually the purpose of suffering. The monkey mind has tremendous centrifugal force. It holds our attention captive, and we break free, realizing our true nature as Consciousness, by seeing the suffering that it creates.

I'm acknowledging what he is saying, just pointing out that ultimate truth can only be directly realized. Awakening is entirely non-conceptual. It is beyond the capacity of the human mind to comprehend. Asking "Why why why why" is counterproductive. You are trying to conceptually understand a truth so profound that it seems paradoxical to the mind. The mind can't accept paradox, and is constantly trying to solve for it. How do time and timeless interact? How is change possible if ultimate reality is changeless? Who is seeking enlightenment, if separation is only an illusion? How does Consciousness appear to be other than it is? Ultimate reality is called a Mystery, because the mind can't understand it. It can only be Self-realized, beyond the mind. The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things. Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery. - Tao Te Ching Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” If he had stopped thinking for a moment, he would have realized that beyond thought there is a vast realm of Consciousness. Whatever a scientist looks at to solve the mystery of Consciousness is the Consciousness itself. We cannot make ourselves into an object of knowledge; that would be the egoic self. The essence of who you are can never be an object because it is the eternal subject. You cannot find God as an object. - Eckhart Tolle The more one studies attempted solutions to problems in politics and economics, in art, philosophy, and religion, the more one has the impression of extremely gifted people wearing out their ingenuity at the impossible and futile task of trying to get the water of life into neat and permanent packages. Religious ideas are like words--of little use, and often misleading, unless you know the concrete realities to which they refer. The word 'water' is a useful means of communication amongst those who know water. The same is true of the word and the idea called 'God'...The reality which corresponds to 'God' and 'eternal life' is honest, above-board, plain, and open for all to see. But the seeing requires a correction of mind, just as clear vision sometimes requires a correction of the eyes. Belief clings, but faith lets go...Our minds have been prepared for it by this very collapse of the beliefs in which we have sought security. From a point of view strictly, if strangely, in accord with certain religious traditions, this disappearance of the old rocks and absolutes is no calamity, but rather a blessing. It almost compels us to face reality with open minds, and you can only know God through an open mind just as you can only see the sky through a clear window. To discover the ultimate Reality of life--the Absolute, the eternal, God--you must cease to try to grasp it in the forms of idols. These idols are not just crude images, such as the mental picture of God as an old gentleman on a golden throne. They are our beliefs, our cherished preconceptions of the truth, which block the unreserved opening of the mind and heart to reality. The legitimate use of images is to express the truth, not to possess it. 'Unless a grain of corn fall into the ground and die, it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit'...What religion calls the vision of God is found in giving up any belief in the idea of God. By the same law of reversed effort, we discover the 'infinite' and the 'absolute,' not by straining to escape from the finite and relative world, but by the most complete acceptance of its limitations. Paradox as it may seem, we likewise find life meaningful only when we have seen that it is without purpose, and know the 'mystery of the universe' only when we are convinced that we know nothing about it at all. - Alan Watts

Yes. Everything is Consciousness, and Consciousness is everything. Every being in the cosmos is still Consciousness, seeming to be what it is not. The appearance of separation, time, space, and change is not ultimately real. The monkey mind will ask this question forever, and never find an answer.

Be the changeless imagining change When the wise realize the Self, Formless in the midst of forms, changeless In the midst of change, omnipresent And supreme, they go beyond sorrow.