Moksha

@Preety_India Science is pragmatic, and even beautiful, in the realm of relative reality. It is not only useful, but it is reliable, within the conscripted scope of self-survival. There is danger in mistaking science as a telescope to understanding ultimate reality. It is treacherous, in that sense, because it is entirely conceptual, and is inevitably blind to wisdom. Concepts are critical for pioneering through our human experience, but ultimately, they are only concepts. There is an infinitely deeper reality, which surpasses all concepts. Do you see? ?

@Preety_India Psychics and astrologists operate on the same principle; throw out a lot of predictions, and inevitably something will stick. I have stood in Delphi, at the place of the Oracle, and it is the same as every other human endeavor, to understand and proclaim that which is beyond the human mind to comprehend. I love India; in many ways it is the cradle of human spirituality, and I am thankful for its wisdom. Astrology, though, is not a science. And even if it were, what is science? Beyond all concepts, there is only Self-realization. I am a trained scientist, but at this point in my life, I trust nothing, beyond direct wisdom. Every thought, theorem, and proclamation is nothing but a lie. By the way, I am an Aquarius. Please don't judge me

Enlightened people are beyond awakening. They have abandoned every attraction of the relative world. Lucid living, with zero attachment to outcomes. I am on my way, but the very idea is disingenuous, because ultimately there is no "I" on a journey, and no destination. There is only this.

Astrology, like most pseudo-sciences, attracts people by making them feel unique. The reality is that you can read the description of every Zodiac sign, and resonate with something, regardless of the sign. It is classic self-confirmatory bias. Most psychics know and apply this in spades. Why would the time of your birth have anything to do with your personality? Better, why would your birth, regardless of timing, even matter, from the perspective of ultimate reality? Time is an illusion, just like everything else in relative reality. Guess what my Zodiac sign is?

Maslow's hierarchy is just another model of the human journey. Big deal. Ultimately, the journey is already the destination.

@snowyowl "You" got it, fellow Self @Preety_India Agree, and not qualified to human love. It is all, human and inhuman, ultimately, unconditional love. Not an emotion, a simple realization of the sameness of everything.

Perhaps, rather than thinking you are dreaming up people and events, realize that there is no you, from an ultimate perspective. The people and events you experience are just as unreal as you. There is only Consciousness, manifesting itself through infinite forms.

The human emotion of love is often the nemesis of actual Love. It is usually about possessing, needing, identifying, objectifying, and romanticizing, rather than simply being. Ultimate Love is nothing more, and nothing less, than realizing that there is no more, and no less.

Nah, great username, but maybe uncapitalize the "S" Then your username becomes identical to mine. Moksha means to "blow out" the flame of the self. Emptiness of self is the realization of Self.

Amen, brother...I mean Self.

Any distinction is arbitrary, and is bound to relative reality. Ultimately, we are all the same. Distinction is the dream.

Love is beyond emotion, it is simply the realization of the Oneness of all. ? You're right, it is purely wholesome.

Unconditional love is not an emotion. It is a realization.

The difference is conditioned hormonic response toward a particular someone, vs. awakening to the sameness in all of us. If you see them as the same, you ain't woke yet

Violence in video games is not the issue. Addiction to video games, even Farm Town on Facebook (which my mom played daily), is the issue, since any form of addiction is ultimately egoic.

Are you talking about love, the human emotion, or Love, the realization that we are all the same?

I appreciate my education in psychology. It has helped me understand the conditioning and deconditioning of the mind. The Vedas speak to the dangers of attachment, and the peace of realizing equanimity. It all converges for me. Ultimately, that is what awakening is all about. It is the realization that you are not your conditioned mind, and that it is possible to dissolve the attachments that create the compulsions which are the source of your suffering. Conceptual understanding of conditioning is helpful, but only when you are ready to dive deeper into the essence of who you are, beyond what most psychological disciplines acknowledge. There is a branch, called spiritual psychology, which is promising. Check out Steve Taylor. He has studied, from a scientific perspective, the awakening process. Interesting stuff, but as with every other theory/teaching/discovery, still just a pointer. The secret is to let go of concepts entirely, and open your eyes to being.

Define awakened. One way of seeing, is the clarity of an artist with a profound connection with being, often beyond understanding the nature of the connection, only channeling it. All true creativity arises from Consciousness. I love Vincent Van Gogh and Michelangelo, whose works have resonated deeply. More than syrup for the masses, their creations are Conscious art.

The Power of Now was a turning point for me, but nonduality is nowhere more clearly defined than in the Bhagavad Gita. Go figure, nonduality equates with equanimity: They live in freedom who have gone beyond the dualities of life. Competing with no one, they are alike in success and failure and content with whatever comes to them. Those who have attained perfect renunciation are free from any sense of duality; they are unaffected by likes and dislikes, Arjuna, and are free from the bondage of self-will. The immature think that knowledge and action are different, but the wise see them as the same. The person who is established in one path will attain the rewards of both. People claim to have directly realized nonduality, but how many of us are equally content with success and failure, and consistently coherent with our knowledge and our actions? Nonduality is not just a realization, it is the purest state of being.

@math159w What you experience on a psychedelic gives you a glimpse of ultimate reality, which is that the entire cosmos is just a dream. Everything still exists, within the dream, but you understand that it is just a dream. I call it lucid dreaming. Even as a character, bound within the dream, you directly realize your ultimate nature as Consciousness itself. Awakening doesn't cause anything to stop existing, it is the profound realization that ultimately, nothing existed in the first place. Even if you are awake, your character remains limited by the dream itself. In one of his videos, Leo pointed out that while on a psychedelic, he couldn't transform the bookcase in his room into some other object. We are still limited by the laws of the cosmos, because we are characters within the cosmos. The good news is, we can directly realize our ultimate nature, and greatly improve the quality of our dream.

Welcome to the forum, @math159w. For starters, don't try to wrap your mind around it. Consciousness is the ultimate Mystery, and cannot be comprehended by its creations, any more than an individual wave can understand the ocean. It doesn't stop people from trying to make sense of it, though Ultimately, the truth can only be directly realized, beyond concepts. As I see it, there is ultimate reality and relative reality. Ultimately, everything is Consciousness, and in that sense, people don't exist. We are created by Consciousness, as an expression of Consciousness, but we are all the same Consciousness. Relatively, people do exist. Time and space are the parameters of relative reality, and within those parameters, everything in the cosmos exists. The Bhagavad Gita says that God is the abode of the cosmos. The cosmos is created by Consciousness, and abides within Consciousness, but ultimately it is all just Consciousness, in different states of Self-awareness. Hope that helps, rather than confusing you further.

After implies before, life implies death, oblivion implies existence. Not to dismiss relative reality, because it is also reality, just seeing it from the ultimate perspective. What happens if time and space collapse when the dreamer wakes? Questions about before and after, life and death, oblivion and existence, are seen clearly, and the answer is...

When you settle into stillness, simply being, you realize there is no growth, and no liberation. You are already infinitely abundant. When it hits you, it is hilarious All this time, pursuing spiritual growth, when you are already free.

Turquoise for the kill! ?

Thanks for sharing. I recently finished Being Ram Dass, and was inspired by the integrity following his stroke, eventuating, after years of disability, in his death. They made a custom wheelchair for the guy, which could take him to the edge of the ocean. Love and courage to the last. We are all mortal. As kids, we don't see it. As adults, we tunnel vision on survival. Eventually, we realize that despite our best intentions, all of "this" will end. We will be a corpse in the ground, or ashes on the Ganges. Maybe we are reborn, maybe not. It doesn't matter. The secret is in the present moment. As Ram Dass put it beautifully, Be Here Now.