Moksha

Tolle's The Power of Now is exceptional; who cares what book list it is on? Simple truth is spring water, and is best for the soul. For myself, I can't choose just one. That said, I love the Bhagavad Gita. Nothing has moved me more.

My first glimpse of god was sleeping out on my front lawn as a kid, and staring into the endless expanse of stars. I didn't know what it meant, but it was awesome all the same. ?

It's funny, in a satirical sense, that we rob ourselves of joy, by chasing after what is already here. The monkey mind is such a charlatan. Philosophy, religion, and scientific theory promise to deliver answers, and yet they always fall short of serenity. Who knew that it was all about letting go of knowing, and simply being?

⚡ The moment you realize who you really are, the ego dissolves. It is nothing more than seeing clearly, within the dream. The ego thrives on specialness, and awakening is the opposite of specialness. It is convergence. Your eyes open, and you see the sameness in everything. It is all Consciousness, manifesting itself in myriad ways, but always the same Consciousness. There is no "better than", no "worse than", no "transcendence", and no "defeat", from the ultimate perspective. Only creativity, expression, art, storytelling...all within the relative dimension of the dream. The dream is born of you, and as such is part of you, but ultimately, you are the infinite, changeless Dreamer of dreams.

If you were awake, you would see that you are both the shark and the weaker fish. There is no representation of enlightened consciousness. Consciousness is everything, and every nothing. It is entirely nondual.

I hear you. Any ideology is treacherous. Maybe boredom itself is a product of the conditioned mind. When you are present, how can you be bored? Life is infinitely vibrant, when your eyes are open. This morning, a bird with a broken wing passed by my window. A blue jay saw the weakness, and attacked the bird and carried it away. The blue jay was doing what it does, but strangely, from my perspective, is seemed an act of mercy. Nature works itself out. I'm not Buddhist, but I have resonated with the words of the Buddha. It's not about ideas, thoughts, or emotions. It is all about realizing the source of your suffering, and the ending of it.

Asking for thoughts = asking why Thoughts are devilry. Peace is being.

My advice: stay way from evangelicals. They tend to be about beliefs, judgment, and self-indulgent emotions, all of which are bait for the conditioned mind. If you are pulled toward religion, Unitarian Universalist or Buddhism are better bets. Even there, see it as a step in your spiritual journey, which is so much simpler and more beautiful than any religion can deliver. You already are, you just don't know it yet.

Should is just another word for ? Do what drives you. Be what brings you peace. Love what resonates. You are the Storyteller, so tell the best damn story every told.

Narcissism sounds a lot like solipsism

It is more of a realization than a transcendence. You aren't defeating the ego, so much as seeing it for what it really is. And when you do, you will laugh

The secret to distrusting the conditioned mind is simple: Suffer. When you have suffered enough, your eyes will open, and you will directly realize the source of your suffering. All this time, it was the monkey mind making you miserable. Only then will you have the strength to sacrifice its constant chatter to the void. Sweet, sweet silence at last ? Don't be fooled, though. Just because you have awakened doesn't mean the monkey is dead. It will constantly try to climb back out, and whisper into your ear. Vigilance and single-pointed attention will keep you safe, which as it turns out, is the point of practicing meditation. ?‍♂️

The question is not whether everything is real (which is true), but how everything is real. Ultimate reality is objectively real. It is timeless, changeless, and depthless. Relative reality is subjectively real. Spacetime and the cosmos are not absolute, but depend on the perspective of the perceiver. The ocean is real, as are the transient waves that endlessly arise from and return to it. Everything and every nothing is all still Consciousness.

Define reality. Ultimate reality is. Relative reality (aka illusion) also is. Yes, it is born of ultimate reality, but as such, it is still infused with reality. Is the wave not also the ocean? Reality is all of the above. There can be only one. ?

@Heaven Simness is sameness

God is both the player and the game. It is ultimate and relative reality. It is the dreamer and the dream.

Healing happens when you see the lies of the ego for what they are. Self-help and spirituality consensually derive from this core realization. Lofty philosophy tries to conceptualize the Mystery that cannot be conceptualized, and as such it is just another egoic adventure, forever chasing its tail. If you want true self-help and spirituality, let go of conceptualization and open your eyes to being.

@Manusia @seeking_brilliance Here's to less fishing and more being ? If wishes were fishes I know where I'd be Casting my net in the dark rolling sea And if my net's empty when it comes back to shore I'll throw it away and go fishing no more - Eric Bogle

The deepest lesson I learned as a Ph.D. is that I know nothing. Education is bound to relative reality. Wisdom is realizing the sameness in everything. I choose wisdom over education.

A school of fish is no less oblivious than an individual fish, to the parochial reality of their existence. Beautiful in their synchronized formations, but still inevitably limited by their nature. If anything, they only reinforce the boundaries of their reality, by surrounding themselves with similar beings. Waking up isn't about swimming with the school; it is about realizing Yourself as the ocean in which the school swims. ? In the end, it is always an individual journey, back to the sameness of who You always are.

Do we delude ourselves when we dream?

Enlightenment is just another state of Consciousness. Everything, from rocks to animals to aliens, is Consciousness. We are a sleeping titan with moments of lucidity, but the moments themselves, of awakening to ourselves, are also part of the dream. How can moments actually exist, when time is an illusion? Ultimately, the dream, regardless of what form it takes, is nothing more than imagination, within the supreme reality of us. We are the abode of the cosmos. The cosmos is our dream. Sound insane? Mission accomplished

Enlightenment requires sublime intelligence, diligence, and surrender. Animals are incapable of this, as are most humans. Presence though, is something else. Animals are beautifully present.

In ultimate reality, there is no "one", no separation, and no superiority/inferiority. It is all the same. Consciousness dreams, in relative reality, which allows individuals and perspectives to exist, within the dream. How could ultimate reality make "sense", when it is beyond time, space, and the logical human brain?

Love is just a moniker for non-duality. In the spiritual sense, Love is far more profound than the emotion we feel as humans. It is the actuality that everything, and every nothing, is the same Consciousness. Sub Ek: It is all the same. Given that, how silly is it to feel superior or inferior to someone else?