Moksha

Enlightenment is freedom from ego. Anyone that thinks Trump has no ego doesn't understand what ego is. Honestly, I feel sorry for him. The human is likely beyond redemption, at least in this life, but if you look past that, his Self is the same that all of us is. Enough politics though, or I will need to self-moderate and move my post to the appropriate forum

Mysticism it the pathway to spirituality. Your true nature is Consciousness, and mysticism is the journey of Self-discovery. There are no concepts involved, only direct experience as Consciousness itself. I can't speak for Leo, but Consciousness is completely unconstrained. Imagination is just another word for creation, and creation is the game Consciousness plays. It is the ultimate storyteller, and what you think of as "you" is just a character in the divine story.

Welcome, @Mythos! Mysticism is less of a worldview, and more the path of directly realizing reality. It is nonconceptual, unmitigated, personal realization and resonance with the divine. There are mystics across most religions (Hindu, Christian, etc.), and the difference is that they trust their direct experience above any external authority.

Thus the quotes.

Religious beliefs vs. Spirituality. Conditioned mind vs. Consciousness. Ego vs. unconditional Love. Specialness vs. Sameness. Transient grasping vs. Being. It's your story, choose the telling.

Isn't it funny how it always resolves to Love? I would spend time with the people I Love. I would eat the food that fills me with Love. I would feel the music that inspires Love. What is the common denominator here? ?

My first thread, when I joined the forum, was on free will. The ego is an illusion. It has no more control than You allow. It is a disjointed bundle of energy that saps You of Yourself. Give it control, and it will make you suffer. Deny its lies, and you will be free. The "choice" is up to You.

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For me, the catalytic insight was that my conditioned mind has always been the source of my suffering. I saw my ego for what it truly was. I knew, beyond doubt, that my ego could never be trusted. When I directly realized this, I pried my fingers from the ledge that I had been clinging to all of my life, and fell into the void. It was a freefall away from "myself", and the Love that is my true Self caught me, and has kept me safe ever since.

Why suffer unnecessarily? The only reason people suffer is because they have not awakened to the reality of who they are. They chase after happiness in a transient world that, by its very nature, can never deliver what they want. The look for security in insecurity. They crave love, without realizing that their essential nature is love. It's important to distinguish between suffering and pain. An enlightened person is as vulnerable to pain, dissolution, and death as any other human being. But they no longer suffer, because instead of denying reality, they realize and embrace it. The quality of their existence and their interactions with others is more refined. Their love is unconditional, and that makes all the difference.

Good observation. People get confused about this, probably more than any other subject (pun intended) Ultimately, there is no object, only the infinite Subject. Relatively, there are endless causal interactions between subjects and objects. The mystery is in how these two, Ultimate and Relative reality, interact and conflate into the One God. I prefer the term "Relative reality" to "dream", because dreams imply insignificance. While it is true that Relative reality is of secondary significance, it is not devoid of meaning. Instead of being apathetic about the "dream", live lucidly. Realize who You ultimately are, but LOVE the dream itself. You created it for a reason.

Eternity implies time. Time only exists in relative reality. In ultimate reality, there is no time, no space, no separation, no change. Don't worry about time, just channel this.

It only takes as long as you need to realize that "you" are temporary. You are infinite, and we are all You. Nothing that is real can be threatened. ?

? Realizing not only that your thoughts mean nothing, but that they are the enemy of Self-realization, is the beginning of wisdom. Nothing can be known, and nothing needs to be known. It sounds cliche, but it really is about being. Hope you enjoy the book, bro!

The ego hungers, insatiably, for security. Have you practiced being present, in insecurity? Can you be at peace, not knowing anything? Great reading, if you are looking for a stable alternative, beyond psychedelics (author is guilty as charged, but gets it): The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety - Alan Watts

Running the conceptual hamster wheel is exhausting, and it will eventually wear you out. I'm not much into models, including spiral dynamics. They tend to point people toward thinking, encouraging egoic comparisons, rather than Self-realizing. That said, ask yourself what you really mean by "understanding the existential dilemma". Understanding is intellectualizing. It is not about understanding. It is about being. You are already enough.

It relates to the question I asked you earlier. I trust my intuition, because it doesn't let me down. I don't demand an immediate answer. I just ask the question, and trust that the answer will come. Often it is surprising, sometimes it is even frightening, but I am thankful for it, and I respond to it. There is an infinitely vast intelligence, which is the Source of who we ultimately are, that we can access, even in the world of relative reality. Ironically, the more we let go, the easier the answers flow.

In the realm of relative reality, you define everything. Given that (major) caveat: I define intuition as pure intelligence, which arises from Consciousness. It doesn't insinuate, let alone require, guruism. Children can intuit, probably more readily than adults, because their mind is less conditioned. A few minutes ago, unrelated to this conversation, I was learning about Vipassana, which is insight meditation. I have never practiced it, but it resonates with my understanding of intuition. It is not conceptual, and it is not even emotional. It is spiritual.

My intuition tells me that it defines itself differently than your intuition

God is strange-loopy that way ?

The Bhagavad Gita teaches that God is the abode of the cosmos. What does that mean? The cosmos is not just a dream to be discarded. It is the manifestation of God. The Atman is not just an illusion to be dispelled. It is the incarnation of God. Try getting away from God. You can't, because You are also, mysteriously, God. The cosmos abides within God, yet God is greater than the cosmos. All of it, ultimate reality and relative reality, is God.

Thanks all for the warm welcome ?? This forum was a haven for me when I first emerged from the cave, and I am grateful to help keep the fire burning bright ?

My biggest flaw is self-judgment. It was the greatest source of my suffering for a long time, and even now, it remains my ego's favorite weapon. It is only when I am Consciously present that the judgment is dissolved by love.

That screaming chimpanzee is your conditioned mind, trapped inside its conceptual cage. Intuition arises from Consciousness, as direct insight. Notice that your examples are all forms of judgment: beautiful girls/high positions/athletic champions are superior. Judgments of superiority/inferiority are a sure sign that the ego is at the helm. When you abide in your true nature as Consciousness, there is no judgment, only love, because you see the sameness of Yourself in everything.

As with every truth, verify only through your direct experience. Most of the unexplainable things I have seen or experienced, I choose not to share, because they are personal, and it is unlikely to help someone along their spiritual path, in any case.