vizual

Every experience where you forget yourself for a moment can be interpreted as an enlightenment experience. But as long there is still someone who is experiencing the perceived "oneness" it is not true enlightenment. Weed is not going to get you enlightened.

I used to have problems food with calorie restricting and the subsequent food binging. After several years of screwing around and yoyo-ing in weight I realized calorie counting is not a viable long term strategy for both mental and physical health. Not only did my weight fluctuate a bit, I felt that food became a way too important focus in my life. With the result that my quality of life was severely compromised. So the first thing I did was stop calorie counting and stop worrying what the scales says. Second thing I did was really analyze my binge behavior, why did my mind go haywire when there was yummy food in sight? The key here wasn't really the food choices itself, I could binge on the most crazy food products, it was definitely psychological, not physiological. The key was the lack of awareness, I realized that when I had a craving I wasn't really hungry. It was my mind interpreting a certain state of mind as hunger, mostly boredom, or fear of not getting enough food in. It was my mind justifying to eat food, while the body wasn't really asking for it. So the thing that was really important to me was to not believe everything the mind says, if the mind wants to eat doesn't mean the body wants to eat. Another problem was that once I started eating, I could go totally crazy. You know, you totally go blank and just start eating, once it's over you think, what have I done? Again, another key point is awareness. Upon analyzing the moments of my binges I felt this contraction in my body, it's a contraction of muscles in the body. The food gave me a safe and comfortable feeling, the contraction shows me that at that moment I am trying to escape reality by trying to block out everything and only focus on food and my body. So it's really important that you relax while you eat, both the body and the mind, don't shove the food in.

I remember Alan Watts saying in a talk that most people are dogs running around chasing cars, even if the dog managed to catch up to a car he wouldn't have a clue what to do with it. It's basically saying that people are more in love with the idea of fulfilling their grand desires, than actually fulfilling them. Because deep down inside we know, even if we managed to fulfill all our needs, reality is going to feel exactly the same after the high of getting it has worn off. Striving for things can be fun for a while, it can give a great sense of purpose, connection, determination, excitement and passion. But ultimately you inevitably come to realize it wasn't real al along.

Nothing can be seen in a non-dualistic way because for something to be seen there has be be a seer and a seen(=dual). And no, I don't mean that "nothing" actually can be seen, I really mean nothing can be seen

Who said anything about changing our human experience ever? An enlightened being doesn't become superman, he is still a mortal. A "human" is just an expression of the Absolute, an enlightened being knows that his humanity is just a temporary expression.

Nisargadatta never claimed he never experienced any emotions anymore after his enlightenment. But he experienced emotions as something that appeared from the Absolute, it is not he that is having the emotion, the emotion just appears and vanishes again. You use "the idea of awareness", is your awareness really only an idea? And, in the experience of your whole life, can you only come to the conclusion that YOU are just the body? You are approaching all this from the perspective of a separate self still, that is one of the functions of the mind. Enquire if you are truly only a function of the mind, and where this you can be found. Because you probably experiencing the sense of 'you' every second of your waking hours, find out where this you resides in your experience.

It's like these fathers that want to live through their children by forcing them to become professional athletes or whatever. Even if the father thinks it comes from a good place, it usually fucks the kids up mentally. Even if the father verbally thinks he's doing this for the good of his kid, it usually comes from a deep internal insecurity of the parent. It's is actually that bad energy that will get transmitted to the child, not the verbal intention. The best thing you can do is to love the child unconditionally, that way he will stay closest to 'truth'. Even though you don't have real control over anyone's trajectory in life. We all pick up beliefs in our lives, it is a part of being human. There is no way to get around that. Everyone has to go on their own "spiritual journey" to find their own truth eventually.

Keep watching that feeling, don't let it take you over. You are neither that feeling nor the ego, even it might feel so at times, especially during stressful times. The unpleasant circumstance is something the mind superimposes on reality, but it doesn't really exist in reality. Even something really tangible like physical pain doesn't necessarily has to lead to suffering, it is the mind that creates the suffering. There is unfortunately not a quick fix to overcoming all perceived unpleasant circumstances. Keep meditating and keep that calm, ever present awareness present in whatever situation may arrive in your experience. Even within that stressful feeling of unpleasantness, there is peace and love. Pretending your feeling of anxiety doesn't exist won't help you, you are only resisting reality this way. Even though the experience isn't really true, in your experience it does manifest. And every manifestation has to be fully accepted, or else there will be suffering, there's no way to get around it. At the end of the day, we all have to face the objects our minds are trying to hold on to so desperately. A helpful exercise to do is maybe to find out what internal belief system made you nervous in that specific kind of situation. When you know the belief that is causing you distress you can face it, so it eventually might absolve into reality.

Go be happy

I guess by an egoless person you mean an enlightened person, right? To answer your question, enlightened people don't really have a view on anything because there isn't really a separate person inside that body. They 'know' that every kind of separation, whether material or personal, is illusionary. That does not mean they give up living in a house, having a car etc. But they 'know' that nothing is everyone's property, and everything is no one's property, if that makes sense? By having a view you mean a world view, a world view is by definition subjective and therefore discarded as false. You can get to this realization yourself by doing some basic self enquiry. If they would renounce all material possession that would mean they would resist the current manifestation of reality, only ego's resist reality. Even lies are a part of the ultimate Truth.

Here's your problem. You think if you meditate for a bit it will somehow "cure" you from your disease and you can go back living your life without your problems. This way, all meditation will do is fooling yourself. You have to truly accept not being in a relationship, you have to accept not playing video games, you have to accept not being stimulated. You have to see through the illusion that these things will give you ultimate fulfillment. You CAN become just as happy and fulfilled whether you are in a relationship or not. As long as you feel this clinginess to being in a relationship you will feel a sense of lack in your life. Meditation can help you embrace the silence, but there has to be an internal shift of mindset for the effects to be lasting on your lifestyle. A good start is to be mindful when you are indulging in these stimulating activities. Watch what exactly is going on internally when you can't help yourself.

@MarkusR Apparently you seem to think that you DO know shit, that you are somehow more wise than the people who you project to have "pompous ego's". If your post was of any value you would have gone more in depth to what newfound spiritual seekers should be cautious of in reading these forums. In stead, you just lift yourself up above everyone and start calling names. You claim that you are looking from an "outside perspective", yet somehow this perspective is able to judge people. Care to elaborate on that?

What's the difference? I have a pretty cool car(imo) but that car just as much appears within my own mind. Just as the things you consider as inner life. A better distinction to make would be a "Validation seeking life"(what you consider outer), and a "Non-validation seeking life". If you buy a cool car because you think it will somehow raise your social status and people will think higher of you because you own a cool car, that's setting yourself up for disillusionment. As "social status" has no inherent value and what comes up must also come down.

Thanks for writing this up. I just want to say that I do not resonate with the phrase "flexing your awareness muscles" as it implies it needs some kind of mental or physical effort. While awareness is more of a relaxation than an effort. You can check this for yourself. If you are addicted to junkfood, notice the contractions that appear in your body and mind when the craving comes up. Your body tenses, and also your mind tenses. We've probably all had the experience of when we we're craving something really bad that we totally zoned out and only had that one thing in our minds. The whole mind focussed on indulging on that burger, or cigarette or whatever. In a way, we become that burger and the burger becomes us. In that moment, you feel you are powerless to stop the craving, no matter how hard you try, the craving overrides all your good intentions. So you totally pig out on burgers and hate yourself for it afterwards, you think to yourself, how could I let this happen? If you want to beat these bad habits. You need to become aware of what is really going on in these moments of you going crazy. You have to become aware that this crazed out mind that is totally zoomed in on eating a burger is not 'you' in that moment. It feels as if it is you, but it's not. When you can become aware of the physical and mental contractions that appear during these moments, they actually get the opportunity to release, if there is awareness that these sensations are not 'you'. Note that this awareness does NOT require effort. If you are "efforting" through you temptations you are actually resisting reality. When you keep resisting reality, reality will hit back, and reality always wins.

So what is awareness? You have to first ask yourself: Have I ever had a direct experience in which I was not aware? And, can I imagine a situation in which I am not aware? Even if you are cheeky and say, well as a kid I had to go under narcosis to get my tonsils surgically removed. So I had an experience of getting my tonsils removed without me being aware of it. But when you think of it, you didn't really have the experience of getting you tonsils removed at all. Before the operation you might have the mental image of what is going to happen while you are under narcosis. And after the operation, you may have the mental image of what happened. But both of these images appear in...awareness. So how does one raise their awareness? Well, when you are operated on your tonsils you can form a mental image of the experience of you getting your tonsils removed. You can see yourself lying there with doctors around you with all kinds of tools to get the job done, right? You are aware that you have the ability to form such an image of you in any situation. You can call it the "creative mind", or whatever. But what you are probably not aware of, that even in the most mundane, daily, situations you consider as "reality", you are imagining that there is a "you" that is experiencing some kind of situation. But note that this "you" is a creation of the creative mind, just the same as the act of imagining what it's like to be operated on under narcosis. The funny thing is. When people make up some crazy mental image of them slaying dragons, saving the princess and writing a novel about it. People are just as much creating dragons and princesses in their daily lives. But they think the novel is somehow not true, while they believe their stories about 'reality' to be true. But really, they are both just as true, or untrue. You raise your awareness by figuring out what actually is true, and not true, what appears inside your awareness. When you become more aware of what is not true, you become more aware of what IS true.

If consciousness is a "local phenomenon", then where does consciousness start and where does it end? When does it start and when does it end? Where exactly can it be found, and where can it absolutely not be found?

Eh, that just describes being a child, not being enlightened. The Absolute even precedes childhood, ignorance starts during conception. So how does enlightenment feel like? Well, of course, the Absolute doesn't feel anything, feeling is an experience that appears inside consciousness. But compared to the heavy feeling of matter, form and emotions in our lives, enlightenment feels very light, weightless even.

So, what why does school make you unhappy exactly? What are the factors that drag down your happiness level? It's a good start to make that clear for yourself since, ultimately, you are responsible for your own suffering/unhappiness. School is not responsible, only your perception of your time at school.

What do you see?

Consciousness doesn't really exist. It only appears to exist in the Absolute nothingness. I am nothing, you are nothing and awareness is also nothing. There is indeed no perceiver to be found. But we are not a perception, because if we are a perception there has to be a perceiver. What 'we' are is the same consciousness/nothingness as the Absolute. Our minds don't really 'know' anything for there isn't anything to be known, the mind can throw some vague concepts around trying to define this consciousness but it cannot. And how could it? These seeming thoughts appear in the thing that it's trying to define. It's like a single cell in your big toe trying to define what the human body is, it can't be done because it can never see past the toe.

How do you get addicted to warts? That sounds pretty nasty

Your "Life" is a story of the ego.

There is way more potent tool for not knowing. It's called silence. Ever heard it? Neither have I.

Everything is within... within consciousness. And when that consciousness gets recognized, then true happiness can come.

Yeah.. when you reach enlightenment there is no one wondering anymore if it truly is enlightenment.. It's the ego that wants to kill the ego. There comes a time where you have to let go of your fascination with "chakra's", state's and mystical experiences. And the ego loves to reach spiritual milestones and put a big "THIS WAS ALL ME" sign on it.