Preetom

Yes. It's like the silent mind, open and loose effect you get from doing 2 hours of self inquiry; you get that pretty much the same effect just by being with a sage for lets say 30 minutes. Both Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj was supposed to have to this effect. Sometimes the questioners would argue and ask questions but after some time they would just see their own bullshit and just shut up. Their minds got silent and rested. Of course the same effect didn't happen with everyone. It seems like the devotee has to have a certain level of spiritual maturity to receive this 'transmission'

@winterknight Have you personally came across the notion of ''transmission of Silence'' since you got Enlightened last year? Have you noticed that your mere silent presence influencing people to relax and open up and take things easier over time? Would appreciate if you could give some examples if you noticed something like this.

@Outer Thank you. I love Gary and what he is doing. I feel that he genuinely wants to help people who are interested without his own agenda

@Outer Can you link a video/blog contrasting Gary's brain with an average Joe's brain?

@Mikael89 have you come across to any solution to it?

You're welcome. Glad you found it helpful.

@SoonHei what about you? you already know more than many

@SoonHei Another thing you might find interesting. It is kind of limiting to say that the Absolute exists. Then the question arises where does that existence come from? The Absolute doesn't exist. It is existence itself!

@Flammable It's been hitting for me for last few days! We are never aware of a process called 'action'. It's only raw experience. This observation led me to the insight that, it is impossible to go outside the Now. Yeah, we can imagine past and future but we haven't moved an inch from the now. This just shows that 'time' is only an imaginary thought. Never an experience. We can't split a part of ourself from the now and actually see an 'action' happening! What is this now? Is it a tiny time frame moving from the past into future infinitely? NO! There is no past and future and timeline. The now is all there is in experience. Even while you're imagining otherwise, you are still in the Now. The entire structure of the self/identity breaks down at this point

The Force hasn't reached deep yet!

What if I told you that one day is today?

Looking forward to that day. May the Force be with you!

This last line resonates so much. Ramana Maharshi called it samskaras or Vasanas (Mental Tendencies). He insisted that Self Inquiry must be continued in an unbroken fashion until all the seeds of vasanas are burnt! Thanks again for taking your time and replying

@Shin Can you feel the source of the FORCE?

@winterknight Thanks for the replies. I was just about to ask if you did self inquiry exactly like Ramana Maharshi prescribed. But it seems you've just described it so beautifully! Is this what you strived to do all your waking hours?

@now is forever Love is the dissolution of the subject-object relationship. Totally. Love is the end of all relationships. When the distinction between the lover and the beloved ceases, that is the 'experience' of Love. That's the 'baseline' experience to all experiences before ego arises up and creates the illusion of subject-object duality. In fact, it's not baseline but that's all there is to experience. Conventionally what is called love in society is a distinct subject trying to hoard another distinct object in order to fulfill itself.

Also these 'qualities' are mind's knowledge/interpretation/model of the Absolute. These words don't really mean anything. The Absolute doesn't need to know and be itself through these words. From it's own experience, it just IS. Eternal, infinite, unborn, omnipresent, knower of all...as opposed to what? The Absolute doesn't know any such contrast.

Exactly! Can't be known in the conventional subject-object relationship. Thus it's called the end of knowledge. But yet, it IS and you are THAT. The Absolute's way of knowing itself is just being itself. Just the the Sun's way of illuminating itself is just being itself. The Sun doesn't need a 2nd object to reflect it's light to illumine itself.

Thank god I made it before the thread is closed!! @ZX_man Does this thread ring some bells? How is the Enlightnement thing kicking so far? @winterknight I have few questions. I'm not questioning your Enlightenment. Please just honestly answer these questions as you feel right now. 1) Are you 'aware' of deep sleep? 2) Do you really 'see' any actual, experiential difference between deep sleep and waking state? Or do your 'deep sleep' continues for 24/7? 3) Do you see any 'objects'? How would you define any objective experience from your current understanding? 4) Where are 'you' located in your direct experience now? 5) What is your experience of 'Time'? How do you see Time now? 6) Do you find any 'distance' between any'thing' and 'yourself'? 7) Can you stop thinking right now? Upon doing that, what's your actual experience about this event of stopping thought? Who stopped thinking? Who is in control? 8) What was the defining moment when you realized ''this is it! I'm done". Was it any particular insight? Any emotional charge or mystical highs involved? 9) Do you find yourself parroting non dual truths like ''there is no doer, there is no suffering, there is no me'' when shit hits the fan or is your mind silent because you're actually grounded in these non dual truths experientially? 10) Do you find yourself becoming MORE and MORE 'Enlightened' by the passing days, weeks, months? PS: I didn't either ask about your verification for Enlightenment or about your path. I hope you answer these questions. I want you to just look at yourself right now and answer from there. Thank you!

Why do you let a thought superimpose it's own limitations on Consciousness? Is it a thought that knows? No! Only Awareness knows. Why do you take the authority of thought as something truthful? Did you really have to post this?? I mean...how will I unsee this shit now?

@How to be wise You've taped into one of the two primal functions of the separate self. 1) Fear of disappearance/death (Fear) 2) Constant sense of lack and search for completeness/happiness (Desire) There is no separate self without these two functions. In fact, the separate self is not an independent entity but these 2 very activities are the separate self! At this point, there is no way around. Only a way through!!!! You're finally seeing the separate self as it really is! No rationalization or fooling yourself will work in the long run

You can avoid traps if you don't have the wrong expectations from the wrong things. A screwdriver is a great tool. It has it's functions. But the delusion and problems start if you expect that this screwdriver will cook breakfast for you every morning as well! Science is founded upon a groundless assumption that there is an absolute, objective world out there made of matter. A system that is founded upon assumption can never reach Truth. Our waking state is a persistent dream. That's why science is necessary to study and predict the persistent patterns of this dream. In a constantly whacky dream, there is no science. That inconsistency itself becomes the norm. Reminds me of an analogy I heard from Peter Ralston. Absolute Reality/Consciousness is like a ghost that won't show itself directly. But you can intuit the presence of this ghost by the activities it induces i.e. making a mark on wall, dropping something hung on the wall, dropping something from the table etc. Now lets say you really wanna know more about this ghost but you're spending all your time studying and cracking these whacky events. Would you know something Truthful about the ghost? No! You'll only keep getting better and better at interpreting the 'activities' of this ghost. You can compare this analogy with what's going on in brain science in the name of Consciousness studies. They aren't really studying Consciousness. They are studying brain waves but conflating it as the study of Consciousness. Also about this notion of an external world made of 'matter', it's like having an attitude like this, ''We haven't yet found the boogyman. But we strongly believe and intuit there is a boogyman. We just need few more decades and finer instruments to look and then boogyman will be found guaranteed! But in the meantime, let's study the activity, life cycle, mating habits etc of boogyman! Don't worry!! Boogyman will be found! No need to question the existence of boogyman, let's just study it's activities as if it really exists!'' With that being said, science is great and interesting. I feel that studying science has great potential to stabilize the mind and also appreciate this dream in a newfound way compared to chasing other things.

Having said that I'll share the most effective and ruthlessly simple 3 step strategy for building concentration as prescribed by Swami Vivekananda. 1) Decide what you're gonna concentrate on. 2) concentrate on that 3) Immediately bring back your focus on the object of your concentration the moment you first notice that your attention has wandered away. There should not be any introspection or judgement involved in where, why, how, when your focus drifted away. Just bring it back the moment you notice your focus got diverted. Repeat...repeat...repeat...that's concentration building over time.