cetus

@NoOne This moment is all that exists. Make the most of it.

@Eye I just listened to that. Nothing new there. This 3rd dimensional existence IS putty in our hands. We can shape this world in any direction we want. The 4th-d (duration) affords us that freedom of movement into any branching timeline we choose. Every second holds possibility for change to occur. Every second we move into a new space. What we choose to do with that "new" space is totally up to us. What happens is that most people don't understand that. They "expect" that tomorrow should be no different than yesterday. And that is exactly what happens. No surprise there!

That would be the worst! I heard Donald Trump does a comb-over on his pubic hair too! lol No, I had no pain at all. Luckily for me the nerve was not exposed or I would have been screaming! It was just funny the way it happened.

@dominic1 This is the kind of question that if you ask 100 ppl, you'll probably get 100 different answers. No two will be exactly alike because it is all illusion of mind and the way mind will interpret that experience will be different for each. That being said, the first time I let go of my ego self and had an awakening "experience" it was quite dramatic. Conscionsceness was no longer localized at my body location. It was filling the room and became externalized. That was VERY different to experience for the first time. There was a distinct and sudden "shift" in consciousness. Just as if you changed the channel on a radio and tuned to another station than the one you normally listen to in daily life. For me it was like discovering there was more than just one station to tune to. It was like tuning to a "universal" frequency of pure consciousness. I became just a very silent observer in the background to what was happening. I flowed into the consciousness that was outside of my body location and was suddenly floating in an ocean of pure silent bliss and stillness. My interpretation of that was that I entered another dimension, it was so distinct from my usual awareness. Again that's just the best way I can describe it using words and mind. I refer to all this using the word "I" just for the sake of conversation. I'm not "enlightened" but I do understand that all this is "Maya" that is happening within my mind. My interpretation of nothingness is there is no experience of that. No "heavenly" feelings. You don't exist when nothingness happens so it can't be described at all. It is a total blank space within awareness. It's a total non-experience. Not even a silent observer is present experiencing a state of bliss so there is no memory of that at all..... So I guess to sum it all up, we all have "awakening experiences" until we get to the point where the "I" vanishes and than there is not even an experience to be had of any kind because there is no experiencer remaining. That's my illusion!

Yea, I got something for you. True story too. Just yesterday I went to the dentist. I had a filling fall out in a front tooth and I was having it refilled. The doctor was going to numb the area and I said "no I'll be fine, no need to numb it" he said "are you sure?"- " yea, no problem". He starts drilling and grinding and I thought to myself, this would be a great time to meditate. He stops grinding after about 5 min. and says to me "Are you O.K?" I said to him' "Yea, I'm in Nirvana here". Well him and the dental tec start laughing their ass off. I don't get what's so funny?

Do you ever give yourself permission to "let it all go"? Even if it's just for 5 min. a day. Totally letting go of everything. Even the idea of who you are. I'm not saying ignore it or hide from it. I'm saying transcend it. Move beyond all that "stuff". What you are is none of that. When you realize that, that is the awakening, the braking down of the illusion we cast over ourselves. The false association that we are our thoughts and experiences only serves to make us feel small, separate and fearful. It leaves no space for love to be present. Practice "Throwing Away" .

@cle103 You may find that it all happens when you let it all go! I know that sounds very simple. But it is. It is effortless! That's what's different about it and eludes so many people who " try" to meditate. Me too at one time. Big mistake on my part. You'll get the hang of it. Today for me was an especially deep meditation. Very nice! But now needs to be thrown away. That's just how it is.

@cle103 I just meditated for 30 min. and can tell you what works for me personally. I closed my eyes and just observed my breath. Slowly, In-out, in-out, in-out. and eventually I disappeared. I'm guessing about after 7-10 min. after I started? I don't know where I went. I was not expecting any results at all. None what so ever!! I think that is the key. Now as I'm typing this, I am surrounded by an atmosphere of complete silence and stillness. It's so thick I can almost feel it as I sit here. My thinking /talking has left the room and only consciousness remains. It's almost a strain to type this at this moment because it's coming out of complete stillness and my thinking mind is kind of shut down right now. It's like a dead calm ocean. Not a ripple! Be non-existent when meditating. Be empty space.

Here are a few of my favorite physicists that have a deep interest in raising consciousness and combining the two quite well. We really need more open minded physicists like them to advance our civilization through the marriage of physics and consciousness. If you look at the history of physicists, you will be surprised at how open minded they really were. They all had very deep insights into the true nature of reality on all levels. The seen, and the unseen. Proving that to skeptical colleagues on paper was a different story though. Einstein was quoted as saying "I'm not interested in the details, I want to know the mind of god".

There is much more to "I" than meets the eye. Something that needs to be experienced by you and you only. Otherwise you would never believe it. Turn your awareness inwards an find the answers there.

@Nicole2602 I don't have any personal experience with spirits or the afterlife but this seems very interesting to consider. I hope it helps!

What exactly is it that we refer to an enlightening experience? Could that all be just part of a natural evolutionary process of our species? Realizing that we are more than just our physical bodies? Are we getting away from the caveman way of associating ourselves to our environment only. Everybody has a different personal view on their experience of awakening. Some call it spiritual, some call it awakening, some refer to it as ecstasy or bliss. Maybe that's all just personal interpretations of our expanding awareness of the cosmos we exist in and also other dimensions than just the physical dimension we occupy. Maybe there is really nothing spiritual about it at all. Maybe we are just beginning to experience a bigger picture of what we truly are within the universe and the unseen forces that act on it. I think about this sometimes, If there are highly advanced civilizations out in the universe somewhere, how would they interpret what we are referring to as enlightenment? Are we just awakening to the fact that we are truly multi-dimensional beings and always have been? Just a thought.

Sorry, I inserted this video by accident and I don't know how to delete it.

@SkyPanther @SkyPanther Have you seen this yet? Don't mind the coughing in the background !

You experienced what is beyond the self. Yes, it does feel like a mild "mental breakdown" because that's what it is. A collapse of the false "mental" image. The model of self gets put in stark light for what it truly is. I see it this way, nothing in reality has changed at all. Only the way it is understood changes. The "outside" that you speak of, in physics it could be called a big bang or the singularity? Here it is the non-manifest becoming the manifest. The "work to do" is just the slow removal of what has never been true in the first place. It is the "Throwing Away" of false perceptions. That's the journey we all share.

Become a unified field.

Maybe it was just coincidence, but I had a mini awakening in late August 2015, than a major awakening the 2nd week in Sept. Something within consciousness suddenly changed frequencies. It was a very profound shift to something I never realized was there before. Could that have something to do with gravitational waves or something within the basic fabric of space/time? After that happened I was suddenly researching that from all angles. Spirituality and consciousness, Physics, Dark matter, Calabi-Yau manifolds. David Bohm's theory on the implicate/explicate order ect, ect. From that more open awareness a completely new picture emerged for me. Could it be that consciousness has now become more tuned or opened to other dimensions that are effecting our physical universe? Whatever it is, it's very cool!

Only this moment exists. It's all one snapshot. Edit; that just came out of nowhere!

"Usual" conversation is all mind. Daily events and things. This is no time for meditation. Unless your Buddha and your always in that state! When 2 or more people are sharing a mutual space, spiritually through the use of words, that can be a very enlightening experience for all. That could be close to meditation. But not meditation in it's true meaning. Set time aside to do nothing but your meditation. Let that deep silence that is found in meditation integrate naturally with everything.

I think you could relate to the words of this song! "People think I'm crazy--Just watching the wheels go round and round"

I'm just watching the wheels go round and round and round. I really need to let them go"

@AngeArthur How are things within awareness for you? Haha-- How's it going? Beautiful weather where I'm at. Spring is in the air! The birds are chirping! Beautiful ! Nothing wrong with winter. But something about the spring time that just makes consciousness "POP".

Tell me how you opened your mind to spirituality. I see how hard it is to hear the same old cliches and dismiss such beautiful ideas. Do you really want to have that experience? First throw out all your assumptions of what you think it will be like. The experience happens only when there is no mind and no self to relate to. The "key" is to transcend all that. I followed Leo's direction on becoming no-self. I thought of all the history of myself, from my earliest childhood memories, to being a teen ager, to becoming an adult. I took my complete life story and put it in one pile in front of me and looked at that and embraced it all. Than I said to myself. "none of that ever existed". I really wanted to feel what it would be like not to exist at all. And suddenly something clicked in me and I became absolute pure being and pure consciousness. It felt like something came to a point of perfect focus that was beyond "me". Conscionsceness was no longer localized at my body location, but extending outwards. There were no boundaries to consciousness. I had my eyes opened when this was happening at first. Than something suddenly happened that was totally amazing, I must have closed my eyes and I experienced a blissful state of pure being that was just floating in an ocean of pure, silent, bliss. It honestly felt like my true being entered into another dimension. After that experience I sat here and thought to myself "I never knew that existed in me before". I was totally blown away! So if at some point, your not doing anything in particular, and you want to experience this. Give yourself just 10 minutes, take that time to let go of yourself as if you truly don't exist. Could you do that? It was a scary thing to do, to totally let go of self like that. But that is the price of admission that must be paid. You must put all your faith in trusting something much greater than self exists. If you can do that and totally let go of every fragment of yourself, It will naturally happen to you too! The "key", the total surrender of the self. Pure being does not exist on the same frequency that mind does. You must become the frequency that matches pure being and shift into that. It is a tricky key to find because there is a price to be paid, but I promise you, it's there waiting for you. It is in all of us whether we realize it or not.

Nothingness loops back into existence to become one thing happening and completes the circle? If that's what you mean by looping, I totally agree.