UnbornTao

But in your experience is the distinction that there is not-you and that is very real for you. The goal then is to experience what you and not-you really are—and for that matter what experience is—not conclude any philosophy is the answer.

Enjoyed watching The Count of Monte Cristo.

"Who ordered an awakening?"

OK, it was likely an experience. Keep up looking into the matter! It depends on what you want to know, but the goal is usually to realize your nature first. Good luck.

Sounds good. However, let me ask you: after all the phenomena, the drama, the experience, the state change, memory, and so on, what are you conscious of now that you weren't of before?

Cool!

@Princess Arabia Okay, sounds good. Our experience probably suggests otherwise. We can be honest about it and handle things on their own terms.

@theleelajoker We've overstretched the joke now

That's good but it doesn't go far enough. Wait for a Grande Toasted Marshmallow Hot Chocolate with an Espresso Shot and Vanilla Drizzle for the real Diabetes Awakening.

Yes, an absolute is absolute - but do we really grasp that as itself? Or is it merely intellect? Either way, this is the problem of conflating these domains. A thing gets to exist thanks to its being limited. So when you say something like my hand, that's a particular, and this is what we call relative. Your toes aren't a cup, or a cat, or joy - they're that particular thing. Otherwise, there would be no need to distinguish it from what it is not. So here's a new thought: We live in the relative. The relative is everything. Everything you experience is relative. A thing exists in relation to what is not that thing. And then we have the so-called absolute as a possibility for us to realize. Perceiving may well be impersonal, so the fact that it occurs shouldn't be extrapolated into some observer lurking behind it. We could take a deeper approach here, but with this medium it is tricky. What is experience? What is self?

Sure.

Only a cappuccino will do.

Look into that. They're still phenomena occurring within perceptive experience. In the end, it's not much different from having a concussion, or meditating. The state change can be dramatic, but, by setting aside the expectations, beliefs, memory, and fantasy, often nothing has been realized. Certainly when the concussion, meditation or drug effects wear off, the insight doesn't vanish. You can have a breakthrough regardless of circumstances, and state is secondary to that. Being drunk doesn't make you less conscious of your nature. The point is that waking up isn't accomplished by events within the dreams - and everything is.

How is seeing absolute? So, in your view, perception is direct?

Believe in Gautama

As entertaining as they might be, they are ultimately misleading. At their core, they amount to hoopla and fantasy, based primarily on hearsay. What are they when those aspects are set aside? They are abstract, subjective inventions. Viewed symbolically, or as ways to direct the mind, they might help cultivate a positive or life-enhancing mental state - but neither these things nor the drugs lead to awakening. A more powerful direction, in my view, is setting out to uncover one's own beliefs, with the aim of experiencing the truth, at any level.

Love the photo above, haha.