Outer

Because maybe Winterknight is? If you are enlightened what do you have against saying you are? It depends how it is measured, from my experience, 60-80 if all I had was what they said and info about how long they've been enlightened. Maybe a bit less if there was an fMRI scanner at hand.

The secret of Neo-Advaita is to destroy effort, to destroy striving. As Maya is best left untouched. Destroy morale and you have your dreamworld. The easiest way to do so is to claim that no one who says they're enlightened actually is. Destroy trust. Because with no enlightened beings, there is no enlightenment, there's no goal, no victory. Just like there's no professional Olympic athlete's winning the gold. It's Maya's Final Buddha, once questions starts coming and effort starts being put in. "Deploy Neo-Advaita" Ever since childhood you've been taught to not strive, there's no one winner, with follow-ups, no Gold, Silver, Bronze. All are winners. There are no losers. And here we are on this planet in this moment, Awakening is everywhere, everyone knows about it, everyone's talking about it. No. There's no enlightened beings. It's all a bunch of... well... Teachers and their sheep, in a mutual relationship. MOVING THE GOALPOSTS "Moving the goalposts (or shifting the goalposts) is a metaphor, derived from goal-based sports, that means to change the criterion (goal) of a process or competition while it is still in progress, in such a way that the new goal offers one side an intentional advantage or disadvantage."

"Pretty sure" means you are uncertain. It speaks a lot about you if you are "pretty sure" anyone who says they're enlightened isn't. Lack of trust?

Why am I only conscious of "Outer"? Why don't I know that you're conscious?

How do you know consciousness doesn't turn off? Because in my experience it goes blank as I fall asleep and then I am awake in the morning, provided I had dreamless sleep.

Why does it seem so difficult to awaken, I do the inquiry and it seems like I realize my true nature for a moment but it goes right back again, completely out of my control. I just become aware of consciousness and that the thought is in consciousness, but nothing happens, again I am the thought or the emotion or my vision as that's at least what the type of thought I have imply.

Am I vision?

Am I consciousness?

If you want Adyashanti's teachings I'd recommend his 3 part series (haven't completed the last one myself). Your question appears to come from someone who've stumbled upon his YouTube videos out of context. http://www.adyashanti.org/cafedharma/index.php?file=video

What does that look like?

You write a bit like Jed McKenna. But Jed makes Truth seems so unpalatable. @winterknight

I don't have any more questions for now. Thanks for answering.

But how are you answering if there is no people, only enlightenment? How are you reading this if it doesn't exist, only enlightenment does? Well I just sit and try to be without thought and whenever I have thought I just inquire into who hears, for instance, to try and be without thought again. I haven't been practicing any lately though. It feels like a habit to be cultivated.

I have a couple questions about self-inquiry. It seems appropriate to me that I'll practice in a similar location, specifically intended for self-inquiry and Awakening, as it seems to me the brain likes that. For instance I just have a chair with a towel under the hips. Then I intend to do my inquiry practice here for some time everyday, maybe two or more times a day. Then during the day every now and then I intend to do an inquiry. Is that about how you go about doing self-inquiry?

It's possible to retire in 10-20 years if you invest a majority of your income and spend little. Someone living at their parent's house can retire in like 5-7 years if they don't pay any bills. Search for FIRE (financial independence retire early)

So now you're implying of being enlightened without saying "I am enlightened". I think you should try to say it if you really are. Spiritual ego is a thing but it's possible to do spiritual things without it, maybe you don't think so.

Congratulations @winterknight

Good luck with that. There's way too many fake teacher out there who never say they're enlightened because "that's what enlightened people do" that the actual reality now is that those who say, probably is. Provided the person who is enlightened is somewhat intelligent, and know about all of those traps you're talking about, they're not saying they are without what you're saying in mind. The true enlightenment test is a resting state fMRI scan of the brain, seeing how resting state activity like is in the brain. If you say you're enlightened and start a thread like this you're under scrutiny. If you are mr. Emanyalpsid, as you're giving a teaching... Make a thread.

That said thanks for the thread, you seem to be awakened. Since awakened people tend to have a bad memory, can you figure out a way in which you get back to the forum so you can answer BETTER questions, especially those relating to people's practice. Other people in the Advaita tradition keep away from answering philosophical questions and instead focusing on practice and progress. As evident by the neuroscience of Awakening, no one will be by listening to a Guru speak, only by practice. If that is what they want right now, you bring a good case about figuring out one's desires, with psychotherapy and expressive, creative things, which are good insights.

Typically if someone says they're enlightened they really are, in the case they're not lying or -- are deluded -- which one can tell if they're for instance incoherent, babbling on about some crazy shit. It almost never happens on the forum that someone says "I am enlightened," because almost no one is enlightened. Some people write as if they are but you've never seen them say they are for good reason. If you say you're enlightened you're subject to scrutiny and since deep in people's hearts they know they aren't, they won't say it. At the same time Richard Feynman has said: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." So people... don't go around thinking you're enlightened until... it's impossible to deny. Then when you are feel free to do as this guy does. Also playing semantic games about saying "You can't say you're enlightened because there's no I to be enlightened"... An enlightened person doesn't give a fuck in saying "I" since it's just language, communication. True as Feynman has said it's good to not fool yourself... So see everyone as "awakening" including yourself, and the "awakened" state being a threshold on this continuum. That awakening continuum is in my view, with its thresholds, is just a form of practice to continue awaken.

I say it's mine consciousness because I extend it to others and conclude the brain to be the mechanism of Atman. I don't doubt that you can reduce the brain activity of a person like with psychedelics for Brahman to be realized. If I ignore the brain science, my intelligence and just see you as an unconscious zombie, then there's no my consciousness. There's just Atman. But then there's no point of Atman, there's just Brahman. As Atman is about multiple atman's like the Buddha, Maharshi, you... he... she. Her. It doesn't make sense to me that there isn't Atman. As one would have to be quite ignorant/skeptical to ignore brain science and the senses.

But if by solipsism we mean consciousness, all that you can know is your consciousness, Atman, everyone else might just be unconscious zombies.

Winter, is solipsism true? How is it related to awakening?

It's a thinking process and I don't imply it's the moon. We're bunch of Atman's who are Brahman. The separation occurs to distinct some empirical truths observable, namely solipsism and the senses.

I see that spiritual seekers negate physical processes and other perceptions linked together with intelligence. An advanced teaching includes it. In fact we know how awakening looks like in the brain and the reasons for bliss. What we don't know how the body and perceptions come to be in Atman (or how Atman comes to be in the body). If ever we do, if we judge consciousness to be primary and not matter, then the brain is a receiver. It's a glass half-full, half-empty thing.