SOUL

Believing that we are in a dream is an illusion....

The way many use the word awakening suggests becoming aware of something that previously wasn't aware of and enlightenment appears to be used for an imagined state of awakening into an ultimate awareness that no additional awakening will occur. The reason I call it an imagined state is because it is imagined to be this by those who seek to awaken to enlightenment when in reality it isn't that. Enlightenment or as it is also called 'liberation' is freedom from suffering, mostly of the self induced variety but can be realized in all types, so liberation doesn't actually rely on awakening to be what it is. Yes, awakening, especially to how our self will induce suffering in us, can lead us to ceasing the suffering but awakening to it isn't the same as freedom from it. On this forum there are many examples of people awakening to all sorts of self suffering yet unable to be free from it and actually are perpetuating suffering through their seeking it as a form of awareness. People tend to equate spiritual enlightenment to scientific enlightenment as if it's an understanding, insight and knowledge about things spiritual like the scientific version of it is for the natural world but this is why they seek it without fruition.....which often can cause even more self suffering. Enlightenment is freeing from self suffering and any understanding, insight, knowledge or wisdom gained by us is a byproduct of liberation but the primary product of it is the freedom from suffering, our inner peace regardless of whether we gain anything else in awareness. So... Awakening is expanding awareness Enlightenment is freedom from suffering Yea, I know almighty Leo said it's exactly the same but ...well, yea.

It's not us loving the specific thing for what it is, it's us with love as a presence in our being. We aren't directing emotional energy for each individual thing or person or circumstance, this love is an unconditional presence we exist in and not an emotional impulse towards something or someone. So whatever arises in us it rises into a presence of love that permeates our being. Becoming aware of the distinction between the emotional impulse we associate with 'love' and the 'love' that transcends the emotional impulse we have for something/someone can be challenging but is crucial for it. Another way to say it is the emotional love is a subject loving an object just like emotional hate is a subject hating an object, those are emotional impulses. What people call 'unconditional love' is without the subject/object of the emotional love, it's a presence in our being that transcends the conditional. Does this clarify it?

Observe the self feeding thought loop of the self feeding thought loop that some people believe is truth because it is their self feeding thought loop that informs their perception through the fear they believe motivates it. The rest of us who don't believe in that conceptual framework aren't bound by their self feeding thought loop belief paradigm and because the belief bias has such a strong hold on their perception they are unaware of this.

No, it can't be seen because there is no seer and nothing to see.... so there's that.

I really do feel compassion for people who are awakening to the inner work of ceasing the self induced suffering since there is so much contradictory information coming from so many different directions all of it purporting to be wisdom. The ego is this, no the ego is that, it's an illusion, you are the ego, you are an illusion blah blah blah. This here is practical advice, it isn't labeling or a conceptual framework of what ego is or isn't and you are one with the illusion psychobabble, it's something that in each moment can be realized. Love is more than just an emotional impulse bathed in chemical responses, it's a force for healing the pain and suffering within us and for our holistic well being. What Haumea mentions here that is a crucial aspect is loving all which arises in us without necessarily believing it. How self suffering finds a foothold within us is through attaching to all that arises in us and to cease the reflexive identity with it is to cease the source of self induced suffering. Love in this context is the psychological salve that heals the already existing suffering but ceasing the reflexive identity to what arises in us is the preventative care of our well being so self suffering will not manifest. We can still use what arises in us to navigate through the world successfully sustaining our lives but without the reflexive identity it has no mechanism to cause suffering. It doesn't matter what it's called or how it is framed, ego, self, illusion, separate, one or whatever. What does have influence is the moment by moment relationship of our inner life and what Haumea shares is advice for a present moment relation with our inner experience that is practical. Love what arises but not necessarily believe(identify with) it, in every moment. Indeed. Free from the self induced suffering. Thanks Haumea! @Amanda R Batista

To get it one ceases wanting it and once one does cease the wanting it is realized there is nothing to get. Then abiding in this presence of aware being while existing in the manifest reality is the man in the maze.

That's what being is, abiding in the present moment as aware being. Being is what you are talking about, to "remain with the reality(fact), as it actually is". Yes, "without evading that reality" "in search for psychological security" "to nourish the illusion", such as, in conceptualizations about fear thought fragmentation movement systems of self perpetuating ego identity....or something. .......sneaky. To tie this into the topic of eating: Animals are always in that state of just being, present moment aware being. Insects do, as well as plants are and even microscopic organisms are an aware being, all to varying degrees. They aren't distracted from being and are present in each moment. This is the source of the insight that when one isn't distracted from being and abides in the present moment as an aware being the dynamic between all aware beings individually can be transcended so takes on the perspective and quality of unity.

People striving to believe that their conceptualizations are truth...... sneaky.

It's really obvious that is it for you.

What? You go on and on all over this forum about 'the nature of thought' and imagine all sorts of things about it, not only have you begun, I wonder if you will ever stop, that cannot be missed. Out of radar range? LOL ok buddy. Whatever kind of nonsense you want to spin go right ahead but it obvious to one who perceives with clarity of being present if another is all in their head....and it's so obvious.

I am versed

Go beyond thought and the nature of it.... it's monkey mind mechanics. There is a palette of existential sensation that our consciousness experiences including e-motion as well as the nature of our body motion along with this other ominous i-motion of mind that some have a fixation on. If one is really seeking the infinite holistic insight of being presence then one can transcend all the participants that create the whole experience of being and... just be it. Or not.... one could sit around talking about it I guess.

Holistic thought thinking is when the unmanifest observer views thoughts emerging from the self conscious which has been fully conditioned to unified perspective.... or something like that.

Don't forget the unmanifest observer viewing it......hehe