Emerald

Yes and no. They are free from the illusion of ego because they don't have the ability to create complex abstract concepts like we do. But they may not have the ability to be self-aware enough to realize their enlightenment.

Human beings have a dual nature. We have the higher nature of concepts and ideals and an instinctual animalistic nature. Animals only have the animalistic nature, speaking generally.

I just purchased the book.

I read the comments from before, but I still didn't understand your reasoning. I have no dog in the race, one way or the other. I still think Shinzen is a great teacher. But I don't even know how somebody could determine someone else's enlightenment status. I'm just curious as to what you base that interpretation on.

Attachment and love are two totally different things. What you would have, if you transcended your ego, is unconditional love without attachment to all of existence. This means that you would love you parents far more than you were ever capable of loving them before. You also would have no fear of losing them, because you would realize that nothing truly dies and that everything is eternally connected. Also, any other fears you have would melt away. Don't let the abstract idea of enlightenment scare you away from the real deal. The real deal is truly amazing.

@jip Certainly, trying to become enlightened could cause suffering. But so could trying to become wealthy, attractive, worldly, a veterinarian, etc. The primary difference is that reaching enlightenment is alleviation from suffering while all other pursuits are just dressing up suffering. But the attempt at reaching enlightenment usually requires discipline, time investment, and sacrifice of all illusions. All other pursuits will require at least two of these anyway. So, why not invest the time and effort? All you really have to lose are concepts and illusions.

There is no clear way to tell. But it is important to ask yourself why you'd want to know in the first place. It can illuminate to you your beliefs and assumptions about enlightenment and value, which will better enable you to remove these barriers.

It depends on the person but probably more often self-acceptance. Levels of masculinity and femininity are mostly pre-conditioned, so they are real forces of nature within people. Everyone has a unique signature of these energies. So, if a person identifies at transgendered, they likely have an inverse ratio of these energies compared to the average person of their sex.

This is a difficult thing to understand. So, to understand you have to first understand the idea of paradox, where two contradictory things are true at the same time. That is because there are higher truths based more in the ultimate truth of non-duality; and there are lower truths based in the illusion of duality. At the highest level of truth (non-duality) everything is one, everything is infinite, everything is empty of meaning, suffering is illusory, life/death are illusory, beginning/end are illusory, creation/destruction are illusory. From this level of truth, everything is beautiful including tragedy, death, and destruction because they all are part of divine order. Only the enlightened live in tune with this truth, and it is the most peaceful mindset to live because there is no fear of death in this paradigm. It is to truly embrace the temporal nature and inherent meaninglessness in all of existence. But the vast majority of people, including myself, live in tune with the illusion. So, lower truths will resonate more with us, because they seem more practical. And in some senses they really are. Enlightened people tend to respect the lower truths too, and go out of their way to practice compassion toward those who are suffering. So, from the illusion, there is suffering, corruption, greed, pain, and many other forms of hell to deal with. These should be addressed systematically. But if we, as a society, can realize the higher truth, then the hells of the lower truth will naturally dissipate. So, the higher truth is incredibly practical in this way, because it is the only truth that yields unconditional love and compassion.

Purpose, meaning, and reason are simply mechanisms of the human mind. They don't exist separate from human consciousness.

@jordanhandrew @Emily The problem with spiritual drug use is that it is a temporary expansion of consciousness at best. The results aren't permanent. Six years ago, when I was in college, I tried Ayahuasca twice. Both times, I completely transcended my ego, and it was the most beautiful feeling I've ever had. I was whole again. So, I've had a taste of enlightenment. But the only value it now conveys to me is that it enables me to pursue enlightenment work without needing that much faith. I know there is a destination to the long journey, so I'm more likely to take it. That said, I made many unwise decisions after the experience ended because I tried to abstractly apply the insights I received from the higher state of consciousness from a low-consciousness frame of mind, thinking that it would yield good results. For the most part, it did the opposite. Paradoxes will get you every time. My recommendation is to avoid spiritual drug use, because I don't want people making the same mistakes as I did. That said, if it's important to you, be sure to do tons of research and preparation; and remind yourself that an insight just becomes more knowledge, if it isn't directly connected to higher consciousness. Wisdom is like a river; it's alive and ever-changing. So, a wise decision now, is a foolish decision tomorrow.

Thank you.

I'm hoping this will happen sooner than later. I'm a very tenacious person, for better and worse. So, I tend to stress myself out needlessly or get involved in fantasy land to escape from the needlessly created stress. Just a few days ago, I started to suspect that it is my ego's way of generating distracting thoughts to keep me from seeing through the illusions that it spins. Surrender as a concept, has been popping up very synchronistically in different facets of my life recently.

Thank you.

Good advice.

This makes perfect sense.

Maybe a deeper exploration of the visual sense itself could help. The only thing we ever see are shapes, imbued with colors on a flat plane. So, the visual sense has only two dimensions, instead of three as we're accustomed to thinking. I'm a painter, and this has to be learned if someone wants to learn to depict something accurately. Maybe if you're able to see the image of yourself as being only shapes imbued with colors it would help.

What are emotions? How do I experience emotions? Where do emotions originate from? What is the relationship between thoughts and emotions? What senses do I experience (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, thought, anything else)? Are my senses connected or separate from one another? Do I arbitrarily link certain senses together? (example: arbitrarily linking sight with touch)

I think the greed aspect came about way before capitalism. Capitalism is just the form that it takes in modern society. I think it is part of people's lower nature. But on a brighter note, I actually think that we've become more humane as human society evolves. I actually would go as far as to say that we're a lot more compassionate in the modern era, than in times passed. I'm generally optimistic about the future.

It must take up a lot of your time. My time is monopolized by having children, so I guess this is my biggest barrier in that sense. At this point, I wouldn't be able to do a retreat because they are so little. Even carving out an hour a day for meditation is a bit of an ordeal. But fear of letting go of control is my biggest psychological barrier.

How could you tell if Shinzen Young is enlightened or not? If he claims to be enlightened, I certainly believe him as he seems to have firsthand experience. But ultimately, no one knows except for him. But what is it that makes you sure that he isn't?

Sort of reminds me of the biggest problem of capitalism - always trying to sell you the future version of yourself. You can never be fine as you are, because it isn't as profitable.

Build a strong ego through personal development and becoming as successful as you want to be. Don't feel guilty about it or feel as though you shouldn't be. But be mindful of the ego's illusions, self-congratulatory talk, and self-deprecating talk. Make systematic efforts to unravel the ego's illusions, as you develop it. Repressing the ego will never help you transcend it. If the ego has needs, meet them but do so mindfully.

This is the one that I was talking about. I think it could apply similarly.

The Sufi poem?