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Yup When self-inquiry shows the temporary dissolution of ego, that is precisely what's known as a 'glimpse.' It cannot be accurately described, so some people call it infinity, and some call it nothingness, and some call it spaciousness. The I feeling is followed to get to the glimpse, which is simply a recognition of one's nature. It's called a glimpse because it seems to come and go, but actually it never comes or goes. This is making it too complicated. It's quite simple: if you're dissatisfied, if you're searching, if you want something (including enlightenment) and don't know how to get it, there is the illusory I, whether you think so or not. So you have to inquire into to whom this dissatisfaction appears. if there's effortless peace while being able to function in the world, then that is the true "I." It's not a question you ask like a factual question expecting some answer. It's focusing on the feeling... you do know that you are. You are aware of this "object within the field of consciousness." That feeling -- hold that feeling. And then ask what it is you think you are holding. You will find that if you think you are holding something, it is not the I. Because you are aware of that something, and you cannot be something of which you are aware. So then again try to hold that feeling... and again and again and again until you understand just how it is that you know that you are.

The impersonal Self (no-self) cannot experience an absence of Self. It is self aware (self knowing), self existing, with no need for anything other than itself to know itself. Absolute Nothingness is simply the absence of the objects of perception such as the external world ,universe, body, mind, thoughts, feelings,sensations,etc., Self only ever experiences Self, with or without objects. Including the imagined "conscious" personal self or "ego". Pure Consciousness is prior to the thought based/imagined (i.e, non-existent self) which claims itself to be conscious. What is aware of the nothingness,in which That itself,cannot be described as neither something nor nothing?

@winterknight Just curious, ever had or heard from anyone directly - having an infinity, or ‘nothingness’, ‘glimpse’ from self inquiry, or other practices? Or just primarily the feeling / realization? Thanks! Love this thread btw, much appreciated ♥️

Lol. You're full of bull no offence The state you're talking about is called Mukti, Nirvan, Moksha. It's a state of total dissolusion. Total dissolusion can happen only if you dissolve all karma. There's is whole system in Bhuddhism and techneques how to do that. There are interesting other methods to do that also. Like Khala Bhairava. It means ultimate suffering. It's when your guru at the moment of your death makes you experience a suffering of a thousands of lifetimes in one moment to dissolve you and liberate you. Still you see. It's about dissolving karma. There could be other methods I'm aware of but basicly unless you dissolve all the karma there's no escape for you to become absolute nothingness. Your explanation was weird. Maybe it's true idk I'm not the expert. But doesn't feel very scientific and logical.

I have been thinking about what it means for existence to be infinite for a long time and it seems like I keep getting stuck. I am aware that one cannot contemplate oneself into true understanding about infinitude, but still I cannot let go the concept of it. If reality is absolutely boundless, does that not mean that everything we are doing is in an absolute and total way fully meaningless? It confuses me that Leo keeps talking about the importance of enlightenment, or of any other thing in life. Is it not inevitable that god manifests all possible and impossible realities no matter what will happen in this reality? Even if Leo gets enlightened now, has the best life he could possibly have, won't god experience a life in which Leo did fail? A life in which Leo never lost his weight and eventually got a heart attack? A life in which Leo keeps little children in his basement who he rapes every day? A life in which Leo, after reading this very sentence, is going to kill himself for no reason whatsoever? And if that is not the case, then how can god be limitless and infinite? And if it indeed is the case, it means that god will experience Leo in every possible form there can be for eternity, and already has experienced all of Leo's possible and impossible life's. Is everything Leo doing not a reaction of his ego, an inability to surrender to the truth? And even if it is not the case, does there not have to exist a reality in which that necessarily is the case? Either way that would mean that no matter what Leo does he cannot avoid not experiencing all the possibilities, one day he will suffer, as an unsuccessful and miserable Leo. I was thinking along these lines and then I remember something I have contemplated when I was a teenager. I had the intellectual recognition that reality had to be boundless a long time ago, by contemplating why reality would be the way it is and why it is not any other way. It seemed very obvious that there could not be anything that would limit reality, as anything that would limit it would itself have to be limited by something else so that it would limit reality in that particular way. But that begged a few very paradoxical questions: If reality is truly boundless, then does there not have to exist a reality which cancels all other realities? A reality which stretches it's tentacles into all of the infinitude of reality to root it back into nothingness? And does there not have to exist a reality outside of ALL realities? It has to exist, after all reality cannot be limited, it cannot be bound whatsoever. If this was the case though reality would be absolutely chaotic, nothing could exist because everything would immediately be taken apart by infinite destructive power, infinite death. There would be infinite realities popping into existence while immediately disappearing. It seems like these two elements would nullify each other, but then there would have to exist a reality in which they don't nullify each other. And then today, when I remembered this, I suddenly had the idea that out of that process would have to evolve intelligence, much in the same way it does in our universe. There is a force of chaos and a force of order, and because all realities which do not have strong order would be ripped apart by chaos, there would only be those realities left which had a mechanism against this chaotic power. And because this chaotic power is infinite, the realities would have to construct themselves in an infinitely intelligent way. In other words, intelligence is and unlimited limit, a limit upon Chaos with a capital C. It would be like survival and evolution were not mechanisms of nature, but rather metaphysical aspects that are unavoidable, and these aspects would then resonate into the realities which prevailed. And now it is obvious for why reality has to be love. The only reality that could manifest and not be destroyed by infinite chaos would have to be a reality which infinitely loves it's manifestation, it's own existence. If it wasn't infinitely loving it's intelligence would not be concerned for the manifestation whatsoever. In a very real sense that would mean that love is a prerequisite for existence, for only that which loves itself will preserve itself. These aspects seem to reflect in some shape or form our ordinary consciousness, as we strive to survive because of our selfish love, and that reminds me of the saying that god created us in his own image. It almost seems like for structure to exist at all there needs to be a fundamental force which keeps it from dissolving, and that force simply is love. But then the question is, would the infinite destructive power not evolve too, being put under the same evolutionary pressures, to then destroy the infinitely loving reality? Would there not be a reality which infinitely loves destruction, death and suffering? And maybe that is what our reality is, a fight between these two forces? It all just confuses me more and more, there is so much I have not even began to think about and it seems like this would go on and on for infinity. But then what is infinite intelligence, why does it exist? Does it exist precisely because this process goes on for infinity? I have no idea anymore. I guess what I would like to know is what infinite intelligence is, why it exists and whether it's existence means that not all realities will manifest, but only particular ones?

@Highest I don't understand these terms nondual world and dual world. My theoretical understanding is either you can be in nothingness and cannot function from that state. So necessarily one has come out of nothingness to function in the world. ?

@Ethankahn Absolute Nothingness is not without experiencing on a sensory level. No sensory, no experience. What you talking about is a future thought, and idea, a concept. That is not real. Simply does not exist. Simply, is impossible to verify that.

I can’t sleep so I will write about something I became conscious of some 30 min back. Only GOD IS. Do you see? It came like an insight, only the non-dual One IS. This includes Everything: Infinity, nothingness, all of existence and life. Everything. Only the non-dual Infinite One (God) is. All of reality and existence and experiences is God. What can I say, it just clicked: There is only God, only God alone IS. I became directly aware of It and at the same time I became conscious that It (God) is the only existent, the only thing (or rather no-thing) that IS.

to admire the beauty of consciousness, to use creativity to solve the worlds problems, to make some money and survive, to give my life a immaterial purpose, to challenge myself, to discover higher potentials within me, to make a career out of helping others, to create a hero's journey, to show others that life can be more than just getting a 9-5 job, to create purpose for other, or to help them find purpose in their lives, to work in a team to create ,to find practical solutions, to start up a business envoking high values, to motivate others, to enjoy my life, to find a sense of fulfillment, to do something with my life these are the reasons on which my life purpose is built is this egoic? because enlightenment shows that nothing is wrong and that instead i should be focusing on purifying myself and having a direct experience of nothingness/ finding the "I" in self inquiry and putting this first instead of going on a wild goose chase, this is the question i find that leads me to ask myself am i in the right or wrong to pursue a life purpose

@Mikael89 That’s however not how I know that I am God. I’m directly aware and conscious that I am God, this came about from several NON-dual experiences and awakenings, both sober and high. The God I’m conscious of is Everything: Infinity, finite, nothingness, everything. The God I’m conscious of is a metaphysical fact, I’m conscious that only It alone exists and is everything, whatever it is. You can doubt that I am God, that comes from you still living in illusion and not being conscious. I know what I am and nothing can change that.

@Hellspeed Experiences are things. So, if you're still experiencing it, then it's not Absolutely Nothing. You also just said that it is cold. Absolute Nothing is neither hot nor cold. It has no temperature. I believe you're experiencing what you say, but what you're experiencing doesn't sound like Absolute Nothingness (at least what I refer to as such).

By experience i can say, this reality or name it incarnation is the highest stage of consciousness; why? Because one can experience nothingness. The formless paradigm is just a projection on the basis of being. To shoot for the formless as priority is to be dead. Pure nothingness experienced through your being is something. Being dead is something else, there is no more experience through your being, there is no more identity, is only cold and chaos. Those who have died in can tell, they are envious in a way of the living. Because being dead re-incarnation is just a belief of the living. There is no re-incarnation, there is new life only, always. But those on the logic side can argue this all day, it has no meaning. There are no 2 beings out there alike, only conditioning by external sources and external beliefs. All this was created, (the afterlife) for those who have not awakened, to give them a sense of purpose. Those who already know how to rejuvenate the body they just laugh in the darkness, because the majority of humanity has no clue that is possible to reach a kind of immortality in this body, they think they will be bored, lol! But little they know that the changes of the body/mind can go to infinite growth. I speak about this banned or insane things because i'm experiencing it.

"The true perceiver is Nothingness" - many on this Forum How about: the true perceiver is Anythingness. Infinity can experience being fully in your perception without any sense of being in another's perception. Hence, why you may feel like you're only having a finite experience as one human person, despite being infinite. For infinity to be truly infinite, it must experience just your perception, just that other dude's perception, and also both simultaneously. So infinity is experiencing any and every perception. Which is why I call it Anythingness. This is just another viewpoint to give more clarity to the new Truth-seekers in this forum. I feel that talking about infinity as identical to Anythingness is easier to understand than referring to it as Nothingness. Just my opinion

I found this eerie quote from a book(I find it eerie because of a video I've seen). "You are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, a creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever—for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better! Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago—centuries, ages, eons, ago!—for you have existed, companionless, through all the eternities. Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane—like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell—mouths mercy and invented hell—mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites a poor, abused slave to worship him! You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks—in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier. It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream—a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!" I remember watching this video a few years ago which led me to this quote

Whenever I've had philosophical problems (I don't know what to call them exactly.), I've turned to this forum because most other people will look at me like a nutcase or just say "Get over it!" or something like that. Don't think that will solve this though... After contemplating a lot of things deeply I've come to these conclusions/questions/problems: How can I be certain of anything? I exist and no one else exists. The first problem How can I be certain of gravity? How can I be certain the cup of water exists? How can I be certain I am not in a simulation? How can I be certain I am not in some sort of Truman show (google it)? How can I be certain I can sleep? How can I be certain I live in a world where logic works and exists? How can I be certain I am in world where Nothingness exists? How can I be certain than ANYTHING exists? How can I be certain that I can doubt stuff? Now I am almost in constant anticipation of anything that might happen. I feel like I might lose it. Don't know what to do. The second problem I have started to deconstruct the notion of "other people". All that exists is my subjective experience. I intellectually know that even I "don't really exist". All that exists is "my subjective" experience. Nothing else. This problem by itself isn't a problem. It feeds into the first problem. Being doubtful of almost everything, and having a hard time treating others as "others" makes it very difficult to actually reach out and talk with people or do anything with them. Even asking for help about this issue seems pointless in a sense. .............................................................. The first problem I would relate with skepticism and the second problem I would relate with solipsism. Both are philosophical terms. Google them if you're not sure what they mean exactly. .............................................................. I honestly feel like I might go nuts. I have an almost constant tingling sensation on my head (from stress/anxiety). I have a hard time going to sleep because of this. Sometimes I panic and don't know what to do. Plus I feel like I'm effectively stuck in a loop. Can't really get on with my life. What can I do? Please help if you can. P.S. I tried to keep this post concise. I could divulge and explain more if you didn't quite understand what my predicament is.

No i'm only slightly happy when i'm goal orientated because of fears of not learning enough information to later make a big enough impact at current, and then feel i'm getting towards my full potential ever so slightly. i can drop that and go back to being, not for extended periods of time. I.e ill look at reality directly and realise what an amazing thing it is, or just realise the nothingness in things and watch videos on animals. During this rest period i exhibit everythings good and what not, but ultimately the world is goal orientated, no matter what way you look at it and so are systems and therefore i feel if i'm not doing anything especially at my age (23) then i'm wasting my life.

I have a question. If the real me is "absolute infinity", "nothingness" or "empty consciousness", then why am i not aware of myself at all? Why does this hallucination called "life" should occur in the first place? For what really? Does this have a specific reason to it? If not, then..... for what? and why?

@Wisebaxter Throw away all of these concepts from your inquiry: "focusing, awareness, nothingness, Adyashanti, meditation, technique, 'no thought', void, quietness, etc..." Consider that the inquiry is like a radio interview, or a TV show. Who is watching?

Hey Winterkight, I know I said I wouldn't likely be back, as I truly believed that once I was able to comprehend God as every "thing", as well as being the will that drives it all, I didn't think there could be anything else to discuss. But, something new has developed. I am hoping you can help me with it. I am still not "doing" anything, and my center is seemingly with the "I" as the observer at all times now. But something new has happened while doing Self-Inquiry the last couple of days. When deep within it, my center appears to be behind the "I". From my perspective the "I" appears as a beam of light (awareness) from out of nothingness directly in front of me. When looking to the side, there are dozens of other beams of awareness appearing out of nothingness as well. They are all pointing outward, they are at varying heights, but all appear to be at the same depth, which puts my perspective at a slightly greater depth within, or as, nothingness. Given my limited knowledge on the matter, this should be impossible given the fact that "I" can't be aware of "I", but of course the "I" is in front of me, so in a way "I" still isn't in the field of awareness technically speaking. And any attempts to try and center myself back at the level of "I" during Self-Inquiry have so far been unsuccessful. Is this just a matter of imagination, or is there something to it. What can you tell me about it if anything?

@Tony 845 Short version: yes. Nuance is important though, so here for the long version: I and some friends/acquaintances got transmissions from Ramaji around a year ago, a little more. Few of us went on to make forum posts about how we were enlightened, in a rather juvenile, what one might call zen-devily way. Here's what I gathered from my experience: 1) Yes, Ramaji's transmissions do have an effect and can in a number of times facilitate entry into a state of abiding non-dual awareness. What I mean by that is becoming consciousness of nothingness behind self and world, a falling a way of the normal contracted sense of being an observer sitting behind the eyes, as well as the doer of the body's actions. It personally took me 6 times iirc to experience what Ramaji refers to as 1k. Some people were told they reached 1k but didn't really experience anything. So it was varied. I've also heard that some people have had countless sessions over time without much progress, and it would seem as if the transmissions may be weaker nowadays. 2) 1k isn't by any means the highest state of enlightenment. I wouldn't call it enlightenment at all, although by this forum's general definition it is an enlightened/awakened state. There's many depths of enlightenment. Ramana Maharshi, who Ramaji considers 1k, was definitely nearer to enlightenment than Ramaji. It's not even a comparison. Likewise, the depth of enlightenment between Ramaji and people he awakened through transmissions, including other RASA givers and his wife Ananda Devi, is nowhere near the same. Ramaji has a four-decade plus journey behind him, people can't just get RASA and be as enlightened as him. 3) Ramaji has plenty of ego issues, as do other RASA givers. 4) Ramaji could help you reach non-duality, perhaps, but it's important to point out the path doesn't end at that. You'll still have layers upon layers of karma, which could cause anything from a deep-down dissatisfaction with life to hard-to-bear suffering. If the suffering is more mild, being in non-duality will make it easier to be escapist and pretend like there's no I, life is perfect, etc. Someone who takes years or decades of contemplation to enter a non-dual state will have more perspective and maturity. Hope some of that helps.

I was thinking about even though it is an illusion it appears real. To the ego family, friends, hobbies, travel, computer games and the whole of the material world is life and even though you are attached to these things as an ego, not being identified with the ego and all the things that comes with it, is synonymous with death. The part that confuses me is that your true Self is nothingness (which would be death) but also everything (which is life). I suppose this just can't be grappled with using language and rationality but my mind is dying to know the answers to these rationally. I can see how religion has so many dogmas as the power of the mind wanting to know these answers without having the answers leads to just settling on an answer and belief systems.

I think nothingness exist but objects also exist. And currently I don't see a connection between them but maybe I will some day. Yeah maybe that wasn't a good analogy. If you get stabbed in one hand your other hand doesn't feel it.

That materialistic? To me it sounded like the general idea that reality can exist without a perceiver. (At least a human one - which is probably true) Perhaps the only perceiver needed is nothingness/teotl, in which case he is CORRECT.

the practical guide to enlightenment what if true non-duality was just being nothingness being human , nothingness being anger, nothingness being happy, nothingness being sad, nothingness being me, nothingness being you, nothingness being itself, nothingness being something, nothingness being nothing, nothingness being total, nothingness being words, nothingness being time, nothingness being future, nothingness being past, nothingness being non duality, nothingness being non duality what if relaxing and being is the only thing that you can do but ofcourse you can't because you always have the problem that there has to always be someone doing lol, and this is incomprehendable to an ego because they are the finite self but what if? you are just being in the literal sense, no connotations, no annotations just being hence you are already enlightened you just aren't conscious of it.

@How to be wise but what if fear and anger aren't bad? what if it's pure nothingness BEING anger and fear itself, there in itself is no doership/ something done / or something happening. there is only an illusion of something happening ?