You are not really awake u til you experience yourself as Infinite Love/God

[Inliytened1]

14 hours ago, Joshe said:

I taught myself this level of emotional control at 15. I was heart-broken by my first trophy of a girlfriend breaking up with me. I was devastated, in fetal position for 3 days trying to get out of the suffering. Eventually figured out I have control over my emotions. It was a matter of realizing I didn’t have to keep them alive. Then, remembering that each time a situation came up. Over time, it gets easier and easier. 

I can leave it all behind because I can choose to. This doesn’t seem like very advanced stuff from my perspective. I get that most people aren’t metacognitive, but if you are, it doesn’t seem like next-level stuff. I remember telling my sister, “stop letting it bother you”, and she’d be like “people aren’t like that, Josh”, and I’d b like, “ you can be”. Lol. 

Anyway, I don’t know exactly what enlightenment is, but I always assumed it’s way more than metacognition + emotional control. 

Yes that's good. Many people are not able to go meta and step outside of themselves to see that this is only bothersome from their selfish perspective.   And if they just let it go it would no longer have any meaning.  You're right in that you don't need to be enlightened to do this.  But many aren't able to see past their own perspective and they let it consume them.

[Joshe]

5 hours ago, Inliytened1 said:

But many aren't able to see past their own perspective and they let it consume them.

It was such a long time ago and I was so young that I don't remember exactly what happened but I think what happened was at some point during the 3 days, I had lapses in suffering and I realized that in those lapses, I was not suffering. So I inquired into that and asked what was different about those lapses, and I was able to trace the suffering back to how I was using my mind, or how it was using me. Then, I tried to not suffer and it worked. I remember walking out the room with a smile on my face. 

I recently discovered that deep suffering is possibly the largest contributor to increased consciousness and/or metacognition, but only if the suffering is not resisted and the epistemology used to process it is solid. It has to be fully felt, and there can be no one or no thing to rescue you. You have to be the one.

[Natasha Tori Maru]

I experience unnecessary suffering only when wedged in the future - or the past. When I am thinking or judging the moment. Experience with perception on top, judging on top, thinking on top. All heaped on top of experience. All manifestations of the self manifest to survive.

The future and past are just memories and they aren't directly connected the reality of what I am experiencing right NOW. So they are not real. This usually starts the unravelling of the suffering.

Judging is thinking - this is another one that is a narrative people usually insert into their reality. 

Once you see all the layers you ham-fist on top of your experience, unnecessary suffering dissolves