Are you blissful?

[okulele]

As I listend to different enlightened people I see a pattern. Some seemed to have reached a state of profound peace and contentment, but other say that there is more and that if you dive deep enough, you can get to "out of this world bliss and love".

My question is: Is there someone here who experiences constant bliss?

[Guest Quanty]

[DocHoliday]

Well, if you ask me, this "constant bliss"-thing isn't really what it seems to be to most people. Many report that after their enlightenment, or total release and/or surrender to put it in different words, they experience that state of total bliss which has a non-defined duration that is individual to everyone, but for some it may last weeks or even months. It is very rare and uncommon to hear that people are abiding in that state for years on end, because in the end, it is always safe to say that it will slowly become less and less pronounced and you will take it on as your default state, more or less - unless you totally dissolve in it and.... die (I don't know for sure, but I'm quite certain that it does have something to do with achieving a conscious death, but there's surely a lot more to it). IMO though, the bliss that is often mentioned over time actually just transitions into pure love and compassion which is the absolute source of the deepest bliss you could experience anyway. 

Edited June 27, 2018 by DocHoliday
Reason for Edit: Grammar

[DoubleYou]

The mind is a movement of wanting. Bliss is found where wanting is not.

Try to become aware of the fact that you are resisting bliss constantly through the mind’s desires.

Feel what happens when you state: “I want absolutely nothing.” Really feel it out. Suddenly a peace arises. That peace can turn into bliss when all resistance to it collapses.

As it turns out, when you stop wanting anything, you are open to absolutely everything. That is the paradox. And that is the space from which a human being can truly be authentic. Now every move you make comes from a place of fulfillment. Or bliss.

And being blissful isn’t even a big deal. It’s not like this insane constant feeling of ecstasy, (though it can be) It simply means you don’t mind whatever experience you’re having. You can’t be more satisfied than absolutely satisfied. There’s no measurement for happiness anymore.

I’m definetely not blissful all the time, but I can see what’s in the way of it very clearly, and that has now become my meditation. And what do I want from this meditation? Nothing at all.

[Dogsbestfriend]

Blissful yes, but not constantly - when I had my big moment then yea it lasted for a period of about 2 weeks... but it was almost too euphoric then, like the floodgates had been open. Now I need like 20-30 min mediation, or longer period of mindful being (which I do most of the time anyways) to enter that state... to me there's more to just not caring what you experience, it's an active feeling of almost a cool calming breeze passing over me - tranquility, peace.. sometimes though more rarely love- I'll be honest I think that just me, I really wouldn't want to be all lovey dovey 24-7. The first two week I was an honestly it annoyed some people and then me afterwards.

But it is a almost physical feeling, well it feels that way even though it's internal.

Edited June 27, 2018 by Dogsbestfriend
Wanted to add - chasing blissful states is a trap itself that will hold you back. You need to extinguish the desire for more, that unsatiable hunger we tend to acquire at some point in life - when you let go of it, you'll see big improvements.

[tsuki]

3 hours ago, okulele said:

My question is: Is there someone here who experiences constant bliss?

Bliss/joy/peace are one experience for me.
From one point of view, it is calmness/stillness. The emotional pond is still, without anger/fear/guilt/shame, etc.
From another point of view, the peace is blissful. It is a feeling of being completely dead inside, like nothing would ever move me. It is a pleasant feeling!

I do feel emotions, but because the pond is mostly still, I can easily identify and direct them. They are not negative, but neutral.
This redirection from, lets say, anger to negative thoughts is conditioned into movement that reinterprets the experience into something more positive.
There is a tension during aggravating moments, but this tension is internally resolved through equalization in thoughts. Feelings are being let go, automatically.

[Nahm]

Like taking off a costume you didn’t know you were wearing, the costume is not blissful, the bliss was wearing the costume. 

[okulele]

Thank you all for your responses. It's really interesting to hear your experiences, although I underatand we can never convey to each other what we exactly mean.

I mostly created this topic to remind everyone that there could always be more to your awakening than where you are at. 

(I was inspired by Jan Essman's interview on BATGAP where he talks about very physical bliss he is experiencing all the time and where he states how easy it is to get stuck at experiencing pure peace and thinking that's it.)

[How to be wise]

@okulele I’m currently working towards it. I feel far more bliss than I did just two months ago. I’m confident I’ll make it to constant bliss by a year or two. 

If you’re thinking about getting to constant bliss through meditation, you can forget about it. You won’t get it.

[Enlightenment]

It does depend on whether an enlightened person is still meditating on a daily basis and maintain Śamatha, a state of equanimity, joy, love, bliss which is associated with more gamma brain waves, otherwise they have no self, non-dual perspective but still quite dull mind, and because of it no constant love/bliss feeling.

[Arkandeus]

bliss is shared and reflected among friends and brothers and sisters

it is my opinion, a matter of collective

[Faceless]

Ultimate Bliss is only in the cessation of experience as the i 

A movement not bound by time(thought) 

A dynamic stillness

[WindInTheLeaf]

How can you be bliss when you are that which is looking for bliss? How can you be bliss if you are that which doubts if you are blissful? Thoughts can take us to the locked gate, but the seizing of thought is the key.

[Faceless]

19 minutes ago, WindInTheLeaf said:

How can you be bliss when you are that which is looking for bliss?

Indeed, bliss cannot be cultivated. And thought is one and the same movement/process as cultivation...Any movement of thought prevents bliss. 

Edited June 27, 2018 by Faceless

[Joseph Maynor]

The point is not to think of bliss as an end.  You will find suffering blissful if you’re fighting for your goals and values.  Don’t get caught up in a Stage Green conceptual system of Enlightenment.  Find your Life Purpose and start working on embodying that.

Edited June 27, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Faceless]

Total Integration/embodiment is the result of seeing the futility in moving in accordance to time. To negate any movement whatsoever in seeking psychological security. To live with what is, which implies the ending of fear. It’s only when fear is not, that there is bliss. It’s only in virtue-order, that there can be bliss. Only in bliss can there be complete action, holy action. 

Edited June 27, 2018 by Faceless