Enlightenment Now Or Later?

[Ross]

Hey people,

Just want to ask if it would be advisable to start the spiritual journey really young (college) or pursue it in mid to late ages in your life? I am asking because from what I have read enlightenment is a pretty big commitment and I quote from Leo, 'BRUTAL'.

Cheers. 

 

[cetus]

5 minutes ago, Ross said:

Hey people,

Just want to ask if it would be advisable to start the spiritual journey really young (college) or pursue it in mid to late ages in your life? I am asking because from what I have read enlightenment is a pretty big commitment and I quote from Leo, 'BRUTAL'.

Cheers. 

 

@Ross This work is all about tearing down false belief systems. Everybody is different. The person who holds on to those false beliefs will have a hard time of it. The one who just accepts letting them go will sail through it with ease.

[Dodo]

18 minutes ago, cetus56 said:

@Ross This work is all about tearing down false belief systems. Everybody is different. The person who holds on to those false beliefs will have a hard time of it. The one who just accepts letting them go will sail through it with ease.

Easiest if you let your brain think, have belief and act the same way as it always does, just don't identify with it. You are that which experiences all that. There you go, a head start, begin now @Ross I believe the rest will happen for you by itself if you stick to trying to observe the "I am" from the place before "I am".

PS: For me, the place before "I am" is nothingness. So imagine nothingness in your mind, and the thing that is seeing that nothingness is the true nothingness, or that which you are.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Dodoster

[askdfjnak]

@Ross If you don't get into enlightenment work straight away it can be really useful to practice some pre-spiritual philosophy.

Ask yourself questions like:

What is thought?

What is a belief?

What is language?

What is success?

What is truth?

What is right/good or wrong/bad??

What is a purpose?

What is desire?

What is time?

What is reality?

Who am I?

What makes me, me?

If you keep these questions open and you start gathering answers to them from a wide variety of sources your belief structure will stay flexible and you will naturally be more open-minded. This will make things easier later on.

Speaking from personal experience (I'm doing this young) it has been BRUTAL, but I can say that nothing can compare to some of the things I have experienced. 

I once watched a leaf falling from a tree and went into a state of bliss so deep I thought I would actually die.

[cetus]

@Ross You could become enlightened this very moment with no effort at all.  Lets try !    What you may think of as a separate "self "is an illusion. What you may think of as "other" is illusion. EVERYTHING is one field of awareness that is often misinterpreted as separateness through a distorted mind. Can you accept that? Or, is there lots of imaginary work to do yet to get back to this truth again?

[Ross]

The thing is that even though enlightenment is technically a one way ticket to happiness, there will be a lot of change happening to oneself. In what way has this journey changed your lifestyle in positive and negative terms, and will there be some parts of 'you' (personality, hobbies etc) that will go away or stay. 

[Henri]

Is there a choice? 

[Denis]

There is nothing to wait for.  Do it now.  I am 32 now and it would have been  nice to discover this 10 years ago.  But as Eckhart Tolle says it doesn't matter when the flower blooms as long as it blooms even if it is on your death bed.