@Arzack There is something pointed to that is implicit... Brace yourself, a long comment is coming. Feel free to take your time to grasp all what is said.   How is shooting the messenger connected to meditation or awakening? Imagine a SD red warlord veiled in rage who shoots the messenger who delivers the capitulation. Does that feel like non-duality mumbo jumbo? How is the dynamic applicable to this threat? I am really interested what you think.   I try to make the pointer more obvious. Hopefully something to reflect on to get. My perspective is maybe wrong, but for you to choose: You believe you can attain enlightenment and that reincarnation happens when you aren't enlighened (assuming you belief in buddhism). "Tripping up" means that this is something which keeps you contracted/identified/hindered. This is how you 'become' free. Be humble about what you think to know [I plan to explore more of humility because there seems to be a veil for me]. You suffer when you are "tripping up" (creating stories you belief in). Creating stories makes the "non-duality mumbo jumbo" harder because they hinder you. You don't want the "non-duality mumbo jumbo". You want stories because they may seem reasonable. It seems reasonable that there is reincarnation till we enlighten (again, assuming you belief in buddhism). Yes, you are right. This is easy and yet many people do not let thoughts & stories go. Many people choose automatic behavior to stay "tripped up"/hindered [this is something I also struggle with]. Nahm uses your explanation with hunter-gatherers to get you to realize that this is also a story you create. Erase all what you belief to know. Now, live your life without a history [my struggle too]. Then you are happy. Let go of searching happiness. Or not I mean, maybe someday you are so in vain, and suffer so much that you realize that the search is a story you create to 'stay alive'. It is not quitting the search, but rather finding what you search for (counter-intuitive). Analogy: Imagine a zombie searching for aliveness. It eats human beings for feeling alive, but it is temporary. After some hardships it realizes that itself is already alive - you are the zombie searching for happiness. It is what I referred to as fire. This is your magic button. Granted that it takes some to effort to do to make it effortless (habit building). Analogy to the warlord: You suffer by disregarding the messages (pointers to truth). You create your own suffering and hold yourself back from happiness because you are the warlord who wants war. Accepting the messenger (capitulation) would require for you to give up war. You enjoy to be a warlord because you feel validated by being a great one. You may search for something else than war (or think you do, but actually you don't want to) and have convinced yourself that is has to be found in war. And still the messages constantly come in and you shoot the messenger every time. Who would love peace so much that the messengers keep coming? When I said this I tried as Nahm to use your story as a pointer. Don't get me wrong here, stories are great; where would we be without stories? And yet again, you are so diligent to shoot the messengers. And the message is denied. You are again "too Good to be True" by being the warlord. Karma is a bitch because you suffer more by dismissing the messages. The 'Ad hominem'-card cannot be played here because it was the entire time about you.   Much Love.