For the enlightened

I

[Racsouran]

you can be enlightened even on a better way to avoid constipation. To put an easy example, that explains pretty much everything about enlightenment issues.

[333mark333]

Originally Posted by Thrave

I want to have an important discussion with other ground crew-ers toward what collectively we apprehend as our idea... it's been said that our aim is to evolve into an enlightened society - sounds great, but what exactly does that look like?

I'm curious what you each think enlightenment is exactly... I have a context, but i'm curious what yours is

1) are you enlightened, if you are, how do you know?

2) what motivated the realization?

3) have you managed to maintain the state in your daily activities?

1) I AM becoming

2) Self

3) Sometimes

[JesterTerrestrial]

I'm trying to focus on the positive things in life!

Enlightened is better then endarkend. I try to learn every day...knowledge is amazing and there is a river of it available for everyone.

There are many highs and lows. Its a roller coaster and I ride it daily.

[doodah]

Originally Posted by Thrave

I want to have an important discussion with other ground crew-ers toward what collectively we apprehend as our idea... it's been said that our aim is to evolve into an enlightened society - sounds great, but what exactly does that look like?

I'm curious what you each think enlightenment is exactly... I have a context, but i'm curious what yours is

1) are you enlightened, if you are, how do you know?

2) what motivated the realization?

3) have you managed to maintain the state in your daily activities?

1. I can see the current paradigm and know that I am not in it -- or that I am in it but not of it. Enlightenment is an infinite process and I only see part.

2. An inner drive.

3. Many times, much of the time, not all the time.

A little over a year ago I had my experience of enlightenment

it occurred suddenly, and was definitive -
all the pieces fell in place
and there was a feeling of absolute bliss,
to me, it was the most real and natural
experience i have ever felt...

but to those around me there was no significant change -
i didn't glow, float, walk on water or have any supernatural powers
... unless you so ascribe conscious trust-acceptance-lack of fear, a feeling of flow and balance

ultimately it was a state that i consciously participated in the dynamic flow
without fear, ego resistances and preconceived assumptions.

this state is there for us all to experience
it is our truest self and it wants to be realized
all you need to do is drop the fear and assumptions
and look - and who and what you are will come bounding toward you

since that initial rapture i have been learning to integrate
my understanding into the world in which my ego resided -
the ego doesn't magically disappear,
it is a by-product [perhaps necessary] to living in this world
it's just been demoted, i see thru it and trump it's response

so in response to my own questions:

1. yes, it was a strong inner certainty that resounded in the world around me

2. i was motivated by my strong desire to understand the truth

3. the initially bliss that first accompanied the experience waned, but not the resulting understanding.
since then, i found so many of my responses in my life were ego/fear-based reflexive responses -
i still watch myself going thru such motions, but now have greater flexibility to alter/adjust beyond the ego...
it has not been an instantaneous, but rather a conscious adjustment

My primary drive for posting this admittedly is curiosity -

Immediately I recognized my experience as 'our natural state'
and i was certain there are many others who have had this enlightenment experience

And I was curious what the consensus of the 'enlightenment' experience is
amongst the others in this forum

However, most importantly - amidst all the chaos occurring in the world
I think it is imperative that we move away from the fear-based mindset
that has manipulated the masses for so long - this isn't easy...
it requires continual conscious effort because it is so deeply conditioned
and because of all the changes occurring

i can't tell you how you can become enlightened - but i may be able
to help you identify your own 'bread crumb path' to realizing who/what you are

I'd love to hear of your experienced, opinions, whatever

[greybeard]

Originally Posted by Thrave

I want to have an important discussion with other ground crew-ers toward what collectively we apprehend as our idea... it's been said that our aim is to evolve into an enlightened society - sounds great, but what exactly does that look like?

I'm curious what you each think enlightenment is exactly... I have a context, but i'm curious what yours is

1) are you enlightened, if you are, how do you know?

2) what motivated the realization?

3) have you managed to maintain the state in your daily activities?

Thanks for starting this thread Thrave.

Enlightenment is a state wich is different from the egoic state.
The the butterfly has emerged from the caterpiler there is no possiblity of return to the former it is permanent.

Anything that comes and goes is not ulitmate Truth.
Truth by its very nature is eternal and unchanging.

Many are awakened and thats a big step forward but few are enlightened as yet.

It is best to consulute the teaching that flows through the enlightened souls.
ie in the english speaking culture David Hawkins and Eckhart Tolle spring to mind.

Enlightenment is not a personal thing because there is no individual peson left.
There is an unchanging awreness that there is no seperation from the Creator and all of creation -- all waves of the Divine ocean.
Duality ie me and the other has changed into Non-duality.

You can work towards it by endevouring to be kind to all life no matter what.
The final change to the state of enlightenment is by the Grace of our Creator.

Awakening is a process it is very important but it is not enlightenment.
Its like an encouragment, a proof that there is more to life.

Ramana Maharshi said "You can measure your spiritual progress by the amount of stillness in your mind."

(1) I am not enlightened but awake.
(2) Bilss states occour -- the longest lasted two days.
(3)Most of the time the mind is silent.

I have pasted in a part of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

Regards to all Chris

Ps
Please pass the following on to all you feel would benefit from it.


The Light of the World

by Eckhart Tolle
eckharttolle.com

When you are fully present and people around you manifest unconscious behavior, you won't feel the need to react to it, so you don't give it any reality. Your peace is so vast and deep that anything that is not peace disappears into it as if it had never existed. This breaks the karmic cycle of action and reaction. Animals, trees and owers will feel your peace and respond to it.


You teach through being, through demonstrating the peace of God. You become the "light of the world," an emanation of pure consciousness and so you eliminate suffering on the level of cause. You eliminate unconsciousness from the world.


This doesn't mean that you may not also teach through doing – for example, by pointing out how to dis-identify from the mind, recognize unconscious patterns within oneself and so on. But who you are is always a more vital teaching and a more powerful transformer of the world than what you say and more essential even than what you do.


Furthermore, to recognize the primacy of Being and thus work on the level of cause does not exclude the possibility that your compassion may simultaneously manifest on the level of doing, and in effect, by alleviating suffering whenever you come across it. When a hungry person asks you for bread and you have some, you will give it. But as you give the bread, even though your interaction may only be very brief, what really matters is this moment of shared Being, of which the bread is only a symbol. A deep healing takes place within it. In that moment, there is no giver, no receiver.



But there shouldn't be any hunger and starvation in the €rst place. How can we create a better world without tackling evils such as hunger and violence €rst?

All evils are the effect of unconsciousness. You can alleviate the effects of unconsciousness, but you cannot eliminate them unless you eliminate their cause. True change happens within, not without.


If you feel called upon to alleviate suffering in the world, that is a very noble thing to do, but remember not to focus exclusively on the outer. Otherwise, you will encounter frustration and despair. Without a profound change in human consciousness, the world's suffering is a bottomless pit. So don't let your compassion become one-sided.


Empathy with someone else's pain or lack and a desire to help must be balanced with a deeper realization of the eternal nature of all life and the ultimate illusion of all pain. Then let your peace ow into whatever you do and you will be working on the levels of effect and cause simultaneously.


This also applies if you are supporting a movement designed to stop deeply unconscious humans from destroying themselves, each other and the planet, or from continuing to inict dreadful suffering on other sentient beings. Remember; just as you cannot €ght the darkness, so you cannot €ght unconsciousness. If you try to do so, the polar opposites will become strengthened and more deeply entrenched. You will become identi€ed with one of the polarities; you will create an "enemy" and so be drawn into unconsciousness yourself.


Raise awareness by disseminating information, or, at the very least, practise passive resistance. But make sure that you carry no resistance within, no hatred, no negativity. "Love your enemies," Jesus said, which, of course, means have no enemies.


Once you get involved in working on the level of effect, it is all too easy to lose yourself in it. Stay alert and very, very present. The causal level must remain your primary focus, the teaching of enlightenment your main purpose and peace your most precious gift to the world.





Adapted from The Power of Now, copyright 1999 by Eckhart Tolle. Reprinted with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA, 800-972-6657 (ext. 52).

[greybeard]

It seems that the dramatic threads get the highest response.
Wonder why
Chris

Thanks for your replay Chris - it's good to to hear from you
It's possible you're correct - with my job, i'd rather leave the burden to
to existing transparently to someone else... there's no survival benefit in it
but it's pretty apparent now i can't undo this

i would rather hear about your awakening[s] - was it an understanding
or the experience you felt most compelling?

it appears you're familiar with the maharshi - i love his works too
and they proved quite instrumental in my understanding
in truth i'd ascribe the maharaje n with compelling influence

i recently stumbled on a great link to his primary book, "I am that" you may appreciate:
http://www.maharajnisargadatta.com/I_Am_That.pdf

There may be many awakened, but there are legions more compelled
to reside within their fear - and since we can only envisage what most closely approximates us, what would you say would best bridge that gap?

How would you prepare for this ripple on the horizon we all sense?

Thrave

[doodah]

Hi Thrave,

Thought I would try to expand a little on my previous post, but really I find that very hard to do. It is hard to find words and I find it almost impossible to retrace my path of awakening. Each step of awakening became my new "normal," and all the previous steps seem to disappear. I can't retrace my history in this. I do recall, however, my first stages of opening, which began with the mind. Part of that mental expansion was letting go of all conceptions of who and what I thought I was, and allowing the possibility that I/we are much more than that. Accepting that I am multidimensional rather than three-dimensional was part of that mental process. "Letting it be real" was a very important part of all this.

Then the mental expanded to include memories of my own experiences in life that have never fit in with the common paradigm. Now there was a way to accept those experiences as valid and to cherish myself, others, and all of life. My perceptions of everything changed, how I looked at things changed, what I saw when I looked changed. Everything became alive, with its own consciousness, its sovereign right of being.

There was no one point of experience that I recall as astonishing -- many points of experience have been/were/are astonishing. I seem to have taken small steps upward so to speak in raising awareness, vibration, expansiveness, a spiral of learning where we learn the same things at more and more refined levels. I had a meditation experience where I released a severely limiting belief. The energy tied up in that belief exploded outward into the dimensions in brilliant explosions of light and color, and I knew I had created a new universe somewhere. Not only that, at that point I became a more integrated person in this body, more truly whole than I had ever been.

The expansiveness probably describes it best for me -- the world, universe, All That Is, has gotten bigger and more inclusive. Everything has meaning and value. I am not a fully awakened soul because I forget from time to time and find myself back in separation. Then I remember again.

I have had out of body experiences which have instructed me that consciousness is not dependent on the body. The body seems to represent separation. Once out of the body, everything is fluid and open, barriers disappear.

This written by greybeard says it better than I can find the words for:
There is an unchanging awareness that there is no seperation from the Creator and all of creation -- all waves of the Divine ocean.
Duality ie me and the other has changed into Non-duality.

[greybeard]

Originally Posted by Thrave

Thanks for your replay Chris - it's good to to hear from you
It's possible you're correct - with my job, i'd rather leave the burden to
to existing transparently to someone else... there's no survival benefit in it
but it's pretty apparent now i can't undo this

i would rather hear about your awakening[s] - was it an understanding
or the experience you felt most compelling?

it appears you're familiar with the maharshi - i love his works too
and they proved quite instrumental in my understanding
in truth i'd ascribe the maharaje n with compelling influence

i recently stumbled on a great link to his primary book, "I am that" you may appreciate:
http://www.maharajnisargadatta.com/I_Am_That.pdf

There may be many awakened, but there are legions more compelled
to reside within their fear - and since we can only envisage what most closely approximates us, what would you say would best bridge that gap?

How would you prepare for this ripple on the horizon we all sense?

Thrave

Hi Thrave
David Hawkins is also a great influence on me. He is possibly at the highest level of enlightenment possible on this earth.

It only takes one enlightened soul to save your world ie you smiling.

I hit rock bottom age 28 im 63 this year.
A twelve step program saved me from my personal hell.

Syncronicity stepped in and I just get led by that.
I say "Im in Gods wheel barrow" smiling

Yoga happened and that was first experience of meditation.
All the Indian master books I could get. Ramana -Yogananda-- Nasarga.

Glad when books of our own culture appeared though.

Then trips to Indian ashrams started when I was 45. Bit old to become a spiritual hippie smiling.

The bliss started at an intensive meditation ten day retreat on Guriji's ashram. He is dead now but was acknowledged as the main Kundalini Guru.

Then Eckhart Tolle books and seminers his teachings have given me great peace of mind--- its mostly silent now.

I also went to a Ramesh Balsekar retreat and that was good.
David Hawkins Living the Prayer seminer also helped greatly.

I alternate between Eckhart DVDs and Hawkins books.
All this keeps me in a good place.
Concerns may surface like clouds in the sky but the sky is unmoved by them.

Preparing for the ripple? Im not sure yet.

I think simple spiritual practice is essential ie gratitude and kindness to all life without exception regardless of what happens.
Being practical too.
Extra food a bit of money aside.

I think getting a Radient Zone going with like minded friends is good.
It dosent have to be in the wilderness but somwhere you can meet up away from negativity.

Who knows I dont know and I dont need to know.
It will take care of itself as long as I am open to syncronicity.

No head in the sand so to speak.
Ive no money to escape anywhere.
The spiritual voyage has been my investment and it has been the wisest one.

I know that I am not the body.

Chris follows me arround like a little pet --- I like him. laughing.
My persona is not the absolute truth of what I am.

I dont mind what happens to me but I care for others who are not so at peace as is my blessing to be.
Namaste Chris
Nice to get your input too.