We are free!! They are leaving us!

I'm sorry, but spiritual enlightenment is a subjective experience. The reason being that the amount of enlightened persons is quite rare, there isn't any way to really confirm it. This mental state is unlike happiness or sadness where they are easily recognized. The feeling that you describe as "enlightenment" may be only a feeling of temporary calm/relief/understanding. The term shouldn't be used lightly. Buddha achieved nirvana (enlightenment) after many years of meditation and suffering. How can so many people claim they have experienced enlightenment when it is such a rare state? I think some of you may actually be confusing it with other similar emotions. An enlightenment to one may not be enlightenment to another.

I see that many people are defending the OP over his experience. But it seems to me that he is advocating an abandonment of materialism. He's basically saying that there is an afterlife so we do not need to fear anything in this life. However, if we take that literally, aren't we all going to simply die? Regardless of what one has realized about this existence, we have to remember that we are still human beings. A human life should be taken seriously. We still need to eat, drive, and make friends. Why would we suddenly leave all this behind? Should we instead starve, walk 100 miles, and isolate ourselves?

You're taking this to the extreme. Sure, there are many things in the material world that we can live without, but there are others that without them our lives would be miserable. There's no reason to become an ascetic right now. What would that solve?

Besides, who is leaving us exactly? Do you mean the power elite? I hope you're right about that.

Originally posted by KILL_DOGG
reply to post by Visitor2012

 

I'm just going to repost something I said 5 seconds ago in another thread:

Wow, just......wow. So if I stop using my brain I don't have to work anymore. Will this new connection feed my kids? Keep me from dying from exposure when the bank kicks me out of my house? No, it won't. As a matter of fact, this new connection or state of mind will accomplish only one thing: NOTHING. You are asking people to waste their lives in persuit of something that does not exist.

I'm happy that you are happy and that's all that really matters, but this is pure rubbish. I work because my work is valuable, I have a family because I love them, and I own things that enhance my life. These things are not products of my awareness or my comfort zone, they are the things that I want because my attachment to these things and people enhance my life.

You sit there and chant all you want and I will continue to do what truly makes me happy and die knowing that I lead a full life....not wasted it trying to ascend or cross over or whatever the hell it is you're talking about.

You are completely right and I agree with you in a way! Everyone must understand, that happiness is all in the eye of the beholder!!!

One persons perspective of happiness and what makes them happy can be completely different from the person sitting next to them. There are no guidlines to what exactly will make an individual happy.

So, to all their own! If you want to get away from "the system" then do so, if you content with your life in 'the system" then so be it!

So I agree, it's not just about getting out of the system or having materialistic things, it really different fr

Originally posted by TheOracle
Humans always had to work and will always work for survival.

Actually new studies found that primitive man only spent a few hours a day hunting and gathering. We thought that cavemen had a really hard time trying to survive but that is wrong. Primitive man had more leisure time than most people do today. He spent his days playing and interacting with family. He was very happy. Now we are all slaves to our luxuries.

Originally posted by Visitor2012

My perspective is not Godly, I am only able to see the cage we are all in. I see the happy caged people, and the unhappy caged people. Both are unhappy. One is aware of it, the other is not.

I can take nothing of the world with me on this journey. I can only witness what is called to be placed before me, then pass on into the next stage of existence which I am already begining to see.

[edit on 26-5-2010 by Visitor2012]

Can I go with you?

The powers that be cannot stop the universal forces at work. CHANGE, and I mean REAL CHANGE, is coming. Prepare yourself. If you are materialistically minded, I am so, so sorry for you. You will not make it in the new era that is coming.

Praise be to God or the Universe, or whatever you wish to call it.

reply to post by Phantom traveller


If he wants to bask in his "other worldly" knowledge and say screw everyone who has made something worldly meaningful for them on a personal level than fine, that's cool, I've seen that movie 1000 times. But, he could atleast be objectively valid so an intelligent person can understand his purpose. Here he simply says nothing. Why are you free? Don't know. What group you have demonized are leaving? Dunno. What has been your experience and what is you're truth? Barely understandable.

Spirituality like anything has it's process. There is a road you must walk, valid trials and experiences to overcome. He doesn't know anything about this and I can't respect someone who talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk.

Originally posted by Visitor2012
But I am now secure in the knowledge that I am immortal and my body has been on a cross for 40 years.

Great, ANOTHER 40 year old virgin?

Yikes. Another prophet.

reply to post by earthdude


Yes indeed that is the point I was trying to make. In order to be free, one has to give up on all the things we take for granted.
But we can't live like in the dark ages. We can't provide for all our needs, we need a wide range of professions to prosper as civilized human beings. I read somewhere that the perfect number for a society is 100 or so. Small enough so everyone know each other and big enough to cover all their needs.
We really should stop relying on the Chinese or people across the globe to feed our lifestyles

reply to post by Visitor2012


I just woke up also.

And I somehow just 'knew' they were leaving. Not sure how but just this past week I have realized that I am not really me, yet I am me, and so much more.

Why is this so hard to explain?

I now know that I am not this body I inhabit. I am simply having an experience and using this fleshly body to interact within the parameters of this world.

M feeling about this world and everyone in it have changed also. I have been a Christian for the past 30 years and I have 'said' that I love everyone. But I didn't.

Now I love everyone on this earth because they are the same as me, whether the are awake or not.

I feel blessed to have been allowed to have this experience called life and I am going forward to finish enjoying it knowing who I am now.

I am ME!

I am FREE!

Originally posted by earthdude

Originally posted by TheOracle
Humans always had to work and will always work for survival.

Actually new studies found that primitive man only spent a few hours a day hunting and gathering. We thought that cavemen had a really hard time trying to survive but that is wrong. Primitive man had more leisure time than most people do today. He spent his days playing and interacting with family. He was very happy. Now we are all slaves to our luxuries.

Almost true. Actually we are slaves to our population. Primitive man got away with it because there wasn't a whole lot of primitive man. The world was his oyster, a proverbial Garden of Eden.

Luxuries are just a consolation prize for our slavery, but we have to work for our food too.


[edit on 28-5-2010 by NewlyAwakened]

reply to post by wolfwood290


Becoming free has nothing to do with spirituality. Becoming free means that you have come to understand who you are.

It means that you know who you are really seeing when you look in the mirror and you also know that you were never that person who is reflected.

I am free because I understand why the world works as it does. I am free because I know my place in this world. I am free because I can now choose my level of participation in this world.

I am no longer bound by any worldly constraints because I am IN this world but not OF this world.

I know that my eyes, while useful tools, do not actually 'see'. I know that my ears do not actually 'hear'. They are just instruments that the ME inside uses to interact in this world.

Tomorrow my car will be repossessed. And that is okay because I am positive that another one will come along shortly. It must. It is impossible that it doesn't.

I am not stressed by this or anything else in this physical world.

I am IN this world but not OF this world, therefore everything that I require physically will be provided.

My only responsibility for this wonderful gift of life is to give love faithfully and at all times, to everyone.

This is a great leap for many people, but it is one that you will eventually make, so do not be afraid.

But being awake does not mean having all your physical needs supplied, (its not about the physical at all, really) it means never having to worry again...ever.

I had thought at one time that before we all agreed to come to this earth.(Yes, you agreed to come here). that we had a conversation with GOD and when He asked us to come here for a space and do a thing (whatever your thing-to-do is) and we agreed, that as soon as we were born we immediately forgot.

That means that we had to either use faith to remember our former conversation or live a life that was so in tune with His (or a higher consciousness) that we would follow the path in this life that would lead us to that destination. Well, that may or may not be true for you, but in light of my recent awakening, it makes much more sense to me.

Because now I know that I am on that path.

I am no longer lost.

I am no longer confused.

I am ME.

I am FREE.

reply to post by Visitor2012

Tell us then. Tell us how you get food without working. Tell us how you get water without working. Tell us how you get a home without working to build that home.

reply to post by rick1


I would like to ask you, do you think food only comes from a supermarket? Do you think water only comes from a municipal source? Do you think shelter only comes in the form of a various sized 1 or two story homes in an urban or rural area, and attached with a mortgage? You have been led to believe what occurs only two feet in front of you. Its interesting you believe labor gets you the things you need, when in reality, you have never truly worked for what you need. How do you think our ancestors made it before this boom of madness in the recent centuries? You think they labored for a corporation, got their pay, and then hit the local supermarket to grab some food, then paid a water bill for water that is poisoned with lead and fluoride and God know what else?

There's a difference between slave labor, and work. I doubt you have ever worked to plant and grow your own food, build your own shelter, find your own water. But I'm also sure that just sounds so ludicrous to a robot as yourself...

WAKE UP

Originally posted by Enigami
reply to post by rick1

 

I would like to ask you, do you think food only comes from a supermarket? Do you think water only comes from a municipal source? Do you think shelter only comes in the form of a various sized 1 or two story homes in an urban or rural area, and attached with a mortgage? You have been led to believe what occurs only two feet in front of you. Its interesting you believe labor gets you the things you need, when in reality, you have never truly worked for what you need. How do you think our ancestors made it before this boom of madness in the recent centuries? You think they labored for a corporation, got their pay, and then hit the local supermarket to grab some food, then paid a water bill for water that is poisoned with lead and fluoride and God know what else?

There's a difference between slave labor, and work. I doubt you have ever worked to plant and grow your own food, build your own shelter, find your own water. But I'm also sure that just sounds so ludicrous to a robot as yourself...

WAKE UP

Yes, I take off all summer for as long as I can get away with every year to go camping..... I LOVE it....I love working on gathering the wood for my fire, boiling the water I get out of the lake to wash my dishes... picking the berries and catching the fish...... LOVE it....will do it year round ASAP....

I do not work for money though, I grow my own veggies, and mostly eat vegetarian, rent out rooms in the house that amounts to enough to cover the mortgage so we can basically live in our camper as much as possible... We really don't even need the house etc, it is just a stupid show my ex needs to keep up for his show for his imaginary audience.....

Yes, true work, is pure pleasure, working for a buck or for an image is slavery to some backwards illusion....

From the day I graduated highschool, I allways told everyone I would rather retire and be a beach bum now than to wait until I am too old to enjoy it etc...... things have allways worked out more than great..... I do things I love, like taking care of kids, painting, or singing, and don't formally charge people, and it allways comes back that I am taken care of etc....

[edit on 29-5-2010 by asala]

I have not read anyone claiming they have become 'Enlightened', but if there was I would add this:

Enlightenment can never be realized by the self, because the path to a Buddha like level of enlightenment is gained through the realization of SELF as an illusion.

The teaching of Buddha demonstrate that the self is fabricated and that our inability to perceive this truth is the primary source of suffering. The Mahayanasutralamkara uses a common set of of eight similes to describe the self. It is: "Like an illusion, a dream, a mirage, a shadow, a magical display, an echo, a reflection of the moon in water, an apparition..."

Our sense of self establishes the self as something that obviously exists, its existence is beyond doubt, truly unquestionable. Our whole world is built around the meanings and stories of the self, its hopes and fears, its victories and defeats. If we were to inquire closely into the nature of this self, we might discover that apart from it, we do not really know who we are. If the sense of self is, as the Buddha teaches, an illusion that one can penetrate, then the ordinary understanding of how experience arises and develops around a central self is completely misleading.

The Abhidharma provides ways to liberate one from this confusion and illusion. Our understanding is confused in four particular ways known as the four errors: 1. We mistake what is impermanent for permanent. 2. We mistake what is full of suffering for a source of happiness. 3 We mistake what is impure for pure. 4. We mistake what is not self for self.

Learning how to observe moments of experience directly is the first step to clearing away these errors. Our attention is ordinarily attracted so strongly to experience, that we are instantaneously involved, and thus unable to observe how experience arises and develops. To be able to observe we must develop mindfulness. Mindfulness brings observation to focus directly on experience as a part of a process. Once in mindful contact with the flow of experience, we can begin to analyze and categorize moments as distinct nameable events like: "this is the sensation of breathing." "this is a moment of anger." "this typing is an unpleasant feeling for my hands" lol. Having studied the categories of Abgidharma, we begin to notice that experience is much richer and meaningful than we had realized.

When we can identify "anger" or "pride" or "faith", we are able to see what follows in the wake of each and question where each will lead us. What appears to be desirable may not actually bring pleasant or desirable results. What appears to be of little importance, may actually make a substantial difference in the outcome of our efforts. Likewise, we can then begin to see that external objects, ideas, or mental events we consider beautiful and pure, may have an impure side we ordinarily ignore. The impurity may be physical or may be emotional, such as what we believe is pure love or compassion turns out on closer inspection to be "contaminated" with self-interest.

As we learn to observe closely and consistently, to recognize distinct mental events, and to analyze the results, we are less easily deceived by others beliefs and more open to the direct evidence before us. Meditation can aid greatly in allowing the self to perceive the nature of different states of mind, and to test the validity of our belief in the self.

Ok, enough for now, that just came pouring out of me for some reason, and made me realize how trapped in the self I am, lol.

pzzz...

mmm....

[edit on 28-5-2010 by LifeIsEnergy]

reply to post by Visitor2012


who does?

reply to post by SolarGoddess


I see now. Thank you, SolarGoddess. That was a very well-written post.

reply to post by SolarGoddess


I see now. Thank you, SolarGoddess. That was a very well-written post.

Thank you so much for posting that. It's about time people acknowledge spirituality. Without religious doctrines that is, because you can be spiritual without being religious, vice versa, both or neither.

I believe in the afterlife, the other side, and reincarnation. I have never had any doubt. But people who pay too much attention to the mainstream media are losing themselves. They are looking for spirituality in all the wrong places, because they don't understand that it's something they have to generate within themselves, and stay strong in their conviction of it, depsite being surrounded by shallow, ignorant airheads. The media will never give them spirituality, they have to take action into their own hands. Does the media promote kindness over all, the basic meaning and very essence of spirituality? No. You don't even have to be a complete drongo to figure that out, with it's strong repition of sex, money and the beauty industry. No wonder people feel so lost.

Your quote...

"...unconscious, reaction based parakeets around you."

is the perfect explanation for most of the sheeple. They just mimic what the television tells them through and through. I also like the following quote:

"There is far more to this world than taught in our schools, shown in the media, or proclaimed by the church and state. Most of mankind lives in a hypnotic trance, taking to be reality what is instead a twisted simulacrum of reality, a collective dream in which values are inverted, lies are taken as truth, and tyranny is accepted as security." - Thomas Cox.

Most of humanity are hypnotised by their television sets and drugged up and intoxicated to the point of living their lives like zombies because of the food they eat.

'The richest people on Earth are not those who have the most, but those who need the least.'

A few years ago, i decided i had had enough of consumerism and possesions ruling my life, and decided to get rid of all but the most precious and most practical/essential. And i have never felt so liberated in my whole life. Living like a monk (almost) and dedicating my life to learning (reading) and bonding with civilised, open minded people.

My advice, if it's any good: Turn off the TV, better still, get rid of it. The quality of your life will improve. And eat healthy!!! You have no idea how simple nutrition can clear a persons head and mind and allow them to properly and intensely ruminate in their soul on their own spiritual awareness, with no BRAIN FOG that coke and fast food etc give people.

Best of luck with your spiritual quest, as i believe no matter how spiritual a person is, they can always improve. That is indeed the purpose of reincarnation, to learn enough lessons about life to progress to a spiritual realm, where, hence the name, spirituality IS important.

Godspeed.