Spiritual Awakening- a taste of what it's like

Why is metaphysics not considered a science? Because it deals with the immaterial, but does that completely disqualify it? No, certainly not. Psychology deals with abstract personality disorders, physics deals with the movement of nano particles, and metaphysics deals with the essential reality of specific things. It should just be called Realism.

Hello,

Originally posted by Boypony
reply to post by Northwarden

 

After 40 plus years of seeking for SOMETHING.....I was blessed to find.

Now that you are awakened, so to speak, what now?

You are currently aware of what has been stated that a low percent of people are aware of, you have been blessed to find, so where do you go from here?

good post "itsnowagain",
the mind does get us in a lot of bother. or at least if we identify with the mind.

that heavenly experience is whilst the mind is almost gone, i believe there is a tiny fragment of ego or something left. when heaven recedes, its almost agonising as you know what you're slipping back too has no comparison with the real. and you hope for a return.

i believe nisagaddarta when he says-"what attracts you holds you back". whether its a relationship or wanting to reincarnate to serve your favorite guru.
we can discriminate out of our weaker desires but strong ones we have to live through.
perhaps your discomfort will ease if you realize the "I" comes first, is always there unchanged, then takes on board "i am this" or "that", happy or depressed, etc etc. that's everyones condition most of the time. its a lifetime habit we take for granted. intense earnestness for liberation will dissolve the identification crisis, even if that action seems like a desire.

"imans";- you may have a lot to offer in this thread but like many others i too have a problem with your grammar. i try reading it fast and i try reading it carefully and slow but the meaning escapes me. so if you'd really like to be understood, can we all agree on using the same language structure? please?
this whole thread has been a source of wonder, because in reading and replying, my thoughts are directed to the real, and its been a blast.

i enjoyed your post too "illusionsaregrander";-after digesting your words i am trying to remember the sense of "I" during my taste of the "real". there was a sense of awe as the boundarys between myself and natures manifestations vanished. and certainly fear was totally absent, tho i was an individual of some sort. it was like arriving, or lifting a veil, and what was gone before in ones life was of no consequence whatsoever.

i agree we are the awareness of our thoughts, and should constantly be aware of this. sound sleep and good health in mind and body are a definite plus here. regarding death, i'm sure the unburnt seeds of the mind will sprout again in another body with a different personality further down the track, so better to work towards the real whilst alive here and now.

interesting stuff "11118"
"The negative aspects of reality helps to teach the positive aspects"

the following may apply.;- vivekananda wrote;-" evil is an iron chain and good a golden chain. lay hold of the gold one to loosen the hold of the iron won, then throw both away". he went on to explain that ;-
"thou art the most blessed ever glorious soul, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent."

Originally posted by Illusionsaregrander

Originally posted by godddd

But i am the thinker, everybody is.. and thinking is not the problem as such.
moreover, it should be that everybody is thinking for himself, not read or learn from others but actualy learn to know themselfes wich (if one knows himself) means wisdom.

At the level of the individual, the ego, yes, "you" are the thinker, and so is every other "individual."

As I saw it, however, the individual self is not the Self you get the most from knowing. And that Self, does not think the way we consider thinking. At least not as I experienced it.

A little about myself.

At the age of 15 something happend, a power so great, so clear came over me and changed my being.
For the first time i could see, and it was a shock to suddenly realise certain things and understand them.
The power within me, a bursting energy that made me feel so complete and sharp mentaly.
Seeing the ego at work in the people arround me, in pain and suffering, longing, violent, wanting, seeking security.
I recogniced it because i already knew it as a part of me, i too was longing, suffering, wanting, in pain, and so on.
Seeing the stupidity of all this has transformed me inside, i could never go back to the old me that i was before.
It has been a turningpoint for me and i dont want tot talk about enlightenment or awakening cos although one understands certain things, there are more questions than answers.
That turningpoint made me throw away everything i tought i knew, because those answers seemed to be the answer of everyone else coming from books, from school, guru's and religions all over the world.
This to me is the emptying of consciousness and the end of the ego leaving me behind without answers and knowledge.
But now i could start to really go into questions starting with 'i dont know', and explore going deeper and deeper into it.
To me an individual means to be whole, indivisible.. not an individual being a separated humanperson who most of us are today.
As an individual i rely only on myself for answers on the questions i have and wich come up living in a disorderly society wich we humans have created.
So the point a want to make is that in fact the end of the ego really means being an individual for the first time.

reply to post by orangutang


i dont understand it is not your thread why are you judging contributions of others here ? from where do you know what boypony want to do with that ? that belongs totally to him or her if it is a woman

so dont think you can give lessons about willing to be understood, when you cant see your expressions as a way to please yourself then stop torturing others with what they should do to please you

existence is simply about life freedom truth, so wether you can act as a responsable of yourself or you cant than talk about it clearly and dont expect that anyone would follow your lies track,
my words are obviously very simple and easy to grasp on first level approach they are like speaking fluently and nothing more

and agreement are on depth not on forms, the forms from always are ruled to serve the substance and not the reverse
so learn yourself to accept your divergence with another on objective perspective and general disposition in existing, so would face any other correctly with your knowledge about yourself and make your words sounds better

Originally posted by Skyco
Hello,

Originally posted by Boypony
reply to post by Northwarden

 

After 40 plus years of seeking for SOMETHING.....I was blessed to find.

Now that you are awakened, so to speak, what now?

You are currently aware of what has been stated that a low percent of people are aware of, you have been blessed to find, so where do you go from here?

That's the b1tch of it, once awakened you've gotta get used to a whole new world. You have to realize all you've been taught, told and shown are lies. It makes for some heavy duty depressing down time.

Then you get a grip and start integrating your new found knowledge into your life. Everything, but nothing changes. Life becomes much more fun and less stressful. The road to mastery has begun.

Eventually you stop judging a lot of things as bad, or wrong and you begin to see them for what they are .. experiences. Creation passing by.

Hey, i'm new on ATS but i've been reading it for a while. I have a question to the awakened ones.
What do you do when you can't explain your friends and your family how you feel inside ?
Although i didn't have any mind blowing experiences like the ones people mentioned in this thread but i'm starting to realise how the machine of fear and manipulation works ( realisation came after i started using cannabis from time to time).
I'd like to change my life into something more acceptable to me and not the rest of society.
I don't like when my family tries to fit me in frames of social standarts but i still feel utmost love and respect for them. I don't want to be made into something i'm not.

reply to post by Spotless


Lead by example, do not force your beliefs anyone unless they ask.

Love everyone, including yourself, unconditionally.

There is nothing to fear.

* and flag for you

nice to hear simple good natured opinions.

I am dubious of anyone who says he or she is the next coming of christ etc

e,g en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Spotless


from my experience i would say this, if you can be independant financially and then deal with them outside the concept of needs from your side, so you would be more true being of what they mean to you that you would do, and they would objectively see you more as you mean being free different one

reply to post by godddd


I find it very interesting to hear other peoples experiences of Awakening.

My own experience did not lead me to focus on becoming hyper individualistic. Quite the contrary. It left me convinced that "Oneness" (even though the concept itself comes up short of the truth) is not just some cute saying about how we are all linked.

It showed me that which we all have in common. One "awareness" in untold numbers of beings. One intelligence, one watcher, looking out through innumerable eyes.

Originally posted by Spotless

What do you do when you can't explain your friends and your family how you feel inside ?

When I figured out that I could not really share in a meaningful way my experience, or feelings about it with anyone I knew, I personally went looking for others who might have had something similar happen.

I went to a bookstore, not knowing what I was looking for, and just started looking in the spirituality, religion, philosophy sections. Of course there is so much there, it was impossible to pick so I just kind of wandered picking up this and that. When I was about to give up, I just kind of let go, and said "I dont know what to get, I am just going to grab something and hope." I just scanned the books, and grabbed the one whose spine caught my eye the most.

I took it home, and lo and behold, there was a message in it from someone long dead who had the same experience. I started "looking" in that way. I would just kind of ask to be shown what to do or read next. And it would just show up.

One of the "secrets" is surrender. (As opposed to "trying") If you dont know what to do, or where to go, or who to read, just admit you dont know, and ask for it to make itself known. And then relax and stop struggling with it. And look. Bring your awareness without presupposition to bear on the situation.

The last bit is the hardest part.

The path will unfold in front of you if you are willing to stop struggling, stop "trying" and allow yourself to be guided. Be open, be unknowing, be questioning, and be willing to listen to anything and anyone that may be used to communicate to you.

Its easier said than done, however. I know how it works, and it does work, but I still struggle too, embarrassingly often.

It shall be understood; that Love, is the true beauty and power that creates, nourishes, and manifests all that is.

I am, in Love, with you. Understand these words and what they truly mean.

It's a little late in the thread for introducing new concepts I suppose, but I ran across something and it reminded me of this topic. Perhaps this late in the thread is the perfect place to introduce it, though; only those who are really interested in this topic are still here. The trolls (peace be upon them) are off playing elsewhere. So I thought I'd share. Anyway.

I read a lot of stuff. Something I've been concentrating lately on getting through is the Apocrypha; you know, all those books of the Bible that they left out of the Bible because they were too Gnostic for Constantine's tastes? Well, this is the second verse of the Gospel of Thomas (a.k.a. "Doubting Thomas"), which is simply a collection he made of the "secret" things Jesus said:

Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All.

Doesn't that sound just like what you guys (and, sadly, not I) have experienced? Only the prerequisite of "giving up" or "surrendering" is missing. Now, believe me, I've given up and surrendered many times over the past, uh... 14 years or so (over a third of my life). I've tried meditating (can't get my brain to shut up long enough though), and prayer, and asking, and giving up, and seeking, and looking, and nothing ever changes. Yet I'm certain I'm being kept alive for something. I've narrowly escaped certain death several times in my life. I've never had a broken bone or surgery. My dad was actually visited by an angel to tell him everything was going to be okay (back during the 1970's recession). I have all the faith in the world, and yet because I've got only that faith, no proof, no personal experiences or visitations or strange voices out of nowhere or burning bushes or talking dogs or Morgan Freeman in a white tuxedo, well... I worry. But I will continue to seek until I find. The only alternative is giving up, and I've been there. I think. And now you know why I read so much.

Sorry, I tend to ramble. Enough about me. There's lots of other interesting stuff in the other Apocryphal books. Become a wisdom sponge... though it hasn't seemed to do me much good (yet), I still haven't given up on it. Or is that what I should do (again)... so confused...

Perhaps all I should do is wait.

[edit] Wait, wait! Serious question. Those who've had epiphanies, who've glimpsed the infinite; do you get the feeling that before your awakening, you were divided into two separate "people" (body and higher self/soul perhaps), but that the awakening "made the two one?" I ask because of other stuff I've just read in Thomas, stuff right out of the mouth of Jesus... namely:

"If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move Away,' and it will move away."
"When you make the two one, you will become the sons of man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move away,' it will move away."
"On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"
"When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter [the Kingdom]."
"Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."

Does any of this ring a bell?

[edit on 5/13/2010 by Thought Provoker]

Originally posted by Thought Provoker
Now, believe me, I've given up and surrendered many times over the past, uh... 14 years or so (over a third of my life). I've tried meditating (can't get my brain to shut up long enough though), and prayer, and asking, and giving up, and seeking, and looking, and nothing ever changes.

Although if you really "give up" or "surrender" you don't need, want, or expect anything to change because you have.

Originally posted by Thought Provoker
But I will continue to seek until I find. The only alternative is giving up, and I've been there. I think. And now you know why I read so much.

A Haiku for you;

"Seeking Awareness
The endless game of looking
For what is right there"

When you are seeking, it takes you further from it. Because it is something you already have. The mental act of looking away from where you are, (in time, in location) is what moves you away from awareness, full consciousness, which is always in the here and now. Not the someday maybe.


[edit on 13-5-2010 by Illusionsaregrander]

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


very true because what you are looking for is a life to do, but no life would be nice but you as living fact so best of all you can find is to do yourself as living right earning all the rights of freedom space and fly away to where living free belong to

Originally posted by Illusionsaregrander
Although if you really "give up" or "surrender" you don't need, want, or expect anything to change because you have. A Haiku for you;

"Seeking Awareness
The endless game of looking
For what is right there"

When you are seeking, it takes you further from it. Because it is something you already have. The mental act of looking away from where you are, (in time, in location) is what moves you away from awareness, full consciousness, which is always in the here and now. Not the someday maybe.

I see your point. I'm not certain, but I think I've been at that point before, where I just give up trying because nothing's happening, and "nothing" is what I expect will continue to happen. I sometimes assume I'm just not meant to know these things, because I'm not worthy or not ready or something. I try to be worthy, but there's always doubt because nobody can be perfect. I try to be ready, but I don't know all the prerequisites. I know I'm lacking; that's why I'm doing all this seeking. I look within, I look without, I ask my ceiling questions every night while going to sleep, I post in threads like this, I seek others with wisdom, I read, I try to feel chi in my stomach, I... I don't get out much. I know it's right in front of me, this elusive answer, I know it's screaming in my face, "Look at me!! See me!!" but I just... don't. What does one do when one is looking in the right place and doing the right things, but still finding nothing? Or am I doing something wrong?

I need to make the two one, that's what I need... but... sigh... how? How how how how HOW? I'd open that door if I heard a knock, but... hell, I don't even know where the door is. I have always been willing to do whatever's necessary to accomplish this, but since I don't KNOW what's necessary to accomplish it, even after being told what's necessary to accomplish it, I, I... I give up.

They say that the best way to find a girlfriend or boyfriend is to just stop looking, and one will suddenly appear when you least expect it. This is the same sort of thing, I guess... but that tactic hasn't gotten me a girl or boyfriend in the past decade, either. I feel cursed, but I know I'm not. Maybe it's just to teach me patience... yeah, that must be it. Problem solved.

reply to post by Thought Provoker


lol believe me you got your happiness there i wish you can see it how your freedom is full and that is about it all

Originally posted by Thought Provoker

I sometimes assume I'm just not meant to know these things, because I'm not worthy or not ready or something. I try to be worthy, but there's always doubt because nobody can be perfect.

Its not a matter of proving worth, you dont earn worth. Because you are you are worthy. There is nothing that isnt worthy. And when you think of the word "perfection" in spiritual terms, think of a sphere, not of "perfection as opposed to imperfection." A sphere has no front or back. No left or right. No bottom or top. No part of it is divided from another part. Its whole. Continuous. Perfection that is opposed to imperfection is sort of beside the point, spiritually. There is division and opposition there.

But "knowing" these things, is a tricky thing. Only the mind can "know" enlightenment, but the mind can never BE enlightened. Awareness, enlightenment, most aptly put, are experiences, not concepts to know. The minute you "know" it, you aren't it.

Originally posted by Thought Provoker
What does one do when one is looking in the right place and doing the right things, but still finding nothing?

What do you do? You just admit you have no idea what the heck you are looking for, and you just stop, dead in your tracks, and look with fresh clear, eyes that have no presuppositions at whatever happens to be in front of you. If your mind is running a dialog, ie; "Ok, I am looking in front of me, looking at such and such, and it is a nice such and such, and what is going on....." Then you havent fully stopped. Stop again, bring your attention so closely into the moment that you are with the moment. (If you have time to think about the moment, you are lagging it, see how that must be the case?)

There is a reason that so many "masters" in the past whacked their students over the head, or pushed them out of windows, or did some other scary or violent thing. It is because it is one way of making the attention snap fully into the moment. When you are in danger that you dont understand and didnt expect, all the senses focus intently into the moment, clear, sharp, vibrant, fully alive. Only when you feel a little safer does the mind begin to chatter again, "Wow, what was that, it sounded like .............."

But for that one split second, you are wide and fully Awake.






[edit on 13-5-2010 by Illusionsaregrander]

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


i think the trick to know living right is to move for something positive without meaning the thing being there, but just you as a motor moving for something positive and that would be real to you as caring for that sense of your move
it makes you like prepared to care for what is already alive around , teach you to be the right life, and then they teach you to be free right
free is to mean positive certain state, so they teach you to mean yourself reality as certain one so you would have a whole perspective about your condition truth in that reality you are, to get the sense of free dimension as a human

then how that living right sense would look to that free sad human, and how that stable human would support living rights justifications too

then how they are one person also since dealing positively real so the free living is there

it is what they want to realize humanity like nothing that a lot of us care for