day job

You're no advantage to the blind if you can't see.

 

only in an acid forum can a thread go from "what do you do?" to this fucking shit i dont even know what it is about fish eggs or some shit...

 

I can dig it.

 

I'm a caviar salesman.

 

course the thread was a flop when it was talking about "what do you do?" and as soon as it changes to buddha pullin fish eggs out of a monks ass or some shit it's a ringer

 

'Cause it's deep and philosophical...man...

 

this thread has dangerous amounts of win

 

Shhh, the failers are unaware that we are winning. Don't let them know or we will all be the same!

 

Why does the concept of "total enlightenment" have to have as a result the attempt to eradicate suffering? From where I sit, total enlightenment brings with it the awareness and acceptance of the fact that all is as it should be at this moment.
All the beauty, joy, peace, are no more or less valid and important than the death, suffering, poverty and ugliness of the world. Both are what they are, it is only when we impose our sense of morality and "rightness" on to the world that such distinctions arise.

One animal kills another in order to eat. It's neither right or wrong, it just is.

I believe that an "enlightened" individual will try to ease the suffering of another not because the suffering is "bad" and in need of eradication, but rather from a perspective of love and compassion. But the suffering itself is just as needed and valuable as the cessation of it.

Everything is as it should be at this point in time and it can be no other than what it is.
I believe it is that perspective that is the real earmark of one who has broken free of the confines of their own self and the world around them and gained what we feebly refer to as "enlightenment".

It is not until after that realization that such a person can then truly give of themself in a real and selfless manner, and in so doing slip into that which it is meant to be for their life at that point in time.
Anything else is a pretension show and ultimately self-serving.

Going off into the wilderness to try to conquer oneself and gain detachment and enlightenment is fine, remaining there is a wholly and completely selfish act and negates the validity of any such "enlightenment".

 

I am taking 5 grams of mushrooms this friday, I'm going to meditate on this. I understand its in me right now, I saw it in me, we were one. How do I stay in this oneness, how do I remain in ego death all the time?

 

but you CAN'T you silly boy. You NEED the ego to function as a psychologically relevant human being. Without the ego there is no memory, language, unique persona. You need to realize that you do not need to embody atman to the full degree, that your ego, your idiosyncratic vibration of self-perception, is as much a part of atman as anything else.

 

^^ People seem to have a million definitions of what exactly "ego" means in their life so maybe we should define that before we get into very abstract conversation, lol. The ego in all the teachings I've engaged in has meant false-self, as in everything an individual is not. Ie, their possessions, future, past, greeds, lust, needs, even in some cases the thinking mind as a whole, something ultimately deemed negative in a sense, (even the basic definition of it is nothing really that positive) etc., and ego-loss for me has meant overcoming all of these things in a sense of full acceptance and gratitude for the present moment of being alive. A sense of thoughtless awareness and perfection, that requires no state of insight or of some intellectual blessing, but rather just having a profound love for the given moment (even though it automatically includes intellectual blessing and insight). I don't know, but if I could voice what I feel during those deepest moments of a crazy acid trip, I think that comes somewhat close to what the experience is. Though the experience .. is just experience. No words seem to really capture it is because it is exactly what words are not. But when you think of "perfection" or say "perfection", it's exactly what it just is, for your life in that second is as an expression of something beyond the words. We're not tripping right this second, but when we're "there" that's all that it is, and then we end up at this screen trying to capture it and explain it to others, and it can't be done properly... it's just raw experience, it needs to be felt to be understood.

Which brings me back to what you said above. I think I'd argue that once something is learned it just becomes a part of awareness. We're aware how to speak a language, we don't need to actually "think how to" to speak. The words came first, then the thoughts were made up of the words we learned, and so were the observations of our surroundings and thus was laid the foundation for auditory understanding. Memory is a collection of experiences and therefore is remembered in the present moment, however memories can be stored as both images and words. Where exactly is the ego involved? It's just a fine line of definitions so maybe we have different views on how ego is defined.

 

To answer first to OP. I used to be IT Manager, than changed the continent and for now I am senior IT consultant.

Now here is my 50c for the "final enlightment" story. Nothing is final, to start with, it is always changing. So if you think that there is final enlightment, there is not, there will always be something more. And if you seek for final enlightment, you will spend your life time searching for something. I say - start beeing humble and thankfull for what you already have and try to be better person every single day. Accept everything what is surrounding you and if you need something, try giving that same thing to somebody. Try not to go to sleep before you put the smile on at least 3 peoples faces that day, give love and you will get love. It is really that simple, everything else is looking for something in distance and not beeing able to see it because it is in front of your nose.

 

I liked one spiritual teacher who said if you make enlightenment a goal you're going to set your self up for a lot of frustration (because people have the tendency to make enlightenment seem like a superhuman accomplishment, in their minds). Ultimately, what you explained afterward is what enlightenment really is. It's when you stop seeking for some perfect "state of being" and start learning to give it all towards the "state of being" you're in right now, which yeah, usually starts with some gratitude.

 

Actually the thought always comes first, initially as undefined sensation and vocalization develops as a way of articulating sensation.

 

Humility, Gratitude, Reciprocity
The Holy Trinity of action in an "enlightened" life.
It all really is so very fucking simple that if one goes earnestly searching and striving for it, more often than not they pass those opportunities for learning it without even realizing it.
Don't over think it, just be it.

Glad to make your virtual acquaintance Shapeshifter. Nice to hear from another one who is "getting it" and sees that the path is just as important as the destination, or more accurately the path is the destination.

 

Yeah perhaps in your experience. Usually feelings of mine trigger thoughts, words and descriptions always seem secondary imo, raw experience is what counts. But shit pretty off topic for a day job thread lmao. Time to find one.....

 

If words are secondary then they do not come first. It sounds like your experience as well.

 

No beginnings and no ends, no anything. Just confusion, that's what I like You're the dope man, seriously. <3

 

Marvelous pun swooosh.