Enlightenment

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Acceptance is HUGE. I must practice acceptance on a daily basis or else my ego, my best thinking, will attempt to run my life... Invariably, I will become miserable.

Loving one's false self is an interesting concept. I can laugh at my ego like I do a cartoon I suppose. I see my mind like a CPU processing all this info on a hard drive ( Ego ) that has a bunch of information on it and I'm continually adding, removing and defragging files. There's a few corrupted ones on there that I'm having difficulty removing and I'm accepting that they are on there but to love them? Just don't know to be quite honest. Those files have been screwing with my graphics card and blocking my access to the internet ( God, which I am a part of and love to the best of my ability ) for so many years now. It's like loving the dirt on my car. I'd rather the car just didn't get dirty. So I wash it off once in a while.


Not to be argumentative zilla but most ( if not all ) of our problems today in society are based on the fact that most of our egos, our minds, are very much in disharmony with who we really are as individuals. I don't like the term individuality as it suggests a division from fellow man. A striving to display one's ability to be somehow unique ( which one already is ).


To be in a state of enlightenment, the thinking mind ( mostly ego ) must be silenced momentarily as the person becomes present in the now. There are different definitions of enlightenment but I believe the one Gaia is referring to is the buddist /hindu version though I may be mistaken:

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enlightenment: 3. Buddhism & Hinduism A blessed state in which the individual transcends desire and suffering and attains Nirvana.

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These moments of presence are just gaps in the stream of egoic or thinking consciousness or subconsiousness. It may be for a second or it could last for days I suppose if you were a Tibetan monk.

Enlightenment does not only happen through meditation but may happen as you, for example, observe a flower. If one can quiet the mind and just observe... Nirvana may happen. Once that happens, a massive intelligence, which is not seperate from the inner true self, may be accessed and 'downloaded'.


.....................................................:gossip::gossip::gossip::gossip:..............................................................................................


ttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enlightenment


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Nirvana


http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=prajna

 

i believe that, no matter what we can accomplish in an aesthetic quest to escape self, we will ultimately discover that there is never an escaping of self, only a sort of harmony with it. i have found enlightenment on a beautiful day when i find myself unable to do anything but marvel at the world around me and how incredible it feels to breath and how indescribably beautiful it is to be. i completely agree with you on the point that the vast majority of people are in disharmony, but those who are truly in touch are aware and accepting of who they are as individuals, yet accepting of the fact that ultimately, we are all one. and when one comes to this realization, all he can do is smile and live and be exactly what he is.

 

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Well said sister zilla. Pretty much impossible to escape self once you're entrenched in it.

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Charlie Parker tried but it killed him...



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Hey zilla,
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Did you go to Austin City Limits last summer and see Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts by any chance?

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Or perhaps Pete Yorn?


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I often do wonder about the significance of a single life.

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When I think of universal truth nowadays it is: What is actually happening. When or will we ever find out. If there is an afterlife will I remember this one.



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And finally... Poor Kenny G... :lol:



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I’m an artist and that means I can be as egotistical as I want to be.~Lou Reed

 

No one is saying you can't. You can be as egotistical as you want to, of course. And it must be said that some of the greatest artists of history were extremely egotistical. But that might have more to do with fame and influence...All I know is that much of what we consider to be "ourselves" is a complete illusion anyway.

 

my co-worker got to go to acl and trip on the 'cid i hooked him up with.
consequently, i had to work the whole weekend.
i'm getting my 3days early this year, like within the next week.
i don't think i've heard any joseph arthur, but i'll check 'em out.

 

touche bradley, touche. you play a very good devil's advocate!

 

great conversation guys! keep it up!

 

Im loving this Thread...

 

Kant's definition of enlightenment as a condition in which the true adult has shaken off all immature dependence.

 

i like that definition. but yeah, it was the buddhisty definition i was referring to earlier... but really, i think any definition is the right definition

 

Thank you for your words...I don't know if my words are any good here now, but; Thank you, Thank you all...

I wonder what the enlightend say about our music...
so if you wil....

??

 

How absolutely beautiful. thankyou and i agree

 

Inspiration

You fill me with trembling.

The silver-threaded spindle,
of your words, evokes me.

Loops of emotion,
from the lattice of thought,
are nimbly expressed by your fingers.

Skein of dreams,
coiled like a flight of angels,
relays our heartbeats
in gently cupped hands.

Still your presence
quakes its birth,
deep within me,
as I almost remember
the secrets resplendent.

I breathe the memories
once whispered by your lips.
These shy feelings
slip like gems
into the pockets
of soft-lined darkness.

Drunvalo Melchizedek - The Higher Self.avi

imho, the Ego is the Conscious Mind, the Anima is the Lower Self & as for the Higher Self....
words do no justice in describing the bliss of All Oneness.

Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti Om

Art rocks, great thread.

 

are you mixing up zen retheroic with christian doctrine overhere?

 

There's lots of good sutff in this thread
I agree with lots of it, however, I don't think we should see the ego as a problem, especially when we become aware that it isn't wholly who we are,but instead just a part of us. Like zilla said, we are ourselves and we are all one, two parts of the same thing. The ego is nothing more than a voice that we can use to express ourselves, like a facade or an alias which constantly changes. There shouldn't really be any conflict between the ego and us, because even that can cause separation. The ego is something which should be embraced and used a tool for good when we become aware that it isn't all that there is to us. Everybody is enlightened, but not everybody realises it yet, it's not something exclusively available to a select few. I'm myself, everything around me and everybody else, because they're all a part of oneness. I started 'doing' and 'creating' now, so I can help others realise themselves, I think the best way to do this is through art