Awakening

[smiileyjen101]

Baba Bozo said:
None of us, repeat none of us, are going to become Buddha, Jesus, Lao-Tzu, Krishna, or Abraham. It may indeed be true that such rare individuals have extraordinary insights, but they are so far out at the end of the bell curve as to be irrelevant to us.

Speak for yourself Oh Great Stinky One This very naughty little girl wouldn't want to be anyone other than herself.

I thoroughly loved your rant! Love love love it!!

Here's the thing - think Monty Python's Life of Brian here --- (undoubtedly one of my most favourite movies) - and ask the wonderful question --- Who Says?

Who says 'Jesus' was special - was it Jesus himself? No. From what I've read of his escapades he told everyone they too could choose love over fear - and from the stories of him he walked the talk and accepted the unfolding consequences of that. Who wants to be nailed to a cross anyway?

Who says Buddha's state of Enlightenment was unreachable by mere mortals... was it Buddha - a mere mortal who supposedly achieved that state of enlightenment - that would be illogical, so if it was him, then his thinking was illogical - likely it was those observing him overlaying their perspectives upon his name.

Does a wise person know them self as wise, or does a wise person know there is much that they do not know and cannot judge outside of their own experience?

Does any person state what is obvious to them within their own awareness, capacity & willingness just for fame and power and money --- pfffttt! or because we all do this, we all frame and communicate our perspectives based on our awareness, capacity & willingness.

If it is within our awareness, and we have the guts to be honest and fair with our perspectives, we might suggest that we are neither able to take credit or blame for our level of awareness, capacity (although willingness to share it is a little different - maybe.)

What we are is ordinary everyday regular normal little people who are somewhat neurotic and more than a little obsessed with ourselves. Being that way got us in to some kind of trouble and so we went looking for a solution and found Tolle. Tolle can help us manage our very ordinary little situation, and that's great. There's no need for all the dreamy greedy becoming trip stuff, that's the ailment, and NOT the cure.

Again you are speaking for yourself BB, although I love it, I appreciate it with sincere gratitude & generosity in your sharing. Just as I did when a friend suggested - nay insisted - I pick up a book called A New Earth (which I read before PON - never heard of this Tolle dude). What I found within its pages was a veritable menu of all the reasons why people fear fear itself. It opened my eyes to ways of being that I had no capacity to understand in experience. If we see / know things to be a particular way, our course of action - response etc is automatic, we 'assume' that others have our awareness and capacity & assume they must just not be willing to take this particular path. That in itself is all ego, and fundamentally arrogant. What a laugh I had with that realisation.

In many ways I came 'backwards' to Tolle - from being in acceptance, enjoyment & enthusiasm for life in all its gory glory, from an awareness of equilibrium of all things encompassing constant change, to how folks saw and believed things to be different to that, which previously was alien territory. It very much highlighted the wisdom of asking --- who says? and why do they say that. Neither right nor wrong, better or worse, just allowing a different experience to arise.

eg: Whenever I see someone sprouting that something is New Age - (good, bad or indifferently) really? Who says?
Is there really anything new under the sun?

Tolle himself states that nothing he says is new and he quotes ancient texts and stories to illustrate this. He does not own the wisdom, he's just experienced the effects of it, was encouraged to share, folks had questions which he's answered to the best of his awareness and capacity and now some folks want to hold him on high, and others might want to nail him to a cross - but none of those things, those perspectives, are actually his perspectives. They are judgements of him sharing age old wisdoms based on the awareness, capacity & willingness of the judger, not the judged.

Many of the 'rebranded' wisdoms are those handed down from grandparents and ancestors and tested to be true or false - for me - not necessarily right or fitting for anyone else.

And well one might ask who are you to say these things with such candid confidence? Me? I'm just a very naughty little girl.

[phantombaz]

i've try to explain this to others, to accepting what is, why? because it is what it is, and what is it?... life.. life is what it is.

yet, i still feel the ego within me, not that it pulls me back, i'm not fearful of the future, although i really have no idea why. I can feel it, i feel it when its coming over, i feel lingering, almost sleep like, yet there.. if you've ever watched a cat sleep, its not really asleep, the ears respond to nose etc.. that's more or less what it feels like.

[Testigo]

ARE THERE RISKS IN AWAKENING PRACTICES?
Rading Tolle, and among many others in this forum, like Ananda, Kiki, Karmarider, etc.,and authors like Burt Harding, Sherman, Alan Wats, Ramana Maharshi and others, it is implicit in all of them that after enlightment it seems that the search for the Truth is at an end, that the goal has been achieved permanently... or I have got the information wrongly.
Nevertheless I found in Adyashanti some disturbing lines in the introduction of his book "THE WAY OF LIBERATION": There he wrote: "To read this book as a spectator would be to miss the point. Being a spectator is easy and safe; being an active participant in your own awakening to Truth is neither easy nor safe. The way forward is unpredictable, the commitment absolute, the results not guaranteed."
Then, he adds other disturbing things like "wake up or perish". Perish... how? For me, that word means total failure, the end. Besides, in his teachings it is understood that awakening is just the beginning or a very long and hard way of further development. Another thing that troubles me is that somewhere I read someone saying that he saw FEAR in his disciples.
Another spiritual teacher agrees with Adyashanti. She is Christine Breese, who in her teachings says that when you are ready, what come next is to continue even further, deeper, more and more deeper, and you will never stop, because there is more behind, in terms that she suggest as infinite.

[Mystic]

The only things that will perish are our illusions, when, we are ready to let go of them. The real you is pure being and is perfect. Fear of fear is just another way of hanging on to fear. During meditations I sometimes experience a very bright light in the middle of my mind. The part of my mind that identifies with illusions is afraid of the light. There are still a few illusions that I must want I learn to empty my cup of preconceptions and expectations...

There is a saying, "before enlightenment, chop wood carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water". Go about your daily routine and continue your spiritual practice and meditations. Learn to listen to your own intuitive inner guide.

[Rubber Soul]

I recall Eckhart saying in multiple writings and video teachings that you wouldn't be reading or listening to these teachings if you were not in the process of awakening, do you guys agree with him?

[Webwanderer]

I recall Eckhart saying in multiple writings and video teachings that you wouldn't be reading or listening to these teachings if you were not in the process of awakening, do you guys agree with him?

I do. But to add a little to the basis, it's not only listening and reading. It's also the quality of perspective one comes with to the exploration. While most any listening and reading demonstrates a turning of mind towards awakening, it's a willingness to genuinely consider what's being pointed to that can accelerate the movement. One can't believe anything coming as statements on awakening on its merits alone, but we can feel out our mental considerations to get a clearer non-verbal sense of it. Awakening to alignment comes through our feeling nature. It's quite a gift.

WW

[Rubber Soul]

Very good point, Webwanderer

You have to "feel-realize" these truths. Feel-ize, lol.

[Peath]

You have to "feel-realize" these truths. Feel-ize, lol.

PLEASE release a new book: 'Feel-ization: Emotional Enlightenment in a World Lost In Thought'

[eputkonen]

You have to "feel-realize" these truths. Feel-ize, lol.

I get what is meant by "feel-realize". I have always said this realization/understanding is more kinesthetic than mental...you feel it in your bones...you feel it in your heart.

[painBody]

It is the "I AM" of you. It is that dimension of you that exists in Oneness with all that is. It is your Buddha nature. It is the Christ of you, which exists in Oneness with God. It is awakened man. It is awakened woman.

Not for nothing, but I first read this as "It is the 1 a.m. of you"

And, it so happens that 1 a.m. marks the beginning of my favorite time period of any day (roughly 1 a.m. to 4 a.m.). It is when the maddening noise of the mad world has mostly subsided. It is cool, and the worlds outside our own reveal themselves in the sky. It is when I am most relaxed and peaceful, yet most able to think and "do" if need be.

[SpaBlauw33]

Just to be open about it, some information. I deleted my earlier post here, because I reckon now that it is not (no longer) of any use. All "seeking" in it is unnecessary. Thanks

[NuanceOfSuchness]

When you bring yourself fully present, thoughts stop and your mind falls silent. But there is an even deeper level of silence waiting to emerge. As your mind becomes silent, an inner door is opened, allowing an infinite and eternal silence to emerge. This infinite and eternal silence is the very essence of your Being. It is your true nature. It is the essence of all existence. It is the eternal silent presence of pure consciousness. It is the "I AM" of you. It is that dimension of you that exists in Oneness with all that is. It is your Buddha nature. It is the Christ of you, which exists in Oneness with God. It is awakened man. It is awakened woman.

This is such a beautiful passage.

For me the inner door, is what ET calls the inner dimension, it has been opening spontaneously for a couple of years now. When it does, absolutely nothing else matters.

It feels a little like approaching a cliff's edge although absent of the fear but encompassed by momentary exhilaration, with which the unfamiliarity and uncertainty has me turning back inland.

[NuanceOfSuchness]

You have to "feel-realize" these truths. Feel-ize, lol.

I get what is meant by "feel-realize". I have always said this realization/understanding is more kinesthetic than mental...you feel it in your bones...you feel it in your heart.

Could this be an instinctive or deep intuitive knowing about things without conscious thought? Conscious thought could be partitioned in this arena with ego-driven thought and the much distilled pure conscious thought. How is one to determine the origin from which the 'pure knowing' occurs? In more focus: as I observed the gross manifestations of egoic thought in myself, I discover that when awareness is pointing to a thought, it dissolves but the residual energy from that thought continues for a moment longer, therefore, thought can exist solely as energy minus the more easily distinctive components. However, Iv'e experienced, what I 'think' in retrospect, on many occasions and at the absence of thought, an intuitive understanding of things I could not have possibly learned in the conventional sense of learning. Learning takes some degree of effort and repetition and we can learn consciously but we can also be made to learn unconsciously. (I (rarely) wonder if this process is a form of unconscious learning. This 'wondering' has its accompaniments though.)

To simplify it into a rudimentary construct: some of my thoughts don't arrive as monologues or dialogues but as energy and can 'Trojan-Horse' themselves past the gates of awareness, so to speak. In your experience, are you able to form a disparity between this subtle thought energy and the deep intuitive knowing you have?

[turiya]

It feels a little like approaching a cliff's edge although absent of the fear but encompassed by momentary exhilaration, with which the unfamiliarity and uncertainty has me turning back inland.

Yes! Excellent description.

I'm suddenly reminded of a part of a youtube video I saw recently... (the specific part is at 3:08 thru 3:40):

https://youtu.be/F1ZwaEzMtJw

[turiya]

In your experience, are you able to form a disparity between this subtle thought energy and the deep intuitive knowing you have?

Not sure how clear this seeing is, but here's how I see it:

Thoughts are little energies that emerge from and play on the surface of the ocean of all Energy.

Intuitive "feel-izations" are larger, deeper energies that emerge from and play in the depths of that ocean.

That ocean emerges out of Awareness.