Enlightenment: The Ego, what is it? How to transcend it.

[greybeard]

I met a man in Edinburgh who put on a talk on spirituality.
For years he was on a specific well know path.
You could say he was a little obsessive as he meditated many hours a day--- the search was his life.

At one point he just gave up and several weeks later in his lunch hour sitting under a tree "it" happened.
He said the state is unmistakable.

Tony Parsons wrote a thick book on the subject of how to become enlightened--- he wasent at the time.
He realized the folly of it-- threw the book away and went and played golf for a year--- then one night he got up and there was no person left.
That happened years ago and the state is constant .
I posted his video on the thread and for convenience I will again.
Its in quite a few parts but well worth the time on u tube watching.


.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=V1FBFX39uEs

Thats enlightenment

PS to be clear there is no Tony Parsons left.
He said it is impossible to understand.

[Wind]

I'm seeing many ego's clashing, especially on this forum. Now why is that? What happened to the unity? Or is this nothing new to this forum? Can't we all just get along? Divide and conquer, that is exactly what the elite want!

Or maybe it's just the magnetic storm that is causing people to go nuts...

[greybeard]

Posted by StarSeed (here)
I'm seeing many ego's clashing, especially on this forum. Now why is that? What happened to the unity? Or is this nothing new to this forum? Can't we all just get along? Divide and conquer, that is exactly what the elite want!

Or maybe it's just the magnetic storm that is causing people to go nuts...

Hi Star Seed
Its partly the new energy coming from the galactic center
Partly the fact that it is a conspiracy forum.
All ego though.

Eckhrt Tolle said in essence that a division is happening The "bad" is getting worse and the "good" is getting better and that its like living three life times at once everything is compressed/magnified.
Chaos always happens before major change.
karma is coming up to be burnt off.
Opportunities to forgive and love are being multiplied.

Thats basically it.
We dont have to get involved in the friction just let it be.

Chris

[greybeard]

The Voice in the head is that you?
from Scott Kiloby web site http://kiloby.com/




The Voice In Your Head - Is That You?

The first time you notice the voice in your head chatting away endlessly can be a monumental moment!

At that moment, you have a choice. You can go on just believing whatever that voice says throughout the day. Or you can watch that voice and whenever you notice it, take a brief moment—just a few seconds—letting the voice come to rest. In that few seconds, you get a taste of a peaceful, quiet mind. Even if it is only one taste, it is revealing something interesting about our experience as humans.

Most of our lives the voice just arises and falls, commenting on everything—the self, others, work, family, the world. We believe every word of that voice because we believe, at the most basic level, that the voice itself is our real self.

Is that what you are—this voice? If so, if you believe that you are that voice, then you are at the mercy of whatever it says. If that voice comments on how the day is awful, then you are likely to have an awful day. If the voice comments on how angry you are at your boss, then you are likely to experience some really awful emotions about your boss whenever you see him or her.

If the voice tells you that there is something wrong with you—that you are deficient or inadequate in some way—you are likely to carry that belief around everywhere you go. And then, when you are relating to other people in your life, that voice that says “I am deficient” will be chatting away, self-judging, and creating all sorts of conflict between you and others. If the voice tells you that the past did not happen as it should have, you are likely to see your past as incomplete or even painful. If the voice says that your happiness lies in the future, you are likely to believe that there is something wrong—something missing—in the present moment. And so you will experience some degree of resistance against whatever is happening presently, right now! This resistance to the present moment causes you to keep seeking in the future, always believing that your happiness is not here in the present moment.

What if happiness is right here in the present moment? Will you give yourself permission to discover this today?

When you first notice this voice in your head, you have a new opportunity available to you. You can simply notice the voice without adding any more thoughts to it. Just stop and notice that you are thinking. Look directly at the current thought and watch it come to rest on its own. And as it comes to rest, just relax there in the space of having no thought. Take a few seconds and just be alert and awake to the present moment without a story.

This opens you up to a new possibility. You don’t have to believe that you are that voice. You can just see it as a voice—a conditioned thought loop that has been running all your life, telling you to have an awful day, to be mad at your boss, and to continue resisting what is happening right now.

If you are open to this new possibility, then begin noticing whenever you are emphasizing a viewpoint. Take a brief moment of relaxing without any viewpoints. Just remain alert and aware of the present moment, without your story. Do this as often as possible throughout the day. As you do this more and more, the moments naturally become longer and longer. You begin to love resting in a quiet mind. The silence contains such peace. This is a peace that no thought can give you, especially since the thoughts that arise are often commenting about how things are not how they should be. Believing this commentary creates suffering in your life. You don’t have to be at the mercy of it anymore.

As you take these brief moments of resting in the present moment throughout the day, notice what is happening in your body. Bring your attention into the alive space in the body. Just rest your attention there. Emphasizing thoughts within your story creates emotional disturbance in your chest and stomach. It brings up anxiety, tension, stress, sadness, anger and other emotions. When you are relaxing for a few seconds without your story, just feel these emotions directly, without analyzing them or labeling them. Don’t even label them with words like “fear” or “anger.” Just let that nameless energy arise and fall naturally, without a story. This allows emotions to come and go, without having to hook back into the story in your head.

We were not taught to feel emotions when we were children. We were taught to think and continue thinking, over and over and over. Notice how the constant thinking does not provide surrender and acceptance. It doesn’t provide deep peace and healing. It only provides what it has always provided—more thinking. This thinking is just a series of memories. Isn't it odd that the present moment is all there is yet the voice is only interested in rehashing the past and seeking towards the future? Are you this voice? Are you only a series of thoughts?

Reserve thinking for practical matters like how to do your job, make a grocery list, learn a new skill, read a book, and talk to a friend.

When the voice in your head goes back to criticizing, judging, blaming, complaining, seeking towards the future and rehashing the past, just notice that voice and take a moment of rest. These thoughts will arise. Take it easy on yourself when they do. Just let them be as they are. Don't try to change them, add to them, or analyze them. Just stick to enjoying brief moments of rest, throughout the day.

As you rest without those stories, very repeatedly throughout the day (as often as you remember to do so), and feel emotions directly, it becomes easier to just be. It becomes easier to enjoy that silence and to enjoy the present moment as it is.

Let this be your healing. This is truly transformational. It heals wounds that have been resurfacing for years, stories that have repeatedly played in your head, over and over.

Life starts to feel more and more effortless. Relaxing into the present moment in this way provides a deeper freedom than the mind can know. You are really relaxing into what is, into whatever is happening in the moment. And that is acceptance. This is the greatest depth of surrender and acceptance known to humans. The voice in your head, if you notice, is not really interested in surrender and acceptance. It is more interested in complaining, blaming, criticizing, self-judgment, and being right. Give yourself a break today, as often as possible. Notice the story, relax for a few seconds, feel emotions directly. Just be and enjoy your life in the moment, just as it is.

[Jenci]

Posted by greybeard (here)
Bring your attention into the alive space in the body. Just rest your attention there. Emphasizing thoughts within your story creates emotional disturbance in your chest and stomach. It brings up anxiety, tension, stress, sadness, anger and other emotions. When you are relaxing for a few seconds without your story, just feel these emotions directly, without analyzing them or labeling them. Don’t even label them with words like “fear” or “anger.” Just let that nameless energy arise and fall naturally, without a story. This allows emotions to come and go, without having to hook back into the story in your head.

We were not taught to feel emotions when we were children. We were taught to think and continue thinking, over and over and over. Notice how the constant thinking does not provide surrender and acceptance. It doesn’t provide deep peace and healing.

Hi Chris,


That's a powerful piece by Scott. He is so right about watching the thinker, as Tolle would say and how this can be transformational. I have to say for me, it was learning to feel emotions directly. He is right, we are not taught this as children. We are not even taught this as adults. We are taught to either grasp or resist emotions in the body.

Learning to feel them directly without labelling takes practice and courage.....but it is worth it.

thanks
Jeanette

[RunningDeer]

Embarrassed by all the post I went on and on about. They don't even fit. Thank you for your patience.

[Jenci]

Hi WCBD

We are Never Not Here


Jeanette

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Jenci (here)
Hi WCBD

We are Never Not Here


Jeanette

Hi Jeanette,
I agree 100%. Just not use to others knowing it as well. (i.e. Friends and family here in CT. I'm the "odd ball", by their definition.)
Paula ox

[RunningDeer]

Embarrassed by all the post I went on and on about. They don't even fit. Thank you for your patience.

[greybeard]

Posted by WhiteCrowBlackDeer (here)
Hello, Greybeard,
I read your story this A.M., can't for the life of me recall where on PA. But it was about how you and your wife had come back from working out and you had your broken-in, but clean clothes on. And how it's about what's inside that counts. I wanted click the thanks button, but wasn't officially back on line. So here goes "click".
WhiteCrowBlackDeer

Thanks to you also.
My weird sense of humor gets me through the day.
Im a Scorpio not that im labeling but it comes as part of the package of being born.

Chris

[RunningDeer]

Embarrassed by all the post I went on and on about. They don't even fit. Thank you for your patience.

[jorr lundstrom]

Posted by WhiteCrowBlackDeer (here)

Posted by greybeard (here)

Posted by WhiteCrowBlackDeer (here)
Hello, Greybeard,
I read your story this A.M., can't for the life of me recall where on PA. But it was about how you and your wife had come back from working out and you had your broken-in, but clean clothes on. And how it's about what's inside that counts. I wanted click the thanks button, but wasn't officially back on line. So here goes "click".
WhiteCrowBlackDeer

Thanks to you also.
My weird sense of humor gets me through the day.
Im a Scorpio not that im labeling but it comes as part of the package of being born.

Chris

Oh, another water sign! I'm a cancer. And I just discovered while reading, "Human Race: Get off Your Knees," by: David Icke, that the moon is a fake. So how will I rationalize/understand the hypersensitivity and personality changes? (rhetorical question, only)

Well, some even say the moon is made from cheese, but I dunno.
I think Ill stick to that its the real deal, still. LOL

[RunningDeer]

Posted by jorr lundstrom (here)
Well, some even say the moon is made from cheese, but I dunno.
I think Ill stick to that its the real deal, still. LOL

Well come to think of it, it's cold as a refrigerator, up there, so maybe it is cheese.

[greybeard]

Well without the moon there would be no tides-- to the best of my knowledge.
Conspiracy theory has a lot to answer for.
Maybe we should have an Avalon poll.
Oh no I cant believe I typed that.
In broad Scots. It wisnae me.
Have fun.

Chris

[greybeard]

An Indian seamstress drops thimble in the river and cries out to God for help.
He materializes and pulls a silver thimble encrusted with rubies out of the water.
Is this yours? He asks
No she says.
He then pulls out a gold one encrusted with diamonds.
Is this yours? He asks
No she says
He then pulls out a leather one.
Is this yours? He asks.
Yes she says.

He thanks her for her honesty and says Because of this you can keep all three.



Some days later her husband fall is the river.
She calls on God
He pulls George Clooney out of the water.
Is this he? God asks.
Yes she says.

He says You are not telling the truth.

The seamstress says.

If I said no you would have pulled out Brad Pitt.
If I said no to him being my man you would have pulled out my husband.
Then you would have given me all three.
Im too old to look after three husbands properly, so I said yes to the first.

Women always give the answer that is for the highest good.

[Jenci]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=njgA9lMxajw

[RunningDeer]

Embarrassed by all the post I went on and on about. They don't even fit. Thank you for your patience.

[greybeard]

Past lives?

The only thing that can be agreed upon for sure is that our personal self awareness exists here now.
The Self that looks through these eyes is the same Self un changed that first saw the light of day years back.
That Self which we all are could be called the witnessing presence.
We are in this incarnation, apparently separate entities, what happened before our arrival in this world is conjecture.

We have all met people who took great delight in telling us “I was Cleoptra in a previous incarnation and you were such and such” Well maybe not Cleopatra but most likely some one of importance. Never yet heard anyone say “I was a road sweeper in ancient Greece”. Certainly the story would be much more interesting than this life times one.
We may all have had previous life times
Who knows, that may be true.
However just as likely a story is that the evolving soul on its way into this incarnation went shopping this, life about to be supermarket, and picked up the tools suitable for this lifetimes work.
Birth place, birth sign, past life memories of some suitable personality, parents may also have been chosen as most pertinent to the task ahead.
All that could be true with many personal variations as if the soul actually needed to evolve.

In absolute reality the soul is pure, complete one with God and in no need of evolving.

So what is going on?

It is the Cosmic Dance, Consciousness at play. On the out breath of God all materializes and with the in breath all returns to source.
So belief in past lives is fun but taking it seriously forms a belief system any belief system, any thought form cannot be ultimate Truth.
It is in the nature of form to come into being then depart. Un manifest incarnates into form then departs to the unmanifest. (Formless with potential to manifest)
The unmanifest is what you are. The wave of the ocean takes form the wave subsides into the ocean.
That’s it.
The wave no doubt takes great joy in being a wave, we likewise can take great pleasure in the blessing of being blessed with human form at this exciting time in the Cosmic Dance.

[jorr lundstrom]

The absolute- relative paradox as it sometimes is called is a very interesting
way of percieving duality. Well, the realtive is often said to be an illussion,
and it is if illusion is translated as eternally changing, but not if illusion is
translated as unreal. The relative consists of the whole physical universe and
everything manifested in and by the physical universe. The absolute is
creating and permeating the physical universe ie the relative. So to concider
the relative as nonexisting is a huge mistake.
Once upon the time when I was young, I had a lot of weird experiences.
I had a lot of answers but not the corresponding questions. What kept
me sane was when I found my questions in Carlos Castanedas writings.
He wrote a book called The Journey To Ixtlan, and in the chapter with
the same name he tells the story of Don Genaro Flores. The story is about
when Genaro is whirled by his ally and wot happened there after. When he
landed he couldnt recognize his surroundings, so he started to walk back to
where he came from ie Ixtlan. He met with people along the way, who
offered him food and wanted to help him to find his way to Ixtlan. He
realized that they were only trying to lead him astray. He saw them as ghosts,
not real. Then he realized that he was the ghost and that Ixtlan was where it
had always had been and he would continue walking towards it, but he would
never reach it. The resolving of the absolute-relative paradox is possible first when
we experience that we are ghosts, not real. I wonder when people decided that
we are real and the physical universe not. ROFLOL

[greybeard]

On "Free Will"

Q: Surely, I am not the master of what happens. Its slave rather.
M: Be neither master, nor slave. Stand aloof.
Q: Does it imply avoidance of action?
M: You cannot avoid action. It happens, like everything else.
Q: My actions, surely, I can control.
M: Try. You will soon see that you do what you must.
Q: I can act according to my will.
M: You know your will only after you have acted.
Q: I remember my desires, the choices made, the decisions taken and act accordingly.
M: Then your memory decides, not you.
Q: Where do I come in?
M: You make it possible by giving it attention.
Q: Is there no such thing as free will? Am I not free to desire?
M: Oh no. You are compelled to desire. In Hinduism the very idea of free will is non-existent, so there is no word for it. Will is commitment, fixation, bondage.
Q: I am free to choose my limitations.
M: You must be free first. To be free in the world you must be free of the world. Otherwise your past decides for you and your future. Between what had happened and what must happen you are caught. Call it destiny or karma, but never—freedom. First return to your true being and then act from the heart of love.
Q: Within the manifested what is the stamp of the unmanifested?
M: There is none. The moment you begin to look for the stamp of the unmanifested, the manifested dissolves. If you try to understand the unmanifested wtih the mind, you at once go beyond the mind, like when you stir the fire with a wooden stick, you burn the stick. Use the mind to investigate the manifested. Be like the chick that pecks at the shell. Speculating about life outside the shell would have been of little use to it, but pecking at the shell breaks the shell from within and liberates the chick. Similarly, break the mind from within by investigation and exposure of its contradictions and absurdities.
Q: The longing to break the shell, where does it come from?
M: From the unmanifested. - "I Am That" -

Nasargadatta quotes