Are you enlightened, anon?
>>17856298
No. I namefag too often to call myself free from the turmoils of my own identity's tendency to dwell on things.
>>17856298
Yes, relatively speaking. I'm not some sort of zen monk, but for a non-denominational white person, I think I've done pretty well.
>>17856312
I bet you're a great and helping namefag :3
>>17856325
>INB4Tomoko
>>17856298
Yes.
>>17856339
Why did the chicken cross the road?
>>17856355
to become enlightened
>>17856355
You still believe in chickens?
Enlightenment is pretty bad for your psyche if you aren't clever enough to handle it right. Work on your trolling instinct first and then shoot for enlightenment. Once you hit that point you'll probably obtain an intense appreciation for ignorance, but just roll with it.
>http://freetexthost.com/cvi4kku6aq
>Soma and Buddhism.
I desire a Soma body, yet in the essay I argue that the Soma body leads to enlightenment, and thus wanting one is equivalent to wanting to not want anything - which is the desire that leads to the quenching of the Three Fires.
Having sensual desire for a Soma body thus prevents me from possessing non-returner status, making me a once-returner.
I can say that I no longer feel bored or depressed. That alone has made my practice worth it.
>>17856402
Dissociation has nothing to do with enlightenment other than the fact that a few unenlightened, undisciplined idiots managed to misinterpret all the old Eastern texts.
Enlightenment doesn't involve effort.
>>17856510
What is enlightenment? Is there a single definition of it? How do you define it?
>>17856298
I don't know OP, you tell me
>>17856528
>What is enlightenment?
Nothing. Just as the gentle swaying of your cuffs in the breeze is nothing once it's passed.
>Is there a single definition of it?
No. Neither is there a single definition of truth, but many disparate pieces of truth that may or may not fit together the way you'd hope they might.
>How do you define it?
I don't.
Now, let me explain why my answers seem like non-answers, given your questions. Your questions were asked from a state of basic ignorance about the nature of enlightenment. It's not that enlightenment is a specific thing, and you can study its characteristics and say, "Oh yeah, that guy is definitely enlightened," to one person and, "Oh no, he's definitely not enlightened" to another guy. The point of having a word for the phenomenon is to give seeker types an invisible target that they can't ever hit. Enlightenment, in any literal sense, is non-existent. Nevertheless, there is a very real experience behind the phenomenon that can't be named for the same reason that the feeling over a log fire in the middle of winter can't be named. We can give names to it, try to describe it, write essays on it and so on, but none of those can ever communicate the basic feeling/experience to someone that hasn't had the chance to experience for themselves yet.
We can only gesture at our feelings and experiences in a desperate bid that others can somehow relate. We can't actually share our experiences in any direct capacity yet. The point of the term is to have a binding agent for a set of behaviors that will force others to think and discern things for themselves. That active experience of constant and incessant discernment is enlightenment, but you're not going to understand experience until you've had an experience that can help you relate to it.
Words have definitions, but definitions aren't experiences.
>>17856587
eastern religions are the worst fucking meme, notice how they can never tell you what enlightenment is because its a scam
>hey what is enlightenment?
>lol it's nothing XD
>>17856761
Can't tell if irony is intentional or not.
Enlightenment seems horrible why would i wabt to be aware of everything sounds awful.
But i do think my vibrations have been risen above others which is pretty awful in itself
>>17856761
well sticking your dick in some whore could be defined and might a good "achievement" for you.
lmao.
>>17856836
Spirituality is NOT for everyone, and anyone that claims it is is a pretentious jackass that doesn't truly appreciate the depth of diversity that is us.
>>17856587
am i enlightened if i ask am i enlightened? in other words, can i be enlightened and know that i am enlightened?
>>17856298
I might just be. Of course, saying that makes me look like I'm delusional.
So I just don't.
Then one day, I'm simply not. I simply won't be.
For the time being, I'm still here, so I'm down with that (except when I'm absolutely not down with that). I can trouble myself with the qualms of all kinds of people, both living and dead, and deal with various phenomenons like entropy or chirality, while trying to gripe with the noumenal nature of whatever redness is supposed to be.
Or I could go get something to drink. It's all up to my behavioral disposition.
>>17856893
Both. You can be enlightened but fully unaware of that fact simply because you've never heard the term, and you can be enlightened and know you are enlightened if you're well-versed with the notions involved.
I am now.
>>17856963
yeah so because I want to be enlightened I never will be? or did i not understand correctly?
>>17857112
Desire subsides when it is met. Such is the fleeting nature of desire.
>>17857135
So becoming enlightened is the loss of desire, but isn't that just as simple as realizing you dont need anything except the bear necessities?
>>17857146
Yes. The reason not everyone gets it right away is because they are sometimes full of all kinds of desires that rob them of their awareness of the obvious that blankets the world around them.
>>17856298
/pol/ here, i am
>>17857261
bleugh
>>17856298
nah, just drunk
>>17856298
Partly. Will be a full blown Buddha aka Siddha before I die.
>>17857247
so sitting around all day doing fucking nothing is enlightenment?
being enlightened just means being high on bullshit.
>>17858197
Not that guy, but when you consider what people are choosing to do with their productivity, I think we could all afford to sit back a bit and think about things.
Like that poem 'what is this life so full of care? We have no time to stand and stare"
I got close at 25, but then I kind of lost it again.
>>17856537
That was how I got close. Maybe I should listen to his lectures again.
>>17856298
yah anon i got enlightened now i am chronically depressed. going from reverse to neutral that's all this monk garbage is anyway. maybe.
>>17858197
>>17858383
i find that doing artsy shit helps me detach from myself. painting, writing, even talking, sometimes while making exuberant gestures. so long as it's with the intent of expelling shit from my head and not for recognition. for painting and writing it's like, "here, all this noise and stuff was in my mind, and now it's outside of it, in the physical world," which is perfect. now i can forget about it because i have a physical copy somewhere. if it actually turns out to be useful i can just come back and look at it or read it again instead of wasting mental energy trying to remember it.
Yes and I smoke cigarettes so I wouldn't disappear.
Ask me anything
>>17856298
as enlighten as they come. i will be helping others in this thread so feel free to reach out.
>>17858772
I'm an artist but I wouldn't describe my creativity as detachment. It's engagement for me.
>>17859294
It depends on how ADHD you are. I can't escape my own thoughts as my thoughts are always running wild like a runaway freight train, usually one stream of thought + a song running in the background
so doing something that I can focus on clears my mind from my own mind if that makes sense
>>17859501
This is me and it makes a lot of sense
>>17856298
I am, it sucks.
>>17859294
sounds like the same thing to me. better to engage my thoughts artistically or extrovertedly then to allow them to fester in my mind and attach themselves to my identity. but i like the word detachment because it describes how non-critical i am when simply expressing myself for enjoyment or release. when i am attached, i worry too much about how what i paint or write doesn't completely match what's in my head, or how it doesn't match what i want others to perceive about me; because, for example, if a piece of art is an extension of me and it is perceived to be beautiful, then i too will feel beautiful once i realize others are experiencing this perception about my art. but of course that's just a delusion. someone can know me and not my art, then one day find my pictures and think they are ugly, but that wouldn't lessen their opinion of me, because the picture is not me. attachment only serves to constrain and restrict me using arbitrary rules that i've grown to believe define me. silly rules like "everything has to be green, blue, or purple because i am a calm person." my most authentic works have been created from a position of non-judgement, and authenticity is what really helps expunge recurring thoughts from my mind. some piece is always held back and left behind when i judge, so i don't. at least i try not to, i'm still learning.
also this
>>17859501
i haven't been formally diagnosed but in the past few months i'm becoming aware that something may be off about me.
Enlightenment means relieving a burden. So in one sense I can procure an enlightening answer to problems. In another sense I can uproot problems, or have different processes to achieve my desire in big O notation. Basically enlightenment results in organized spiritual living.
>>17859590
In addition, we sit upright because that's conducive to the most efficient/space-time wise attention process. Reading/listening is much easier when you "meditate."
>>17859590
How is this enlightenment in the sense of, for example, Rinzai?
>>17859590
I thought maybe it had something to do with light
>>17856298
If I said I am that would mean I'm not. So I will say yes because I am really not.
>>17859627
Maybe if you're astral projecting.
Sadly, everyone ITT has but a murky conceptual idea of what enlightenment is.
Do you even Buddhist sutras, bros? I know millenials hate to read, but jeez.
>>17859656
>Sadly, everyone ITT has but a murky conceptual idea of what enlightenment is.
That's actually just your ego talking.
>>17859647
Also, a good libido and resting is conducive to this.
>>17859671
So? How does that invalidate what i said? Everyone ITT has their conception of enlightenment from animes.
>>17859656
>there's only one path to enlightenment
>>17859501
Do you ever make art when you're going like a freight train? Like seeing what that art looks like instead of escaping from it?
>>17859682
>Everyone ITT has their conception of enlightenment from animes.
Your ego is compelling you to make these false claims. Your false claims are not leading anyone toward the truth, therefore it's safe to assume that you are not enlightened and are just flapping your yap.
>>17856298
You think anyone would be here if they were enlightenend?
>>17859692
Point to the part of the post where i claimed to be enlightened. Having the ability to claim that no one has a clue about by the virtue of having read more about on the subject matter than some mugwipes on /x/, does not necessitate me being enlightened. Being able to tell bullshit is not the privilege of the enlightened.
>>17859697
why not
maybe. i led a pretty average life until one day everything changed now im in a constant state of bliss 24/7 and no longer have any problems.
if you were to offer me super powers, infinite money, etc to go back to my previous mediocre state of being i would refuse
>>17859704
Not that guy, but what's wrong with my description here >>17859680
>>17859647
>>17859590
>>17859723
Actually yours is one of the more accurate ones, although fairly incomplete. I like the Big O notation analogy.
>>17859723
not that guy, but nothing. enlightenment is not the same for everyone. to say that one person's experience of enlightenment is not the correct experience of enlightenment is the antithesis of enlightenment itself.
>>17859737
>enlightenment is not the same for everyone.
That's one of the vaguest pieces of rhetoric in this thread, and it's fairly common unfortunately. Not a single conclusive bit of information can be extracted from that statement.
>>17859754
You seem tense
>>17859754
i don't know why it comes out that way, but it does. i read confusing things about enlightenment all the time and wonder why the author couldn't just be straightforward, but maybe the answer is they are simply trying to relay a message exactly as they understand it, or as it came to their mind, without judging it and trying to make it fit in your world.
basically, enlightenment is whatever works for you. for some it is art, for others it is meditation, for others still it could be yoga. whatever helps clear your mind and bring you into the present moment will help you reach enlightenment. at least that's what i think. it's different for everyone because we have not all experienced the same things. as an example, i love being alone. that helps me be in the present moment. but i am accustomed to that, i've done it all my life. other personality types who thrive on the company of others may have a harder time doing this. a solitary path may not be their path, but they can reach the same destination.
>>17859704
>Point to the part of the post where i claimed to be enlightened.
Then your opinion on the subject is worth what, exactly? You can't even know what your subject actually is. Your ability to recognize enlightenment in another is at best limited.
>>17859723
It's unrecognizable as enlightenment.
>>17859804
This really could not be more wrong.
>>17859812
I don't have a helicopter licence either, but i can tell that the pilot fucked up when he drives into high voltage power lines. I know enough.
>>17859819
Then what is enlightenment?
I did LSD once. Does that count?
>>17859836
Did it release you from all suffering from then on?
>>17859819
what about my post is wrong? i ask out of curiosity.
>>17859822
You can't even make a decent analogy. Sit down.
>>17859829
Depends on how you define it. For me, it's the experience of one's true nature. Shunryu Suzuki put it, like, if you practice zen long enough, and diligently enough, something amazing will happen. After that, it's nothing special.
You get a pretty good taste of it in Rinzai's record.
>>17859842
Idk it was 2 weeks ago.
>>17859849
>You can't even make a decent analogy. Sit down.
You wouldn't be able to grasp any more sophisticated analogy.
>>17859847
It is a lifting of a burden, in a sense, but the lifting of burdens is not enlightenment.
>>17859804
>basically, enlightenment is whatever works for you. for some it is art, for others it is meditation, for others still it could be yoga.
>>17859847
And this is confusion of means with a specific goal, however defined.
>>17859860
>>17859849
>Depends on how you define it.
that is what i said in my own words. what i see is a difference in perception. maybe you like your brain. my brain and i are not so friendly with each other. it is much more a burden then it is help.
>>17859855
Of course I would. Your analogy was stupid and revealing.
>>17859870
>Your analogy was stupid and revealing.
As are all your posts so far.
>>17859869
Which is why I was narrowing it down to well-known examples, like Riznai's great realization. Then, it's an actual thing, accepted within a long tradition.
Definitions that allow any special snowflake to claim enlightenment are pretty useless.
>>17859849
I'm the poster you re responded to. I've been meditating for about 8 years now. Yes, it's nothing special. There was nothing special about my explanation as to what it is either. Nature is very close to degrees theta, as well, being the space-time that one creates while meditating (emphasis on space during the focussing on breath, the body, and chakras/thoughts).
I used to be. Don't remember how long ago. I imagine I'll remember once I am again.
>>17859878
So, it you haven't had it?
>>17859866
i did say those things will help you reach enlightenment, as it is a means to an end, and not the goal itself.
>>17859875
accepted by whom? to realize one's true nature, all that really matters is what's accepted by his own self. the self not as in ego but as in being.
>>17859893
>accepted by whom?
In this case, Rinzai's school specifically, and in Zen more generally.
>to realize one's true nature, all that really matters is what's accepted by his own self.
But your true nature is so far beyond what you think of yourself that there are no words to describe it. One taste of it and you'll be blown away like you've never been blown away before.
>>17859890
huh?
>>17859912
Anon hasn't experienced it yet.
>>17859906
>your true nature is so far beyond what you think of yourself
That depends entirely on what you think of yourself. Some people could do with reigning in a bit if you ask me.
>>17859906
i'm interested in following zen (buddhism, i assume) teachings, but if i don't reach enlightenment that way i will not curse my existence as a failure. it may very well be that my path is an eccentric one with many twists and turns along the way. i could be wrong, but for some reason i remember some masters saying the path is not always a straight one.
as for my true nature, i don't think it really matters. if i feel blown away as opposed to calm, then i haven't really reached my goal yet. because i don't want to identify with being enlightened, i just want to be free, as you say, from my own self-inflicted burden.
>>17859922
not him but what should i aim for when meditating ?
Like a cat is fully immersed in being a cat, a human must be fully immersed in being a human.
This does not being dumb like an animal, not that an animal is particularly dumb. A cat I usually a pretty good cat. It means being human, like really human, as human as you can be. That's the source of love and all the good stuff, and the good hurt.
>>17859974
>i'm interested in following zen (buddhism, i assume) teachings, but if i don't reach enlightenment that way i will not curse my existence as a failure.
That is the best attitude to have.
>i don't want to identify with being enlightened,
That was the point Suzuki was trying to make.
>>17859984
You have to be somewhere and you have to breathe. Try, therefore, to do only what you have to do and nothing else. Just sit.
>>17859079
Define Enlightenment.
>>17860027
>You have to be somewhere and you have to breathe. Try, therefore, to do only what you have to do and nothing else. Just sit.
I've been doing that for a couple years now but i don't see any change
What if the notion of Enlightenment is a Satanic deception leading us to believe that the embrace of our fallen nature is the highest goal of human existence?
>>17860060
Satan. Lol.
What exactly is enlightenment, how does one reach it, and can I actually get a real answer instead of this cryptic mumbo jumbo
Just give me a straight answer god damn
>>17860065
The answer to the problem is there is no question.
Does that help?
>>17860070
what does that even mean
>>17860049
And?
>>17860065
Read Rinzai's record.
>>17860075
it's just an experience, bro. one that you literally cannot imagine. it's like trying to figure out what happens after death. you won't really know until it happens. just realize how pointless everything is.
>>17860150
Pretty much.
>>17860075
There are no questions for you to answer except the ones you ask yourself. Choose your questions wisely and you'll live a happy life.
>>17860167
...an example of a good question could be, if you love origami, how can I fold a piece of paper to make a pleasing form?
>>17856761
>eastern religions are the worst fucking meme, notice how they can never tell you what enlightenment is because its a scam
>>lol it's nothing XD
Wow, senpai, i sure do hope you're trolling, cause you have to be mighty stupid to misinterpret what they mean by "nothing" cause it's not even that deep of a joke.
It's not literal "nothing" you silly billy.
>>17859656
>Do you even Buddhist sutras, bros?
I like how you condesendigly tried to one up everyone by pointing to some of the most interpreted by hindsight, sectarian and unessecary bloated creed in the world.
I really hope you were being ironic, but seeing how this is summer, you probably weren't.
sort of
>>17859540
This guy gets it.
The most enlightened group of buddhists in history: WWII Japan.
>>17859836
bro brah bro, you ain't enlightened until you stuff lsd and psilocybin down your throat and shove mdma and ketamine up your nose hole. Be moderate with the ketamine bro don't want to get into a k-hole. When you are peaking on all that you will want to vape some dmt and you will be enlightened for a whole 20 minutes. Thank me later broham
>>17856355
What road?
>>17858197
Yes, until you realize why you'd do anything else.
This wood isn't going to chop itself any more than this water is going to carry itself.
>>17858388
You were close to experiencing an idealized version of an emotion that you thought was enlightenment, not actual enlightenment. To work it up and make it seem mysterious and transcendental is the opposite of the point of enlightenment. There was an anon earlier ITT that got it, but because they didn't make a big stink out of getting it, nobody will notice them. The rest of us will just roll on by, caught in the web of the popular moment.
>>17858424
If you're not aware of how and why you can and should break your depression, then you are not enlightened. If you've chosen to experience depression of your own free and conscious volition, then stop complaining faggot.
>>17859501
It does make sense, but you're living from one distraction to the next. You've been raised in a hypermedia environment and until you decide it's time to break the habit that you call your life, that pattern will be all you experience.
>>17859557
There's nothing wrong with you.
>>17859692
The enlightened will not tell you about yourself.
Until your ego is sticking out in an obviously repulsive and harmful way. We're only human in the end.
>>17860445
>To work it up and make it seem mysterious and transcendental is the opposite of the point of enlightenment.
Fuck mysterious. It was a feeling of understanding. Everything clicked. Suddenly everything in my life made sense.
Then it felt apart and I'm back to feeling like the world is confusing and weird.
Can anyone be in this current form?
>>17859706
>>17859737
>>17859944
These.
>>17859855
>You wouldn't be able to
[citation needed]
>>17859875
>allow any special snowflake to claim enlightenment
God forbid people are able to claim things about themselves. Can you imagine the horror of simply letting people believe whatever they want about themselves?
>>17859974
>could be wrong
Then you are enlightened.
>>17859984
>yourself
>what you want (if not already apparent)
>how to do it
>why others don't get it
>>17856298
sort of
>>17859992
That would mean anything if humanity were sure of itself and competent to figure out what it is.
>>17860041
See >>17856587
>>17860060
Then you'll realize that when you have attained enlightenment. Chop chop, there are lies to reveal.
>>17860065
>What exactly is enlightenment
Perpetual discernment.
>how does one reach it
Perpetual discernment.
>and can I actually get a real answer
Perpetual discernment can get you one, yes.
>>17860150
>pointless
That's not really synonymous with "fleeting."
>>17860164
Mostly. Enlightenment doesn't facilitate needless apathy.
>>17860360
I liked that too. I also liked your sarcasm.
>>17860502
That was enlightenment, and now you've come to understand why enlightenment wasn't permanent either. Rather, you've experience its impermanence and you'll understand it better once you've thought about it a bit.
>>17860536
Current form being material reality/Earthly life?
Yes, it's possible.
>>17856528
Real enlightenment is to experience bliss while awake, dreaming, sleeping permanently.
Enlightenment is ultimately undefinable, as some have pointed out. However, there are constructive ways to describe it that do help people approach it.
I think the most helpful "definition" of it is abiding non-dual perception. This means that there is no sense of an observer or observed; they become one and the same. There is a lot of talk in this thread about the ego, but what does it mean to be absent of ego? What exactly do we mean when we talk of ego?
In non-dual perception, there is no thinker, no hearer, no seer. There is nothing that experiences the passage of time (this is an absolute rule... if anyone claims to be enlightened but has the subjective experience of time, they are not in non-dual perception and must still continue on their path). There are no objects, no things, and space is revealed as illusory.
It is simply abiding in our true nature. Awareness is inherently non-dual. When the ego arises, it always attempts to see things as seperate ("that object is over there so I must be over here"). If the ego does not arise, non-dual perception/"the Self"/Nirvana is all that exists (and we are not born with an ego, it comes about at the age of three or so).
Hopefully this helps someone. It is just another way of pointing to the nature of enlightenment and these are just words and concepts, but pointing out the non-dual essence of awareness is very helpful and many masters in the Vajrayana tradition often do this with their students.
there exists in a realm beyond our visage a beast of insectoid nature, recording all thoughts and emotions and energy, as well as allowing us to contact eachother through the field in the grand unconcious.
its like having a psychic link with everybody.
congratulations, you are now enlightened with a full understanding of indras web.
In my heart of hearts I know that I know nothing.
>>17856298
WORKING ON IT.
>>17860676
I see the problem now. Eventually, when enough people have woken up for the mystery to die, it'll be down to consensus to decide what happens next. At that exact moment, all the teachings will be forgotten as the mad or wise ramblings of those who failed to predict the turmoils what will afflict the fully enlightened era.
Vast tangents of conversation will collapse in favor of moderating the then-present. As we come together, we will also in the same stroke fall apart. When all it thought and said, apathy will take hold. Apathy will never come back to save us.
>>17860753
No you don't.
Bitch can't even access his surface heart yet.
>>17856298
Who's asking?
Nobody on 4chan is enlightened, not even close. Not me, not you or anyone on this thread. Look at all the ego spewing forth here. To be enlightened is to obtain the fountainhead. To breach your inner turmoil and look directly in its face and give it nothing but pure love. The death of the ego is enlightenment. There are less than 500 humans on this planet that are enlightened and they're actively being hunted down and slaughtered by the United States.
>>17860645
If you need to be told what being human is, you need to start thinking for yourself!
>>17861785
There's some level of truth to that.
>>17856298
no im writhing aound in my own inner chaos.
>>17862007
>writhing around
>not being paralyzed
Get on my level.
>>17856298
You're only truly enlightened when people don't have to ask, they just know.
>>17862179
no thanks i'll just go to another direction
i just jerked off to japanese shemale porn
I try to be, but like... nah, not at all. its so hard.
>>17862219
What's your point?
>>17860589
>God forbid people are able to claim things about themselves. Can you imagine the horror of simply letting people believe whatever they want about themselves?
Yep. See it every day here in the swamp.
No. Only The Faeiery Queen is enlightened here.
>>17862375
Is this what you do? Waste all your time being angry with other people? If that is what you do, that is what you are. No one else has to carry that burden but you.
>>17862471
>Is this what you do? Waste all your time being angry with other people?
I seldom become angry and never over anything here.
>>17862480
Well, whatever that negativity was you tried to project, it's yours.
>>17862494
You're so damn adorable.
>>17862500
Thank you. I'll take your back pedal as a compliment Mr. Positivity!
>>17861560
Your text started quite nice and your perspective on enlightement is good but that the US is hunting enlightened people is quite a wild claim and Im quite sure its not true.
But ye. Those few enlightened people are here as teachers.
the only person I know that im sure is enlightened is tom campbell. He also hold all the truth of existence in his book my big toe which is 1100 pages of scientific (no, no spiritual touchy feel housewive booky) analysis of what he found out the last 50 years
>>17862530
I agree the enlightened are teachers. Teachers of how to think, not what to think. In that way we can all be students and teachers at the same time. Consciousness is emergent and can't be pinned down.
That book is probably very good and I'm sure it's an enjoyable read. But when it comes to the optimisation of your experience, is it better to see something like a sunset, or have it described to you? At the end of the day no one can know what the essence is of an experience is. Even science is an endeavour of the heart.
I struggle with the idea that enlightment can only come to a select few who've read a certain book or something like that.
>>17856355
No reason, it doesn't know any better he's but a chicken after all.
>>17858424
What is that a picture for ants ?
>>17859540
Plz elaborate on that
>>17860418
Oh look it's the missing link
>>17856355
To get roasted
>>17858977
What?
>>17862211
But how else will I figure out how I got like this?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9NStVkSCuk
>Why won't somebody come and save me from this
>>17862394
>Faeiery
Firey?
>>17862530
Yeah, that
>by the United States
Got me too. I decided there was nothing I could really reply with.
>>17862555
>is it better to see something like a sunset, or have it described to you?
Depends on the individual. If they're ready to see the sun, to see the glow, and to feel the cool still air while it sets, then it's probably best to just go outside and see it today.
But if they've been abused by the sun, been told tales of the haunting atmosphere of dusk as it creeps across land... Lost friends, loved ones, casual acquaintances and good business partners to it, that might be a bit much to take. A lot of the stuff that gets discussed on this board is better met by having it described rather than having met it in person. Most of these things probably just want to be left alone, or not judged in a superstitious and unkind light. Most /x/philes probably couldn't meet a skeleton without making some kind of insensitive joke.
It's all about cultural openness and personal acceptance.
Where is the entrance to the "inner spoon" of the earth? Also is the hollow earth real?
>>17864250
No, just the outer fork.
>>17863760
OK.
But my point is an experience cannot be given a full account of, it can only be signified. 'Sunset' is a symbol for an actual sunset and is pale in comparison. Like you can't describe red, you must see red to know it. It's not just sunsets, that was just an example. That applies to everything, like yesterday. Your idea of yesterday is pale in comparison to today and is now a mere representation in your mind.
>>17865694
...
Enlightment can hit anyone at any moment and they may not have known that was what it was. It's when you suddenly and inexplicably see everything you know as if you've never seen it before, with fresh eyes. I don't think anyone can make someone else enlightened with representations, the person must know it themselves. I think the task is to prepare them and ourselves to know what it is when it hits us.
>>17865762
Yes, it can't come from another person and it can't come from the environment. Only you can decide that you want to see what truly exists.
>>17865889
I think you're putting the cart before the horse. I think attempts to create enlightment are fabrications of another's ego and will be more likely to shut others out and only let a few in.
If someone is to be enlightened, it's already in them. Saying it can only be realised through a doctrine of beliefs or practice's is a bit of a con IMO.
>>17856298
No, but I feel ignorant. I think it's a good start.
>>17856298
Define enlightened please.
>>17856355
Why not?
>>17856587
Enlightenment is wisdom, the martial prowess to wield the weapon that is intelligence.
Data, processed, and shared, expanding basic thought in to a more complex entity for all as a standard. To induce evolution upon ourselves.
>>17856355
Why?
>>17856298
No one on this board is enlightened no matter how much they delude themselves to thinking they are. If you were enlightened, you wouldn't even be on the web right now.
>>17865994
You're like a person who can't get a riddle so you deny it has an answer. One day, hopefully not to late, you'll realise the the answer was obvious and you'll kick yourself.
Really depends on what you mean by that.
I've already snuffed out my ego and achieved unity with the divine, but that gets old after awhile and I wanted to delve into harsher truths.
That basically led me into energy harvesting and more vile creatures started to creep into my life, some metallic pterodactyls, others demonic panthers, and others hyper-dimensional dragons.
There's still a blistering tendril of control that wriggles its way into my head, and that's very difficult to master, since it's derived from an extremely alien source.
Anybody who claims to be enlightened is to be dismissed in my opinion.
>>17856298
so she goes up the stairs and into my sisters room to find her still asleep. She didnt tell us about this incident for a while cos she didnt wanna scare us. Another thing about the house, there was a certain window that would always be covered in flies. Like completely covered. We would kill em all and next day the same thing and on top of that my little cousin claimed to talk to a girl named Sally on the staircase. That house was fuckin weird.
>>17865910
>doctrine of beliefs or practice
Not what I said: >>17865889
>Only you can decide
>>17865930
That's one common realization that stems from the enlightened mind, but it isn't the only one. Enlightenment is only as simple as enlightenment. To transcend, to learn, and to grow are another matter.
>>17862555
Youre right. Everyone need to find his own Personal! truth. Thats why he called the book MY BIG TOE because everyone has his own way and concepts.
Some ppl become buddhists.
Some read my big toe
Some comnect to the nature
Some meditate
Thats good. Many ways to learn.
I would sum up enlightenment like this:
You put all your memories, knowledge, feelings together and come to the conclusion that love is the key for everything and that there is something bigger that lives you too and you love it all.
And that leads to the death of your ego because your fear will be gone.
>>17866336
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EKiqthx0GKw
>>17866336
Ego doesn't come from fear. The love you imagine is but a thing you wish were true to protect yourself from understanding what horrors are truly possible in the world.
is feeling dissociated an aspect of enlightenment
>>17867632
No.
>>17867670
How does enlightenment feel?
>>17867685
Enlightening. Hence the name. To lighten the load is never unwelcome.
But yeah it can be pretty amazing in the right situation.
>>17867704
how do you get it
>>17867719
Why do you want to?
>>17867723
I want to know the truth
>>17867728
You already know the truth. You can stare at it all day without becoming aware of it.
>>17867750
What do you mean and how do I become aware of it
>>17867759
It means you have to stop removing what's obvious from your awareness. What is truth if not the most obvious thing in existence?
>>17867811
What is it then if it's so obvious
>>17867834
Why ask me what it is if it's so obvious?
>>17867847
You're the one making the claim. The burden of proof is on you. What is it?
>>17867869
You think some scrambling of words and letters on my part can force your eyes open if you refuse to open them yourself?
>>17856298
What is enlightened?
For every person that claims enlightenment there will another that claims they are wrong and true enlightenment is xyz.
I guess for me I see enlightenment as something to strive for but something that can never truly be achieved, for the second you believe yourself to be enlightened you cease to be.
>>17867901
Seeing is believing.
But I've never seen my own experience.
>>17867491
Fear is real and love isn't? What ever enlightment is, that sounds like the opposite anon.
There are constructive cycles of thought and destructive cycles of thought. There are thougs which expand and lights which contain.
If there are walls which contain you in an ego, they are made of fear no matter how well hidden beneath the ego. If you pay attention you'll notice the most aggressively confident are the most afraid.
>>17869631
Sorry that was badly written.
Worst mistake is lights instead of thought. You can probably work out the rest.
>>17869631
This has nothing to do with egotistical punks being closet 'fraidy cats. There are a number of desires that can put up a mental block, and fear isn't all of them. If it were as simple as letting go of or facing fear, suffering would never come into play. Horrors come in all shapes and size, but horrors aren't the only think in existence. Enlightenment is realizing that the horrors aren't near you in that moment. No meditation is going to prepare you for remaining calm when a tiger is shredding your flesh from your bones with its teeth and tongue.
Fear has tactical applications. Love doesn't. It's an image of the ego that's fun for awhile but always disappears. So too does fear, and every thought and emotion you'll ever have, but the idea that love is cosmic and won't let us die is folly in its face.
Yes I am. But I'm in debt and my bills are due.. So who really gives a fuck.
>>17869685
>Fear has tactical applications. Love doesn't.
You can spend your life being worried about being eaten by tigers if you want.
Also I have no idea what you mean by love making you immortal? We're talking about life here, death isn't part of life.
>>17869716
>death isn't part of life
Right. Let's talk again when you're a bit older.
>>17869751
????
Let's talk again when you're able to make a coherent point.
>>17856298
Who is this anon you speak of?
