I feel that "the enlightened one" had grown more and more concerned that his disciples had gotten too attached to seeking wisdom from an external source, in the form of the Master, rather than delving deeply within themselves, thereby finding the effulgent gateway to universal consciousness (the third eye, itself a vortexial fulcrum and portal into the crown center, uniting within an undifferentiated field of Divine illumination). How's that for a run-on sentence, eh?joedirt said:
In other words, despite his doctrine that there is no permanent separate self, no individuated soul which lasts forever. No real Atman eternally existent outside of the play of smoke and mirrors before the perception of the isolated self dreaming... for ultimately this human lifetime is an illusion of sorts and is a mirage and so, we are truly Anatman or no-self. This is what truly seats in the formless core of all sentient beings.
That is a wellspring of deep quietude, the roaring silence, one so vast that it is beyond any quantification nor can it be captured by any conceptual ideologies, remains unmoving in sheer formlessness. For who is really witnessing this play if the veil is lifted, the universe awakening to itself observing itself in the mirror of experience? The I am principle seeking its own quintessential source and in effect, dissolves and vanishes in the effort of discovery.
I believe that the term "enlightenment" itself sheds considerable emphasis on the quality of light, both material illumination and metaphysical effulgence. The sudden removal of bondage to delusion, the revelation of awakening from the dream of mortality and the powerful bliss and serenity of direct immersion within the emptiness of self, abiding in complete stillness of mind. It's much like the statement by Yeshua the Christ, "Therefore, if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." :thumb_up:
Not so much just a show of inner fireworks and lovely fractals pulsing upon the screen of the mind's eye... but a flood of clear light, one which so absorbs and unites the perceiver and the perceived that there is only one phenomenon taking place in the eternal present, this here and now which is both fleeting and constant. Hence the paradox of the mind-shattering epiphany?
When the attention is so affixed, one's separate identity becomes most unreal and all that is perceivable to the witness of this grand play is the subtlest presence within oneself, radiating as oneself, a spark, a reflection, a begging-less and endless echoing of the Unified Field of Being, itself resplendently blooming anew. Ergo, without any limiting boundary to one's soul's parameters, all divisions and degrees of separation from anything else, essentially melt back into the formless Void, the wholly unmanifested frequency of the Godhead in it's most ineffable state. Life hums along. The Tao doing what it does for no reason other than it spontaneously does what it does (or does it really and did it ever?). "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make any sound?"
I honesty believe that such whiteout experiences are bliss beyond measure. Sure, the price paid may be a kind of self-annihilation but it is also liberation from our delusions. This surely is the infinite nature of Nirvana blossoming within the peaceful singularity of the mind's heart? And while this may be an ego-death... it is also a rebirthing and an expansion beyond ego's grasp and finite understanding.
Like Timothy Leary used to cleverly quip, "You have to loose yourself to find yourself." 8)
joedirt said:"I honesty believe that such whiteout experiences are bliss beyond measure."
I can't think of anything that could ever compare to it. In fact I couldn't even fathom something of that magnitude until I was it. And furthermore I can't actually even summon up a full recollection of it... How does one recollect, with a mere human brain, all that ever was or ever will be?
Though the memories are but fragments of the full experience it was utterly unparalleled for me. Sure the inner dialog soon resumed and 'I' was attaching to this and labelling that yet again, but a deep understanding arose into the interconnectedness of all things. I use science to speak of it, but in truth science can never replace the experience of infinity. Intellectual musing is fun, but can never be a substitute of the experience.
It's one thing to see the long chain of cause and effect and another thing to immediately experience the entirety of the cosmos..not as one's self, but as the absence of a self.
Some would say it's like a drop falling back into the ocean...but no this was more like the ocean falling into the drop... and then spitting the drop back out. (drop wasn't very happy about being spit out either! ) I suspect death will be the true return of the drop to the ocean.
To simply know that consciousness expands and contracts based on how tightly we hold to our ego's has been of immense benefit though apparently not beneficial enough to completely drop it. LOL
No matter which thought arises, 'I', 'me', and 'mine' never seems to be far away.. alway's grasping for this and running from that. Alway's constricting and coloring the pure clear light of consciousness.
Silly ego you aren't even real.. but alas you (RS) know as well as I do, that this is no intellectual game. Suffering (Dukkha) as the Buddha (and many others) spoke of is vastly deep. Hard to even imagine how someone actually free's themselves from it permanently. I know I am a long way from it, though thankfully I do know how to return to well when thirsty.
And the nihilists... Oh the nihilists.. LOL. I just can't help but laugh and cry at the poor nihilists.. There are worse that those that believe their mortal soul will live on forever in a heavenly kingdom.
You know only a handful of people will read this dialog and not think you and I to be completely and utterly delusional! I mean we are still sane right?
Tat Tvam Asi
