I'm Enlightened

Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 3:55 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 3:55 PM

I'm Enlightened

Posts: 131 Join Date: 10/26/13 Recent Posts
It's such a provocative statement but I was forced to write it. It's true but it's not true. More true would be to say that enlightenment happened to me when the I finally surrendered, and now I spend most of my time in a sort of passenger mode, allowing and experiencing everything. There's no resistance left, except sometimes when I am alone.

There's no interest in validation, but there are some things that I feel I need to share just because there is a unique experience and insights to the enlightenment of any body/mind system. This will be from the perspective of the body/mind system of Mattias Stenberg and is an attempt to share important information.

First off the ego is a defensive pattern covering up wounds and percieved injustices etc. By trying to "beat", "kill" or "vanquish" it you're only splitting yourself into two. The "bad" ego and "you" (which is still the ego). A more effective way to approach it is to heal it. It's just trying to protect itself and hostility only makes it contract more.

Most spiritual teachings are grossly overcomplicating things. The key to liberation is actually not through effort but through self inquiry and a COMPLETE relaxation and surrender. Once you completely let go of controlling your body or mind, something else (call is awareness or the holy spirit according to whatever belief system you have) takes over and starts operating through you. At first this is incredibly scary, which is why a deep trust or courage is needed.

Of course practice such as Yoga, dance or meditation is useful to a certain extent, but in the end it's about a complete surrender.
Eva Nie, modified 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 8:14 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 8:14 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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I did not find anything on google about the mind body system of Mattias Stenberg.  Sounds like good ideas though.  Of course you would first need to get to the point where you knew what you are clinging to and why in order to let go of it. For a lot of people, that's going to be a lot of stuff to let go of.  Something that sounds similar in idea is not always simple to do in action.
-Eva
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Dada Kind, modified 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 9:02 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 8:55 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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The obvious follow-up: what's the origin of our inability to surrender?

Now a guessing game: An event that is the culmination of surrendering the bodymind should happen naturally and regularly for all humans but socio-cultural factors impede the full surrender for most. Hints: Immediately prior to and during this event pleasure is proportional to surrender. This event is your origin.

And, Eva, I think he's referring to himself.
Eva Nie, modified 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 10:08 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 10:08 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Oop LMAO!  Gotta pay more attention!  ;-P

And, Eva, I think he's referring to himself.
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Richard Zen, modified 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 10:20 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/2/15 10:19 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg:

Most spiritual teachings are grossly overcomplicating things. The key to liberation is actually not through effort but through self inquiry and a COMPLETE relaxation and surrender. Once you completely let go of controlling your body or mind, something else (call is awareness or the holy spirit according to whatever belief system you have) takes over and starts operating through you. At first this is incredibly scary, which is why a deep trust or courage is needed.

Of course practice such as Yoga, dance or meditation is useful to a certain extent, but in the end it's about a complete surrender.
It's complicated because there are many ways of surrendering with different practices leading to the same thing. The biggest eyeopener for those who awaken is that habits don't extinguish completely and any statement that one is enlightened can create a seed of stress if behaviours don't improve as much as expected.

If you are enlightened then take advice from many masters to keep working on habits. That work is forever.
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 3:08 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 3:08 AM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Droll Dedekind:
The obvious follow-up: what's the origin of our inability to surrender?

Now a guessing game: An event that is the culmination of surrendering the bodymind should happen naturally and regularly for all humans but socio-cultural factors impede the full surrender for most. Hints: Immediately prior to and during this event pleasure is proportional to surrender. This event is your origin.

And, Eva, I think he's referring to himself.
The inability to surrender seems to stem from fear. The mind seems to think it needs to "solve" the "problems" when it (the ego/personality) is just a collection of defense mechanisms and unconscious behavioral patterns covering up emotional wounds. This is why I say it is better to heal the ego than try to defeat it. Through inquiry or meditation you can find the root cause of a particular wound and then forgive it/yourself and allow it to unwind and be healed.

Mythology etc is not needed, nor is any specific belief system. It can however be helpful to understand two things:

1. You "have" an immortal soul (actually you *are* the soul but right now it is covered up by a place holder called a persona). This means there is uniqueness. Enlightenment is liberation, not some sort of communist conformity to I AM-ness. The western culture seems to percieve enlightenment as giving up on individuality, which is causing a big barrier. Hence the knowledge that there is a unique and immortal soul hiding behind the persona. You are not who you think you are (and thinking "I am awareness" or something simmilar doesn't help much, remove the persona and find out for yourself).

2. God or the Holy Spirit or whatever is real and very pragmatic. It's not a concept or something far away our out there. The holy spirit, in my experience, is there and will catch you when you finally surrender. God wants to be your secretary and the holy spirit wants to be your driver (driving the body and speaking through you). I suggest you let them. emoticon
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 3:12 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 3:12 AM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Richard Zen:
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg:

Most spiritual teachings are grossly overcomplicating things. The key to liberation is actually not through effort but through self inquiry and a COMPLETE relaxation and surrender. Once you completely let go of controlling your body or mind, something else (call is awareness or the holy spirit according to whatever belief system you have) takes over and starts operating through you. At first this is incredibly scary, which is why a deep trust or courage is needed.

Of course practice such as Yoga, dance or meditation is useful to a certain extent, but in the end it's about a complete surrender.
It's complicated because there are many ways of surrendering with different practices leading to the same thing. The biggest eyeopener for those who awaken is that habits don't extinguish completely and any statement that one is enlightened can create a seed of stress if behaviours don't improve as much as expected.

If you are enlightened then take advice from many masters to keep working on habits. That work is forever.
That work is doing itself. "My" only job is to be present and aware, enjoying and noticing what is happening and continually staying in surrender. The habit to start thinking or doing is the only one I need to beware of, the rest are solving themselves.

However I think many enlightened people of the past have simply supressed a big part of their persona, leading to unconscious habits bubbling up from the subconcious. That's why you need to admit to yourself and others that you're a manipulate asshole trying to stay alive, if that is the case. I found honesty, complete openness and vulnerability in all interactions to be a great shortcut. Every interaction is an opportunity for satsang and every person you meet is a guru, if you allow them to be.
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 5:35 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 5:35 AM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Paweł K:
Hi Mattias

Enlightenment is not about blindly surrendering but about self-knowledge, having mind illuminated by its own light, knowing motivations to actions no matter how they normally present itself. There is no difference between you moved hand or something you surrender to moves hand, it is all accessible in the same manner and because of that there is not even need to create this 'I move my hand' or 'I do not move my hand' images, they are unnecessary additive which can be skipped entirely freeing mind to other things like more awareness. Everything can be seen in self-illumination fashion, even if that happened when you were not enlightened. No more guessing necessary, you know everything about yourself, simply, the only enlightenment which is good ennough to warrant such name.

No matter how much you surrender it won't be enlightenment until you know your mind. Perspective you describe is what I consider 2nd path. Disconnected from ego but still thinking it somehow exist separate from *you* and there is this notion of not controlling own actions but something remaining that can struggle to stop them, but can never succeed to do so, so surrender seems like good option. It is all fine on this level. When you realize it all is neurotic crap and does make absolutely no sense it will be 3rd path, and it again won't be right either, not even looking in right direction most of the time. Finishing this thing up, the real enlightenment, require completely changing the way you look at yourself, your mind, thinking process, what the issues are and how to solve them, etc.

With metta and other pretty colors,
Paweł

ps. Hope you forgive me my crudeness and cold directness. 
There's no need to forgive your crudeness or directness, it was simply directed at an image that you percieved to be me, based on the text that I wrote. It has nothing to do with me.

There's an agreement from this body/mind system with what you wrote. The finishing lines of your post where you describe 3:d path and enlightenment was what happened. All word based thought activity is ultimately neurotic and without any solid or permanent self. There is no "me", only a sense of I AM-ness and some constantly changing sensations, that's the truth of existence. The whole persona was just a joke and a cover up. There are still some neurotic thinking (ie: any thinking) that appears from time to time but it is unwinding itself, no need to "do" anything since the idea to "do" something simply creates a second persona to try to solve the first one.

All the thought processes, traumas, emotion wounds, survival strategies etc have been seen through and healed. There is no need for them anymore. Whether you accept that as enlightenment or not is irrelevant, this body/mind system no longer feels any need for external validation, there's just a sense or urge to spread the experience in case it can help other body/mind systems liberate themselves from the ego.

Thank you for your post.
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 7:27 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 7:27 AM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Paweł K:
I just do not like idea of surrendering....

Solution to suffering is either not experiencing suffering or experience bliss which not experiencing normally leads to this suffering, like if you want something sweet then do not experience need of relief and and literally experience this sweetness that you want to experience. After a while it will be gone. This while can last whatever it need to take, in case of some needs that are not easily satisfied it can become pretty almost all-day-long bliss. It is possible because of enlightenment. I would not accept anything less than that and no one should.
First off, you're a fake. The "you" that don't like the idea of surrendering is an ego, hence a fake.

Secondly, you don't need to replace suffering with bliss to end suffering. You just remove the source of suffering, which is the ego. Suffering is the resistance to what is, and resisting what is actually happening is insanity. I am not experiencing constant bliss and there's no desire for it either. The permanent feeling is peace. Bliss comes and goes like all other temporary states, but it happens within the peace.

The ego is what surrenders, and it surrenders to awareness/god/the holy spirit. If you think that the You is superior to that and better left in charge of your life I wish you good luck with that. ;)
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Dada Kind, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 12:40 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 12:40 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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I don't disagree but I had a specific event in mind that, in a theory of mine, explains a deeper origin. Forked my guessing game so I don't hijack your thread http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/message_boards/message/5723102
Oochdd, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 1:28 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 1:28 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Hi Mattias,

First of all, congrats on the enlightenment! It seems from earlier posts that you've experienced quite a bit of suffering in your life, so this would be a welcome break. On the other hand from your earlier posts it also seems that you have a manic and mentally pretty unstable side to you (perhaps due to awakened kundalini or some such on this path), so perhaps take this into account when making big claims: the advice to wait a year and a day to see how things pan out seems like pretty good advice most of the time.

In general people discussing on internet forums what is and is not enlightenment seems like an incredibly unproductive activity to me (see discussion above). We all have our own experience, and it's hard to tell whether my enlightenment is more or less real than yours.

However this forum is dedicated to practical dharma, discussion of practices, how they were applied and to what results they led. So in that light:

What kind of practices have you been doing? What kind of transitions have you noticed in the past? What was the practice that led up to your recent shift? 
Oochdd, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 4:55 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 4:55 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Hi Pawel,

Just to clarify: I definitely do agree that it is very useful to discuss different attainments, how you currently experience reality, what practices lead to what, etc, etc. 

Just not so sure how useful it is when one person considers their current experience to be "enlightenment" and another person considers their experience to be "enlightenment", that those two people try to prove the other person wrong. 

Let's just all celebrate each other's attainment, and try to help each other onwards where we can emoticon
Blue Jay, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 5:59 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 5:59 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Mathias, it looks like you're talking about 3rd path, not 4th. The things you describe are sophisticated insights. But maybe there's still one step missing. You seem too enchanted with spiritual matters, and you say that you still have I-am-ness.

But who am I to judge? I am preceptive, but not wise.
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 8:09 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 8:09 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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PRAYER FOR HELP & HEALING
Paweł K:
Thanks for calling me a fake emoticon
And replacing idea of self with God that pretty much is and does exactly the same thing is not a fake?

It’s not an idea and it does not do the same thing. The body moves and communicates in another way (more elegantly/purposefully) and in unexpected ways. What comes out of my mouth is sometimes quite surprising to the mind that is now in the backseat. The whatever-it-is is simply much better at being me then the I ever was.

Paweł K:

Surrendering to God or whatever is telling nothing, on its own doesn't make any sense at all, an empty action signified by some sensation associated with it. Like having a bell and ringing it was surrendering. Suspecting this is all bullshit and have absolutely no sense at all I intentionally did signifier that had no meaning action-wise and no meaning reason-wise and it still worked like a charm! Making signifier that have sense, especially such as "surrendering to God" is only making knot of perception tighter and harder to untangle.

Once again the idea of God as a concept or idea is not what I am pointing at and it requires no concepts or beliefs. My mind has decided to consider it the ”holy spirit” because it likes the name, but like all words they are simply pointing towards something.

Paweł K:

No, I do not like surrendering idea even a bit. At one point at 2nd path I let myself run in full-self mode after which it/I did surrender to no-self but here too it was rather beyond what can be done just because someone over web can tell you to do. It have to be transforming experience, like taming a horse, self (kinda) have to (kinda) break itself. Then after some time when right conclusions are made this self is connected back to mind and this is imho 3rd path, still not knowing what or where but at least not fighting with selves and looking for answer elsewhere.

The I that does not like the idea of surrender is the ego, is it not? It’s agreed that it takes very much practice and I like the comparison to taming or breaking a horse, it’s such a strong habit to go from observing/enjoying to doing/interfering again that it takes a long time for the system to get used to it.

Paweł K:

Anyhow, do what you like. Neither you nor anyone else can convince me that my method and isnight are wrong. And especially not by promising 'peace'. Screw peace, I want self, bliss and rock&roll =)

Not interested in convincing, just feel a duty to share the information gathered in the process in case it helps some other body/mind systems to liberate themselves from the ego. Self bliss and rock&roll seems reasonable though I prefer passenger consciousness and acceptance.
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 8:13 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/3/15 8:13 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Oochdd:
Hi Mattias,

First of all, congrats on the enlightenment! It seems from earlier posts that you've experienced quite a bit of suffering in your life, so this would be a welcome break. On the other hand from your earlier posts it also seems that you have a manic and mentally pretty unstable side to you (perhaps due to awakened kundalini or some such on this path), so perhaps take this into account when making big claims: the advice to wait a year and a day to see how things pan out seems like pretty good advice most of the time.

In general people discussing on internet forums what is and is not enlightenment seems like an incredibly unproductive activity to me (see discussion above). We all have our own experience, and it's hard to tell whether my enlightenment is more or less real than yours.

However this forum is dedicated to practical dharma, discussion of practices, how they were applied and to what results they led. So in that light:

What kind of practices have you been doing? What kind of transitions have you noticed in the past? What was the practice that led up to your recent shift? 
It's a manifestor system in Human Design so it acts quite differently from the norm with a much higher/intense energt level and other behavioral patterns. Previously the personality was somewhat manic and it did indeed experience severe suffering/loss and some mental illness.


The practices have been meditation, yoga, dancing and ceremonies (read: hallucinogenic ceremonies) mainly, but basically everything under the sky was tried. In the end it was intensive satsang that led to liberation. The system isn't fully liberated yet but it feels correct to call it enlightenement by most standards.
Eva Nie, modified 8 Years ago at 5/4/15 12:28 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 5/4/15 12:28 AM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Paweł K:
I just do not like idea of surrendering. It is like surrendering to communism. Some ideas of it are not that bad but it is details of execution that are skeved and lacking.
I suspect this is a semantics issue.  Surrendering, letting go, let go of clinging, absence of desire, equanimity, all I think are trying to describe a similar thing.  And I think to achieve any of them, you must know yourself very well, even the darkest parts of you that you may wish you didn't have and would rather go on thinking you don't have.  I also suspect much if not all of it is really about finding your internal obstacles, that is why the path is diff for everyone.  We each have unique variations of obstacles and issues and hangups.  Once you get those out of your way, and generally that happens bit by bit, like peeling an onion they say, then the natural peaceful enlightened self is able to shine through more and more.  But there's nothing really mystical about enlightenment.  They all say that same thing, that it is simple and obvious and nothing really changes, just your experience and understanding of it changes.  Like when you are in love for the first time and all the world seems wonderful and magical and everything seems to go your way.  The world has not changed into a different world, but you have changed and so you see the world differently and make different choices and that change also changes the way others around you respond to you.  Enlightenment is the same truths you always knew about and heard many times, it's just that you understand them from a deeper level because you have unloaded the issues that were in your way before.  Now how best to facilitate that process?  There in lies the road to many arguments..  ;-P
-Eva  
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 6/26/15 1:55 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 6/26/15 1:55 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Paweł K:
Mattias,

Some people could testify that I from all DhO people talk about God and connection with God, being with union with God, Kingdom of God and even God being my Dharma teacher. I know all about God, some might even call me a God person ~_^

God is not something I am to surrender though, I am God, part of it and we all are, God, ultimately one being. Because of that what I do is union with God and here there is no who is more important, we are all the same God, it is union of mind of God, not me with God. Ego you portrait is an illusion, whole concept of it. Ego or self is just description of what happened, harmless, naturally tame. The only thing that is ill in us and causes other to suffer is ignorance regarding our own being, this include what God is and how we are part of it, but also just 'how to be happy' because we usually have no idea. As cognizant species we try to make ego stronger by adding sensations of ego/self-ness on top of it and identify with them. This is ridiculously stupid thus is called ignorance. Investigating sensations with clarity reveals that it have nothing to do with anything and is just pure stress/dukkha and can be abandoned without really damaging our sense of self which in itself is not as bad as is portrayed in our mind and on DhO.

At the same time it is rarely needed and when it is purified out of ignorance it is just gone when it is not needed, doesn't take away precious resources. It is like sense of sexuality, some people cling to it too much, it is unhealthy, pose issues. Some have aversion to it, fight it, then it is an issue when it is there, and stick to them even when there is no reason for that, it pose an issue. In healthy person it is just function that signal activate when it is needed, when potential mate is seen/smelled. When it is not needed (eg. it is unavailable) then it just shut down and that is all. No hard feelings either way. Why fight our own brain? Just use it more efficiently.

As for compassion and hurting other people which is very important factor: we have usually no compassion to ourselves and hurt ourselves all the time. Dukkha is not giving ourself what we need, so how with it could we give it to others? I believe that is everybody were feeling the sort of bliss that I am able to feel then world would see no wars and much greater cooperation between people. Unfortunately we evolved to be feral and vicious creatures and our domestication have not yet completed, so no, no AF for whole human race yet.

As to convincing I do not need any. If I rate you correctly then I was where you are and differences that I rand about are probably mostly due to miscommunication, not some fundamental differences in understanding. I am not liking idea of surrendering but I still kinda did... just not to God but to union with God. It might be as well what you mean. Anyhow, when I was where I think you were I felt pretty enlightened already, my purposes of not suffering it was enough and I stopped wanting more enlightenment even though I knew it is not the end. Why? Because it wanting release is suffering and I already knew that 1) not experiencing wanting 2) experience awesomeness, will bring better results that trying to break a wall with my head. And it did. So I kinda do not get all those seemingly 3rd pathers that try to get to 4th like it was some prize granted for inhuman effort, sweat, blood and tears of practicing jogi, and not by using Four Noble Truths in their lives just like Lord Buddha in his infinite wisdom said we should do.

May the wisdom of God and all the Buddhas be with you,
Paweł

Thanks for the clarifications and the generally awesome post. The idea of surrender to God is hard to communicate and obviously I failed at it. What you says makes more sense. I guess surrendering the idea that you are separate from God and realizing that you are in full union with it is a better way of putting it. The concept of an external judging entity has polluted the very idea concept of God to the extent that the word is probably seldom useful.

4:th path seems to be happening by itself now (or whatever, everyting happens by itself, there's no fucking doer to be found). From this perspective it manifests as a fucking insane amounts of energy being released from the body/mind system. Insanely painful at times, which is OK. And I am not looking for any reward or mystical experience at the end of it, I don't give a shit, I'm all-in, all my virtual chips are already in the middle. Mystical experiences are just distractions, this one is going home, fuck the side shows. I love it, feels like I am falling into the sun and all the bullshit is burning away. The "process" was incredibly stupid, painful and frustrating, and now it's seen that I was the cause of it from every perspective, both as the creator and non-existing experiencer.

Ps. Words are stupid. Fucking words, there will be a special place in hell for whoever invented language.
david doyle, modified 8 Years ago at 6/30/15 4:58 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 6/30/15 4:54 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Eva M Nie:
I did not find anything on google about the mind body system of Mattias Stenberg.  Sounds like good ideas though.  Of course you would first need to get to the point where you knew what you are clinging to and why in order to let go of it. For a lot of people, that's going to be a lot of stuff to let go of.  Something that sounds similar in idea is not always simple to do in action.
-Eva

Regarding : "of course you would first need to get to the point where you knew what you are clinging to and why in order to let go of it."

This is incorrect.

In fact as the process of Awakening unfolds it is quite obvious that you did nothing nor did you need to know anything. In many ways the word "surrender" is inaccurate but reasonably close to what occurs so it is often used. It also has an acceptable heart connotation - but in fact you are not surrendering in a "doing" sense, nor are you "letting go" in a doing sense.

At a certain point in my experience mass portions of your story and identification fall away. This process continues: as an example you may have had huge issues with your father and then one day in the process you look upon this and find nothing - no animosity, no "highlights" that you have surrendered too or disentangled - the highlights are not there energetically. It is almost as distant as if someone were to tell you you had a past life 3000 years ago and some guy stole all your pigs and your wife as well. It does not suddenly bring forth the great anger you had in that life.

The process is far more general - you do not need to "get to the bottom" of your story - the "story" is the sleep you are immersed in and treasure - you believe it is "you" and what has happened to "you".
Eva Nie, modified 8 Years ago at 6/30/15 5:44 PM
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RE: I'm Enlightened

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david doyle:


At a certain point in my experience mass portions of your story and identification fall away. This process continues: as an example you may have had huge issues with your father and then one day in the process you look upon this and find nothing - no animosity, no "highlights" that you have surrendered too or disentangled - the highlights are not there energetically. It is almost as distant as if someone were to tell you you had a past life 3000 years ago and some guy stole all your pigs and your wife as well. It does not suddenly bring forth the great anger you had in that life.

The process is far more general - you do not need to "get to the bottom" of your story - the "story" is the sleep you are immersed in and treasure - you believe it is "you" and what has happened to "you".
Yes, that has happened too, part was working on my assumptions and beliefs, ie my story, and the other part was many things seemed to happen by themselves.  But IMO, if you still exist here, you still have some story.  The story may be that you are right and I am wrong, you know more than me (could be true), you will help me by telling me these things, or whatever, but IMO there is always story and assumptions while you are still here.  IMO, that there is no longer any story can also be a story.  ;-P 
-Eva
Mattias Wilhelm Stenberg, modified 8 Years ago at 7/9/15 1:38 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 7/9/15 1:38 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

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Eva M Nie:
david doyle:


At a certain point in my experience mass portions of your story and identification fall away. This process continues: as an example you may have had huge issues with your father and then one day in the process you look upon this and find nothing - no animosity, no "highlights" that you have surrendered too or disentangled - the highlights are not there energetically. It is almost as distant as if someone were to tell you you had a past life 3000 years ago and some guy stole all your pigs and your wife as well. It does not suddenly bring forth the great anger you had in that life.

The process is far more general - you do not need to "get to the bottom" of your story - the "story" is the sleep you are immersed in and treasure - you believe it is "you" and what has happened to "you".
Yes, that has happened too, part was working on my assumptions and beliefs, ie my story, and the other part was many things seemed to happen by themselves.  But IMO, if you still exist here, you still have some story.  The story may be that you are right and I am wrong, you know more than me (could be true), you will help me by telling me these things, or whatever, but IMO there is always story and assumptions while you are still here.  IMO, that there is no longer any story can also be a story.  ;-P 
-Eva
My experience supports that of dave. The stories lose significance and fall away, when there is no longer a belief in the solidity of the "you" that underpins all stories.

When you say "You still have some story" that is both true and false. The "you" IS the story, it does not HAVE the story.
Nick Ethan Molchanov Collins, modified 8 Years ago at 11/3/15 12:31 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 11/3/15 12:29 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

Posts: 3 Join Date: 11/2/15 Recent Posts
The idea of surrender to a personal godhead, like the idea of personifying the godhead in personal relational terms, seems to be one particular method of embodying the sort of unitive, transformative state we refer to as enlightenment or awakening. Whether or not we regard the diety as a projection of our own self/selves (a la Hegel in the Essence of Christianity) or as the attainment of our true Self or as an apparent other seems less important than getting to the state, for which relational human capacities and feeling-structures are utilized. Now, as far as the surrender goes, this can either be a surrender to our own ideal/true self and its implicit resonance with the universal self (which is also that true self), or a transcendent being who basically performs the same function. This is where pragmatism comes in. In the metaphysics of Sri Aurobindo, this is put in terms of the psychic being and the isvara/God/master of the yoga (yoga here = life). Enlightenment, or realization(Dogen) or the awakening of the psychic being all amount to the realization of life as practice("all practice is practice-realization" or in Aurobindo's definition of yoga, the process becomes to an extent self-aware). This process, because it involves the emergence of novel faculties of perception and ways of being in the world, is guided by those same emergent forces, both by the constituents comprising the emergent phenomena (bottom up) as well as from the top down, by way of the pull from that higher/more comprehensive/universal consciousness (nature, God, the creative advance of the universe). I do think surrender in this sense is useful, but the manner in which it occurs and the identity of who we are surrendering to are very much personally structured, because it is ultimately the individual him/herself who is being surrendered to (I'm reminded of the Vedic aphorism, "the God sacrificed with the self to the self")
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Noah, modified 8 Years ago at 11/3/15 5:50 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 11/3/15 5:50 PM

RE: I'm Enlightened

Posts: 1467 Join Date: 7/6/13 Recent Posts
This thread has '111,111' views, at this moment.  Just sayin'.