This jarring resistance

[Midnight]

Yes, just warning systems. In this context we are not the warnings, we are the ones receiving them. No energy is wasted in nature...how profound.

That brings me to another thought I had earlier. Nature is balanced, and if something were to keep growing and growing, it would go out of balance, and you would have a disease. While growth is a good thing, too much of it can be overwhelming. These recovery cycles are they body's way of telling you to slow down and learn for a little bit (according to my intuition).

After learning about feeling my emotions fully, and just letting myself feel terrible, i came out of the "worst" of the cycle in about 2 days, rather than a week or so. And even then, i didn't feel the need to think about things or try and figure things out. I just let myself feel bad. And there's always a bit of underlying peace to it. Another note is that I don't feel as if it's the end of the world when I feel a flurry of negative emotions. I am not sad, there is only sadness within me.

Even when I fear that my insights or peace will leave me, that's another emotion to feel.

Thank you for your wisdom Edwin

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by Midnight

And there's always a bit of underlying peace to it. Another note is that I don't feel as if it's the end of the world when I feel a flurry of negative emotions. I am not sad, there is only sadness within me.

That is the discovery I was talking about, the important one

Understanding that you are not your mind, not your emotions, but that the real you is the one observing it all.

Just to humor me, try to figure out if the you that is watching the emotions is bound within the borders and boundries of your skin.
I mean, that you that is watching, where is it located in your body ?

[Midnight]

Yeah, i thought I understood this, but it's different when you actually feel whatever is going on in your body isn't YOU. So it's like there's no reason to fear any of it, because it's all temporary.

Uhhhh, ummmm *head explodes*



I wouldn't think it has a specific location...I inhabit my entire body? I think I know what you're getting at though...

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by Midnight

Yeah, i thought I understood this, but it's different when you actually feel whatever is going on in your body isn't YOU. So it's like there's no reason to fear any of it, because it's all temporary.

Generally speaking, this realisation,which like you said goes beyond mind and can be felt, is referred to as "enlightenment". You are there my friend

Uhhhh, ummmm *head explodes*



I wouldn't think it has a specific location...I inhabit my entire body? I think I know what you're getting at though...

Your body can be felt, as it houses the senses that people normally attribute to their ego ( is it really "I broke my leg" or is it "I am observing the sensation of a broken leg ).

But most people think their consiousness is settled in the brain.
You allready know that this isn't the case. Now you need to find out if the location of your consiousness is purely subderminal.
And yes, it is a trick question

[Midnight]

Really now... Enlightened? Me? Lol

I don't feel particularly enlightened. I imagined it to be a sort of momentous event.

I don't think consciousness has a specific location. You can't find you, because you are you. Is that the answer?

[GilesC]

Originally Posted by Midnight

Really now... Enlightened? Me? Lol

Yes, we're all enlightened, we just tend to cover it up... some more than others.

I don't feel particularly enlightened. I imagined it to be a sort of momentous event.

And that is the expectation that can stop you from recognising it.

I don't think consciousness has a specific location. You can't find you, because you are you. Is that the answer?

Yes. If you are referring to conciousness being the true Self, you can't observe the true Self, as if you are able to observe it, you can't be it, but the one thing you can't observe... is the observer... and that observer is truly You.

Hugs

Giles

[Midnight]

Hmm good point. I just figured i'd feel a really deep peace at all times or something...

I guess I got that notion from The Power of Now, the way Eckhart Tolle described what happened to him.

[Edwin]

Originally Posted by Midnight

Hmm good point. I just figured i'd feel a really deep peace at all times or something...

I guess I got that notion from The Power of Now, the way Eckhart Tolle described what happened to him.

Don't worry, that will come.

The deep peace and feeling of bliss is kind of like the carrot in front of the donkey, making him try to walk towards the carrot while it is attached to him.

It is what drives the seekers to start moving.
Most teachers promise it, but refuse to say when it will come after your moment of insight.

And most people, like you expect total bliss and peace the instant it hits.

But even tho understanding the true nature of the Self is the first real step, your mind has been conditioned to act in a certain way, react to events in a "safe" way, that is to say, for instance if you have had a bad experience in the past, you will probably try to avoid that event the next time a similar event presents itself to you.
But the word itself allready says it all: it is similar not exactly the same.
So then you are not living in the Now, you are still trying to copy-paste the past.
Your expectations and fear are keeping you from really looking at the situation you are facing NOW.

As long as you remind yourself every now and then about who you are, the real You, consiousness, in time those conditionings will disappear by themselves. And bliss and peace will emerge in their place.

Every now and then you will be hit by a deeper insight, this will come by itself. With me that means that for about a week I will feel total peace and bliss. And then it will be gone again. And then a month or so later it hits again.
Sometimes it takes more time.

But reminding yourself of your realisation every now and then, that the real you is the observer, and that the person Midnight ( remember Giles' excellent explanation that person comes from "persona" meaning mask ) is not real, is enough for now.

[Midnight]

Wow, i was looking for someone to post something like that for a while now.

I had a misconception of enlightenment being that I'd feel a deep peace and that there would be no "unappealing" emotions ever again. But what I feel now is still a wonderful thing because I feel an underlying peace beneath an emotion at all times, and I let the negative emotion unleash itself inside me, which feels way better and easier than resistance!

Better yet, knowing my self beneath the emotion allows me to realize that whatever I'm feeling is not who I am. There's no need to try and solve anything or get rid of my current state, because it is always impermanent. There was never a need to feel hopeless, it was an illusion all along.

Woooooaaaahhhhhhhh.

I am definitely saving this thread forever. It's been life changing.

[Edwin]

Just one more thing:

Don't worry about the "feeling" coming and going.
Sometimes you feel great, sometimes some thought tricks you into believing the " I " thought for a moment.

But now you know that no matter what happens, Consciousness, or Self ALWAYS registers what happens, even the illusive " I " thought is registered effortlessly.

So when you think you lost the feeling ( when you think ) don't worry, it will come back. You never really lost it, in fact, it has always been there, even before you realised it.

It's all quite simple once you understand what it's all about right ?