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By virtue of incarnating in a human body you are already an enlightened being. The real question, however, is how conscious are you of that?
There are varying levels of mind/consciousness that each one of us has to pass through on our evolutionary journey of becoming conscious of our “enlightened” status.
This (spiritual) journey is the sole purpose of every human being, whether you realise it or not.
It is the journey from Unconscious Unity to Conscious Unity.
It represents the fall out of unity and the absorption back into unity.
From our conditioned self bound by Time to our unconditioned self free of Time, it is the recognition of our true and eternal nature.
Life can be discerned in two distinct halves...
The first half is that of “becoming”. This half is characterized by separation and identification with the personal self. It represents the act of “leaving home”.
The second half is that of “unfolding”. This half is characterized by unification and identification with the universal self. It represents the act of “returning home”.
Between these two halves is the transition period known as “the period of awakening/enlightenment.” This stage represents the act of “unbecoming” and is a (psychological) dismantling of all that you think you are.
Being born conscious of one’s enlighted state would defeat the very purpose of incarnating in human form.
The truth of who we are can only be known if beliefs of separation are first allowed to propagate.
Without separation, we cannot know the enduring and fundamental Truth of our existence.
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NOTE: This answer was inspired by the teachings of Brother John Martin Sahajananda who is a far wiser individual than myself, and who can also be found here on Quora.
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Awareness–Ingrained Patterns
Awareness is the essence of healing in that you cannot stimulate your brain to develop in a given direction, unless you know where you are starting from. Awareness is both a tool and foundation for moving forward with your life. There are four patterns of awareness that work for me.
Environmental awareness is placing your attention on a single sensation – taste, touch, sound, temperature, etc. What you are doing is switching sensory input from racing thoughts to another sensation. This is the basis of mindfulness – fully experiencing what you are doing in the moment.
I use an abbreviated version that I call “active meditation,” which is placing my attention on a specific sensory input for 5 to 10 seconds. It is simple and can be done multiple times per day.
Emotional awareness is more challenging. It often works for a while, but then it doesn’t. When you are suppressing feelings of anxiety, your body’s chemistry is still off and full of stress hormones. This translates into physical symptoms.
Allowing yourself to feel all of your emotions is the first step in healing because you can’t change what you can’t feel. Everyone that is alive has anxiety. It is how we survive.
Judgment is a major contributor to creating mental chaos in our lives. Dr. David Burns in his book Feeling Good outlines 10 cognitive distortions that are a core part of our upbringing. Some of them include:
- Labeling yourself or others
- “Should” thinking – the essence of perfectionism
- Focusing on the negative
- Minimizing the positive
- Catastrophizing
- Emotional reasoning
Becoming aware of these errors in thinking allows you to substitute more rational thought patterns.
Ingrained attitudes and thought patterns are problematic. By definition, you cannot see them without actively seeking them out.
Our family interactions in childhood are at the root of how we act as adults. The behaviors we develop over a lifetime of exposure to our environment are what I call ingrained patterns. They stem from our upbringing and the fact that our brain is somewhat “hard-wired” during our formative years. We now know from recent neuroscience research that concepts and attitudes are embedded in our brains as concretely as our perception of a chair or table. I used to say that thoughts are real because they cause neurochemical responses in your body. But they are not reality. I was wrong.
It turns out that your thoughts and ideals are your version of reality. Your current life outlook continues to evolve along your early programming or your “filter.” It is why we become so attached to our politics, religion, belief systems, etc. It is also the reason that humans treat each other so badly based on labels. One example, amongst an endless list, was how we locked up “communists” during the McCarthy era of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is why so many minority groups are persecuted, but they also often treat each other badly.
It is critical to understand that these are attitudes and behaviors that you cannot see because they are inherent to who you are. It is also maybe the greatest obstacle to people getting along. We are hard-wired enough that we don’t recognize or “feel” these patterns; it’s just what we do. It’s behavior that sits under many layers of defenses and has to be “dug out” by each person. Our family-influenced habits and actions are much more obvious to our spouses and immediate family than they are to us; we can only get in touch with them through counseling, seminars, psychotherapy, self-reflection, spousal feedback, etc. What you are not aware of can and will control you.
Awareness in the operating room
Here is one example from the performance arena while at work. (My wife could give you dozens in the personal arena.) A few years ago, in the operating room I became aware that I consistently started to speed up towards the end of each case. I also realized that over the years, probably 80% of my dural tears (the envelope of tissue containing the neural elements and cerebrospinal fluid) had occurred in the last thirty minutes of a long case. The fatigue factor is an issue, but the speed issue is more critical. I still often didn’t notice that I was speeding up; I needed feedback from my partners or assistants, so I asked them to act as my “coaches.” I’d stop for a few seconds and say, “The difficult part of this case is done. It would be easy for me to relax and hurry to finish. Please speak up if you see me starting to rush.” Every move in spine surgery is critical, so I had to make the choice to consciously slow down. The end of a case is just as important as the beginning and middle. My complication rate dropped dramatically.
This is a brief overview of how awareness plays a role in successfully navigating daily life. It’s something of a paradox in that when one is truly immersed in the moment there are no levels of awareness. It’s just complete “engagement-in-the-present-moment” awareness. There’s many layers to this discussion, but I hope this is a good starting point. Life does become much more interesting.
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Three dimensions is how we perceive space. To draw more than this is difficult. But we can! Imagine your 3d paper. You can't have two points in the same space.... AT THE SAME TIME. So, how do you think about the fourth dimension? One can easily think of it as time. So, now you have (x,y,z,t). So, you can have multiple points on the same space, in different times.
Go one dimension further. I can't define any, but let's say it's called i (of incognito). Now, your coordinate system is (x,y,z,t,i). In this coordinate system, you can have points occupying the same poisition in space, at the same time, AS LONG AS THE POSITION IN i IS DIFFERENT. Some people propose this fifth dimension as alternative realities/universes.
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SRM
STG2 UPSET
SSSAI BABA
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Consciousness will never end, not “your” consciousness.
Consciousness as such is not divided into separate little chunks, one for each human, just like air is not divided into separate little bubbles, one for each human to breathe.
You breathe air, air will never end, but your lungs will, your body will.
You are conscious, consciousness will never end but you - the separate, distinct human self - will.
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COSNC FILTERS
Since writing this answer in 2019, Dr. Greyson’s book “After” has come out. He goes into a detail explanation of “filters on the brain” in his book from a scientist’s pov. He also refers to them in “Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?” a YouTube talk filmed in 2011. Filters that block the memory of previous lifetimes as well.
As he notes in the talk, “over 70% of the hospice workers in the UK report their dementia patients having full recovery of their memory just prior to passing.” Dr. Greyson points out that post mortem autopsies showed the brains had atrophied and should not have been able to access that information.
Some children don’t have the filters until the age of 8 (“I see grandpa!”) while others near death lose them (“I see grandma!”). Some mediums don’t have them - can sense, see, hear information others cannot, some can bypass them during an NDE, OBE, using LSD, or with meditation and hypnotherapy.
I’ve been filming people bypassing those filters for over a decade. Examples are in the documentaries FLIPSIDE or HACKING THE AFTERLIFE on Amazon Prime. Hope this helps.
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HKHKKKHH
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ETERNALISM V NIHILISM
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RAM
That Rama was always peaceful in mind and spoke softly. He did not react even to the hard words spoken by others.
That Rama, because of his good bent of mind, feels glad even by whatever way a good thing is done to him. He does not remember any number of bad things done to him.
Whenever he finds some time even while practising archery, Rama used to converse with elderly people, elder by way of conduct or wisdom or age or with good- natured people.
Rama was a wise man. He used to speak sweetly. He was the first man to initiate a talk. His speech was compassionate. He was valorous. But he was not arrogant of his mighty valor.
Rama, the tiger among men, along with Lakshmana then caused that wealth to be distributed among the the children, the old-aged and the DOWNTRODDEN .
RAMA-I do not perceive any other reason than an accident that made Kaikeyi to abolish my coronation , to send me to exile ,and to speak ferocious words ,not to be talked about."
Danta (The unperturbed):
RAMA TO RAVANA
"You have accomplished a highly terrific great feat and my brave soldiers have succumbed beneath your blows. Now, you are weary and in this condition, I shall not put you under the clutches of Death."
"O, King of the Ranger of night! I know you have been tormented in the battle. Go and return to Lanka. Having regained your breath, come back in your chariot with your bow and then standing in your chariot, you will witness once more my prowess."
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HRHRRRHH
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JK
bright LIGHT OF THE SOUL!
When from the inside, the inner Divine Intelligence demands to forge its way into the fullness of its expression as YOU, we are not equipped for it’s gift.
We still have clingy tendencies of this world, therefore there is a little friction.
Our hearts are like a big rain cloud and when the Sun must shine through, tears fall fast and furious till the cloud is dispersed and we feel the pure light of our own Self.
Go humbly within, ask the Inner Guide with a longing heart to help you. Be a little persistent. Then pause, don’t judge. Feel.
This will all pass and a freeing feeling will come to you.
Carpe Diem!
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SRK
According to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the first three chakras Muladhara, Svadhishtthhana and Manipura represent the gross worldly state of existence.
When the mind moves about in these three chakras only, the person will be predominantly interested only in eating, drinking and sex life. Whatever other worldly faculties or special accomplishments that accompany these three centres will be used for enjoying more and more pleasures of the tongue and the sex organ.
When the mind or the kundalini reaches the Anahata chakra or the heart centre, the person or the sadhaka sees divine light and exclaims, “What's this?! What's this!?” Even after the mind reaches the Anahata chakra, it can come down to the other three lower levels.
When the mind or the kundalini reaches the Vishuddha chakra in the throat, the person or the sadhaka will not be interested in listening to worldly talks. He/she will be interested only in talking about God and spiritual matters. Even the least talk of mundane matters burns the ears!
When the mind or the kundalini reaches the Ajna chakra or the centre in between the two eyebrows, the sadhaka feels as if he/she is one with God. But there will be a very thin veil separating the Jiva from Īshwara. It's like seeing a flame through a crystal clear glass case. Very very close to union but a very very thin separation persists.
What happens when the mind or the kundalini reaches the Sahasrara chakra or the crown centre cannot be described in words…as it represents the union of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul!
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Our "negativity bias" means that we spend too much time ruminating over the minor frustrations we experience—bad traffic or a disagreement with a loved one— and ignore the many chances we have to experience wonder, awe, and gratitude throughout the day.
Teachers are the reasons why we got the habit of finding faults in others. Right or wrong , good or bad all started from schooling.
When we receive Bhakti we will be beyond greif, desires, aversion or atachment.
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RM
MEDITATION IS EXPULSION OF ALL THOUGHTS
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PRMHMSA PRJNANADA
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Let Kundalini be your guide, but IMHO do not seek to awaken it. This is skipping the steps that you will need in order to have a smoother journey.
Do your work. Learn to meditate. Create and share joy. Take loving care of your body. Work through your trauma. Eat, rest, sleep well. Follow your heart into work that serves your soul purpose. Be of service.
Seek out nature.
Create.
Find your space and your silence.
And perhaps one day Kundalini will awaken.(But do not concern yourself with this) If not, it will still be a life well lived.
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