No Act

Enlightenment is already, it is only. Don't seek, don't grasp. When you fall overboard and the lifeline is thrown out simply say, “No thank you.” This act alone puts you closer to enlightenment than all the purity and starving or glorious humping and thrusting could ever do. Yet even this act, is no act. Remember, no one is acting or ever could. There is much activity in the world but there are no doers. There is only the Universe manifesting spontaneously, blindly, lifelessly, and perfectly. The quicker you get this, the quicker you can get back to that cave or brothel. Listen carefully because I really want you to get this: There are no persons in existence experiencing the universe; there is only the experience of the universe being there with no experiencer. Consciousness is the not the awareness of something, consciousness is pure existence. The manifestation we call the Universe is Consciousness and that alone is existence. Manifestation and Consciousness are one and the same. Existence and Consciousness are one and the same. The feeling/knowing of this as an everyday fact of life is what is called enlightenment. There is simply nothing more to it than that. Enlightenment is the feeling/knowing of that which has never not been. Each and every person does not and has never existed and each and every person has always known that they have never not known this. So embrace sex or reject it - these positions have equally nothing to do with enlightenment and never did. If you want to follow a path, then follow one and enjoy it. But never for one second forget that it is, and has always been, only the Universe manifesting lifelessly and perfectly in eternal monolithic solitude.

Awareness

When we first recognizing awareness, we may consider it to be like a formless background in which all appearances come and go. This is fine as a starting point, but it can result in a sense of oscillation, which is the sense of going back and forth between moments of recognizing awareness and then being drawn back into a story of personal suffering, seeking, or conflict. Oscillation occurs precisely because there is still a belief in separate objects operating. The object could be the self center (“ego”). It could be the sense of a separate other in a relationship. It could be any other object such as death, bankruptcy, or a job, even though we might not realize at first that we experience those as separate things. The point is that separation is the root of all suffering, seeking, and conflict. In recognizing awareness, people get a sense that their basic identity is this awareness in which all objects in the world come and go. But that is where the confusion around separation begins to solidify, resulting in oscillation. Awareness and the world that seems to appear to awareness are inseparable. In Living Realization, we come to see that there are no separate objects. So objects are not coming and going at all. When we are experiencing separate objects, the Unfindable inquiries are tools that we use to actively look for these objects. We don’t find them. We find only thoughts, emotions, and sensations, all appearing inseparably to awareness.

Når vi gjenkjenner tilstedeværelsen/ det som er oppmerksom så synes dette å være en formløs bakgrunn, en tåke hvor alt oppstår og forsvinner. I begynnelsen er det vanlig å gå frem og tilbake mellom illusjonen og bakgrunnen,- inne for å erfare historien og det som utspiller seg i karakteren og så ute -som oppmerksomt nærvær, som vitner, uten å være i historien. Når en beveger seg slik,- frem og tilbake så er det på grunn av at man oppfatter seg som to, at man forsatt ser seg selv som separat og ego som aktøren. Vi ser fortsatt selvet som noe separat som ting skjer med og hvor ytre krefter virker på. Poenget er at separasjonene er det som skaper all lidelse og alle problemer, om du slutter å tro på løgnen så er spillet over. Når en gjenkjenner nærværet som ens egentlige ståsted hvor alt oppstår og forsvinner så oppstår det en viss forvitring, en forvitring av selvet. De som så ut til å være to blir nå ett- det samme. Vi ser at ting ikke kommer og går men at alt er tilstedeværelsen. Separasjon kan brukes som verktøy for å se ting slik de i virkeligheten er og vi ser at der ikke er noe annet en tanker, emosjoner, sensasjoner som oppstår i bevisstheten - det vi kan være oppmerksomme på.

Labeling

In recognising the utter futility of it all, that it's the belief that life is "elsewhere" which creates the very anxiety, tension and stress we long to be rid of, we may be willing to look again at this insufficient present moment, to deeply explore whatever lies beneath the label boredom, discomfort, tension, dissatisfaction, sadness, pain, fear, before it's packaged up and pushed away as unwanted.

And what do we find when we really feel it? Tingling, pulsing, throbbing sensations, a vibrant, energetic aliveness, the electricity of life -forces moving, aching and softening, resisting and freeing, flowing unpredictably like a current of air, from a playful breeze to a chaotic, rampaging tornado, dancing with light, floating steps then suddenly fiery, punchy and intense, colors, shapes, smells and tastes, sounds, silences, heating and cooling, an immediate, compelling and utterly captivating drama. This is the rich, living vitality that we become numb to, that is continually rejected, locked out in favour of an idea, an abstract, untouchable, unfeelable idea of how it all should be. And what of this insufficient "me", the one that should be happier, fitter, brighter, sexier, more spiritual, more awake? Beyond all our judgments about what's right and wrong, there's beauty in our flaws and our frailties, grace in our kooky, dippy, awkwardness, wonder in all our tender, delicate humanness, that particular way we look, that particular way we walk and talk, all of it, including the imperfections, going into the make of our unparalleled uniqueness, a human work of art, sculpted and fired by the most talented, prolific artist unimaginable.

I AM

As much as "I" reaches for I AM, it won't work. That reaching is happening through thoughts, and it's thoughts itself. "I AM", "I am THAT" only thoughts in this case, and contraction in the body out of trying hard doing something that can't happen. You can't make cow sing...you can't make a thought become Absolute. The "I" that is reaching is a thought. Any amount of effort in this reaching won't make a thought become more then a thought. The doomed reaching can become so unbearable that reaching stops, and the truth reveled: IAM/THAT reveals itself in a flash, effortlessly. There is no reaching movement anymore. No becoming. It's being. IAM. THAT.

A great "wake up" movie- A Scanner Darkly: http://viooz.co/movies/2423-a-scanner-darkly-2006.html

What are you doing?

It is quite obvious that most people have no idea what they are saying when they state that they want enlightenment or awakening. For, almost all questions placed before awake or enlightened teachers are not about how ultimate freedom can be achieved. Instead, people want to find their soul mate, have their business succeed, have more money and financial stability, have less trouble with their partner, their children, their parents and other people. They wanted more love, more safety, more security, more bliss, more joy, more this, more that. I find it quite strange that teachers of awakening and enlightenment actually answer such questions as they are of a psychological nature. They pertained to personal well being, satisfaction and happiness. And I know from direct experience that pursuing personal happiness has absolutely nothing to do with ultimate freedom. In fact, ultimate freedom lay in the exact opposite direction. 

It is essential that I state that the ambitions mentioned above are really important in order to live a satisfying life and are truly worth striving for. Yet, they are not in any way related to the freedom that various religious scriptures and teachers are describing and the freedom spiritual and religious aspirants of past ages were after. In fact, ultimate freedom was diametrically opposite from the world's relative freedom. For this reason, a point was made by previous seekers of ultimate freedom to retreat behind monastic walls and to leave the world with all its many goodies behind. By devoting themselves one-pointedly to nothing else but coming to know ultimate freedom, it was believed that one might have a chance at attaining it in a deep and lasting manner. An integral part of the whole process was overcoming all worldly ideas, concepts, beliefs, needs, wishes, wants, hopes and desires, along with all the incalculable attachments to it all. Therefore, it is fascinating to observe that modern-day aspirants say they want ultimate freedom while at the same time are longing for a better, more satisfying and happier life. That's a complete oxymoron. 

Thrive

Freedom is when

No-one knows nothing

And that’s always

Before enlightenment

Chop wood carry water

After enlightenment

Chop wood carry water

Thinking you are enlightened

Is a big mistake

As big as thinking

You are unenlightened

It’s not that you should

Realize something

You are already what you

Would realize

Watch full movie: Thrive