Awakening

"True awakening is not about bliss, or ecstasy or even enlightenment. It is simply about being present rather than being lost in illusion."

-Leonard Jacobson

remaining present rather than being lost in the appearances or in the mindstream (which is just another appearance)

or as Eckhart says, being the space in which everything happens...

[BlueSky]

If you believe people can be "lost"..........what about those who are "lost"?

If being "lost" is what you describe above.................how many people do you know personally who fit that description and how many only think they don't?

What about them............huh?

What happened to my wife's sweet grandmother? Do you think she would care if you told her she died 'lost' in illusion?

i'll have to agree with WS... but also with din... illusion can be fun... until it becomes dis-illusion...

in my roaring 20s i had lots of illusions of who i was and who they were... and i did a lot of things i wouldnt do today be-cause of my illusions... and would have lived happily ever after... until i conquered life, and was left with an empty feeling...so i set out on my next quest...

i was always in the present... i always acted the best i could...

what i'm saying is... everything is as it should be... there is a time and a place for everything... it is not wrong to live an illusion... until it is wrong with you...

[Gem]

Originally Posted by northstar

i'll have to agree with WS... but also with din... illusion can be fun... until it becomes dis-illusion...

in my roaring 20s i had lots of illusions of who i was and who they were... and i did a lot of things i wouldnt do today be-cause of my illusions... and would have lived happily ever after... until i conquered life, and was left with an empty feeling...so i set out on my next quest...

i was always in the present... i always acted the best i could...

what i'm saying is... everything is as it should be... there is a time and a place for everything... it is not wrong to live an illusion... until it is wrong with you...

Hi NS, I trust your travels were great adventures.

absatively gem... (hugs)

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by northstar

i'll have to agree with WS... but also with din... illusion can be fun... until it becomes dis-illusion...

in my roaring 20s i had lots of illusions of who i was and who they were... and i did a lot of things i wouldnt do today be-cause of my illusions... and would have lived happily ever after... until i conquered life, and was left with an empty feeling...so i set out on my next quest...

i was always in the present... i always acted the best i could...

what i'm saying is... everything is as it should be... there is a time and a place for everything... it is not wrong to live an illusion... until it is wrong with you...

Just to add my point of view without trying to dispute yours, Northstar……I agree that life doesn’t work so well when we see what we should be doing and we ignore it.
Not removing illusions that are clearly illusions seems to work that way but to derive from that or add that ‘everything is as it should be’ and that’ there is a time and a place or purpose for everything’ doesn’t necessarily hold true in my mind.
It is nice to think life works that way but in so many ways, it really doesn’t seem to.
I could make it seem like it works that way but then again I can create anything I want.
But then again what do I know.
I really appreciated your comments.
James

this of course only worked well for me WS.... look at it this way... in my 20s i was young, strong and immortal... it was that illusion that sent me into the backwoods for three months and have one hell-of-an adventure... i jumped ravines that i would go around today... crossed rivers that were by all appearances uncrossable... reasoned with animals that were twice my size... and twice as deadly... this improved my self image and self esteem...

if i had lived in fear or logic... i would have never taken that adventure... but i probably would have found another way... just as others do...

for me... being in the illusion was just the right place to be at the right time...

and i was still doing all the things that 'awakening' does... living in the present... in the moment... creating and re-creating myself at my whim... living 'in' nature... going with the flow or against it as the circumstance demanded...

i thought i knew what i was doing... and i still think i know what i'm doing...

nothing has really changed... well change is a constant... but you know what i mean... the only difference now... is i know 'why'...

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by northstar

this of course only worked well for me WS.... look at it this way... in my 20s i was young, strong and immortal... it was that illusion that sent me into the backwoods for three months and have one hell-of-an adventure... i jumped ravines that i would go around today... crossed rivers that were by all appearances uncrossable... reasoned with animals that were twice my size... and twice as deadly... this improved my self image and self esteem...

if i had lived in fear or logic... i would have never taken that adventure... but i probably would have found another way... just as others do...

for me... being in the illusion was just the right place to be at the right time...

and i was still doing all the things that 'awakening' does... living in the present... in the moment... creating and re-creating myself at my whim... living 'in' nature... going with the flow or against it as the circumstance demanded...

i thought i knew what i was doing... and i still think i know what i'm doing...

nothing has really changed... well change is a constant... but you know what i mean... the only difference now... is i know 'why'...

Yeh, but my point was if you believe that there is a 'why', then you are in effect suggesting what Din is saying, that others are 'lost' in not knowing 'why' and IMO, most people die that way, not knowing why or being lost in what Din sees as illusion.
All I'm saying to those who think this way, is this: What about them?
How do you figure them into the why's and answers you have found?
What about you.........why did you get to know why?

Obviously, I don't buy the whole purpose belief or lost belief or better said, I am not at all convinced.
The way I see it.....we....the spiritual ones....need a reason why and need to feel not lost, so we create for ourselves what we are looking for.
This need comes from life itself and the circumstances dealt to us and our inability to deal with life. IMO
The others......the none spiritual ones, the lost, the ones with don't need to know why..........are happy and kind and at peace and know a lot less then we know.
Of course some don't fit that description but that is irrelevant to my point.
They also outnumber us as far as I can see.
What about them?
just sharing of course.....James