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Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy
Okay, so here's my honest assessment.
https://ideapod.com/4-stages-enlight...e-can-achieve/
From the Buddhist perspective I'd say I'm somewhere between Stream-enterer (Sotapanna) and Once-returner (Sakadagami), perhaps closer to the latter than the prior. It's not really important anyway. What is important is just moving forward to the best of my abilities and what comes will come.
My stream entry was the several weeks of waking reality experienced like a lucid dream. That followed the weird week that culminated in a mind-blowing and very disturbing precognition episode.
This was all very recent, starting in the last week of October 2019, and to be totally honest after the intensity of the waking lucid dream experience slowly subsided I grew very distraught with a feeling of being lost my whole life, finally finding home only to get lost again. It took a good six months to work through it all, taking a couple of breaks from this forum because it seemed to be detrimental, but eventually I came to the realization the core of that experience never left me, just the intensity. A sort of consolidation and stabilization I suppose. |
What you're telling me here is typical Old Soul -
https://medium.com/stories-by-aurora...e-864dbf789c87
http://personalityspirituality.net/a..._Realised_Self
The part about you feeling home is one of the 'keys', another is feeling lost your whole Life. No, the experience doesn't leave you because the experience IS you. What sometimes happens isw that these things can wax and wane depending on what else is happening in your Life and how you feel, but it's never really gone. One day it's like a full moon and other days like a crescent in the background. And depending on the individual it can consolidate and stablise, it can take a little adjustment but the trick is to ride the waves and simply be present to whatever arises.
And yes, I can understand the threads being detrimental. Sometimes it just doesn't resonate.
According to the link you gave me, I'm Aarahant but I'm not sure about the Nirvana part. Being honest Enlightenment doesn't bother me that much, when I pop my clogs I'll be as Enlightened as it gets - unless what they've said in the brochure about being Spirit is phoney.
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Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy
Concerning Sadhguru, I tired of him after a couple of weeks as his talks were more like a stump speech and especially when I found the much deeper and philosophically rich tradition of Advaita Vedanta.
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I don't hold to any guru or school in particular because I find Life itself far more interesting. I guess for Haile Selassie's perspective that makes me Spiritual because it's about the connection to myself and others. That's why I don't put too much store in the ideologies and theologies, although granted I'll pick up on things that help me along the way. That's one reason I spent some time on karma and kamma-vipaka, karma has never really answered any questions for me and I've always felt something was missing. The addition of kamma-vipaka put it all into perspective and also slotted into the rest of my paradigm. Kamma-vipaka is also energetic and it makes sense there.
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Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy
On a Sci-Fi related note have you checked out "The Expanse"? it's currently in Season 5 on Amazon Prime and new episodes air Tuesday night shortly after 7 PM EST. It's pretty good.
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I've downloaded all I can find on the expanse for now but I haven't watched it. It's on my list though. I'm currently watching Altered Carbon and for a sci-fi series I'm finding it very Spiritual, it deals with mortality, reincarnation and altered realities in ways that Spirituality doesn't.
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Originally Posted by JustASimpleGuy
EDIT: Tying the Buddhism levels of Enlightenment to Karma, if one's identification does shift from the self to Self (I know, Buddhist don't subscrive to Self but I'm looking at it from the Advaita perspective and in any case both disavow the self) and it's genuine consider the implications of a Karma Yoga practice such as Work as Witness. One detaches from the fruits of actions while still engaged in action because one is Self and not the self and merely witnessing the actions of the self. It's a surrender of doership and hence does not generate karma.
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Sometimes Working as Witness isn't working as a witness because there are often unconscious intentions at work. Working as Witness can be seen as having Spiritual status and an individual's ego (the Jungian one) can seek that Spiritual status as much as another would seek status in wealth. If you consider the implications then you are not working as a witness, you are within kamma-vipaka. Detaching from the fruits of actions is an action in itself. and to some that action has fruits in that it's the 'Spiritual thing to do'. Thinking that you're more Spiritual because you detach from the fruits of the action is an attachment to the fruits of the action.
I think what you're looking for is not having any expectations at all, and it's very much an inward Journey. Reasons and expectations are where it all begins. If you practice Work as Witness, do you expect to gain something out of it? If you consider the implications of it, what next? Humans don't do anything without a reason. It's one thing knowing the theory, the pactice is a very different beastie. There are reasons for you being here so what is Enlightenment? Are you Enlightened because you follow this Swami or that school, or are you Enlightened because you did what Buddha says you should and asked the questions and were very honest about what you found there?