Atheism is a Religion

Originally Posted by Greenslade

I've witnessed pure consciousness a few times, a state where there is nothing but consciousness itself. There was no experiencer and there was no experienced - because there was (since I've watched the YouTube) - no-thing to experience and no-thing to become conscious of other than my consciousness.

I'm keenly aware how easily mind can deceive itself so I scrutinize its more outrageous ramblings and interpretations, however there are some experiential data points I can no longer ignore or dismiss. Suffice to say I'm convinced beyond a shadow of doubt.

Concerning how can we know God or the Ineffable? We can't know but we can "know". These three verses of the Kena Upanishad explain what I mean by know vs. "know":

https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/b...doc145048.html

https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/b...doc145049.html

https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/b...doc145050.html

It's the ear of the ear, eye of the eye, mind of the mind. In other words Consciousness or the Witness of all experience. If we know It then It's an object of knowledge and therefore isn't Ineffable, hence Neti Neti. It's That which witnesses all, including Neti Neti, can be "known" and is "known", and not only by a select few but everyone. It's just a matter of realization, not only intellectual but more importantly experiential, and understanding its significance and with unshakable conviction. It's what we are, all of us.

I'm not going to get into how the One subject becomes a multiplicity of objects because that's Maya and well beyond my (or anyones'!) intellectual capacity aside from what physics or the cosmological narratives of Vedanta describe. I can't find it now but Swami Sarvapriyananda tells of attending a conference and he was approached by the physicist Brian Greene whose brother is a Hari Krishna monk. They got to talking and Brian made a comment something along the lines of he sees parallels between physics and Vedantic cosmology with the latter being more of a poetic narrative.

I believe it's Alana Watts who tells a story of God getting bored and wanting to spice it up so He comes up with an idea and that's to pretend to be not God. Now God being omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and all He's very good at everything he does so He forgets He's God hence here we are seeking.

Ah, here's a version of it. https://youtu.be/ckiNNgfMKcQ