In case I haven’t made this clear, the word “Enlightenment” in the title of this blog represents not only the vague concept high school has taught you of it (“eh, some bald guys in India seek it while wearing togas”), but the realization of the fundamental truths of the universe. I want to help you discover the stuff that religion was supposed to teach you.
There is a wide variety of belief in the world. Religions and belief systems clash. Why? Read the rest of this entry »
Okay, so I lied.
The “Photos” page has more webcomics than photos. What can I say, xkcd occasionally posts something incredibly relevant and eye-opening that I can’t help but steal (sometimes in order to illustrate an idea directly!).
*UPDATE*
I updated the Photos page. 
*/update*
I’ve made a few small changes today, adding a “Write Me” thingy and a search function (–> and ^) and a tagline (^ and <–). I’ve also forced you to click the “Read the rest of this entry” link Read the rest of this entry »
I was asked recently why I’ve said that beliefs are empty. “So by empty you mean no one is capable of believing in anything at all, people say they believe but they don’t? or what?”
People believe, sure, but beliefs themselves are faulty. I used to be a rabid atheist, always going head to head with Christians about everything, but I learned recently that words (beliefs) can’t be reality. They can describe it, point to it, but they can’t be it, just like the word “table” isn’t a table, it’s just a word.
Read the rest of this entry »
All humans want the same thing. Everyone believes whatever they do for the same reason. We want to know the mysteries of the universe, the meaning of life, the Absolute Truth, the secret of happiness. If we all want to know the Truth about all things, why do we hold ideas in our head that include some things and exclude others? Call some things true and others false? Call some things good and other things evil?
Having beliefs and seeking the truth (or claiming to know the truth) is like wearing clothes and seeking your Read the rest of this entry »
On page 112 of Power vs. Force, Dr. David Hawkins writes:
“A statement may be true at a high level of understanding, but be incomprehensible to the average mind. Its value may therefore be corrupted when the statement is distorted by the limitations of the listener. This has been the fate of religions throughout the ages when pronouncements originating from high levels of awareness were later misinterpreted by followers vested with authority.”
Now consider, “Take, eat, for this is my flesh; take, drink, for this is my body.”
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I was reading again from this behemoth of gloriously useful information when this quote resonated with me:
“Only what changes and therefore what is unreal can be observed and communicated, while what is Real does not change and therefore cannot be observed or communicated.”
This quote reminded me of the idea of duality, that everything exists in opposition to something else so that it can be detected by our duality-machine minds. If there was no space, how would we know solid? If there was no light, how would we know dark? If there was no hot, how would we know cold? Etc.
So what does all this have to do with what is Real and what is unreal?
Here’s the quote again: “Only what changes and therefore what is unreal can be observed and communicated, while what is Real does not change and therefore cannot be observed or communicated.”
Read the rest of this entry »
My heart is very, very open right now. I just did some meditating, opened my eyes, and I could feel my heartbeat in my entire body. Even my tongue. The objects in my room swelled and relaxed not with my breath, but with my heartbeat. I did not experience oneness like I did before, but I did feel as though I was resonating with the world more than usual. Resonating is a good word to describe it, too—imagine being part of a taut string, and when something happens in the world (on another part of the string) it vibrates, and you feel it too. That’s what it was like, only my “resonance reach” made it only out to the kitchen. The sound of a cabinet door shutting seemed almost profound. This is nowhere near as cool as it sounds, I imagine I barely got off the ground as far as the reaches of meditation are concerned, but I did feel it. I felt the most when I focused on quieting my mind and “listening with my body,” so to speak.
I felt my aura and it was pretty big, and strong.
I went downstairs and talked to my mom a little. She commented on my posture. I started to show her stuff like feeling her aura and she brought up Eastern philosophy, and I felt like talking about all this with her was wrong, like giving a kindergartner sex advice. So I’m back, and I feel pretty good. Grounded. Not happy, not sad, just kinda sitting here, existing.
This idea deserves its own post. More Eckhart Tolle for you:
Beyond the realm of simple and verifiable facts, the certainty that “I am right and you are wrong” is a dangerous thing in personal relationships as well as in interactions between nations, tribes, religions, and so on.
But if the belief “I am right; you are wrong” is one of the ways in which the ego strengthens itself, if making yourself right and others wrong is a mental dysfunction that perpetuates separation and conflict between human beings, does that mean there is no such thing as right or wrong behavior, action, or belief? And wouldn’t that be the moral relativism that some contemporary Christian teachings see as the great evil of our times?
Read the rest of this entry »
That’s right, folks. I just bought a copy of A New Earth and on page 17 there’s a great explanation of something I’ve written about before. All emphases are mine:
What is the role of the established religions in the arising of the new consciousess? Many people are already aware of the difference between spiriituality and religion. They realize that having a belief system—a set of thoughts that you regard as the absolute truth—does not make you spiritual no matter what the nature of those beliefs is. In fact, the more you make your thoughts (beliefs) into your identity the more cut off you are from the spiritual dimension within yourself. Many “religious” people are stuck at that level. Read the rest of this entry »
In reading an excerpt from this book by Ken Wilber this afternoon, I discovered a description and explanation for this experience. Wilber writes:
Peak experiences are relatively brief, usually intense, often unbidden, and frequently life-changing. They are actually “peek experiences” into the transpersonal, supramental levels of one’s own higher potentials. Psychic peak experiences are a glimpse into nature mysticism (gross-level oneness); subtle peak experiences are a glimpse into deity mysticism (subtle-level oneness); causal peak experience are a glimse into emptiness (causal-level oneness); and nondual peak experiences are a glimpse into One Taste. As Roger Walsh has pointed out, the higher the level of the peak experience, the rarer it is. (This is why most experiences of “cosmic consciousness” are actually just a glimpse of nature mysticism or gross-level oneness, the shallowest of the mystical realms. Many people mistake this for One Taste, unfortunately…)
Here, Wilber orders the “levels of experience” in increasing order of depth: gross, subtle, causal, and One Taste—which is essentially full-blown enlightenment. Read the rest of this entry »
Someone once commended the “courage” it took for me to allow my previous beliefs, which I defended so adamantly, to fall by the wayside as I began to seek Truth. To end all suffering. To see Reality for what it is. I am not courageous. I am just like you—only I have decided that ultimate peace is more important than temporary belief.
To end all suffering, you must do only two things:
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Tonight marks 364 days since my two best friends and I first met in class, on the second day of senior year. Both to celebrate the awesomeness that became “The Holy Trinity” at one point and “The Three Kickassateers” at another and to bid ourselves farewell as the bough of college separates us, we met up at the local movie/mall/hangout area. We wandered through the mall—the feeling I had taking out the recycling resurfaced for a few minutes as we walked around. We enjoyed ourselves and each other for a while, and then had a nice dinner.
After dinner, the three of us visited a site that was a great source of memories and thrills… for two of us.
As for the third, I understand her reaction and don’t argue with it. I trust her to know that we love her truly and infinitely, and we would never put her in any danger. I hope to see her again before I leave for college, and I trust that whatever comes next will be good for everyone. Whatever happens, it’s okay.
I have been reading from this website voraciously over the last day or so: http://faculty.virginia.edu/consciousness/home.html
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A while ago, I felt myself gravitating toward sleep, and continued to practice “going inward” (i.e. paying attention to Awareness itself, as opposed to its contents) as I lay down, drifting off. At the edge of dreams, I realized in an instant that my thinking mind had created all these dreams, and that my focus had slipped from Awareness, so I refocused it.
At this moment, I felt what can only be described as a small “energy orgasm.” Read the rest of this entry »
Most of you who read this know me, and know that I have been atheist/anti-religion since I was old enough to reason.
Recently, I have learned and come to realize many things. I owe much of the credit to books, some of whose covers I show on the right panel of this page (click them—they’re linked to their amazon.com pages). I owe other credit to ideaGasms, and other credit to Marnie.
Throughout the rest of this post, the term “God” can be just as easily called “Source” or “the universe” or whatever floats your banana.
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