simplyalwaysawake

You CAN wake up and you don’t need monastic life to do it. There are many resources. Read the book Awake: It’s your turn (Amazon). Also the book Three Pillars of zen. It has a chapter called enlightenment stories They are all written by non-monastics who went through awakening and they describe it in detail. You can get a good sense of what it’s like. You can find what you’re looking for, bc you’re carrying it around, it’s just a matter of access. I was where you are many years ago, I HAD to find a way to wake up and wasn’t going to settle for some “spiritual way of thinking” it had to be the real deal. Make that commitment to yourself and it’s not far off my friend.

A true awakening (shift in identity), never really wears off bc it is not at core experiential in nature. Indeed the mind identified state that preceded it is clearly seen to have been the false experience. With that said there is typically a honeymoon period followed by a period where a lot of shadow work and integration is required, this is accompanied by a rollercoaster ride of “meing and being.” With good inquiry, willingness to allow the process to unfold, do the emotion work etc, and taking council with those who have walked this path before you, further experiential insights will follow. Non-dual realization and finally liberation culminate in the end of suffering for the practitioner. Turns out pretty good in the end ;). No one I know who has gone through this process would give it back in a million years, not that that is possible.

Awesome. This is a key insight in the initial shift in identity (awakening). Now that you know unequivocally that pure knowingness without an object of thought (the “you” that clearly knows you are not thoughts and thus has no need to reject or desire any thought object). This knowingness or pure light of knowing knows itself clearly and doubtlessly without having to reference a single thought yes? So then this oceanic body of consciousness just IS and is not contingent upon anything whatsoever. It includes “you-ness”, thoughtless space, and any arising or dissipating thought forms. Thoughts are like ghosts here. Now it’s just a matter of immersing yourself in this knowingness or pure Being keeping enough alertness to remain aware that you are aware without getting carried by a thought train. A matter of pure enjoyment and yet totally neutral. Remaining in this way, insight will deepen rapidly. Don’t take notes, look for sign posts or celebrate, just simply be what you undeniable are :) If you have a strong physical fear response just stay here. If you feel like you’re going over a waterfall far beyond even this insight, or beyond overtaken by a void, that’s ok too, just go, many have traversed this territory and we’re not disappointed.

Happy trails :)

While I wouldn’t say the self or Self merges with source Bc it some point it’s clearly seen/experienced/unmistakable that there is no self or Self, nor has there ever been, nor could there ever be. Also it’s seen/experienced that there is no Source 😂.

This being the case it’s quite easy Bc there is only spontaneous non-dualistic (no subject-object mechanism) action but no actor and nothing acted upon. Its simple, natural, and honestly mysterious/sublime. The wonder of continuous unbinding is apparent. The vivid intimacy of the phenomenal environment/world/universe self-propagating is your constant lover ☺️.

When I felt that pull I was so tired of suffering that I threw myself fully into it (but didn’t quit job or other responsibilities). I returned to it every chance I could and finally let go. That resulted in an awakening which changed the way I experience everything including myself, the world, time and space. That was 25 years ago and it’s only clarified since. If genuine awakening is what you are after you are in good territory. If not I have no specific advice.

Beautiful.

At the root of the creation you might find something like "preferencing" or the assumption of preference where there is none. This is the root of dualistic experience (or one of them). The preference for creating (in the mind) a reality/world that does not actually exist is assumed by the creation activity that we are habituated to, and feel to be automatic, when it's not. If you can sense into this you can truth test it by looking to see if that preference exists in the sense world right now.

Then judgement, emotion, mind, body, collapse, create are all seen to be illusory. Just pristine presence left.