Ah, to have that permanent state of bliss. Don't you want it?
We want that unshakable assurance that we know. The kind of assurance that can't be questioned because the authority of it is so profound, and the experience so subjectively felt, that we cannot doubt it. An experience that is so far beyond logic, that no argument could even begin to lap at its feet.
We may be programmed to want this - to search for this. We don't get this desire from reading books. However, books or a teacher may make us aware that such a desire was already nascent in us.
A touch of spiritual insight just uncovers that desire. Then the search is on! We don't get this desire for profound assurance from reading. It is our true nature. Our true Self wants this. Our true nature is sure. Somehow, that allness wants to experience itself through through us.
As for such high experiences coming and going? It appears to be a normal progression. Cyclical, like most of nature.
There are gurus who express what they know from an assurance of permanence. Mooji often says "I don't understand how you say you got it, and then..., and then.... What is this and then?" Obviously Mooji is implying, if you get it, it should be permanent.
My own experience is that I have had the complete and total experience of oneness and meaning so profound that all normal feeling and experience is meaningless in comparison. And yet that state, experiences of that state, don't remain permanent in this body/mind.
This doesn't mean that I am not changed radically from having had such experiences. I had to let these states go because I just couldn't function in this world and remain in such states. More likely it wasn't a choice. I just couldn't stay there. And I couldn't stay there because there was no "me" there.
Would I like to be able to stay in a state of bliss, without fear, in total oneness, and assurance that it was permanent? Of Course I would. Could I? Who knows?
What helped me a lot with this question of states of bliss and oneness and their lack of permanence was reading "The Experience of No Self," by Bernadette Roberts. She describes high states that come and go. Then even higher states that come and go. Her point is that once one is in a new experiential state for awhile, one gets used to it, so it is no longer experienced as a "high." It becomes the norm.
The bottom line is to know what you know, but remain in the unknowing of what you don't know, even acknowledging that you don't know what you don't know.
If extremely high states are not permanent, then there is more work to do, or such a permanent state is not in the cards for you. It's the journey that matters.
Our intellect does want as much understanding of the mystical as possible. Even though spiritual experience is beyond the intellect and logic, the intellect does want as much understanding as possible.
It seeks a level of satisfaction. If it can get a level of understanding, it actually relaxes. And that relaxation may allow the spiritual seeker to really let go, since with enough feeding, the intellect sees its own limits and accepts them.
Permanence and impermanence are in a dance. We are the dancers. Enjoy the dance.
13 comments:
Bliss may come and go, but all is oneness always.
I like your thoughts.
I tapped into your blog since you made a reference to Bernadette Roberts. I was searching the internet under 'bliss of oneness', wondering why it seems that in this time, we have become uncomfortable with ourselves.
I only read this one post, but I like your sincerity and ideas, especially about how we are driven by the urge to transcend.
I'll read more later.
sincerely,
Thank you so much Lily. Bernadette Roberts is a cool old lady.
Just a question Maury, do you think a large amount of people have reached moments of enlightenment? When you described not being able to function normally in this state, this is what scares me from moving forward in my inner growth.
That's a a good point Katie, and I think a lot of people feel the same way about things like that, but I think by being in these states where we do not have full control of ourselves, that we can gain very important insights about ourselves and all the big questions in the world. Its not until you surrender yourself to the unknown that you can begin to grow, mentally, and spiritually. But to answer your first part, I think that it is definitly a smaller percentage of the population that have felt this euphoria or sense of oneness because to achieve this you need to meditate or use other similar methods, but i think that not too many people in this world would actually take the time, or even know how to do such things.
Many people experience short episodes of unity, which is experienced as bliss, or peace. But it doesn't last and it is passed off as a blip.
Sometimes, if they last longer, the intensity and authority of the state cause a shift in perception. The shift then pushes one to grasp significance.
It may not always be completely dysfunctional if one falls into this state, but if you read the lives of the saints, the gurus, you will often find that the spent several years being care for when they lost their persona, and stayed in a state of experiential unity.
Hey Maury, I experienced a state of bliss about a year ago and have not been able to be in that state since. I started googling for an aim and found your blog.
I understand its about complete surrender, any suggestions or a book that helped you?
First off, there isn't one definition of enlightenment, but many. That creates a lot of confusion. Then there is the debate over whether enlightenment is experiential and beyond the mind, or an understanding that comes via the mind as an understanding. The best book I've read on analyzing this difference is "How to Attain Enlightenment" by James Swartz. Shinningworld.com
Also, the translation of bliss is ill defined. The bliss of enlightenment is really being at peace with the way things are. It is not a permanent state of Ecstasy. I think the search for truth is an easier way to go about it, rather than a search for enlightenment.
I really like Dr. David R. Hawkins work at veritaspub.com
Hope this helps.
my third eye opened by accident after a near death experience in childbirth twenty years ago. i came back to my body and tried to continue my life as normal. But that was not possible. Every dark shadow in my heart was brought to the surface. i was forced to battle my inner demons. i wasnt given a choice. i literally had to kill my demons in my dreams and in this way my soul was purified. i walked through the fire but not on purpose. i felt that burning pain of the darkness of my heart burning away. Then entities made contact with me inside my dreams to awaken my consciousness even when asleep. They taught me the physics involved with energy work over many many months. my third eye opened as i began to master skills like astral projection and remote viewing, telepathy and control over elements when awake. one day, i was standing next to my kitchen and suddenly all the light of love in the universe went into me and poured through me. on that day i became a vessel for God's love and a manifestation of love in the world. i went into intense ecstasies, physical ecstasies, indescribable ecstasies. and twenty years later it remains the same. my talents have changed and matured and my focus has changed over time. But, the feeling of bliss and peace and pure ecstasy never leaves me. i fall asleep in ecstasy and i wake up in the morning in ecstasy. its not a state of being i have to will mentally into experiencing. i read no books and had no names or terms for the things i was experiencing. i was very confused at first and felt i must be losing my mind. i didnt tell anyone what was happening to me because i was afraid of the consequences. i was incredibly confused and an unwilling participant in this, at least at first. But now it is my natural state of being. the person i was no longer exists. my ego is unimportant. my Enlightenment is unimportant to anyone including myself other than being aware of who and what i am which is nice and less confusing. and also, only useful in so much as it is helpful to other human beings. There is no power trip here and i rarely tell anyone im enlightened because why should they believe me. what difference is there for anyone to know that about me. But, there are times i wish people were not so blind to the obvious because i would be willing to help if they asked but then again even that doesnt matter because everyone is where they are supposed to be in life, on their own path with their own experiences and their own level of spiritual growth.
The more spiritually advanced you become the more you realize how little it matters where someone is on the path in comparison to yourself. They will get there in their own time and on their own terms. and thats how its supposed to be. its a really bad idea to assume for anyone else what their experience of enlightenment is. You dont get a cookie or gold sticker for having it. it wont raise your social position in the world. You wont be taken more seriously. instead what it does is offer you a permanent sense of well being and a permanent state of bliss and happiness. well, thats nothing to sneeze at i promise. im extremely blessed in life and i know that. and when i say permanent i do not mean i do not have feelings sometimes, even strong ones, even sad ones or angry ones. But, negative things that happen dont affect my emotional or spiritual wellbeing the way they do most people. Even physical pain is somewhat numbed. You learn to control that also. Nothing on earth has the power to destroy me because i have transcended beyond that. There is self preservation but ultimately i have a "so be it" attitude about every single thing. when i say permanent i do not mean 24/7. i just mean "mostly all the time." what i mean is ecstasy, Love and complete peace is my natural state of being. i may deviate a little bit here and there but i always return to that state. and its not an effort or prayer or meditation. i was permanently transformed and changed through Enlightenment. ive experienced loss of loved ones since then and i did cry for my loved ones but even in my tears i was in ecstasy. After awhile you get so used to it that it becomes the new normal. The only time i ever notice it now is when its temporarily taken away if i am upset by something in the moment, which very rarely happens. The reason it rarely happens is because i approach things that happen from a perspective where being upset as a reaction or response is usually inappropriate or useless.
Everyone seems to have an opinion of what it means to be Enlightened but please know if you are Enlightened you would know it without any question because it would be impossible to escape even if you wanted to. But why would you want to. infact, why would you want for anything at all. There is a downside to all this in my experience. its hard to keep your feet on the ground because you exist in more than one world at the same time. i have to do things sometimes to ground myself inside my body and this plane of physical existance. a cool night breeze off the balcony is useful for sobering up an enlightened one. i have to pay extra close attention when i do activities that include physical risk of some kind. left to my own devices i probably wouldnt notice or care if i didnt take extra precautions to protect my physical body. Functioning in society can be problematic. You kind of want to sit there and do nothing except BE. i make a point to keep myself in check and make sure im not being too flaky. i function alright but its deliberate and before i was Enlightened it wasnt an effort to care about my physical wellbeing or surroundings. i dont know if any of that makes sense. ive tried to convey my own experience in a way that i hope you might be able to understand. There is alot im not saying but its not anything you yourself dont have access to knowing if you inquired and did some reading on it. in closing, i just want to assure people Enlightenment is a real thing. its not a made up fairytale or a matter of perspective. i do believe its worth aspiring to, though i never intentionally perused it for myself. if you want to know how i became enlightened i will share but i dont know how many ways there are to have that change occur inside you permanently. For myself, it was the trauma of several years of absolute misery and emotional pain in childhood, the near death experience during childbirth, inherent psychic sensitivity that laid dormant before that time, also a general sensitivity to my own body and energy and emotions as well as other people and environment and animals and even inanimate objects.
my ability to show bravery in the face of my own crippling terror, fear and mental confusion, my sense of curiosity and exploration, my capacity to Love myself and others, my willingness to connect to the source of all Love and creation in the Universe, my ability to learn techniques quickly and intuitively and my willingness to experiment spiritually speaking at least and most importantly, my HUMILITY. Most people who want enlightenment or mystical or magical knowledge and ability do so for entirely the wrong reasons which is why it is denied to them. People in new age religions are being told they can be their own Gods. it would be funny if it wasnt so tragic. The opposite is true. if you really want to be a God then make yourself as humble as possible and a servant of God, the source, the light of Love and the only REAL illumination. all other illumination is a false light. a shiny object in the distance for you to chase but when you get close you find its only a reflection from the true God but in your search to be God it has taken you away from the one true God which is the source of all Love in the universe, leading you away like a pied piper in the dark until you are lost forever. Dont believe the lies. Humble yourselves and receive eternal life and Enlightenment. You dont have to believe me but what if im right? How ironic would it be to aspire to be a God and have power when you dont have the humility and Love required to be granted it. There is a reason the universe works this way and its because it keeps selfish people from throwing off the natural balance of things by having too much power they are not capable of being responsible with and hurting others with the power they are given which is the exact opposite reason of why we are offered the power in the first place. Dont be impressed by parlor tricks. There is a natural order to things and if you deviate from that you will bring yourself to ruin and decay and ultimately your own truth death. Death is anything that exists outside the light of God's love. Youve been told. What you do with that information is your decision but choose carefully.
Your posts seem right on. I didn't see anything I disagreed with. Your experience seems genuine. Thanks for commenting.
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