Advaita/Non-dual teachings posit that man is always Enlightened and that our zombie, semi-conscious, sleep-state is why we don’t realize it.
If someone talks about becoming Enlightened they either mistakenly think that the dream character is what ‘becomes’ enlightened or they’re a little sloppy with language. (In truth, the moment we use language, we go off track but that’s another thread)
The dream character doesn’t wake up; it doesn’t ‘become’ Enlightened. The dreamer is the one who wakes up and what the dreamer wakes up from is the erroneous BELIEF that he’s a character in the dream. If you fall back to sleep, the dream character may recall fragments of waking up then claim that he – the dream character – woke up when in actual fact, the dream character was absent when it occurred. When someone recalls a genuine Awakening ‘experience’, it’s being told by a character that wasn’t there.
Re sloppy language… We use sloppy language in day-to-day speak, too, for instance when we say “It’s becoming sunny” we actually mean “it’s becoming less cloudy”. We all know the sun doesn’t get larger or brighter so we’re not confused by the language but it can be confusing if we assume that ‘we’, the personality is that which ‘becomes’ Enlightened. Enlightenment is realized when the personality (ego/psychological identity) falls away.
FTR: The person(ality) doesn’t completely vanish; nor is it meant to. So long as we have a body and mind fragments will remain, but they’re very thin. We need the personality, the body and mind to operate in this world. They’re all part of our total being. It’s about perspective (or balance as JSS said)… it’s about having a light, healthy mind as opposed to a neurotic mind or fragile identity that constantly gets hurt and angry.
Um…. no. People who hypnotise themselves so that pain signals don’t register are not spiritually liberated but thanks for playing.
I knew you reminded me of someone. I just couldn’t put my finger on it but it was the Buddha. You and Buddhie could be twin sisters. I swear.
On a more serious note: I’m not sure if you just imagined this or whether these could be genuine small breakthroughs. If the latter, then that could be interesting. Even though I don’t take you seriously most of the time, UP1001, it wouldn’t surprise me if you had a genuine breakthrough. It’s often people who go through immense mental pain that a shift occurs.
What you said concurs with my views perfectly. I wouldn’t have been able to express it as succinctly as you, I would have brought in molecules, brains, operating systems, and my theory of universal experience (I would have ended up sounding like UP1001), but I get your gist.
The soul of a person changes with the level of consciousness. In a sense, the sleeping person isn’t the same person as the enlightened one within the same body. As the dream person fades away into nothingness, it is much like a rebirth for the soul to awaken, conscious of the truer nature of reality, a child shedding play things and becoming a man of conscience, attending to the affects he has upon the world.
Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad it’s getting across because it isn’t easy to simplify this stuff and skirt around the language traps.
Just remember that this isn’t my philosophy. This is an outline of non-dualism. I’m not selling anything.
In the end, non-dualism is about experience (wrong word but that’s language again). It’s not an intellectual philosophy. It’s just a pointer for those who are willing and brave enough to make the leap…
The experience of not knowing you’re Awake is exactly the same as not being Awake.
An anorexic woman doesn’t have a weight problem but believes she does so she experiences the world as though she’s a fat woman.
A hypochondriac doesn’t have health issues but he believes he has so he experiences life as though he was a sick, dying man.
Rephrasing your question, you could say that these people are healthy, except they’re sick and you’d be right. They’re physically healthy but psychologically sick.
The non-duelists say we are Awakeness Itself – not some ‘thing’ that is Awake – but we identify as some ‘thing’ we’re not and thus experience life accordingly. You could say, we’re Awake spiritually but asleep psychologically.
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Awakeness is what you are at the most fundamental level. It’s what’s behind all the images you’ve had of yourself over your lifetime. Awakeness is not something ‘you’ get or have; if so, who is the one getting it? It would mean the ‘you’ who gets Awakeness (or Enlightenment) is prior to, and greater than, Awakeness itself.
By saying ‘being Awake is just being Awake’ I was saying Awakeness is the perceiver – not that which is perceived e.g. emotions.
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Think of the Enlightened as having clear minds. The clearer the mind; the clearer the perception and understanding.
Having a clear mind doesn’t mean there are no thoughts or emotions. They do have thoughts and emotions it’s just that the Awake aren’t attached to their thoughts nor do they have fragile egos they need to defend so thoughts pass across their minds like clouds pass across a clear sky.
Those who are Awake are, by definition, more awake, more conscious, more aware than the average person so why would anyone think they might be unaware, unfeeling or zombie-like?
Once again, we have it back-to-front. We are the zombies. We’re the ones who are only partially conscious – Jesus called us the ‘dead’ – so if anyone is less aware, less understanding or doesn’t embrace their full humanity, it’s us.
I’ve seen people that read so much, but it is vanity, because they don’t have the “hands” to hold and wield knowledge.
Other people spend a whole life chasing after temporary pleasures, instead of finding the ever-lasting.
