This ones from the heart. . .
Brian, know that I do respect your opinions and knowledge, otherwise I wouldn't be responding. And no, I haven't been debating or arguing with you. I've been interpreting this as a lively discussion and that (along with the fact that I really hate being on a computer any longer than I have to) is the reason I'm not charging back and dismantling your points. But I'll try, in good spitits, for your sake.
***THERE IS A WAY to attain such a Zen Mindset without spending an inordinate number of years in meditation or getting lost in the ‘nothing worldly matters’ dead-end. . . 30 minutes before sleep, 30 minutes upon waking, also when I study. If I want to eradicate my ego, all I need do is put on a pair of headphones and click a few buttons. Viola.***
I have nothing against Hemi-Sync or N.B., but this is not the Zen mindset, this a mental crutch, even worse, its a possible dependency. Great for accelerating learning, wrong for real progress in learning to still the mind. And it would seem to be strengthing your ego rather than freeing you.
***That’s what I want. This is pragmatic spirituality to me. This is *FUNCTIONAL ENLIGHTENMENT*. AND UNLIKE THE REAL THING, it is eminently attainable. I don’t need silence, I don’t need to remove myself from the world or from earthly pleasures or from fun or from my success goals. I don’t need 20 years. I don’t need tai chi. I don’t need philosophy or any more books. All I need is two 30 minute .mp3s to play before and after sleep.***
Thanks for sharing but I summed this up for you last time: you seem to be seeking self-actualization, not realization or enlightenment. It might also be that you just got on the wrong path. I have no particular interest in Zen, Tai Chi, or removing myself from the world (in a literal sense) either. It doesn't have to be like that, sitting in silence or standing like a tree for 20 years. This is your basic misconception, that true enlightenment will make your dreams, goals and interest in life void and require a lifetime of tedious discipline. If this is really your position, I disagree entirely. There are other roads, roads that go the distance and have been proven for millenia. This is why they are ancient. Not ancient because old and outdated, ancient because they are effective, lack nothing, time-tested and proven.
***Now, as I see it, this is as far as I want to go if I want to maintain an East/West balance. . . In order to go past this, I'd have to forego distraction and dedicate my life to absolute truth seeking. This would require SILENCE. And non-stimulation. It may be decades before I even want to reach this—and it would certainly be *after* I have done what I came here to do...Contributed something fantastic.***
There is nothing more fantastic that a person can "contribute" than the realization of the Self. A liberated yogi will know no obstacle to his will and intention. The state of absolute freedom is exactly that, freedom to know and do anything. And why do you want to maintain some elusive idea like an East/West balance? I'd give up the distinction.
Now let me state the obvious, we have two diffent takes on enlightenmet. You have made yours clear, I'll try to do the same.
The true state is incomprehensible to the mind and therefore generates a lot of fear in our ego complex. It is seen as a type of death and indeed it is. Its death to the imaginary dream we took to be this world and our fluctuating identity as some wretched, impotent experient/personality. Its recognition of the fact that we are god, we are perfect and contain all of creation within us. This is not a preclusion to acting in the world drama, its just seeing everything as it truly is. And it is my opinion that the fully realized, perfected beings are not the ones in the Himalayan caves meditating all day long. They are mostly unkown to us, playing large and small roles (whatever you want) in this game while remaining in a state of absolute bliss, perfection and equipoise, free from it all.
But then again, these are just words.
At some point you are going to realize that you can't, as Brian, stay in the state of flow 24/7 and perpetualy do the right thing based on your intuition. You won't be able to make "spirituality serve you". Then comes the existential crisis. Then you begin detatching from the idea of "Brian doing this, Brian thinking that", well, you either detach or have it ripped away.
And to finish, I'd like to go back to my first post and clarify a few things:
There is no "world": This is refering to the way that we percieve a world "out there", sperate from us. I posit the world to be inside of my own consciousness, almost like an extension of my mind.
There is no "humanity": We share the same Self, not different ones. This is why we can have a collective experience in the waking state and this is why I can't be considered a solipsist. Everyone is an aspect of you, by healing yourself you heal "them".
"Enlightenment": Just a theory of what happens when people seem to become really funny, stop making sense and disappear. Presupposes existence, can't really be said to exist.
By choosing and actively seeing the world in this way, the experience can begin to grow.
". . . its really sickening": I thought some of the previous posts were pretty superficial, wanted more. Also good insurance to get a response.
O.K., one final thought. Have you ever looked into other "eastern" philosophies? Non-dual Saivism, Spanda, Tantra, Pratyabijna, Samkaya, or Advaita Vedanta? Do you have any knowledge of yoga, kundalini or ayurveda? Since you've never refered to anything other than Taoism, Zen and Tai Chi (ever hear of Ba Gua?) I'm wondering what sort of basis you have for catagorically denying that the ancient modalities can offer what you are looking for.
