It took a while, but it just occurred to me how different awakening is from what we are looking for. We think we are looking for eternal life for the self when the body dies. Instead what really happpens in Awakening is the oppposite: the self "dies" ( or the notion of what the self is dies) while the body is alive and goes on living for a while longer.
On a related note: a totally western, traditional psychiatrist told me the other day that the sense of self is really just an amazingly quick "data sweep" of the different activities in the brain, giving rise to illusion of a self in control of things. Pretty nice description, especilaly coming form the neurscientist perspective on the mind. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > No, it only appears to be nonsense due to lack of > experience with pure consciousness. Let me explain. > First of all, from a waking state perspective, that is > from a perspective wherein consciousness is bound by > the object of experiencing, the question makes sense. > In waking state there is a rather self-evident ego, a > "me" or "I" that appears to be present in all > experiencing. This "I" also seems to be surrounded by > a vast universe of relative experiences both > subjective and objective. The "I" is inside the > universe. So from this perspective questions like > "where does an enlightened person go when they drop > the body" appears to make sense because it assumes an > "I" in enlightenment as in waking state. In short, > what will this "I" experience when it is enlightened > and where will it be when it no longer is inside a > body. But enlightenment is the awakening to the > infinite value of Self. And if something is infinite > it is outside of relative measure; outside of all time > and space contraints. The Self of realization is not > localized. It is not inside the body, nor is it inside > the universe. It is nowhere from a relative > perspective; it doesn't exist as an "I" or "me." But > experience does continue, obviously, but now rather > than being an "I" inside of all the experiencing, all > experincing is "inside" pure consciousness. Everything > gets turned on its head. All experience is simply > something quite insignificant and not really > real...whatever that means! So I'm sure when a > realized person dies, the relative experincing will > change, but "they" don't go anywhere. How could they? > There is no localized self to come and go. > Consciousness always "is." Experiences come and go. > Death of the body is just another experience. > > --- hyperbolicgeometry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter > > <drpetersutphen@> > > wrote: > > >(below): typical Neo-Advaita nonsense. The > > discussion pertains to > > the body, in the relative sense. > > > You are making assumptions out of waking state. In > > > realization there is nobody to go anyplace. > > > > > > --- Jeff Fischer <jeffcandace@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > When one has *awakened* where do they go when > > they > > > > drop the body? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > To subscribe, send a message to: > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > Or go to: > > > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ > > > > and click 'Join This Group!' > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > > > Do You Yahoo!? > > > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam > > protection around > > > http://mail.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > To subscribe, send a message to: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Or go to: > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ > > and click 'Join This Group!' > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com >
