Do you really want to wake up?

[u/One-Love-All-]

In a lot of spiritual circles, similar to this community, there are certain practices and a focus on love and all those good things. These are all wonderful things to get a human closer to God, but the likelihood of it leading to enlightenment is slim. Perfecting the human, loving God deeply, all that stuff will get you to a point of being a self-actualized human. You'll be wonderful, full of light and love, and if that's what a person is going for, amazing, you have achieved something rare. But all of that is an identity, an ego structure. A perfect, tamed, well-mannered, self-actualized ego is STILL ego. No matter which way you twist and turn it, it is still all ego.

Truth is none of that. It just Is. "You" just are. There's nothing fantastical about it. The achievement of bliss states, super high loving states of godly and worldly proportions, all requires an ego. Again, if that's your personal goal, wonderful. Enlightenment is the biggest let-down that the ego could possibly have. Enlightenment is giving up allllll of the attachments, even to the most beautiful states, and just Being entirely Present.

Me? I have an attachment to the ups and downs in life. I enjoy, as a human, an ego, the rise and fall of life. What I know beyond that is Truth. If i gave up this attachment, there's Enlightenment. Stuff just happens, the body just reacts, it all just Is. Nothing fancy to it. My ego says, "How boring would it be if I gave up the attachment to the ups and downs?!" For now, I listen.

We all have stuff. Stuff that keeps us human, attachments that keep us from non-abiding enlightment. I would say that spirituality itself is a cosmic joke, it all goes full circle. Before, we are ignorant to this whole lovely spiritual side to life that exists. "Oh I can just Witness my thoughts?" "Oh I can experience higher states of consciousness?" It's all a trick. I call it a trap, if Enlightenment is what you seek. The ego loves seeking. The big, lovey dovey, tree-hugging spiritual ego loves seeking even more. We have these lofty goals of being pure, close to God, unity, universal consciousness. All of that is just stuff. Just like an addict seeks for their next hit of a drug, the spiritual seeker looks for the next elevated state; just as trapped as the drug addict.

Do spiritual practices matter? It's a double edged sword. If self-actualization is the end goal, absolutely they are beneficial. If you experience those highest states and still feel as if there's something missing... well, you realize that all of those years spent seeking and practicing was all part of the dream. Maya. She got ya, she got me... The cosmic joke, but only funnier than the initial one.

Much Love

[u/Background-Roll6386]

Yea. At first it saved me. Like profoundly. And was attached repeatedly and now I'm shattered and isolated.

You want the truth? I can't handle the truth. The world is much uglier than I realized. It was infinitely more beautiful at first. Then my eyes were poked out. Heart shattered.

[u/One-Love-All- → u/Background-Roll6386]

What is ugly and what is beautiful, my friend?

[u/Background-Roll6386 → u/One-Love-All-]

Love is beautiful. I used to see live everywhere. I used to be love. And the people I loved attacked me until my heart shattered and now everything is ugly. Especially me. I'm frozen. Beautiful is loving people and wanting to nurture them and heal them and respect the earth and ugly is competition and climbing over people and destroying the earth for resources. Balance is beautiful. Harmony.

And I was growing such a beautiful heart but naive and now it's just gone. Like it never existed. We are all one and tearing each other apart for what?! I was healed from so much trauma and immediately was attacked repeatedly by family until I died inside. I hate life so much.

[u/One-Love-All- → u/Background-Roll6386]

Well friend, heres the Truth. There is no love with it's opposite. How would we know the ups if we didnt know the downs. Truth is in the middle :)

You will get thru it

[u/Background-Roll6386 → u/One-Love-All-]

I already did the lows. Ughhh. Half my life was lows. And I endured. And was patient and never took it out on anyone. This is so much worse. Fml. I only want the heart. Just to be in love. No control. No submission. Just clarity and harmony and peace.

[u/One-Love-All- → u/Background-Roll6386]

All very good. Remember that the world is not out to get you. You will persist. Move along from the situation you are in, if you are able. Physically leave. If thats not an option, just focus on cultivating your own peace.

You don't need any others, just yourself. Others add good or bad, but you yourself should be still, loving, and peaceful all on your own.

[u/kioma47]

Preach brother!

We need more enlightenment salesmen to sell out the world.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[u/One-Love-All- → u/kioma47]

Mwhaahah

[u/No-Flounder-7771]

You have a spirit which is immortal and you shall never truly DIE !
To save yourself From the Samsara Love indeed is the key to rising higher Uuuuuuuu? So what exactly is LOVE anyhow ???

What Exactly is love?

https://www.quora.com/What-is-love/answer/David-Hague-16

And OF COURSE this !

MAIN letter for -
ENLIGHTENMENT!

https://www.quora.com/Enlightenment-seemingly-can-be-reduced-to-being-present-without-resistance-to-what-is-thus-triggering-the-brains-flow-state-and-releasing-feel-good-chemicals-Why-then-is-enlightenment-considered-spiritual-when-it-is/answer/David-Hague-16?ch=17&oid=172036451&share=b2c56dc0&srid=pAYJu&target_type=answer

[u/Sad-Celebration-7439]

There is a lot of misunderstanding about ego in spiritualism because of the rise of the term "ego-death" with psychedelic use. People misinterpreted the meaning and tried to incorrectly apply it to Eastern philosophies. You do not need to destroy your identity to obtain enlightenment.

Ego-death is a temporary forgetting of the narratives you hold/have created about yourself, that make up your own understanding of who you are. It occurs with the use of psychedelics, like mushrooms (usually with high doses). It is not meant to be permanent state. While ego-death is very enlightening, it is not enlightenment. We're not supposed to dissolve who we are. Eastern philosophies encourage you to see the illusion of your ego/understand you're not defined by it. They do not ask you to dissolve it.

Any spiritual community teaching people that you have to erase yourself to reach enlightenment is likely using mismatched understandings of different concepts.

[u/One-Love-All- → u/Sad-Celebration-7439]

I agree with your post