Have You Achieved Enlightenment through Meditation?

Ozimodo on 22/11/2022 - 09:17
Last edited 22/11/2022 - 09:38 by 1 other user

The world seems full of accounts of people who have achieved spiritual enlightenment through meditation. Whether that be aligned with the practices of Yoga, Buddhism or even Western religions.

My question is, does anyone here have first hand experience with this? Have you achieved what the Buddhist and Hindus call "A divine, transcendent experience. Sometimes described as a sudden, transformative moment of awakening and other times seen as a more gradual process of being liberated from the bondage of the mind."

Curious about how common this actually is and how difficult people found it is to attain. Not so much talking about glimpses of something during meditation, more about some sort of profound life-changing realization. Does that really happen?

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Comments

  • RockyRaccoon on 24/11/2022 - 10:17
    +1

    Ummmmmmmm… I always transcend when my Ozbargain deal is delivered

    • Hangryuman on 25/11/2022 - 13:57

      do transcend your parcels, or just your cis ?

  • Willy Beamish on 24/11/2022 - 10:49
    -1

    scam

  • virhlpool on 24/11/2022 - 11:18
    +2

    It's wierd how some comments mention yoga as a way to achieve enlightenment. It's simply a breathing and body exercise whose main goal is mental and physical health. Certain types of yoga can help you meditate too but pure meditation, which is more towards the path of enlightenment, is a bit different from yoga.

  • jive1983 on 24/11/2022 - 11:50

    I haven't had first hand experience talking to someone who have had enlightenment. The challenge will be, whoever is enlightened is not going to boast about it and tell everyone how it feels. Read Autobiography of an yogi that will be closest you can get who shares the first hand experience, there is a chapter in there which explains enlightened stage. It also mentions its not something that you can perceive about it but you need to experience to believe it.

    I have been doing meditation and have had occasional peaceful feeling, I have wished I could have it more but with the reality of life it just fades away.

  • zoe hart on 24/11/2022 - 13:36

    Meditating is not about clearing mind. It's a way of processing. So if you process enough things I guess enlightenment follows.

    Real enlightenment is from talking heads tho.

    Same as it ever was.

    • Hangryuman on 24/11/2022 - 17:57
      +1

      'Meditating is not about clearing mind. It's a way of processing. So if you process enough things I guess enlightenment follows'

      disagree - in my experience, dropping thoughts to allow the empty no-mind to see the crystal-clear reality without the interposing screen of the mind and rat-race endless loop repetitive woulda/shoulda/coulda thoughts

      was not about processing but rather dropping thoughts and a concentrated stillness

    • Darude Sandstorm on 24/11/2022 - 20:06
      +1

      Honestly, Once in a Lifetime is a very deep song that can get you on that path for real. It provokes that mindset.

      • Hangryuman on 25/11/2022 - 14:24
        +1

        "Once in a Lifetime is a very deep song that can get you on that path for real. It provokes that mindset"

        maybe - looks like a guy searching for something ! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8

        I saw Talking Heads live in concert - for some unknown reason the blonde female bass player locked her vision onto me throughout the whole concert - I was imagining all kinds of nice things (that didn't happen) - just read prob cos she was married to the drummer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Weymouth

        watching the video singer David Byrne's jerky movements just now reminded me of a favourite - tangentially related to this topic - let's say zazen - Japanese Tradition - I recently read in a book about life in Japan - that Japanese don't care about religion - they care about ritual ! - check it out here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqZcEwHBAk8

  • scrone on 24/11/2022 - 15:34

    https://youtu.be/zk0YLGVn4_s?t=383

    I had a similar experience described at around the 11 minute mark when I was listening to Waking Up by Sam Harris. For the next week I felt completely detached from ordinary conscious experience as though I was watching a movie. It was the loss of a sense of self. The feeling did not last… I think I went out drinking a week later and I lost the detached feeling. However, from then on I have always been able to tap into the absence of a sense of self if I try.

    I suspect what I experienced was something akin to enlightenment, but I am sure there are deeper levels than what I experienced.

  • Tasmaniac on 24/11/2022 - 15:52
    +2

    I've been practicing a form of Reiki since 2008. It revolves around a guided Heart Meditation that wakens the spiritual heart for improved energy flow. The first time my Heart awoken I sat and laughed for 30 minutes straight because I'd never felt pure joy before. After this I had my Kundalini awoken which led to a few few crazy episodes. Anyway these days Im much more chill, I know we are all love.

  • geshc on 24/11/2022 - 17:49

    Depends what religion you ascribe to. If you're buddhist, you won't find anyone who has reached enlightenment commenting on ozbargain tbh. Enlightment is detachment and clarity from all worldly attachments.

    edit: nsuinteger said it better above

    • Hangryuman on 24/11/2022 - 18:00

      while if asked I might put buddhist as a religion, unfortunately I have seen too many buddhist temples in Asia where people kneel down and pray to Buddha for help with money problems - and in Japan where they hang written tags I've seen 'Buddha please make me rich !'

  • Leeroy Jenkins on 24/11/2022 - 17:54

    My recent enlightenment was that I don't play enough video games. :). Definitely didn't get it through meditation.

    • Hangryuman on 24/11/2022 - 18:01

      most people's enlightenment occurs at their wallet level - ooh, shiny new toy ! must have ! (get) hmm - why don't I feel better … ? :-(

  • Darude Sandstorm on 24/11/2022 - 19:52
    +2

    Eat a tonne of mushrooms or go do Ayahuasca. See the non-dualistic perspective of live, let go and be free for the 5 hours of Infinite you'll be in.
    Life changing stuff, I can't speak much for meditation, but you really have to not try. Just let go, let everything leave your mind, let your sense of self dissolve and slowly you'll realise you were one with the universe the entire time. Realise that Life is God playing hide and seek with himself, it's all a circle man.
    Then do whatever you want, the worlds your oyster and you can do anything you put your mind too.
    As soon as you put effort in and try you create another thought for your sense of self (Which is just an illusion of the brain) which defeats the purpose.
    Realise that the 'I' is an illusion which the 'I' can't realise. Paradoxical and makes a whole lot of nonsense. The experience is ineffable but y'know it's what you make of it. Moksha is truly an amazing thing, but there is know unknowing. I will never forget what happened all those years ago and will continue to happen for eternity in this loop.
    It's all circles, inserts Ouroboros.jpg memes

    Nice to see lots of people here got it. In fact that's all you'll come back remembering, that you understand, that you get it and as soon as you realise you get it, you don't get it.
    I kind of think our lives, the universe and existence as a whole is what happens when a calculator divides by 0
    Row, row, row your boat etc life is but a dream.

    • zoe hart on 24/11/2022 - 20:22

      We are (on?) the same path. Enjoyed reading your perspective so much.

      • Darude Sandstorm on 24/11/2022 - 20:25
        +1

        It's all the same path, just your perspective. Without individual perspective it'd all be seen as the one same thing.

        • zoe hart on 24/11/2022 - 20:33
          +1

          Hello….me?

    • Hangryuman on 25/11/2022 - 10:37
      +1

      the awful observation about life is that nobody cares - isn't that terrible ?

      the wonderful thing about life is that nobody cares - and you can do what you like - isn't that wonderful ?

      same world - just a different perspective.

      • Darude Sandstorm on 25/11/2022 - 11:04
        +1

        Nothing in life matters and it's the most amazing thing.

        • SpainKing on 25/11/2022 - 13:11

          Nihilism is the most amazing thing

  • Eeples on 24/11/2022 - 20:30
    +2

    The closest thing I get to 'enlightenment' is staring into the stars on a dark, cloudless night and glimpsing what I consider the realness of my tiny existence. My thoughts wander away from the stars to 'real life' …… and then back to the sky and it happens again.

    Every time this happens I have an emotional response; somewhere between being moved and thrilled.

    • Hangryuman on 25/11/2022 - 14:28
      +1

      'The closest thing I get to 'enlightenment' is staring into the stars on a dark, cloudless night'

      I've heard some guys go fishing - for a similar outcome - peace, quiet, time alone, lack of distractions, a stillness of mind - might even go towards empty no-mind …

  • samojed on 24/11/2022 - 21:52
    +1

    Been trying to "grow spiritually" back in my twenties, and all I got out of it were amplified feelings of fear and guilt.
    Ended up attaining a much more profound liberation through learning about science, universe, evolution etc.

  • anzacpaul on 24/11/2022 - 22:14

    No, but sometimes with medication

    • Hangryuman on 25/11/2022 - 10:40
      +1

      mediCation or mediTation - Vitamin C or a cup of T ?

  • [Deactivated] on 24/11/2022 - 23:44

    Not enlightenment but I used to levitate and could bend air and water with in 30 minutes of meditation 😉

    • Hangryuman on 25/11/2022 - 10:47

      how high could you fly ?

      last I looked those ?transcendental meditation people who reckoned they could levitate were actually doing some kind of lotus position bouncing to try to get a few inches off the ground - take the photo … now !? Actually I never did see any photos - so there's your evidence or lack of …

      I liked a story from Osho/Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh about Jesus having purportedly been to India where he learned to do his miracles - and an Indian guru saying he had spent 30 years just learning how to walk on water to cross a river - how amazing ! The master said 'I would have taken the boat' …

      • SpainKing on 25/11/2022 - 13:15

        I don't like the story because Jesus only lived to 30-33 according to Google and babies can't walk (much less on water). Sounds like they were just trying to drown baby Jesus D:<

      • peacefulpeanut on 28/11/2022 - 09:17

        How did Jesus travel from Israel to India, and for how long, without his disciples ever mentioned it in their scriptures? It's quite a distance at that time without airplane, and just riding a mule or walk. He could possibly spent a year for the trip to India, stay there for some more to learn some tricks or two, then (using that trick? to speed up) travel back to Jerusalem and start teaching.

        • Hangryuman on 28/11/2022 - 15:40

          'How did Jesus travel from Israel to India, and for how long, without his disciples ever mentioned it in their scriptures?'

          I have read that there would have been a steady trade with sailing boats (dhows?) from the Red Sea and/or Arabian Gulf across to India - he could easily have caught a ride - as I understand his first 30 years were a mystery before he appeared as this new guy - so plenty of time to spend learning new skills somewhere else - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_years_of_Jesus

          his disciple Thomas is claimed to have sailed to India in AD52 - https://www.quora.com/Which-disciple-of-Jesus-came-to-India

          otherwise perhaps his disciples never asked, and/or he never said - you do know that most of the gospels were written decades after his death ? - 'between 15 to 60 years after his death' - https://www.quora.com/How-long-after-Jesus-death-were-the-Go… - so not exactly hot off a conversation with the man

  • arunajavax on 24/11/2022 - 23:53
    +1

    In Sri Lanka , in jungles I have seen Buddhist monks whom probably have enlightened. Their teachings are directly to the mind.. not to the heart.. it’s a pity that most of the teachings are in singhalese. ( Ex. Ududumbara kashyapa thero , Sudassana thero ect. ) I have learnt many sciences. ( I’m a physician) But this is a different dimension. Hope it’ll be helpful for a seeker!!

    • Hangryuman on 25/11/2022 - 10:50

      'whom probably have enlightened'

      guess you are from those parts so NESB excused

      Looking for places to travel I read that Sri Lanka is one of the hottest countries in the world

      as a white chocolate that melts over 23C that dispels my interest in visiting - making me one of those

      'whom probably won't go there'

  • Sinnerator on 25/11/2022 - 08:08
    -1

    Enlightenment:
    Do they have proper <covid> hygiene?
    Do they have a barking dog?
    Do they use phone whist driving <and walking>?
    Do they drive safely and according to road rules?
    Do they litter?
    Do they disturb their neighbours?
    Do they try to fleece suckers?

  • Uke on 25/11/2022 - 10:59
    +2

    Hi guys, this video helped me a lot so just sharing it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnLoToJVQH4&list=LL&index=20…

    • Eeples on 28/11/2022 - 21:59

      I was hoping for a Rick Roll.

      Oh, well.

  • iridiumstem on 25/11/2022 - 11:46
    +2

    I don't know about enlightments, I would personally settle for not needing antidepressants any more if that's on the table.

    • Faithgrrl on 27/11/2022 - 21:24

      It understand it is on the table but it might not be easy. I did it (they stopped working and I went backwards) and it was brutal for me. But I am infinitely better without them

      Feel free to pm me happy to discuss. ADs are really something.

  • lunartemis on 25/11/2022 - 15:44

    I read that as "medication"

  • ihbh on 25/11/2022 - 19:40

    Would anyone who's achieved Enlightenment through Meditation be on Ozbargain? Maybe post elsewhere?

  • sintro on 26/11/2022 - 07:02

    Must watch Streer-Wise Sprituality in full if you want to be "enlightened".

  • nizzkid on 26/11/2022 - 08:49

    DMT or Shrooms if you want to experience 'Oneness'.

  • capslock janitor on 26/11/2022 - 10:26

    I totally fw this thread mate🕺

  • Darth Bogan on 26/11/2022 - 10:32

    Careful chasing enlightenment,
    it's one thing to have awareness of your ego , reflection and insight into yourself and others.
    But too much thinking and not enough doing can have mental health consequences
    Be aware of that aswell

    As in the classic saying :-
    get a fn job hippy
    This maybe insight into mainstream philosophy
    Or may be just some sh#t I herd

  • BuyoTheCat on 26/11/2022 - 11:08
    +1

    Enlightenment is coming on to OZB, looking at bargains and saying “Nah. I dont need that.”

  • moist on 26/11/2022 - 11:14
    +1

    My wallet has achieved enlightenment through ozbargain

  • Vita85 on 26/11/2022 - 13:38

    All the wokesters on Twitter think they're enlightened and better than the rest of us

  • Marieah on 26/11/2022 - 14:57
    +2

    It does indeed really happen. I started meditating because I wanted to connect with my soul as I found all other so called truth sources untrustworthy. I taught myself to slow down my thoughts to the extent that I was/am able to slip into the spaces between them. I had a number of ongoing transcendent experiences including revelations so far beyond our understanding or experience that I had to reprogram my brain just to begin to grasp them. I have, among other things, and on a regular basis, been shown how to enter portals that appear like glittering holograms, helped many non physical beings caught in states of utter despair for various reasons and been lifted out of my body from a wide awake (but relaxed state) by beings of light, shown various things and given tests are trials to overcome such as being dropped from the top of a skyscraper, being pulled down to the ocean floor and walking through a raging fire. In the early days I was also taken out of my body by non divine entities - until I learned how to make that stop.
    I realise people will not believe me and will think me barking mad but my experiences have completely redefined my truth and my knowingness. This all happened over a 15 year period.
    I can only urge people to try it with an open mind and heart while at the same time striving to be the best person they can be in every moment of every day. It's the trying that's important and living one's so-called "best life" is not the same thing or even close
    BTW I am also a Walkley Award winning journalist who previously would have no truck with what I liked to call "new age claptrap."

    • Hangryuman on 26/11/2022 - 19:03

      'enter portals that appear like glittering holograms, helped many non physical beings caught in states of utter despair for various reasons and been lifted out of my body from a wide awake (but relaxed state) by beings of light, shown various things and given tests are trials to overcome such as being dropped from the top of a skyscraper, being pulled down to the ocean floor and walking through a raging fire'

      hey wow - sounding like a Pisces - fluid mystical type - go with the flow, man (or woman) !

      any lysergic acid diethylamide, ayahuasca or psilocybin involved in the above experiences ?

      otherwise, any more scientific explanation as to state of mind, context, and what might have triggered them ?

      • Marieah on 27/11/2022 - 11:35
        +1

        No hallucinogens involved whatsoever, although I did try all the ones you mentioned during my well spent youth. None of them ever delivered to me any experience that was a patch on what I experienced through meditation.
        There is no scientific explanation beyond our ignorance of the nature of human consciousness and the so-called unused part of the brain. But what lay behind it was a connection to what was described as my "most divine purpose" or service to the whole. Apparently each of us are encoded with one, but few connect with theirs. I'm not willing to share the nature of mine, but I will say that once one connects with it, ignoring it is like trying to stop breathing. Most of what has been revealed is simply beyond human comprehension because we are bogged down in and severely limited by a myriad of beliefs and assumptions that we assume to be truths. Nobody can possibly explain anything to us that is beyond our comprehension because we trip at the first premise. Hence the need for prior self reprogramming.

    • leiiv on 26/11/2022 - 19:59

      I was with you until the enter the portal thing. The slowing down of thoughts is one of the experiences related to enlightenment. Can I confirm that all those experiences with other beings only happen inside your mind?

      • Marieah on 27/11/2022 - 11:50
        +1

        It depends whether you see reality as external in the form of manifestation or internal as in the causes of manifestation. When portals open around me the sound made is a sonic boom - sometimes quite loud - and this can be and has been heard by others. I had a green stone like a rough emerald (but not able to be identified as emerald or anything known by the three gemmologists I took it to) that appeared seemingly out of thin air that I meditated with for several years until it vanished as it appeared. It was actually in a silk purse, physically attached to the base of my spine when it vanished. I regularly feel energy pulsing into my chakras
        I experience everything as though it is external although I'm aware of being in an altered state of consciousness. I am taken to a higher frequency - one that is only accessible via higher consciousness. In that frequency I experience non physical things as physical. I believe actual reality exists in those frequencies and what we experience here is something else. So I can't answer your question because for me the inside/outside line is so blurred it's meaningless

        • zoe hart on 27/11/2022 - 14:52

          @Marieah Awesome explanation & thanks. I have not shared the same experiences you mention, however, I felt truth in your understandings & perceptions. Meaning that I have not had the opportunity to witness before now.

          In that frequency I experience non physical things as physical. I believe actual reality exists in those frequencies and what we experience here is something else.

          I have lived here my whole life. I am on austism spectrum. I have never seen it described that way.

          Didn't realise what the sonic booms were. They seem to work in synchronicity with my thoughts/ information being downloaded to me.

          I have experienced the self reprogram. Although I wouldn't describe it as an action I'm choosing. It happens on its own. Perhaps over 1-3 days. I am aware that reprogramming is occurring. I can feel brain connections/wires re-routing. I get head pain & a knowing.

          • Marieah on 28/11/2022 - 08:42
            +1

            @zoe hart: Deciding my own soul would be my best teacher was the best choice I ever made. The only things I know for certain now is what I experience. Everything else is just information. In the middle ages people who received personal revelation were called "Mystics" but I think this path is open to everyone but only when combined with a sincere and passionate desire to help humanity. I remember my experiences kickstarted after I went outside and howled at the moon - meaning I swore, in tears, that I would do anything including die to help extricate humanity from its plight. I guess my spirit guides/soul heard me and believed me. They have stayed with me through everything. But unless we are sincere in our desire to serve the highest good they will not help: on the contrary, they may even send another conscious expression - for that is what we are - to replace us. You are right to obey your inner knowing. It really sounds like you are making progress. Connecting to our most divine purpose is the hardest and most important bit - and the part most likely to beggar our comprehension. Perhaps you are being prepared for that

            • zoe hart on 30/11/2022 - 17:02

              @Marieah: @Marieah hello. Thanks for replying. I wanted to send you a message to personally thankyou, your private msgs are turned off.

              Your reply -each word - is very accurate & relevant to me. It's one of the truest things I have been told - maybe the the most. Even if people don't want to necessarily believe in the specifics (I can accept that seeing is believing) - the message behind the words that you wrote is equally of a highest truth - to me.

              I wanted to say quickly thankyou for your guidance and counsel.

              The sequence of your message makes perfect sense to me. From the start to the end, things I knew, - possibly not enough in my awareness. You have enlightened me! 😊

              You are helping me. Things I was questioning because I had not heard from others before. It is making sense.

              I saw that you wrote in a reply to @Hangruman

              Needing "proof" is indicates that somebody is not ready for this kind of consciousness and will trip at the first hurdle. Quantum Physics may get there one day, but it's not there yet.

              I have had this exact same thought - quantum physics will answer one day. It will be a completely different world. Thrilled to be honoured with your insights. Thanks.

              • Marieah on 01/12/2022 - 13:26

                @zoe hart: Sorry for having stuff turned off. I'm so spam-averse I just say "no" to anything involving email or notifications. I'm really happy to have been of help to you. You have made my day. Trust your own truth.

        • Hangryuman on 28/11/2022 - 15:49

          'a sonic boom - sometimes quite loud - and this can be and has been heard by others. I had a green stone like a rough emerald (but not able to be identified as emerald or anything known by the three gemmologists I took it to) that appeared seemingly out of thin air that I meditated with for several years until it vanished as it appeared. It was actually in a silk purse, physically attached to the base of my spine when it vanished'

          two points that could be documented by scientists - I've not read about before - any documented evidence of these ? Otherwise they risk being described as wu states and 'all in your mind'

          the separation of church and state was brought about to prevent charlatans using stories of higher powers and 'God Told Me to Kill You' to manipulate and control others - the rise of the scientific method allows claims to be tested - without any proof, claims that 'it's all fantastic and you can't possibly understand' tend to fall a little flat.

          I think Buddha might have exhorted his followers to not believe anything they cannot see with their own eyes - if so, sorry I cannot believe what you're writing about unless and until I can see evidence to satisfy myself.

          • Marieah on 29/11/2022 - 06:46

            @Hangryuman: I'm not interested in anything being documented and don't care whether anyone believes me or thinks me crazy because the process is primarily about consciousness and the unknown, neither of which we have the ability to analyse in any way that even begins to do it justice. There are ample accounts through history of metaphysical experiences not unlike my own that are not drug induced. The whole point is to lead with the heart and not the head. Needing "proof" is indicates that somebody is not ready for this kind of consciousness and will trip at the first hurdle. Quantum Physics may get there one day, but it's not there yet.

            Don't forget that science, by its very nature, is incapable of proving anything. It simply tests hypotheses and assumes anything to be true that it fails to disprove. The best scientists will not discount the possibility that even hypotheses that have risen to the stauts of "law of…" might one day be disproven. Alan Watts is excellent on this subject.

    • Overall Hammock on 27/11/2022 - 12:21

      Enlightenment remains unrealized so long as it is considered as a specific state to be attained, and for which there are standards of success.
      - Alan Watts

    • peacefulpeanut on 28/11/2022 - 01:49

      Such a profound experience! Reminds me of some Gaspar Noé's movies.

  • [Deactivated] on 26/11/2022 - 22:47

    It's as common as bull dung in a field of cows… because that's what it is.

  • fahadbinyousaf on 26/11/2022 - 23:34
    -1

    Since you asked
    Pray to the Almighty to show you the right path
    If you truly pray and ask you surely will be guided
    Keep your mind open and understand everything come your way has a reason and meaning
    Surely you will be guided
    Best time is to do it in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping and night is serene but you can pray to almighty any time
    He is ALL HEARING and ALL SEEING
    if you need any help
    I am happy to assist
    but remember i am not a priest / Imam or Yougi but rather an ordinary human being

    • Hangryuman on 28/11/2022 - 15:51

      stop it or you'll go blind ;-)

  • lesher on 27/11/2022 - 09:53
    +1

    I really really wish I can even meditate to begin with. My head is dogshit at focusing so my mind just keeps thinking about shit like "what's for dinner", "what game to play next", etc2 instead of meditating

    • zoe hart on 27/11/2022 - 15:05

      I think you can meditate! You might be confused what meditation is.

      When you say - my mind is thinking ' what is for dinner' - that is meditation. An awareness of your thoughts.

      A thought that is seeing other thoughts.

      You can try 'being impartial '. Lay down at night as you go to sleep & watch what thoughts happen. If you become involved or overtaken by a thought & you suddenly realise that you forgot to only observe - then focus on outside things for a moment. i.e weight of body on bed, wiggle toes, listen to sound of breathing etc then go back to watching what thoughts you have.

      It takes practise to train your mind this way. You have to build the muscle. I think this is brains natural state (like when you were a baby) it gets easy quickly.

      • lesher on 27/11/2022 - 17:26

        Good point, now that I think about it, maybe I'm going about meditation the wrong way since I've heard that you're supposed to have empty thoughts when you're meditating. As in, the empty thoughts and complete silence is the end goal (which doesn't seem right according to your comment there)

        • zoe hart on 27/11/2022 - 19:04

          I guess the baby analogy is the best way to describe it

          Do you think a baby has 'empty thoughts'? (Btw - idk the answer)

          I know exactly what you mean tho- I thought I was meditating wrong for the longest time.

          Like literally angry that I couldn't get a quiet mind. It's ironic when you think about it.

          I am not any type of meditation master! I have read that ppl are able to see colours shifting, maybe like a kaleidoscope once you can train your mind to be quiet & empty enough.

          I have not experienced that yet….maybe very vague beginnings?…I think what I do know now, that I didn't b4 - is that I kind of understand what meditation is now.

          It's literally Zero pressure!!

        • Hangryuman on 28/11/2022 - 16:05

          'empty thoughts and complete silence is the end goal (which doesn't seem right according to your comment there)'

          last night I slept poorly for hours - I eventually realised my mistake was drinking strong coffee too late in the evening (I usually avoid it after 4pm) - so my mind was buzzing with chemically-induced activity preventing my normal sleep - similarly with sugar/sweets/dessert - and I'm also allergic to tea - a cup of green tea can prevent a whole night's sleep.

          eating good simple cheap healthy food like rolled oats for breakfast every day makes me feel better and happier - eating bad junk food (alcohol/drugs?) can make me feel worse and cranky - so choose - wisely …

          empty no-mind as a result of my meditation last century is a base or resting state quickly returned to with a few moments concentration on stillness - not when I'm thinking about what to do

          anything that allows your mind to relax can help - many watch TV, go to the movies, read books, go fishing, listen to music, go dancing/clubbing, do some hobby that gets you into the zone where time flies and you realise you weren't running the usual thoughts - anything where you stop consciously thinking endless loop repetitive woulda/shoulda/coulda recycled thoughts that just clog up your brain with WOFTAM thoughts that aren't helpful and simply dropping them can make you feel calmer and better

    • peacefulpeanut on 28/11/2022 - 09:28

      If you're keen and have time, google "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction" (MBSR) course in your area. The 8-week course teaches you secular type of mindfulness meditation as taught by American psychologist Jon Kabat-Zinn. You'll learn different types of meditation practices, and the end goal of this course has nothing to do with enlightenment. The course is significantly more affordable than Transcendental Meditation (TM) course. TM is endorsed by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey & Hugh Jackman, and should train you to reach an altered states of consciousness.

    • Eeples on 28/11/2022 - 22:01

      My advice.

      Turn everything off in the house. Get comfortable and just listen to your breathing. When you get distracted just go back and listen to your breathing again.

  • Marieah on 27/11/2022 - 11:54

    You are precisely describing the reasons for perseverance. I was much worse than you and I forced myself to be still, comfortable, with soothing music and a thought-slowing mantra for an hour every day until it became wonderful

  • SydBoy on 27/11/2022 - 12:34

    Funny you compare Hindu with Buddhism but do you know the great Gautam Buddha was Hindu himself?

    • Hangryuman on 28/11/2022 - 16:06

      and Jesus was not a Christian - he was a Je …

  • statin on 27/11/2022 - 22:03

    I found peace after leaving the religion of "peace". Religions and their hocus pocus.

  • Daabido on 27/11/2022 - 22:57

    “Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.” — Zen Kōan

  • Bangerbargain on 28/11/2022 - 03:09

    Its love guys, to be loved, no greater love is this, love God, love your neighbour the Truth is out there but most people dont get it. For God so loved the world… Love doesnt exist without freewill as you cant force someone to love you.

  • Mumbles on 28/11/2022 - 15:01

    There's heaps of scientific information on this topic. Just Google = "MRI enlightenment".

    Personally I think its a state of mind. I'm lucky enough to be able to alter my state of mind without any meditation, drugs or training.

    The brain is neuroplastic. You can train it and it will respond.

    A decade ago I saw and ABC TV segment (maybe Catalyst) where they brain imaged a monk inside an MRI and asked him to meditate and generate love. The scanner could detect massive noticable difference when the monk turned on and off his feelings of love.

    Personally I don't do meditation cause I really don't need it. It does help my religious and art friends to help centre them. I probably am on the ASD spectrum so I read the world differently to neurotypical people which leads me to interpret and respond to society and life differently.

    • ForkSnorter on 05/12/2022 - 15:50

      I'm lucky enough to be able to alter my state of mind without any meditation, drugs or training.

      I'd say people's states of mind are constantly fluctuating.

      A decade ago I saw and ABC TV segment (maybe Catalyst) where they brain imaged a monk inside an MRI and asked him to meditate and generate love. The scanner could detect massive noticable difference when the monk turned on and off his feelings of love.

      A scan like this would notice differences if you thought about a salad sandwich, or imagined your girlfriend.

      I probably am on the ASD spectrum so I read the world differently to neurotypical people which leads me to interpret and respond to society and life differently.

      From my understanding there is no 100% neurotypical person. All psychological descriptions are spectrums, and we are all somewhere along each spectrum. Obviously, being high on any spectrum is different from being low on it though.

  • binti33 on 29/11/2022 - 21:39

    If you count prayer as meditation I have had very strong spiritual and mystical experiences that I would describe as the sudden onset of knowledge

    • ForkSnorter on 05/12/2022 - 15:51

      What specific knowledge did you acquire?

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