Not convinced enlightenment is real or if real desirable. One of many teleological arcs humans can aim for.
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Replying to @xstntlprvrt69
What standard of evidence would convince you it’s real? I think it’s real and desirable, and that the teleological arc around it tends toward reducing the necessity of all such arcs. The most common pattern I see is taking meditation seriously, big shifts, & then chilling out.
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Replying to @ChasingMyself
Standard of evidence would convince me it's real: direct experience. I am totally convinced people make emotional, psychological and spiritual shifts as a result of meditation practice. Not convinced there is some kind of perfected end state.
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Replying to @xstntlprvrt69
I’ve had a few temporary states that line up closely with descriptions that I’ve seen of others’ experiences of fairly advanced enlightenment, and am pretty convinced that enough practice would stabilize the qualities that made it awesome.
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Replying to @ChasingMyself @xstntlprvrt69
I personally think of it as a learning/belief adjustment process, which is why it seems finite and doable to me. People stress over and over that there’s nothing fundamentally new that they’re experiencing — it’s just that they finally understood how they were experiencing things
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Replying to @ChasingMyself
Confusing the matter is there is an array of people talk about "enlightenment." No-self, saintliness, perfection, etc. So maybe there are continuous mental states that correspond with what some people call enlightenment - but it's not necessarily useful.
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Replying to @xstntlprvrt69
Yeah, that messes it all up a ton. I personally go with the MCTB 4 path model ( https://www.mctb.org/mctb2/table-of-contents/part-v-awakening/37-models-of-the-stages-of-awakening/a-revised-four-path-model/ … ), and it lines up pretty well with my expectations for the results of practice as a Western lay non-monastic.
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Replying to @ChasingMyself
I am aiming for something more like integration/self actualization. Become the deepest you can be and get the different parts of your personality working in tandem in order to contribute something unique to the world before you die.
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Replying to @xstntlprvrt69 @ChasingMyself
Also, a consistent point with the idea of enlightenment seems to be to escape suffering. I am not convinced suffering is evil. In this sense, the Christian approach of seeking to *redeem* and give meaning to suffering makes more sense to me than trying to escape.
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Replying to @xstntlprvrt69 @ChasingMyself
I think I've hit on something important here.
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Instead of thinking of the universe as a prison, think of it as an epic. Maybe even a tragic one. But a story. And the point is to play our parts well.
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Replying to @xstntlprvrt69 @ChasingMyself
As the Holy Scriptures say: "Did you exchange a walk on part in the War for a lead role in a cage?"
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