masked zebra wrote: RESPONSE: Not a single person in my lifetime has demonstrated impeccably and infallibly that such a "ground of all being" even exists. That is, if I am to go by his/her claim to become the embodiment of such an irreducible level of reality. In fact, I would go further: I have not observed a single person who even gives evidence that they have made contact with such a fundamental form of reality.
**The only person who can conclusively demonstrate it is you. Even then of course, you can fool yourself.:-) All the teachers teach are pointers to self realization. No one can give that to you. I look at it as reaching a point of mental coordination, unifying the heart and intellect so that life gets smoother. So far as I can tell, that is the big super pay off to initial self-realization, budding enlightenment, life gets smoother. Still have to do the same stuff, but it is easier. As to what one book or teacher refers to that way of living doesn't matter. It's all based on experience anyway, so if you want to call it blue cheese, please do. **I like to think of it as better coordination because coordination is based on practice and use, vs. belief, so there is nothing to memorize or keep in mind. Just a matter of coordination over time. The dawning of self-realization is mechanical. For me the 'home of all the laws of nature' is a metaphysical fiction. Sure, the EXPERIENCE seems to verify this reality (via TM), but, given how wonderfully convincing one's initial experiences are of TM (the auguring of everything MMY promises), the final pay-off (nothing to show for it, an extraordinarily disappointing trajectory of 'progress' in one's 'evolution' over decades of doing TM), logically forces one to conclude: THESE EXPERIENCES ARE FALSE; that is, they DO NOT COINCIDE WITH REALITY. There IS no such thing as Enlightenment. **Enlightenment isn't an experience. There may be a noticeable transition to establishing that first permanent candle of silence within, but once established, learning and developing and changing has to continue - nothing to hold it back, so enlightenment doesn't really point to one experience, except there may be a sudden and lasting realization of that first candle of silence being kindled. After that, life continues like it did before.
