Your experiences seeking enlightenment

cloudyday2 said:

I would curious if anybody wanted to share the specific names of groups or books they found beneficial.

Philosophy and religion has never been interesting to me, so my knowledge is very spotty. I have a very negative outlook on life, so I need something. I don't need truth - all I need is something that can fool me.

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Politics?

cloudyday2 said:

I would curious if anybody wanted to share the specific names of groups or books they found beneficial.

Philosophy and religion has never been interesting to me, so my knowledge is very spotty. I have a very negative outlook on life, so I need something. I don't need truth - all I need is something that can fool me.

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I always thought that the prophecy arguments about Jesus via the Old Testament were a joke, they always seemed so superficial and like such a stretch to me. I didn’t challenge Christians when they positively talked about the prophecies, but internally I rolled my eyes.

I only found them to be convincing after watching Michael Brown’s seminar ‘Countering the Counter-Missionaries’ because he broke it down very thoroughly, and he spent his life debating orthodox Jews who are the toughest opponents when it comes to seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, so his arguments are more polished than most Christians.

I don’t think you’d have to like religion to appreciate it, we’ve all heard about the theory that Jesus was predicted long before hand, I think even an atheist would find it entertaining to at least hear out the best arguments for it. The strength of the seminar is also its weakness though for someone who doesn’t wanna watch something so long, which is that pointing out the main bullet points doesn’t do it justice, it’s a bit lengthy how he builds his case.

Countering the Counter-Missionaries [10 DVD set]

cloudyday2 said:

I have watched a few interviews with Michael Brown and he seems like a nice guy. I have also read some negative things about him, so I worry that he might be a not-so-nice guy who is actually just a religious scam artist.

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I can separate things that have merit in a person from things that sound like nonsense. If a person is wrong half the time that also means they are right half the time too.

I once watched a course from John Ankerberg that was ALMOST perfect, there was a brutal made up fact in one part...I sent him a not so nice email about it (not vulgar, but challenging him to give an explanation in a bit of a nasty tone). I never got a reply. I went overboard back then, we all have some misinformation that we think is valid, I later felt bad for sending the email. An email that wasn’t nasty would have been ok though. I had an angry at Christianity phase a long time ago where I was both intrigued by it, but also suspicious that Christians were wrong and trying to brainwash me.

cloudyday2 said:

I've been fooled by politicians before, so I suppose that might be a possibility.

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I would not go there.
But there has to be some sort of system,

if the trains are going to run on time,
so to speak.

I cannot complain, I have more than one pair of shoes.

MehGuy said:

As an atheist I'd say things that might give me a sense of enlightenment would be reading and trying to understand scientific discoveries. Evolutionary psychology is something I'm very interested in my attempt to know myself and try to understand other human beings.

Maybe some things that were similar to my theistic path, is realizing how brutal and cold the universe can be. A year or two ago as an atheist I was watching carnivores in the wild on YouTube and just how long it takes for some of them to bring down their prey (20-30 minute video instead of a quickly edited nature documentary). I remember feeling a very primal/spiritual feeling there. Although I was kind of ashamed of it and isn't exactly something to dwell on, lol.

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Is biology your favorite branch of science? One of these days I’ll get into quantum mechanics because it seems so intriguing, but it seems like it’s something you need to work your way up to to understand.

Both can be enlightening so I’m not guilty of derailing the thread lol.

Dirk1540 said:

Is biology your favorite branch of science? One of these days I’ll get into quantum mechanics because it seems so intriguing, but it seems like it’s something you need to work your way up to to understand.

Both can be enlightening so I’m not guilty of derailing the thread lol.

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I'd say so. I imagine quantum mechanics would be hard. Reminds me of the quote "if you think you understand quantum mechanics.. you do not understand quantum mechanics..".. lol.

MehGuy said:

I'd say so. I imagine quantum mechanics would be hard. Reminds me of the quote "if you think you understand quantum mechanics.. you do not understand quantum mechanics..".. lol.

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Lol. Watch quantum mechanics become the first technical field that I gain a complete understanding for, then I’ll be like “Um...wait a minute??”

cloudyday2 said:

I was wondering how others have gone about seeking enlightenment and whether the effort was helpful.
- Did you join a group and what group?
- Did you have a guru/spiritual father?
- What practices did you follow?
- Did you read certain books?
- Do you feel that enlightenment is about this life or the afterlife?
- Anything else you might add?

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I was raised in a Baptist church and read the Bible... After I was baptized there was a sermon in which the minister challenged us to explore other religions to compare our faith with others. I decided that was a good challenge and decided to explore other faiths. I was around twelve yrs. old and found two books "THe Song Celestial" and "The Light of Asia" both by Edwin Arnold. I later found a translation of the Bhagavad Gita by Christopher Isherwood and Swami Prabhavananda which impressed me. There was a devotional at the church so I read a portion of the Gita during the devotional … The reading impressed people and afterwards people expressed their positive feelings. I had some friends in school and we explored practicing Yoga. When I was around twenty I went to an Ashram and visited for three months. I also studied Buddhism.

Anyway I felt I could not support a church or group that would reject other Messengers of God. It was about that time in 1965 I began reading two books in the library "Baha'u'llah and the New Era" and "Baha'i World Faith". I knew if I ever met a Baha'i I would have to declare my Faith and soon I joined the Baha'i community in my town. Later I married a Baha'i and we went on pilgrimage to Haifa, Israel and began to raise our children.

cloudyday2 said:

- Did you join a group and what group?

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A small esoteric order of people I knew about in my hometown region. The group numbered 8 people. Modeled off of a sort of Masonic order.

- Did you have a guru/spiritual father?

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Not in a strict sense but we did have people who we wished to emulate like Hermes Trismegistus and Oberon Zell Ravenheart. I was known to listen to the likes of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev or Acharya Shree Yogeesh because I found their voices and storytelling calming.

- What practices did you follow?

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Western Ceremonial Magick, eclectic Wicca; I was also really into Hellenic mystery cults (still am) and Orphic and Pythagorean mysteries.

- Did you read certain books?

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Liber Null, The Kybalion, Liber 333, Liber 666, Lesser Key of Solomon

Margot Adler's "Drawing down the Moon" and Ronald Hutton's "Triumph of the Moon" specifically, but these are historical analysis and not spiritual texts.

- Do you feel that enlightenment is about this life or the afterlife?

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I'm not convinced such a thing exists anymore but if it did I'd say it has to be about this life; the only one that we know we have for sure.

- Anything else you might add?

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I think its possible to waste your life obsessing over these questions. While I don't think they should be abandoned, a healthy mix of philosophical inquiry and living life makes more sense to me.

cloudyday2 said:

I was wondering how others have gone about seeking enlightenment and whether the effort was helpful.

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I didn't seek enlightenment but I view it from my own perspective as the understanding of my egoic self (creating as a separate individual creative entity and all the elements involved with that) and experiencing an absence of those things which I would call my authentic self. Discovering my authentic self was enlightening.

- Did you join a group and what group?

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The human race.

- Did you have a guru/spiritual father?

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I came across a writer called Geoff Thompson and read his book 'Watch My Back' about his violent experiences as a nightclub doorman, and his pathway to more a fruitful creativity. It enabled me to see the futility of violence and was a start to fragmenting parts of myself that held that as construct in own ego. He talks about spirituality, creativity and connection in a very broad contexts.
He was a catalyst for change.

- What practices did you follow?

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I meditated. I went vegetarian then vegan. That process took about 6 years.

- Did you read certain books?

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A few, but only because I was curious about certain topics.

- Do you feel that enlightenment is about this life or the afterlife?

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This Life, what else do you have? If you have an afterlife it will be about that life too.

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Anything else you might add?

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Be curious and be patient.

Eyes wide Open said:

I didn't seek enlightenment but I view it from my own perspective as the understanding of my egoic self (creating as a separate individual creative entity and all the elements involved with that) and experiencing an absence of those things which I would call my authentic self. Discovering my authentic self was enlightening.

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What happened when you discovered your authentic self?

zippy2006 said:

What happened when you discovered your authentic self?

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I started to create differently.

Enlightenment comes by truth and self transparency is the starting point. I’ve had many who’ve influenced my journey both positively and negatively, you just need to know how to use that information wisely.

zippy2006 said:

What happened when you discovered your authentic self?

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Life is becoming more alive and vibrant.