Introspection - 8 : I was never born

Masters will tell you that the consciousness was never born, will never die, is immortal, is eternal, is beyond time. It never started and it can never end. A religious person might simply believe it all blindly, which really does nothing for him, but a seeker will not settle for anything less than a direct experience of it. So how to get that direct experience?

Surrender

The content below is an expanded version of a forum post.

You must have noticed that people have huge egos. I'm one of them :D. I'm slowly hacking away its ever growing branches. I noticed that the less I let my Ego rule me, the faster I progress. I've come to recognize it as surrender.

The Ego is an automated defense mechanism, which has evolved for only one purpose - survive and procreate. Its very useful, brutal and is like an autopilot, you don't need to think much, it does it for you. Now, the problem is - it has very limited wisdom, its like an AI, a machine, and it decides on its own what it needs to defend. So it defends the body (of course that's wise), it defends your food, shelter, your hoard of shiny stuff. That's why you don't like when someone touches you, or stares at your food, or enters into your house or steals your belongings. You want to obliterate the intruder. That's Ego in action.

So far so good, the trouble starts when it encroaches into mind stuff, and calls it its own part. So things you know, things you say and things you believe all become something that must be defended from anyone or anything that dares to oppose or destroy them. So the things you "know for sure" must remain so, ego will stand between them and any new knowledge that might try to replace it (Oh I know everything now). The things you have already said must not be changed, no one should dare to call them stupid, they are just perfect, the total truth, and same for your actions (I cannot be wrong, I am fair and just). The Ego will hang on to the last straw to "prove" and thus save your words and deed.

Consciousness and Machines

By Cameron Gray

The content below appeared first in a forum post.

AI is almost knocking on our doors. Everything that is needed for a fast development of AI is available at this time (2017). Which is -

• Superfast and cheap hardware
• High level programming languages
• Enough know how on brain and mechanisms of intelligence
• Cross pollination in the fields of electronics, software, neurosciences, psychology and philosophy
• Big data for training
• Corporate will and ample funding
• A good number of talented scientists and engineers in the field of AI (and AGI)
• Emergence of large immersive realistic virtual worlds (VR) for easy development and sandboxing of AI agents.
• Emergence of new theories that encourage out of the box thinking
• Destruction of old paradigms, end of dark age of AI 

Perhaps I missed a few, but you get the point - AI is inevitable.

Paradox

By Hans Kanters

The following content is an expanded form of a forum post.

The whole point of the path of knowledge is to arrive at perfect answers. By perfect I mean those that are obvious, self-evident and based on direct experience, direct knowing, and sound reason and logic. However, a seeker will soon encounter serious issues if he tries to be so strict and rigid. He may find that there are many answers, all of them can be called perfect in above sense. Sometimes they are contradictory, and still make sense. Soon he will find that this is the norm, not an exception. Almost everything is a paradox.

Cessation Of Mind

Patanjali

The content below is an expanded version of a forum post.

Union or realization of oneness happens on cessation of mental activities. This is the age old formula (by the father of yoga Patanjali himself). All very good, but what is really meant by cessation of mental activity?

Does it mean I stop using my mind? Does it mean I stop the continuous chatter (monologue) that goes on inside my head? Does it mean I should stop perceiving things, recognizing things, naming/knowing them etc? Does it mean I bring the mind to a standstill like a dead or unconscious or asleep man? Do I need to be brain dead to get the experience of oneness?

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-5

Extraordinary experiences: of heavenly kind is just another weapon the Mind uses to distract a seeker. May be it is a side effect of getting aware of the larger universal Mind, and various hidden realms of the Mind start showing up during meditation, or sometimes even in the normal waking state. Initial newbie experiences are typically lights, sounds and bodily sensations. Later on people report a sense of connectedness, infinity, oneness, being the almighty creator of everything, world may start appearing like a dream, aversion from worldly existence, indifference towards daily activities like eating, working or talking to others, so on and so forth.

Well, that sounds like progress, how can it all be obstacles? What happens is, seekers hear about such experiences and immediately judge themselves as lacking cool stuff. I want what the other has – is the feeling and desire. They start hankering after such experiences. They cling to the tiniest of straw if that assures them that they are making progress. They seek confirmation, they brag about their “achievements”. They treat them like trophies or currency in their bank account. They immediately get jealous of those who have more. They look down on those who did not see all those fireworks in the mind. They feel the need to be special. A fancy experience proves for them that they are “enlightened” now, and nothing more needs to be done. Of course, except getting more experiences of “spiritual” type.

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-4

The following may read like total BS to those who haven’t experienced any of it. Such events/experiences do not seem like natural and get classified as supernatural. But anything goes in the realm of the Mind, its all natural there. Anyhow, I don't claim the below as factual, it is all mysterious, if its your experience, it is a fact, else not. I do not have an extensive and in depth knowledge or experience in such matters, but have encountered enough weirdness so that I’m not anymore amazed if someone tells me about some odd thing that happened. I’m amazed, however, when someone tells me such things are impossible [1].

Paranormal phenomena: are a norm when your path is not so normal. By not normal I mean its trajectory goes via unknown or unknowable terrain of the Mind. When you encounter something that you do not encounter so frequently, it gets classified as paranormal. A smartphone is an example of a paranormal thing for an Amazonian tribal, who never encountered a modern man with a smartphone before. When you take up above kinds of paths, you are like that Amazonian tribal. Things are neither normal nor paranormal, you are either inexperienced or experienced.

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-3

People and relatives: are often the biggest and most difficult obstacles for many. They are unpredictable, dynamic and active obstacles, which makes it a bit difficult to deal with them. Parents may oppose your every move, criticize you, shame you and may try to pull you back into a dogma they prefer, however outdated or moronic theirs is. Sometimes they will threaten you, especially if you are still young and a dependent. Parents also try to emotionally blackmail to have their own way, to “fix” you, just like your partner/spouse may. You may find that parents and partner will erect all kinds of hurdles on your path, may try to overpower you giving you a reason that they “love” you. Children become an obstacle if they are young and are dependent on you, because your responsibility makes you less free to devote time for your practice, to switch jobs or to travel and stay in solitude if required.

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-2

Purified - by Tomasz Alen Kopera

Sleep: is the way of the Mind to excuse itself out of a deep meditation. But it can also happen naturally, say because of sleep deprivation or tiredness. You are highly alert, your mind is not so noisy, you are totally motivated and you sit upright and turn inwards towards the Self. So far so good, the next thing you know is you are getting up from a nice six hour long sleep.

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-1

Remover of obstacles. We invoke him first before we start on a path.

We have studied in much detail what can go wrong when you start on a path or even before that. All those pitfalls and traps that trap you even before you start your journey were discussed. To summarize, these are –

• Absence of a path itself 
• Afflictions of the Mind 
• Afflictions of the Ego 
• Solidified beliefs and conditioning 
• Physical limitations of the body 
• Absence of a good teacher 
• Lack of certain qualities in the student 
• Resistance, lack of effort or lost opportunities 

If you expand this list it can fill up pages. Somewhat disheartening I must say, but then I've said many times, this path is not for weaklings. It is not like walking on a carpet showered with petals. Deeper the ignorance, more are the obstacles. The good news is - once you start jumping past hurdles, it becomes easier and easier to overcome them. You pick up speed exponentially and if you stick to it, it shouldn’t take a very long time. There is a learning curve of sorts that makes everything seem impossible at first, there is an entry barrier for people and only those who are seeker material are allowed past it. Once you get past the hurdles, and fall into a few pits, you start getting the knack of it all, you learn the art of not falling and of picking up yourself as soon as you fall.