My ego has a question: Why seek enlightenment?

My ego wants to know what is the point of being born if you spend your lifetime seeking where you will be (and once were) between life-times? (One-ness, enlightenment, etc.) Does it not suggest this is a silly way to waste the preciously rare thing we call life, reincarnated or not? It’s like going on a fabulous vacation and spending the whole trip locked in a hotel room pining for home. It seems to me there may be such a thing as being ‘just enlightened enough’ to realize you are on vacation, so you can get out there and (compassionately) enjoy the trip.

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There is a really good video I’ve watched in the past (if i remember correctly it was by Alan Watts) that discusses something similar to what your talking about. But the best I can find right now at the moment is a concept called infinite regress arguments.

The graphic on this page is a good summary Regress argument - Wikipedia .

In the video I am recalling, maybe I can find it later, they go through a lot of of questions and the ultimate answer is “because”. Simple but it is a powerful answer.

Don’t know if that helps at all :smiling_face:.

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So this seems to presume that enlightenment is a state “between life-times”, i.e. after death?
On which belief system do you base this presumption?
Even in the buddhist belief system, in the bardo states between life-times, there are only short moments of possibility to achieve enlightenment if the practicioner recognizes them and has practiced to rest accordingly.

Why so?
Are you perhaps connotating the state of enlightenment or the personal development towards it with ascetic, dry renounciation of life?

In a puritancial belief system that puts the possibility of salvation/enlightenment only beyond this lifetime and thus renouncing the beauty of life, this would be a valid point.

Why should it not be possible to “enjoy the trip” while still seeking enlightement?

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Exactly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Found it for you.

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Good questions. I dont know the answer to them.

I would say there is a mild projection taking place, when you say “my ego wants to know what is the point”, you have created a paradigm prison, that there has to be some kind of point or meaning, to life.

All I can personally say is that living with awareness had significantly changed my life for the better. There is something very powerful in that birth of awareness, or becoming aware of being aware.

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From the article: If you use your mind to study reality, you won’t understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you’ll understand both. Those who don’t understand, don’t understand understanding. And those who understand, understand not understanding. People capable of true vision know that the mind is empty. They transcend both understanding and not understanding. The absence of both understanding and not understanding is true understanding.

Maybe just enjoy the moment . . . .

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@DanaReynolds Your ego`s question answered here?

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@DanaReynolds Answer at minute 6:34 into the clip. Can your ego digest it ? :wink:

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The Four Truths of the Noble Man/Woman

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