Self-Awareness Therapy, Meditation, Mindfulness, Inner Peace, Enlightenment – Jon Shore

Enlightenment and the Fear of Death and Insanity

Posted by in Enlightenment

The question has been asked:

How is it possible to overcome the fears associated with losing one’s sense of self (feeling like you are going to die or go insane) when on the threshold of enlightenment?

What a wonderful question. Thank you.

Only after experiencing enlightenment does understanding follow.

What I tell you here is from my experience…..

It is absolutely true that when you are on the verge of enlightenment the voice of the ego/individual personality says, “If you do this you will die. If you do this you will lose yourself and go insane. If you do this you will lose everything”.

At that juncture most people turn away and will not surrender and dissolve into nothingness. The fear is too great and the ego gives them some new belief or intellectual understanding of the enlightenment they have been seeking. I call this the enlightened ego. But the enlightened ego is not the True Self and it is not enlightenment.

But your question is about how to overcome this fear.

Intellectual understanding will not do it. Study will not do it. Fighting the fear will not do it. Embracing the fear will only make the fear stronger. Rationalization will not overcome the fear either. There is only one way to overcome the fear….

You must be willing to die or to go insane to experience enlightenment/awakening. There can be absolutely nothing more important to you. Nothing.

You must be willing to relinquish all desires, control, hope, happiness, beliefs, understandings and knowledge. When you reach the state that nothing is more important that experiencing the True Self, enlightenment, then you will overcome the fear of death and insanity.

I can tell you from experience that you will not go insane. Nor will you or can you die. It is impossible.

To experience enlightenment you must dissolve into the Infinite Sea of Consciousness until there is nothing left of you. At the moment you are ready to do this it will feel as if you are going to die. You must be willing to die to dissolve, to surrender.

No matter how many books or writings you read. No matter how much you think you understand about spirituality or enlightenment. No matter how much you meditate. No matter how many times I tell you that the treat of death or insanity are a lie, the real fear of death and losing control or sanity will still present itself. It does so to everyone. I can tell you that the True Self that you are will not die. I can tell you that hundreds of others have done this before you and that they did not really die or go crazy. But when it is your turn the threat of death will feel very real. Only if you surrender and dissolve into nothingness will you be truly free and experience enlightenment.

The ego/individual personality will do anything to hold on to the illusion of control. It will tell you anything it thinks will dissuade you from surrendering or fool you into thinking that you have now experienced enlightenment or awakening. But the ego is not who you are. It is a tool that is you use to function in physical reality. Right this very moment as you read these words you are already the Infinite, Immortal Sea of Consciousness. Nothing can touch this or change it. This is the True Self – It always has been and always will be. But there is only one way to experience this for yourself.

I have written a great deal about enlightenment here at my blog. Feel free to read more here. I have also posted some meditations for facilitating surrender and enlightenment/awakening. Work with them if you wish.

Enlightenment is not for the faint of heart. But it is your birthright and the True Self that you are and always will be.

Take care

Jon

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What is Meant by the Word ‘Remembering’?

Posted by in Enlightenment

Spiritual Awakening is remembering who and what you are.

Could you maybe go into what is meant with the word “remembering” a little deeper? And what is not meant with it? 🙂

The most confusing part is often the habit of the mind trying to “do it right”. Experiencing false identification with the thought “I am not that”, so to speak.

Very easy when in a state of clarity, very hard when in a state of delusion. Like when waking up at night…

An interesting question Tom.

Remembering is the best word in English that I could come up with. The fact is that the Self, the One who you already are, does not need to remember anything. It is and always has been aware of ItSelf as the Infinite Ocean of Consciousness.

But when referring to the experience of a human being experiencing Enlightenment or Awakening it does feel like remembering for a few moments. Then as the personality dissolves so does the illusion of remembering.

For me it was like a huge joke that I just got. “Of course!! I have always been this Consciousness. I have never been anything else. All that drama, struggle, ups and downs were all an illusion. I am untouched by any of it. I am still the same One. I have never been away. I have never been lost, struggling, searching or finding. I have always been this same One just being the Observing of all life. I have always been this Awareness. Nothing has changed”. And I smiled.

So, as usual, it is a paradox. Jon, Tom, Maria, Anaya and everyone else appears to remember who and what they are. But the fact is that the Consciousness Being Jon, Tom Maria, Anaya and everyone else never forgot. The Infinite Ocean of Consciousness has always been the Awareness of all life and all experiences.

And who is the one that is Aware you might ask? I use the term God or Creator. I can tell you from experience that the One who is aware is not me. I am just the Awareness, the Consciousness of the Creator, nothing of myself.

As you mentioned, the one who is struggling, searching, frustrated or lost is not who you are. It could never be who you are. That is impossible. But only after surrendering and dissolving the ‘me’ who is trying to understand all of this do we remember that. True understanding only comes after surrender. Not before.

It is not easy putting these thoughts and experiences into writing and language. Language itself is limiting. I hope there is some semblance of clarity here.

There are quite a few articles here that explore this in more depth. Feel free to study those as well or reach out.

Take care

Jon

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