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Soh
This post by a redditor corresponds to Phase 1 of the Thusness/PasserBy's Seven Stages of Enlightenment

It teaches the Self-Inquiry method (just as my free e-book does) as a direct means to attain Self-Realization.

Also check out related articles:

Some Writings on Self-Enquiry and Non-duality by Ken Wilber
Ramana Maharshi's instructions on Self-Enquiry

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https://www.reddit.com/r/spirituality/comments/5sgy4l/the_direct_path_to_your_real_self/

The Direct Path to Your Real Self 🎯


Did I tell you The Cosmic Joke, and how you were in on it all this while ?
What if I tell you that the Kingdom of God is within your reach. And it is reachable right here and right now. What will it take for you to believe me for a few mere minutes of your life ? You were probably going to spend these few minutes by marinating in the current gossip at your office, or worrying about the latest problem to hit your life, or reminiscing in a new love interest that is showing a lot of promise to last the long mile ? I'm not asking you to believe in anything. All I ask is for you to look and find something yourself. I'm only pointing to it. And I will try my best to point to it, with my complete capacity to currently do so.
On the night of 7th Dec '16, I realized that I did not exist as a seperate identity. It was the most subtle, yet profound realization of my life. I cannot compare it to anything at all. Since then, I've been going deeper and deeper into it. I found that I was the Ocean of Love myself, and it was so for as long as I could recall, and will be so for all eternity. I've been trying hard to make sense of it, but herein lies the problem - it cannot be made sense of. It is what allows the sense to exist. Anyway, starting in such an abstract manner was actually intended so that I have your undivided attention for the foreseeable future now. There is no magic here, and nothing is to be conjured. On the 4th Feb '17, I was able to guide my wife to also realize the Self. It also was the most profound realization for her, and she wept and laughed when she saw that it was so easy. She could not believe that for realizing something so simple, is what a lot of religious texts are written. I hope to be able to repeat this with everyone here, as I believe that every human being is 100% capable of realizing this.
The most important thing to remember here is that you should not have any expectations whatsoever. Even the slightest of expectations will thwart your union with your true Self. So just do what I say and stay in the moment.
RULES -
  • Read this text only when you are not pre-occupied with a chore, and are in an environment conducive for inner reflection.
  • Read completely until the end.
  • Have no expectations.
  • Read the instructions and reflect upon them.
  • DO NOT TRY TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES.
  • The instructions are very simple. Do not assume or create your own version of the instructions.
  • Keep aside all that you have read or know about spirituality.
  • Finally, be truthful to yourself. There is no one judging you because everyone else is reading this and seeing this for themselves :D
Let us start with the gross world - the things that you own in your home. You own the chair/bed/etc you are sitting on. But are you that chair/bed ? You own the phone/computer screen you are reading this on. But are you this phone ? Are you, your possessions ? Reflect upon this, and read further only when you realize that you are not your possessions.
Obviously you are not the chair, or the phone, just because you own them. Then take this body of yours. You say, this is your body. The entire body belongs to you, but you are not your possessions. Reflect upon this, and read further only when you realize that you are not your body as well.
Obviously, you are not even your body for the simple fact that you cannot be something that you yourself owns. Along with your body, you also removed all your senses of tasting, smelling, hearing, seeing and touching, from the equation. You are not even your 5 senses. The 5 senses serve you, but they are not you. Things are starting to get a little heated now. Something wonky is going on here, isn't it ? What about thoughts ? Do you think that the thought came to you, because you thought of it ? Or did the thought come to you of its' own accord ? If I say, do not think of the white dog barking outside, why did an image of the white dog flash in your mind right now ? It is not because you were unable in controlling your mind. It is because that is how the mind functions. It functions of its' own accord. It can be said that it has a life of its' own. You do not say that I will now think of an orange sun setting in the mountains, and then you think of the orange sun setting in the mountains. The thought of the orange sun setting in the mountains comes directly to you, without your decision to think so. Do you know that your kidney is fulfilling its' functions without you interfering into it ? Is it because it has a life of its' own too ? Oh no. Do all of your body organs fulfill their functions without you intervening in them ? Something seriously twisted is going on here and should be investigated into ! Reflect upon this paragraph and read further only when you realize that thoughts come to you by themselves.
Obviously, you are not even your thoughts. What about emotions ? Guess what, emotions too are thoughts. Your emotions. Your thoughts. Your senses. Your body. Your possessions. But they aren't you. Then what are you ? What about breath ? What is a breath after all ? The air that your lungs are filling up with AT THE MOMENT. The next moment, your lungs are empty of all this air as well. The breath has gone out now. But you are still here. Reflect upon this paragraph and read further only when you realize that you are not even the breath you take.
Are you still here or not ? I'm sure you are. But who are you here as ? Are you here as your identity or name ? You have a certain set of beliefs that you carry along with yourself as what you think makes you 'you'. What if I tell you that your parents are not your biological parents and that they had adopted you from your real parents, and that your name is not what you call yourself currently. What if your parents provide you proof of this as well. A minute ago, you were someone you always thought you were, but now suddenly, with the introduction of some new facts, your idea of who you are seems to have changed. What do you know about yourself that is for certain and doesn't change, regardless of changes in your so called identity ? Reflect upon this paragraph and read further only when you realize that you are not the identity you take yourself to be.
You hold your identity the closest to yourself, because you protect it with your life. Read this below scenario completely and then try to imagine the same with your eyes closed to get a deeper feel for it. You are in a pitch black room without a single ray of light. It makes no difference if your eyes are open or closed in this room. Your hands and legs are bound in chains and stretched away from your torso. Next, you realize that you have absolutely no recollection of anything from the past. You don't even know any language that you can speak. You don't know your name. You don't know your caste and creed. You don't even know the color of your skin. Heck, there is no way for you to even know your own gender. You can't move your hands over your body to verify your gender because your hands are bound in chains. Oh, what a predicament to be in ! Despite having literally no information about yourself, you know that you are here in this pitch black room. How do you acknowledge your presence in this black room ? Can you deny your presence in this room ? Is it possible for you to say that you are not here in this room ? Look carefully, and see what is it about you, which allows you to make the statement,"I am here". You don't even know any languages you can speak. And yet, you can ascertain your presence in this black room. You have been stripped off of everything you owned, but there is something that you do not own. You do not own your own presence. You ARE the presence. Your presence cannot be taken from you. You can never say that, "I am not here", because even to say this, something has to perceive your own absence. Before you say "I am Daniel (hypothetical name)", you have to be here. Before you add 'Daniel', you say "I AM..." To be Daniel, you have to be Here and Now. Do you see how simple and subtle this realization is ? It is something that you have taken for granted for all your life. But, today is the day you meet your real Self. Your presence, is the most important factor of all, because it is on the screen of your presence, that the entire world and the cosmos is reflected upon. You are the cinema screen, devoid of any flavor, onto which movies of unlimited genres are played upon. Tragic situations, comedic situations, romantic and action and sci-fi alike. It all happens because of your presence. The world is in you. You are not in the world. This is why Nisargadutta Maharaj says, "I am that, by which I know, I am." Read that again slowly and you will get it. The 'amness', is the most critical factor of all. Think about it - is your presence any different from mine ? Does your presence have a gender ? Or any age ? Or any emotion or feeling ? Does it even have a morality scale ? Do you see how you judge your self more than others judge you ? This is what is called, being aware of awareness. It is even called liberation, or moksha, or nirvana, or enlightenment, or cosmic consciousness.
Yes, it is as simple as that. Your name and your personality, is just a bundle of thoughts, ideas, opinions, judgements and feelings at best, and they are not you. This is why it is said that everything is Maya, an illusion. Because everything is passing and changing, but it is doing so on the screen of your presence, which is ever unchanging. You never stop being you. And by you, I don't mean your identity. I simply mean your beingness, or your presence. Someone might say that the presence too belongs to someone, but it is not so. Your 'am-ness' doesn't belong to you. It isn't yours ! You ARE it !!!
I'm sure that this text, that I so joyfully wrote, will help someone to see through the prisons that they themselves created. There was no person inside you, and that we inherently are all hollow, or filled with nothingness. Our presence is the vacant nothingness onto which the everythingness of the world is projected upon. To anyone who has followed me here so far and can see this most simple truth reflected in their own being - when the thoughts come to you, do you see who it comes to ? It comes to no one. There is no solitary being sitting inside you, who you serve. There is no ego, because there never was one. All your psychological suffering was imagined. There is no ego. There only is egoic behaviour. It is a funny thing to see this.
You might have doubts about something now. Do you doubt your own presence ? Is there anything else that you are sure of, apart from your own presence ?
This is the first version of my little guide to realizing your true nature, and might undergo further future revisions, as and how I find a better way to state examples or scenarios to guide you to your Self. I sincerely hope that this helps everyone here.
The one who is laughing uncontrollably by now knows that he got the joke !!! 😉🙏



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From the same author:

https://www.reddit.com/r/awakened/comments/7i53gb/today_marks_1_year_of_unending_and_everdeepening/?st=JQN9HZKH&sh=cb3860a0


Today marks 1 year of unending and ever-deepening bliss since I woke up. Sharing some of the text I wrote on my blog. Hope it helps to ignite the flame in at least one person here.


Dear seekers,
Today marks 1 year since I woke up to the realization of my true Self. And undoubtedly, this has been the most revolutionary year of my life, yet. Each passing moment since then has been filled with increasing wonder. There have been moments of joy and sorrow, but staying detached from both of them led to unending and ever-deepening bliss. I have been blessed to be able to guide a few others to this same realization as well. It is my only desire that as many awaken to this as possible, regardless of how they awaken, or which path they take, for every path leads to this. For the awakening, the biggest desire one needs to have, is to awaken. It has to be bigger than any dreams or ambitions one has. When the desire for self realization is the strongest, it burns all other desires that one has, along with itself. An awakened life truly is the best way to live.
I started a blog earlier this year, and though I haven't updated it in a while, the 3 articles I wrote have helped countless seekers so far. I don't claim to be the best writer on self-realization, nor do I have any hopes to end up as one. Each has their own path and if my articles help you even a tiny bit, I would consider my writings a decent success.
Feel free to share them with anyone you feel would benefit from it.

Soh
Related: Four Aspects of I AM

Good for the different phases/aspects of I AMness as I wrote in my e-book. The last part is 'impersonality', being lived by cosmic intelligence.

http://www.innerfrontier.org/Practices/JacobsLadder.htm?fbclid=IwAR2ZX3UR1KtQaUnFTQiQ86b_zWKHcasdv81hL7-3XFZzsFAxgfTLwDmPH4k

A Meditation: Climbing Jacob's Ladder
Left-click for MP3 audio stream, right-click to download
In this meditation, as far as we are able, we climb up Jacob’s Ladder, the ladder to the higher spiritual worlds. We might work at this meditation when in a particularly good state. Or when in difficulty. Or when we feel an especially strong need to delve into the depths of being. We do not expect to climb all the way up. Indeed, this meditation can be a measure of our progress, of the quality of our being and the purity of our will, of how thoroughly we can release the grip of self-centeredness and all the rest that keeps us mired in unfulfilling modes of living. The attempt itself to climb this ladder, to operate in progressively higher energies, gradually strengthens our being and purifies our will.
To fully enter this practice may require an extended block of time: an hour or more. Give each of the stages its due. They cannot be rushed or pushed. Let each phase take as much time as it needs to ripen into fullness. You will know when that happens.
We begin with a thorough relaxation, letting go the tensions, large and small, in every corner of our body, in our thoughts, and in our emotions.
Next, we open to the energy of sensation in the whole body. Energy breathing can help build the sensation. We sit in the midst of this remarkable body of ours, in full awareness of the whole of it through sensation. We continuously direct our intention, our will to support, strengthen, and inhabit our full-body sensation, which grows more and more and more substantial. Our will-to-be manifests through this whole body of sensation.
We become aware of ourselves, of who we are. We become ourselves. We experience ourselves as wholly and firmly present, as I Am. "Here I am, sitting in this body of sensation, in robust presence. I am here. Unique. Wholly myself. I fill the whole field of awareness with my intention to be. I am making an act of being, of being here, of being whole in the fullness of my current experience. I sit. I am. I am complete. I continuously renew this act of being." These sayings are not intended as affirmations to repeat to yourself; rather they describe what you do, what you create and experience in this stage.
After some time, we notice the growing spaciousness around and in our awareness. We naturally shift into that fundamental, spacious awareness, that cognizant stillness behind and beneath all sensation, thought, and emotion. While maintaining the full-body sensation and the experience of I Am, we rest in consciousness. No longer entangled with random sensations and sensory perceptions, we let them be. We let all the sensory input be embraced in the context of our consciousness, our pure awareness, the field and background within which sensory perceptions flare up and fade out. This transparent awareness forms an empty vessel, through which all the sensory perceptions, thoughts, and emotions pass freely, unhindered, appearing and disappearing. Behind it all, we rest in conscious awareness, as I Am. We may notice a new relationship with time: we are partially released from its dominion. Our perception of space also changes at this level, where the categories of inner and outer no longer apply.
Gradually, consciousness itself grows porous. Then, with the whole of our being, we simultaneously reach out toward and open to a greater world beyond ourselves, beyond consciousness, and begin to perceive the world of sacred light, trickling into our darkness. Inwardly calling out to the Divine, we repeatedly open toward that ultimate, creative light until only it remains. On the outskirts of that world, we feel its warmth, we sense its glow, we soak in its energy. In its fullness, all separateness, all the ten thousand things merge into that Primordial Sacred Sun. That light is part of our nature, the source of wisdom. We become the light, basking in unimaginable joy.
Next — and remarkably there is a next — we become aware of the other side of I Am, of the source from which it arises, within a stillness of surpassing quality. We see our I as a knot that blocks off the depths, a knot that makes itself the source of our will, intentions, choices, and decisions, including the intention to meditate in this moment. Gradually we loosen the knot until it gives way, until I let go entirely of being myself, of being my own source.
Until this point, our ascent has been into the depths within us. But always we have remained at the core of the experience, with the experience outside of us, of our core. Now we must empty that very core and open to what is deeper than our innermost center. We ourselves become the outside to the Sacred Will of the World, Who is our Source, and let that Will come through us, as us.
We inwardly prostrate ourselves, begging for reconnection, begging to become a part of that Greatness. Silently and wholeheartedly calling out to the Ultimate, completely and utterly opening the very kernel of who we are, we reach beyond the world of sacred light, into the unbounded emptiness, which is also an overflowing fullness, an intimacy with all, with the All.
    This is the Sacred Will of the World,
    Of Whom I am now a particle,
    Who lends me the will to be myself,
    Who lends me my I,
    Who is my very Self,
    Whom I hope to become able to serve by emptying myself unconditionally,
    In Whom we are all united,
    And Who continuously creates and sustains this universe in love.
This ultimate stage of the meditation comes only as an act of grace from Above. It lies well beyond our ability to make happen, although our emptiness, our surrender, and our love are necessary. Attempting to enter here, prayer may help. If you are so inclined, silently repeat one of God’s names, one close to your heart, one that both expresses your yearning and brings you peace.
In closing the meditation, we climb back down Jacob’s Ladder to return to our daily life, though somewhat changed inwardly. We come, in turn, back to the sacred light, back to the cognizant stillness of consciousness and the presence of I Am, back to sensation and relaxation, and thus back to the base of the ladder. We rest in awareness as the meditation settles in us.