Do we grow with each moment of clearity?

[JonW]

"Guys I swear for 2-3 moments I had some kind of experience close to enlightment. Ohh gosh I miss that warm tingly feeling sensation in the mind body and soul."

That's fine and dandy. Meditation can often induce such intense experiences. But that's what they are: experiences. Like all experiences, they come and go.
In the words of Chuang-tzu, "The wise man employs his mind as a mirror; it grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it receives, but does not keep."
If we try to manipulate the moment into something it's not, we are removed from the moment. Or, at least, we appear to be removed from the moment. It's only our thinking that makes it seem that we have been removed from it. In actuality, there is no escaping the present moment. It's always exactly what it is. You are that. All the rest is just thinking.
Say you suddenly have a thought about the first person you fell in love with. You have a sudden yearning to see that person again. You remember that you met on the platform of a railway station. So you head off to the same platform to find that person. To your great disappointment, that person is not standing there. Trying to recreate a feeling of "enlightenment" is a little like this.
Mindfulness is not about becoming enlightened. It's about being with what is - good, bad, indifferent. Being with that, without self-judging, IS the self-compassion.
Having intense experiences and wishing they would last longer is yet more wishing and striving.
It's so simple that we miss it. The great Alan Watts talks about those fleeting moments of intensity and says, "That fleeting glimpse is the perception that, suddenly, some very ordinary moment of your ordinary, everyday life, lived by your very ordinary self, just as it is and just as you are - this immediate here-and-now is perfect and self-sufficient beyond any possibility of description. You know that there is nothing to desire or seek for - that no techniques, no spiritual apparatus of belief or discipline is necessary, no system of philosophy or religion. The goal is here. It is this present experience, just as it is."

[piedwagtail91]

i've never met anyone who claims to be enlightened, though a couple of teachers i know are very 'present' after 40 -50 years of practice, but i doubt anyone who is truly enlightened would have problems with striving which is what you appear to be doing, having enlightenment almost as a purpose for meditation will only lead to disappointment.
from what i've read recently the more you strive for 'enlightenment' the less likely you are to ever find it.
spending time learning to be 'present' is a good start.

[Jaizkibel]

So true. Mindfulness changed my life when I decided not to achieve anything. If you practice and try to be present, results will come. Keeping some idea of "enlightenment" in mind while you practice mindfulness and not reaching that point, might lead you to disappointment, and that's not the point, right?

[Pajko]

Thank you guys great posts:). Yeah i have been trying to understand where this self hatred comes from but the more im in the present moment it seems to go weaker and weaker, because i see things as they are. I havent really needed to adress the issue, instead im trying to be with it. I guess it works. And honestly i dont think i will ever know where it comes from, i find my selfe unable to digg that deep and find a reasonable conclusion.

[JonW]

"I find my self unable to dig that deep and find a reasonable conclusion."

That's why, in my opinion, the "turning towards difficulties" stage of the 8-week course is so important. We learn to gently lean into thoughts and feelings that we've been conditioned to turn away from as we don't want to face them.
Self-compassion is vital in this part of the practice. We learn to lean into those thoughts and feelings rather in the way we perform a yoga stretch - going up to the limit of what we can deal with in that moment and no more. Just as we learn not to overstretch in yoga, we learn to lean into thoughts and feelings as much as we're able to.
Jon

[Pajko]

I agree. I have been relatively succesfull in doing so, but i dont find that im digging and digging after thoughts or emotions, its more that i avcept them, then whats left is reality. When you guys say that i should find the roots, it kind of isnt direct. Being in the now and accepting things as they are isnt for me looking for things that arent evident. I mean even if i knew why something happens it wouldnt nescesary take away the problem. I need to learn to accept everything about me.

[JonW]

A farmer approached a wise man who he'd been told could advise him about his problems.
The farmer said to the wise man, "I love farming. But sometimes there is drought, at other times flooding. I am a husband. I love being married. But sometimes my spouse is indifferent, at other times smothering. I am a father. I love being a parent. But sometimes my children are dull, at other times unruly. What am I to do?"
The wise man looked at the farmer with great compassion, extended both hands, and said: "Sorry, I can't help you with those kinds of problems."
The farmer was dumbstruck. When he regained his composure, he argued, "Wait a minute! People speak in praise of you in all quarters. They come to you seeking advice for all sorts of things. Why can't you help me?"
The wise man replied, "Every person has 83 problems. I cannot help them with their 83 problems. I can only help them with their 84th problem."
"What is my 84th problem?" asked the farmer.
Said the wise man, "Your 84th problem is your desire not to have any problems."

[piedwagtail91]

Great post Jon. I've never come across that before. I may have to' borrow it '!!
I think it says all there is to say

[JonW]

Thanks Mick. I love it too.
I was reminded of it the other day when my washing-machine broke down, a button fell off my trousers and Natalie Imbruglia didn't call to ask me out on a date (again!).
Jon

[piedwagtail91]

She hasn't been ringing me lately either
Pajko, this link may shed some light on thingshttp://intentionalworkplace.com/2 ... -teach-us/