[MD] New Age++

[MarshaV]

Gav,

At 10:20 PM 1/23/2006, you wrote:

>i think enlightenment is basically about not
>suffering. in fact that's a pretty standard def i
>think.

Maybe it's about finding contentment and quality in the moment.

>i think enlightenment is the goal of philosophy.
>in my previous post i was making the point that
>enlightenment is not something you can find by
>searching; more like when you give up searching that
>you realize it.

Maybe both the search and giving up are required.  Doesn't that 
represent the journey both inside and outside the monastery?

>enlightenment is a consciousness shift. or maybe it is
>simply when life becomes lighter.

Could be.

>shit who knows. i still think we are all basically
>enlightened, it is just that we accumulate a lot of
>shit that obfuscates this as we grow older.

I had another dream-like experience:  I felt like a turtle who had 
just lost its shell.  I was ecstatic, and couldn't understand why I, 
or others, would carry around such a hard, heavy and ridiculous burden.

What is it that makes some yearn for this deeper state of 
knowing?   An experience? A book?  A gene?  A previous 
incarnation?  To end suffering just doesn't seem to be the right 
answer.  It doesn't matter, but I've often wondered.

Marsha