Just for fun folks here's the quiz and James intro to the test
I will post the answers in a separate thread. Please leave the answers there so not to spoil the quiz for anyone else.
Of course for those that are brave enough do post our grades if you like.
Thanks
Nowhereman
This quiz tests your Self knowledge. It cannot test your independence from objects. Self knowledge is indispensable because without it a person cannot stand free of objects. The freedom granted by Self knowledge does not have an immediate effect on one’s ability to withstand the push and pull of objects but if the knowledge is applied on a daily basis it will eventually lead to independence.
Is Self knowledge like pregnancy; one either is or isn’t pregnant? Yes and no. On one hand unless a person is one hundred percent certain about his or her nature and understands the implications of this understanding in terms of his or her relationship to objects, what use is it? On the other, even though the Self is simple non-dual Awareness and can be easily known because it is you, when the apparent reality…life…is taken into account, things are not so simple. If we take life into account…our bodies and minds and the world around us…Self knowledge becomes a multi-faceted body of knowledge. Remember, the Self is all there is so knowledge of the individual and the world is also Self knowledge. In this sense it is like any other developed body of objective knowledge…the more you know the better.
This quiz is not meant to validate or invalidate your Self knowledge although a preponderance of correct responses might suggest that you are enlightened while preponderance of incorrect answers might suggest the opposite. The purpose of the quiz is to test your ability to think from the Self’s point of view…which you will do if you are enlightened. It is possible to know that you are the Self and live free of objects and yet still be unable to articulate what you know. In this case the quiz might serve as an opportunity to refine your understanding and aid in self expression…which would be helpful were you inclined to communicate your vision to others.
A single right answer to certain questions may indicate enlightenment and a single wrong answer to other questions may indicate the opposite. Think carefully before you respond not only because there are a number of ‘trick’ questions but because the quiz was designed to test your thinking ability. The intellect is the subtlest aspect of the inner Self and what you know impacts mightily on how happily you live. Keep track of your answers and when you have completed the quiz click the ‘answers’ button at the bottom of the last page. In most cases I have explained the reasons why an answer is right or wrong. In some cases there are two or more right answers.
Although only you know whether or not you stand free from objects you can evaluate your score with reference to the following somewhat arbitrary benchmarks. Allow three points for each right answer.
Above ninety you are not only fully enlightened you can consider yourself a sage, the most exalted category of the enlightened. Above eighty you can count yourself among the ordinary enlightened. From seventy to eighty consider yourself provisionally enlightened. From thirty to seventy you need a bit of work and below thirty it would probably be wise to look for another identity.The Questions
1. Which statement is most accurate?
a. Reality is non-dual
b. Reality is dualistic and/or pluralistic
c. Reality is neither non-dual or dual
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
f. Reality is how one sees things.
2. The statement ‘I am not the body’ means:
a. I am a disembodied spirit
b. I am my feelings
c. I am what I think I am
d. I am the knower of the body/mind.
3. The statement ‘I am enlightened’ means
a. I am very intelligent and know more than most people
b. I am always experiencing Awareness.
c. I am spiritually ‘awake’
d. I operate from experience and reason
e. I am always ‘in the light’ of Awareness
f. I am limitless non-dual Awareness
4. The ‘truth’ is:
a. What happens
b. How I see myself and the world
c. What never changes
d. What is
5. What statement is not true?
a. The world is an object of Awareness.
b. The world is me
c. The world is an apparent reality
d. The world is not real
6. The meaning of the statement ‘the world is me’ is:
a. The world is what is created by my thoughts.
b. Because reality is non-dual Awareness, the world is not separate
from It and because I am Awareness the world is me.
c. I experience the world in Awareness and there is no
separation between what I experience and myself
d. None of the above
7. Ego loss is:
a. The goal of spiritual life
b. A precondition for enlightenment
c. Impossible, because there is no ego in reality
d. Possible through surrender
e. Enlightenment
8. Enlightenment is:
a. Being in the now
b. A mind with no thoughts
c. The fourth state of Consciousnesss
d. The nature of the Self
e. The knowledge “I am limitless Awareness and not this body/mind.”
9. Nothing ever happened
a. is a clever spiritual cliche
b. means I wasn’t paying attention so I missed what happened
c. means the world doesn’t exist
d. means reality is uncreated
e. is the statement of a person in nirvikalpa Samadhi
10. The Self is
a. made of many parts
b. the forth state of consciousness
c. a void, a nothingness
d. a partless whole
e. the person indicated on my driver’s license
f. my body, feelings and emotions
g. my soul
11. The body is me but I am not the body means
a. I am beyond the body
b. The ‘I’ is sentient; the body isn’t
c. I am my personality
d. I’m schizophrenic
12. I am not the doer means
a. I have no arms and legs
b. I am lazy
c. There is nothing you can do to get enlightened
d. I am actionless Awareness
e. I am an enjoyer
13. What happens
a. is created by my thoughts
b. is a statement about who I am
c. is caused by the world in which I live
d. is the result of my past actions
e. has nothing to do with me at all
14. Surrender of my ego to the Self will not help me get enlightened
because
a. I am already the Self i.e. enlightened
b. If I surrender my ego who will be left to get enlightened?
c. Everything is the Self alone so there is nothing that belongs to me
that I can surrender
e. Surrender is an activity and no activity will produce limitlessness
f. Enlightenment is only possible through knowledge
g. All of the above
h. None of the above
i. B and C
15. Enlightenment is experience of the Self. True or False?
16. Enlightenment is a state of desirelessness. True or False?
17. The Self is hidden behind the mind. The mind must be removed so the Self can be revealed. True or False?
18. Why is the statement above false?
a. Because the Self is self revealing
b. Because there is no mind
c. Because the mind cannot be removed
d. Only knowledge, not action, can reveal what is already present.
19. Which statement is true?
a. Enlightenment is the experience of the Self
b. Enlightenment is knowledge of the Self
c. Enlightenment is the knowledge “I am the Self.”
20. Why is Enlightenment for the mind alone?
a. Because the mind is ignorant of its nature
b. Because the Self is already enlightened
c. Both of the above
d. None of the above
21. One’s activities are caused by one’s past karmas in the form of one’s likes and dislikes. True or False?
22. Why can you not be killed?
a. You are meant to die peacefully in your bed in old age.
b. Because you are immortal
c. Only objects can be destroyed
d. You are protected by attack dogs, body guards, an electronic
security system and body armor
23. Enlightenment can be transmitted from an enlightened person to an unenlightened person. True or false?
24. A guru can give enlightenment by destroying your ignorance.
True or false?
25. Enlightenment is the destruction of all concepts. True or False?
26. If enlightenment is the destruction of all concepts an enlightened person could not function in this world. True or False?
27. An enlightened person is free of suffering because
a. He or she is protected by God
b. He or she knows the difference between what is apparent and
what is real.
c. He or she lives a pure life
d. He or she has special healing powers
e. He or she eats vegetables, exercises and takes vitamins
28. There are no enlightened beings because
a. Mankind is too materialistic these days
b. The few there were, like Buddha and Jesus, are all dead.
c. They leave the earth because it is too low for their vibrations
d. Being is a partless whole and cannot be split into many
e. God is waiting for the right time to send them to earth so they can
save us
29. The experience of enlightenment can be made permanent
a. with enough practice
b. is impossible because enlightenment is not an experience and if it
was it could not be made permanent because no experience is
permanent.
c. by the grace of the guru
30. Self inquiry
a. is a technique that produces experience of the Self
b. is a method of analysis that reveals that the doer is nothing but
consciousness, the Self.
c. is asking ‘who am I?’
31. When you see yourself as a doer you cannot escape the results of your actions because the results of actions accrue to the karmic account of the doer. True or False?
32. Why is this statement true? I am neither enlightened nor unenlightened.
a. Because you can only be one or the other.
b. Because enlightenment and ignorance are only concepts and the
Self is free of both knowledge and ignorance
c. Because only Buddha and other great beings were enlightened.
d. Because I’m only a normal person.
33. Why is the Self beyond both the individual and the Creator?
a. Because reality is non-dual. In a non-dual reality there is no creation and therefore no individual.
b. It is the consciousness because of which both the individual and the creator exist.
34. When you see yourself as the Self your karmas are nullified because your karmic account is closed with the renunciation of the doer through Self knowledge. True or False?