Question(s) for Light Mystic

[Morrie]

Light Mystic,


I have read all your posts here and am very intrigued by what you have to say. I believe your claims of achieving realization/awakening/enlightenment (whatever one prefers to call it) seem quite genuine (take this as a high compliment, I am normally inherently cynical toward people who claim such things) and I appreciate your insights.

I have a general question about your feelings of body sensations/awareness before and after your realization. I'm curious as to whether it has changed? And if so, how? For instance:

Have your sleep patterns altered? Do you need less sleep? Are your dreams more/less vivid?

Are you less immune to feeling pain or coming down with ordinary physical ailments such as a common cold? Do you feel sensations of physical pain in the same way?

Have your dietary habits changed? Has your sexualy libido changed? (You don't have to answer that last one if your shy )

I ask these questions because I have read that people who achieve realization often report changes in these areas. For instance, Franklin Merrell-Wolff and Peace Pilgrim both became vegetarians after realization. Bernadette Roberts states that she no longer has physical experiences like feeling tired, feeling hungry, etc. In general, it seems people tend to become more physically fit/healthy after realization....is that your experience as well?

Perhaps this comes across as an odd topic, but I am curious about this....I think it is something that is not covered enough when talking about those who achieve realization, so I would appreciate your thoughts.

Regards, Morrie

[lightmystic]

Greetings Morrie,

I'm very pleased that you're enjoying my posts. I would be happy to address your questions.

In terms of body sensations/awareness, the Awareness experiences described are IN my physical body, but not limited to my physical body. In some ways, it's as if the whole universe is my body, and so it's all functions of my body. But this subtle Awareness that is everything is also physically experienced. It cannot be otherwise.

To specific questions:

Disclaimer: This is just me. Many others have different experiences. My experience of this could certainly change in time and probably will. These experiences do not confirm or invalidate any sort of Enlightenment (they are person-specific, and they're an effect, not a cause). There is no such thing as an Enlightened personality.

That said:

1. My sleep patterns tend to be about the same as before. As before, I need more or less sleep depending on what I'm integrating.
Interestingly, the major difference with sleep is that whether I get enough sleep or not I feel Awake and energized on some level, even if lack of sleep makes me less coherent or functional.

Dreams are more vivid, although that doesn't mean I can necessarily remember them any better after waking up. Also, life is a lot less "solid" than before, so the difference between dreams and waking has gone down dramatically.

2. I'm not immune to pain. Every experience that was there before is still there. However, the relationship is so different that it;s experienced very differently. Here's an analogy to explain it: If someone strapped you down and started torturing you by carving up your foot with a needle, it would be a horrifying, scarring experience. Every little bit of pain would be miserable (because of the resistance and fear involved). Now, if you were to have a splinter in your foot, and were working it out with a needle, you might have a lot more physical pain/sensation in your effort and frustration trying to remove it, and it wouldn't be a bad experience at all, because the victim feeling and fear isn't there. Same sensation, completely different experience. Pain before was like being tortured with a needle, pain after is like always being the one to remove the splinter from the foot. The purpose is clear and there's no victim feeling. Also, the inherent fear of obliteration is basically gone, and so the fear that physical pain could actually kill me is gone. There's also the understanding that life does things FOR you, not TO you. All pain is a desire to get your attention. Once the attention is being paid, then the need for your attention (the pain) starts to subside. This is always true, but people are afraid of what the pain means (and of being overwhelmed), so they tend not to be able to safely put their attention there.


3. I don't really get sick anymore since the change, but I've usually been pretty healthy. Maybe a slight cold here and there. It doesn't mean I can't or won't in the future though.

4. Dietary habits changed a bit. I'm more sensitive to my body. I'm heating healthier, but also noticing that I need more protein. As a result, I've actually been eating slightly MORE meat, but pretty much only white meat for the most part. I grew up as a vegetarian, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

5. My sexual libido is about the same. The biggest change has been the relationship to sex. Also, cool tantric stuff that you read about started happening spontaneously, which has been fascinating, since I didn't really believe that that stuff could happen. Go figure.
The relationship changed in the sense that there's becoming less and less difference between the intimacy reserved for sex and the intimacy with every day life. Obviously the interactions themselves are quite different, but the heart/connectedness relationship is being found to be more ever-present. Thus, sex is still enjoyable, but it's not being used to "fill the void" the same way, because the void is being filled more and more from the outside all the time.

The relationship to needs of the body also doesn't seem to marked, with all bodily functions. It's much more automatic. It's as if it's fulfilling it's function instead of taking on additional meaning. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy life the same way, it's just that the contrast in that specific sense is going down. The enjoyment I get from food is there more all the time, so the difference is a lot less and so on.

Do that adequately answer your questions?

[Morrie]

Light Mystic. Wow, thanks for such an in-depth response. Yes, you pretty much answered all the questions I asked. I apologize for the delayed response, I have been busy. You are always very gracious to everyone on this board, and that is appreciated.

Your responses are fascinating and correspond to what others who have awakened say about how their sense of body changed post-awakening. In general, there seems to be a general "falling away" of the body and a diminished sense of general physical and biological cravings. In one her books, Bernadette Roberts described the post-awakening relationship with her body as to being somewhat similar to taking care of a plant. When your body needs rest, you rest, when it needs food, it eats, etc. I find that very interesting.

I hope to pursue this topic some more with you down the line, sometime I would also like to ask you some questions about fear/anxiety and if you still experience it at all. But I'll have to think some of my questions through a little more, before I post them. Regards, Morrie

[lightmystic]

You're more than welcome Morrie.

Wow, that plant analogy is great! That's hilarious, because thats, in some ways, exactly what it's like! Who is Bernadette Roberts? I've never read her stuff.

[Morrie]

A background page on Bernadette Roberts is actually provided right here on this site:

www.spiritualteachers.org/bernadette_roberts.htm

[sophia]

I like reading these descriptions but I think it should be mentioned that not everyone's enlightenment experience is going to fit into these definitions.

For instance, I believe I've had an enlightenment experience that was brief. The only thing that has changed is that I have a new knowing. I have "new eyes" with which to see the Universe. I still like cherry cobbler, I still take birth control, I still occasionally am nosy enough to read an article about who Madonna's new boyfriend is and I still have to switch "cheeks" in the movie theater after sitting on one side too long.

Anyway, my point is, I don't think everyone's enlightenment experience is going to match-up to some predefined list of must-haves. If we define it too much, others could become enlightened but end-up doubting their experience because of comparing themselves to other enlightened beings.

I know everyone hates to hear cliched Zen quotes, but this one, I think, says it all:

Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood carry water.