I just have a comment about enlightenment: Enlightenment is the union of knowledge and wisdom. In the brain, reason and emotion always interact. When you can sense this interaction clearly, you're able to guide your actions according to how you truly feel. A feeling is a conscious emotion. Love is the greatest positive emotion, and compassion is love in action. But what is compassion? It is this: "1: Sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. 2: Sympathetic consciousness of your own distress together with a desire to alleviate it." So compassion is the antidote to distress. It is also the key to happiness, and compassion is the center of enlightenment. Still, compassion requires consistent practice - action - and no one who truly is enlightened will ever admit to being enlightened. The center, the fundamental theoretical truth, is stable, but living beings are always changing and adapting, and so you must return to the center time and time again in order to guide your actions and remain unfluctuating in the midst of all these changes around you. The center within you thus becomes your guiding star. Someone else might then interpret you as an enlightened human being, but you will interpret yourself as someone whose knowledge exceeds his/her wisdom. It is the only way to remain humble and centered.
Slipping over on the ice and losing one of your shoes in front of a crowd of pretty girls is a fairly effective way of staying humble too
True. And a great way to show compassion for yourself in such a situation would be to kick off the other shoe and start doing sit-ups as if the whole thing with the fall was a part of your plan. Those pretty girls would be mighty impressed. Or maybe not.
Just sit, do nothing and enjoy being yourself. The End! You don't need a guru, you don't need to force ANYTHING down your own throat. Meditation is passion for life.
I'm done with the meditation help guide for now. I would like your feedback: http://www.meditation-techniques-for-happiness.com/meditation-help.html Thank you for any comments. Kind regards, Oz