Is this manonasha?

Is this manonasha? Is it a different kind of manonasha from what we see in the Tony Parsons video? Is it preliminary to manonasha? Something else entirely?

The part that surprised me the most was that the “ego” doesn’t disappear at all. It doesn’t die, because it never lived. Rather, my false belief that a thought was myself vanished. It was this belief that the ego was me was what was causing all this tension and suffering, not the ego itself; the ego being simply whatever idea of self I had mind at the moment. There was no “ego being” that has been there all this time, rather, it was seen that I was making myself up every moment, albeit unconsciously. Now I see I can imagine I am whatever I feel like at any moment, though I never actually am it, though it IS an aspect of myself because it flows right from me, nowhere else.

That’s from What is Enlightenment and How Do You Find It? by iamquiet on Realization.org.

By the way — I’ve read every article published on Realization.org during the last 21 years and if I had to pick one and say it’s the best, it would be that one.

PS

Further down in the article iamquiet says this:

Actions and decisions still take place but there is no “me” thought that is claiming ownership of any of it. This was one of the big surprises, that the outward appearance of a “somebody” with desires, hobbies, etc, going about their life continues. Responsibility for it is just let go of. It is only the imaginary construction of a “me” that believed he was controlling any of it, was responsible for, or was involved in any of it, disappears completely. Enlightenment is the total cessation of an “inward/outward” perception of oneself. The “inward”, the me who is narrating, desiring, speaking, etc, vanishes completely. Everything becomes both inward and outward simultaneously. It becomes one. But there is no person left to even acknowledge this, when non-duality arises, life just goes on, and there is no big “shift” or some great final experience. It is the end of the experience. It is the end of the thought-self that has been on the journey of enlightenment. This whole perspective of yourself as a “me” who has been self enquiring and “getting closer” etc just vanishes instantaneously. What’s left is pure shining awareness, a non-entity. This non-entity, living presence, simply IS. With no agenda, no interest, no needs, nothing to lose, nothing to gain. The whole great play of life simply arises and falls within this beautiful silent expanse of awareness, and this awareness is the real you.

2 thoughts to “Is this manonasha?”

  1. Beautiful article Freddie! Truly powerful and written with so much precision!
    In one of his quotes, the great philosopher, for want of a better term to describe him, UG Krishnamurti (not J. Krishnamurti) said:
    “Your constant utilization of thought to give continuity to your separate self is ‘you’. There is nothing there inside you other than that.”

    He is here describing the “content” of awareness which is always filled with thoughts in a “normal” person. There is something inside us that doesn’t want this “conglomeration of thoughts” that we “believe” is ourselves to “go away” (or die). If all content were to disappear, what would be left is just Awareness.
    After a really long time of just 25 years, I now understand that what really dies is our false belief that “thought is ME”. Even with this understanding, it continues to persist and hasn’t disappeared, and I don’t think it will. This understanding is so useful when I’m going through tough times and serves as a great reminder that at the moment when I’m experiencing deep and hard emotions, that the belief in the ME is being energized by the emotion and I can “see” this, relax and let go.

    Thanks again for this excellent article Freddie.
    Best Regards
    Rama

    1. Thanks Rama. I recently reread a book by David Carse called Perfect Brilliant Stillness which says the same things as the quotations above but of course in different words. I like to hear these fundamental truths expressed in a variety of ways. I may reprint Carse’s book in its entirety on Realization.org. In some ways its an extraordinarily good book — and in other ways not so good — and it’s out of print, although Carse is giving it away free in PDF form on a website called PerfectBrilliantStillness.org

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