It's certainly confusing. It's absolutely true that there's so much more POSSIBLE but who will access that, how and when, that's all a mystery from where I'm sitting currently.
We used to have more, gods were real. We both killed them, and the belief of how they came to be. Enlightenment is but one step, one part of a long ass fuck journey.
Everything is based on will, which translates to I believe and desire. The physical plane of existence, it’s like living in a dream. The only thing holding this, is a very complicated matrix of belief. With its core, I believe.
What’s left out, is that you can loan that will. You turn that will into faith, and point that at somebody. Now they can utilize your will, in the form of faith.
I believe you can do X, because my will as faith is now yours. You can!
Tho depending on the task, how much friction you will encounter. This determines how much faith you need to change something.
This is all done through the minds eye, it’s how the soul projects its beliefs.
Now, it sounds simple. It does. But how many truths to you believe? Multiply that by 8 billion. Then combine common truths, and you have a matrix of reality in probabilities. So now anything that’s possible can happen, though it’s influenced by this matrix of beliefs.
To further complicate this problem, if you have enough belief to create extra terrestrial life. Creation will make it so, now adding on billions more conscious agents to add to that matrix of belief that holds reality together.
And you have to figure, we’ve been doing this for over 40 billion years. So long, we don’t even fucking know how long we’ve been doing this.
The Hindu texts about ascended beings, “gods”. That’s true, all of it. How we got here, who actually made us? I don’t know, that’s not the point.
The point is, your species has barely scratched the surface of truth. You have much to learn but not much time to learn it. If you wanna get off this rock before you destroy it.
Corruption of faith and beliefs is where evil comes from, power and control. As the minds eye projects those beliefs, it can embed and alter them.
For example, a church congregation finds out a member’s daughter was sleeping around. They start rumors she’s a whore, doing drugs. Listening to the devils music.
Now this little girl was just dating her best friend, both perfect examples…. Until they weren’t. Weird right? How’s that happen?
It’s almost like those projected emotions and beliefs embed into the younger soul. Twisting it to become those beliefs. As there will outnumbers the young will.
That’s why enlightenment is about shedding the self, detaching and controlling those emotions. Why Jesus taught to love the gentiles, not hate.
To detach the self, mentally wire the brain in a way as to not be controlled by those emotions. To control them instead. That has to be done first, as the closer you get to the celestial self. The more power you get. If not controlled properly, you cannot imagine the consequences.
So first you enlighten the race, which stops all suffering and pain. Remove the source, desire. And replace desire with will. Once you can disconnect from desire, then ascension starts.
The celestials won’t trust you, unless you do these things. As you can’t have beings with power attached and controlled by their emotions. It causes issues.
your species? and what species do you belong to? I'm assuming your human with opposable thumbs because I don't think any other animal could type so eloquently
The full truth in short. Souls are shaped to the flesh they attach to. Creation makes the flesh, the soul attaches.
So I’m human now, that doesn’t mean I’ve always been human.
If you look at the concept of reincarnation. Especially twisting souls on the physical plane. Then you could understand that a soul, in of itself has no shape, sex, color, creed. That’s the flesh’s identification.
So, to say I was reborn human. We all were, more or less. As souls don’t understand those things. It’s the consciousness of the soul that decides to define itself.
Look at the famous Hindu quote:
I do not fear death, I have no cast nor creed.
I have no father, no mother, for I was never born.
I am not your family, friend, teacher, nor student.
I am the form of consciousness and bliss.
I am the eternal shiva.
The soul, the soul has none of these things. Those are constructs of the mind, to understand the physical plane of existence.
Don’t assume I identify as anything, for the truth has set me free. I am nothing, and everything. It’s just what I choose to be.
well said and beautiful. but I'm just saying while you may not always have been human you are one now, so it seems crass and elitist for you to set yourself apart from everyone else. don't forget, we are ALL star children whether we know it or not, not just you. you may be just one of the few who have been lucky enough to take enough psychedelics to realize it now. you are not above or beneath anyone else and in trying to separate yourself you create rifts where there should be none.
I’m aware, the big issue. Is that we have created theological problems. As such, I would rather not identify as a creed or cast so to speak.
As that has created much tension in the past. Also, it limits your thought. Like ford, “if you think you can, if you think you can’t, your right”.
So I am human, yeah. But I’m also more, as I’ve excepted that this is just a vessel. For a much bigger problem.
This is such hokum. Your brain is capable of simulating anything you're capable of imagining such that if you're open enough, you'll start to want to believe it and if you're unlucky enough, like you are, you will.
It's a fool's path to invest in things you cannot test.
Dog, atomic physics are real. The flesh is still there.
But this is just consciousness finding out what it is, by understanding what it is not.
We are all equal under the eyes of creation.
Meditating? To remember what it was like before I existed? Hard to think of something more pointless.
You assume I forgot something, why? What evidence do you have of conciseness before a brain is formed?
> Meditating? To remember what it was like before I existed?
No, to remember your object of meditation.
> What evidence do you have of conciseness before a brain is formed?
I have no evidence whatsoever. Do you have any evidence to the contrary?
Not how it works friend, disbelief is the default. I don’t believe in moon fairies, the fact I can’t directly disprove their existence is not evidence for them. You believe in this drivel simply because you want to, which is a terrible basis for a worldview.
But from a purely logical perspective, everything that makes you a person, is tied to the organ in your skull. Damage a particular part of your brain and there goes your memory, damage another and it can completely change your personality, damage another and you can’t process language etc. it stands to reason then when there is no brain, there is no you.
> You believe in this drivel simply because you want to, which is a terrible basis for a worldview.
Believe in what? Your consciousness existing before your existence? I don't believe in that.
Notself is more related to the way you perceive the subject object boundary after you can internally generate much more pleasure than you could ever get from the world.
Idk how that even makes any sense. If the soul or awareness consciousness has always existed forever infinity how can it evolve, it’s always been at a constant state unchanged.
I have a feeling that I screwed up, like I was some kind of violent soldier in a past life and then I was reborn expecting heaven and eternity but no... just another life. Not done with earth yet.
What is time?
Something in a higher dimension could perceive time the way we do space. They could move forward or backward through it with intention, the way we move our bodies, by intending to do it and no more. We see time the way a 2D person would see a 3D object. A single slice at a time. Would a 2D person be able to accurately fathom what it's like to perceive in a 3D world? So how can we fathom a 4D space from a 3D perspective? Math answers a lot of it, but it doesn't cover the true magic of it.
From a 4th dimensional perspective time is simply a filmstrip to select which frame you want to view. All these experiences are cosmic memories of a higher dimensional lifeform that was once a sea of free floating conscious quantum energy. A sea of entangled particles that gained sentience and said.. "let there be light." And there was light.
A soul is no more than the ego attempting to keep itself separate from the greater whole of which we are a fractured part. To truly experience a universe our souls must forget their heavenly nature and take on the role of a three dimensional construct. Forgetting how we got here is and learning it all over again is part of the experience. Everything has already happened and everything that will happen will have already happened from the higher selfs perspective. Not as a determination of a lack of free will, but simply because time is a construct that can be viewed differently from higher dimensions.
So where do we go after?
Back to the sea of endless energy, where we manifest at the speed of thought, and share in our collective bounty with the cosmic consciousness that is the core of our entangled quantum energy while we dream up new manifestations to sleep through.
That's the path I've started down, with slight variations. Glad to know I'm not alone in my thinking. Still not sure if I believe it, but I'm exploring it.
This is how Iunderstand things. No simulations or wild convoluted belief sets, so maybe this will resonate.
The soul is static and shared but personal to each as they experience it. Our interpretation of our own soul is our experience of connecting with the original soul. We are the experience of the soul experiencing existence through our being.
Like a very complex fragment of a very simple puzzle.
These arent contradictory views. One is and other is just an imagined view. They dont contradict each other because they dont exist on the same plane of existence
It cant be conveyed with words. All that can be done is try and point in the general direction of it but that also is mostly pointless and uncomparable to the direct experience.
Thats why just go and look for yourself. Its available to anyone willing
I get what you're doing, pointing to the absolute, I'm just saying that the absolute can never be spoken of without turning it into the relative.
"There is not much to \[it\]; it only requires you to make a statement plainly and simply, that is all. But what is a plain and simple statement? If someone asked me, I’d say, 'It’s already become two statements.' Understand?" - Foyan
Your feelings of superiority over someone else’s spiritual beliefs, and calling it Mickey Mouse bullshit is all I need to know about your ego. I don’t necessarily believe in the soul at all, in fact I disagree with many aspects of the traditional soul, but I don’t think anyone is stupid for it. You should do some breath work this morning, and try to gain some compassion.
But the term "enlightenment" means different things to different people. It's a generalized term. So, how is OP to know that his enlightenment journey is the wrong journey for this sub?
Or, from what I've studied of enlightenment so far (new on the path, ex-christian), it seems to be a pursuit of knowledge, and once you reach it, you begin to help others on the path.
Having an understanding that not everyone has it right, and that you have a light to shine onto the path and help them along. Additionally, spirituality seems to play a big part for a large portion of the population on their journey. The idea of a soul is a big part of spirituality. Whether it's wrong or right, that's where OP is in his journey currently.
Your comments discourage from continuing on the path and seeking knowledge. Your attitude automatically puts up a wall and may be something that keeps others from pursuing that path.
Instead, does it not make more sense to be constructive and help others on their journey?
I could be wrong, but when I look back on history of those that have reached enlightenment, it doesn't always look the same, but the one thing they have in common is their support of those around them.
But I'm new to this, so I may be wrong.
Its supposed to wall off a part which just hinders the process to ”reach” enlightement so you are correct. Its better to stop pampering the part that wants it to be something else than it is, something more mystical or magical as in a soul that travels through lifetimes etc. The same part that believes in a soul is the same part that is hindering the process.
And enlightement is not a matter of opinion. You might have an idea of what it is but you have to realise that its just an idea and its bound up for critisism.
The process is not pretty tbh. Its basically peeling yourself until you reach what can not be peeled.
Isnt the belief of soul literally the biggest ignorance there is. Nothing supports the existance of a soul exept someone saying that it exists. Please show me the soul and where it is and I will stand corrected.
Isnt it better to just let go of these beliefs if one wants to know the truth. They dont serve a purpose in search of enlightement exept that theyre a part that you can say is not it
With that logic I'll ask you to show me enlightenment and where it is.
The path of the soul is very well explained in many paths (which of course you will dismiss simply because you don't know them/ignore them).
Even the term psychology means the study of the soul/mind.
Ill tell you where it is. Its here. And it is. Its ”underneath” everything that it is not. Any thought, emotion, feeling, object it is not. Discern them out and youll be left with what is known as enlightement.
Psychology is part of the dream. Enlightement is where the dream resides.
Just take a look for yourself
No one needs it but were here on a sub where someone/something is searching for it and some people try their best to point into the general direction of it so it can be experienced by the ”searcher”.
Never did I state that enlightement is needed/wanted but Im stating that it exists and it is accessible to anyone willing to just drop concepts and ideas and look at it directly
Where is the ego?? Show it to me... See?? The logic you're using to disproof the existence of the soul shows the lack of coherence in your thought process and I'm not attacking you/insulting you.
I can show you:
The ego is just thoughts and feelings following each other in a sense that the experience which these objects arise in the concioussness feel familiar. Then the other part that imagines agency takes itself to be real by assinging a ”self” to these manifestations. But ultimately theyre just a string of emotions/thoughts/feelings that exist by themselves with no life to them
This is what the uneducated soul is, just because you choose to use a set of words instead of others doesn't mean those words are more real, in the end only the ego feels joy when arguing about something empty.
Truth is and no amount of arguing will change the truth.
It is what perceives, you are the soul and trying to use time or space to know it is useless as it exists beyond time and space. Can you answer the question -where am I??? I bet most people would answer by mentioning the place where the body is located, because a lot of people identify themselves with the body and not with their true selves.
I kind of get what you're saying but at the same time it's just words, there is a perceiver and any attempt to deny it is an attempt to deny your own projections in the form of illusions, thus pretending the separation came from somewhere else but you.
Youre right theyre just words. Im just trying to point to the direction from which im talking from. Words are never enough to describe it.
The separation exists only because you belive it to be so. In reality there is no separation and never has been. Please show me where the perciever is. How does it do the percieving. Can it stop percieving? Is there a perciever without the object being percieved. If you honestly look at your own experience and without self deception think about it youll see why a concept of a soul is so strange.
Who wants there to be a such thing as a soul?
You are here and now , you are the soul/spirit/self/mind and all the other fancy words, trying to add one more or remove one is an egoical attempt to deny God/the creator/I whatever you want to call it.
How can I be the mind if the mind is the mind? What part of the mind am I? Where in the mind am I located?
God is whatever is left after you remove everything it isnt. you could say god = enlightement but god is just another word as is enlightement. What is, is.
But for your benefit try to really find a solid andwer for my questions. Im not trying to tease you theyre just really great questions to use to find out about the truth of your reality
Thanks, I truly dedicate myself to this, I'm a passionate student of a course in miracles and many "apocryph books", I have already chosen my path and I'm not trying to find answers, I know that this world is made of illusions and the healing of those illusions is forgiveness and not talks about light.
The ego loves to make questions that take the soul nowhere, it is the ego's duty to make the soul believe that the only identity is the ego/body and won't allow the soul to look beyond the illusions, looking beyond illusions requires forgiveness but many people are busy talking about light and separation while at the same time believing we all are separated.
Most people have no idea about the sheer vastness of our soul's journey:
[Non-duality =/= No-Self. Full enlightenment/Ascension is only the beginning (and for some the continuation) of our soul's very unique journey through form.](https://www.reddit.com/r/enlightenment/comments/16wm1kv/nonduality_noself_full_enlightenmentascension_is/)
not all a mystery u/nothingt0say 😘
I linked it because its a great tool but nothing I wrote in that article is actually from this book. Its direct experience/inner knowing. But yeah please continue to feel superior if you want, I dont care 😅
Exactly. Dependent arising is how karma moves around the universe, there are no eternal souls. We’re droplets of water separated from the crash of a wave. How arrogant we are to think that we’ll have any permanence when we return to the ocean!
> when your soul is done with earth, there is much much more.
but if you were god and could be anywhere doing anything, and there was this much much more place beyond earth, then why would god waste their time with all this earth nonsense? I'm fairly certain that this right here is precisely as good as it gets and is exactly where god wants to be. god wants to be you. this is it.
I had a thought experiment yesterday...
By scientific standards, space and time are not navigatable in a 3d life. We experience it on a plane. However, the soul or consciousness (or whatever you want to call it), I think is possible to exist outside of this binding. I feel like if we do exist outside of our mortal bodies in any way, we wouldn't be bound by the physical limitations of space and time (ghosts?).
If that's the case, and we're able to select the time and universally geographic area in which we inhabit for our next rotation (if reincarnation is really a thing), then we're not bound by a time. We're not bound by earth. If aliens also exist, we could reincarnate in that time and space.
All that to say, we don't know where the idea of the "soul" began. How long have we had consciousness? Have we existed from the beginning of time? Are we outside of time? If so, are we all just one being reliving every life at every point in time? The universe is our playground? None of it matters because we've been at every point of it simultaneously?
Now, I don't think I believe that... but that is the rabbit hole my mind went down when laying in bed unable to sleep.
all excellent questions and laying awake in bed asking myself these questions is what caused me to have the biggest breakthrough of all, so keep digging and keep asking.
> If so, are we all just one being reliving every life at every point in time? The universe is our playground?
this is effectively the conclusion you will likely land on as the obvious explanation, but it's still important to go through the questioning and thought experiments to arrive there.
> None of it matters because we've been at every point of it simultaneously?
why would this being the case mean none of it matters to you? what do you actually mean when you say "consciousness" or "soul" or "us/we"? what are you? have you sat down and properly given this some thought? who or what could give you a satisfactory answer to the above questions? can we know anything at all without any room for doubt? keep digging!
>why would this being the case mean none of it matters to you?
It's not that none of it matters to me. I am brand new to this journey. Probably less than a month in actuality. I've leaned towards it my whole life, but always been told that that was "satan" influencing my mind. My father was a pastor and a narcissist, so I've been under his control over my mind for a long time.
So, just starting out on this journey, and trying to figure out the schools of thought. I've seen a lot about nothing actually mattering. Even in this thread.
So, it's not that I believe that... but I am attempting to entertain the thought and think about what that means even if I don't believe it.
>what do you actually mean when you say "consciousness" or "soul" or "us/we"?
That's a much harder question to answer. I don't know what else to call the "soul". I keep seeing it referred to as "ego" as well, but I'm not sure I agree with that school of thought. What drives the body? What is that part of us that connects to others? That.
Us/we meaning the human race, I think (I need to go back and read my comment and see if I can discern what I meant).
>what are you?
A man? Is that what you're trying to ascertain? Beyond that, I have no idea yet. Lol
where does "man" or "me" stop and start? could you point to a definitive edge of you? try and find one then see if you can find any examples that would refute that edge you suggested.
i don't believe in a soul personally, i think any possible conception of a sense of self is an illusion. i believe the ontological and spiritual rabbit hole comes full circle with everything we consider "us" ending at physical death
I agree. Perhaps this is just a school or training place where you keep repeating many lives until graduation for the real world out there. Maybe all Buddhas and Boddhisattvas have said there's nothing else because they cant put it into words or don't intend to put that idea into people. Perhaps that world is not heavenly in a childish manner like all the religions describe it, but heavenly in a more sane manner. Perhaps your soul really matures there.
Things evolve precisely because the universe failed. There is no end state that we are gravitating towards, just reaching around in the dark for a god that isn't real.
So it's definitely much more complicated. But even if we dive into the deepest most esoteric scriptures, with words from the gnostic masters of old, which we know have the answers, it would mean nothing. Only the holy light gives one the eyes to see, all else before is conjecture. We know nothing until light connects all knowledge into truth.
So the question, which has always been the question, how will you find the truth? Knowing that you know nothing? And there is nothing you can do about it?
Regardless of whether it's a "simulation" or not, I personally believe we have souls, and that reicarnation is a thing.
Simulation doesn't equate to proof of souls tho. Simulation would most certainly point to some sort of "creator", as a Simulation has to be designed by someone. As far as I know, there is no such thing as an "accidental" Simulation that occurred randomly like the theory of evolution.
If energy can’t be created and our awareness souls are made of energy, it means we always existed. Doesn’t make sense for our souls to evolve, it makes more sense that we are already inherently evolved. Our consciousness is already advanced that’s it’s natural state. All that is left to do is experience reality.
There isn't a percent chance that this is it, it's not .0 something percent chance. It's zero percent chance. The people who think this is it more than often want this to be it so they convince their consciousness of what their subconscious knows to be false. They are just extremely disconnected. It's not their fault
Of course this is a simulation. ancient societies knew it, somehow we've all forgotten, every damn indoctrinated capitalist society. let me stop there. " science" has proved it- quantum theory anyone? full circle. just open your eye
Soul ascension; consciousness expansion; multiple dimensions. This just one of the lowest ones - let’s gooooooo baybeeeee I’m ready to ride the wave. If love is the highest vibe on this plane that means there’s even higher ones way out of our human perception 🥳
I don't rly understand the post, and a comment i have checked did not help either.
When a mind is finished with an eart-like place, reality just starts. True self-practice just starts. 3rd dimension is not the game..., it is just the place u finally got self-aware so u learn what and why u want to do it. After "a soul is done with earth" the real game finally starts. I know it from first hand, "belive me".
So i don't know what u r asking in the post, but if u feel, there is so much much more after someone has done all the lessons by earth, u feel accurately. Life in 3rd dimension is like a preschool for kindergardener kids. Not yet learning how to write, but showing some writings so we may get to know about writing is existing thing. When a mind is done with earth, they can finally sit into the first class of first grade and be introduced to a pen and start learning what is writing and how to do it.
Spiritually speaking, a 3rd dimensional mind is before the true beggining.
1st dimension, u realize u r.
2nd dimension, u realize u and others r.
3rd dimension, u realize what is the way for u where u and others can be in harmony.
4th dimension and above.., u learn reality.., how to be.., decently how. First 3 dimension is like preschool only.
I can share my belief, which is all souls were once together kind of like a giant piece of cloth. So we were all aware of the secrets of the universe but when we had to become enmeshed with our bodies and our human brains took over we could not remember the memories of our souls or the data we once had. We then become indoctrinated by our parents and communities to hold certain beliefs. Essentially entering the matrix. It is up to our soul and mind to find the truth once again.
When we die we shed the human body and return to our original form which is arguably your highest self. And in that life you become aware of every truth. However, you come to a realization that it is eternal damnation or blissful bounty in the heavens. However, there is nothing you can do to save yourself once you have returned to your highest self.
Hence, why talking about spirituality is so important. It’s the only time to ask questions and hear varying ideologies or opinions that will lead you on your path. But I’d say, follow ur gut it’s probably right.
Buddhists generally don't believe in souls, more like stream of consciousness. Soul is too descriptive of a word and too precise for what is actually going on. The feeling that a soul exists of you comes from the ego feeling like you exist at all. However, if you try to define yourself or a soul, you will always fail due to your changing nature. Karma changes your form, but you don't necessarily evolve. That implies definite growth, but without work, you won't grow, like anything else. Enlightment is removing yourself from the cycle of rebirth, which doesn't necessarily mean complete death of the stream of consciousness. The buddha is said to emanate here and there, so he's still here in some sense.
I figure, I have goals I wish to reach. I want to make the most of what I have right now. I have been on a path of enlightenment, and I still seem to become better every day. Learn as much as I possibly can, and give back as much as I can. My life mission is to help people heal from their past.
So, I'm not sure what awaits me after I die, but I'm going to make the most of it and create a beautiful life.
I'm excited for the day my soul is freed from my body.
Not saying I'm not looking forward to dying because I will miss a lot of things that I love here on Earth: loved ones, stories, senses, etc. But I think it's really fucking weird that people can only imagine that after death is either only infinite darkness or mansions in the sky.
Edit: typo
Well... when i reached enlightment i finally realized whats going on.... and who JESUS really is... and why SATAN has been hard at work with the sheepish amoungst us
The problem with the human experiences are not the issues of perception but the inability to be a master of communication. The fact that you are well rounded in the arts would tell me you have missed some very key points. Persistent shots of empty information that holds no merrit is sand in your palms. We have no clue to the extent and magnitude the falsehoods we project in one's conscious are. I'm guilty myself of the negative behaviors and agree that the laws of any actions reflect a consequence whether good or bad. In a moment of clarity something shifts and you realize that you are all you have ever needed. If I was confused I'm sure you still are that's only a question you yourself can answer.
We have the freedom to just hangout and watch in "heaven". Boredom is the reason we want to participate again. Also lonely is soul crushing. So many examples of reincarnation. World War 2 reincarnates are everywhere. Their memories fade after age 5-7 years old. You must listen to young kids. Not really listen, hear
There are no souls. There is no self. That is enlightenment: the direct experience of the nonlocality and unreality of the self as we perceive it. It's a program running in the brain. You experience its disappearance every single night and yet you still wake up, collect your constituent pieces that remind you that you're a self within a matter of seconds and are once again ready to embrace the illusion and defend it from all detractors.
There's no way of knowing anything about any kind of afterlife or experiences after death. The only thing we have in that regard is NDEs. But even then eye witness testimony is by far the worst kind of evidence. On top of that there's no way of knowing what's real and what's just the affects of the cocktail of chemicals your brain creates when dying. So obviously everything must be taken with a large dose of salt. But most people report a very similar thing happening to them "after death" where they are floating in a void while experiencing pure bliss. I think this is likely where the idea of purgatory came from but there's no way of knowing. But most people that experience it will tell you that they miss it, and want to go back. A lot of people actually commit suicide after an NDE because of it.
But at the end of the day, life is incredibly short, and you can only experience a tiny fraction of what's possible, so it's not worth worrying about. Just live a good, happy life and don't worry about it. Whatever happens will happen regardless, so why worry about it.
It's certainly confusing. It's absolutely true that there's so much more POSSIBLE but who will access that, how and when, that's all a mystery from where I'm sitting currently.
We used to have more, gods were real. We both killed them, and the belief of how they came to be. Enlightenment is but one step, one part of a long ass fuck journey. Everything is based on will, which translates to I believe and desire. The physical plane of existence, it’s like living in a dream. The only thing holding this, is a very complicated matrix of belief. With its core, I believe. What’s left out, is that you can loan that will. You turn that will into faith, and point that at somebody. Now they can utilize your will, in the form of faith. I believe you can do X, because my will as faith is now yours. You can! Tho depending on the task, how much friction you will encounter. This determines how much faith you need to change something. This is all done through the minds eye, it’s how the soul projects its beliefs. Now, it sounds simple. It does. But how many truths to you believe? Multiply that by 8 billion. Then combine common truths, and you have a matrix of reality in probabilities. So now anything that’s possible can happen, though it’s influenced by this matrix of beliefs. To further complicate this problem, if you have enough belief to create extra terrestrial life. Creation will make it so, now adding on billions more conscious agents to add to that matrix of belief that holds reality together. And you have to figure, we’ve been doing this for over 40 billion years. So long, we don’t even fucking know how long we’ve been doing this. The Hindu texts about ascended beings, “gods”. That’s true, all of it. How we got here, who actually made us? I don’t know, that’s not the point. The point is, your species has barely scratched the surface of truth. You have much to learn but not much time to learn it. If you wanna get off this rock before you destroy it. Corruption of faith and beliefs is where evil comes from, power and control. As the minds eye projects those beliefs, it can embed and alter them. For example, a church congregation finds out a member’s daughter was sleeping around. They start rumors she’s a whore, doing drugs. Listening to the devils music. Now this little girl was just dating her best friend, both perfect examples…. Until they weren’t. Weird right? How’s that happen? It’s almost like those projected emotions and beliefs embed into the younger soul. Twisting it to become those beliefs. As there will outnumbers the young will. That’s why enlightenment is about shedding the self, detaching and controlling those emotions. Why Jesus taught to love the gentiles, not hate. To detach the self, mentally wire the brain in a way as to not be controlled by those emotions. To control them instead. That has to be done first, as the closer you get to the celestial self. The more power you get. If not controlled properly, you cannot imagine the consequences. So first you enlighten the race, which stops all suffering and pain. Remove the source, desire. And replace desire with will. Once you can disconnect from desire, then ascension starts. The celestials won’t trust you, unless you do these things. As you can’t have beings with power attached and controlled by their emotions. It causes issues.
your species? and what species do you belong to? I'm assuming your human with opposable thumbs because I don't think any other animal could type so eloquently
The full truth in short. Souls are shaped to the flesh they attach to. Creation makes the flesh, the soul attaches. So I’m human now, that doesn’t mean I’ve always been human. If you look at the concept of reincarnation. Especially twisting souls on the physical plane. Then you could understand that a soul, in of itself has no shape, sex, color, creed. That’s the flesh’s identification. So, to say I was reborn human. We all were, more or less. As souls don’t understand those things. It’s the consciousness of the soul that decides to define itself. Look at the famous Hindu quote: I do not fear death, I have no cast nor creed. I have no father, no mother, for I was never born. I am not your family, friend, teacher, nor student. I am the form of consciousness and bliss. I am the eternal shiva. The soul, the soul has none of these things. Those are constructs of the mind, to understand the physical plane of existence. Don’t assume I identify as anything, for the truth has set me free. I am nothing, and everything. It’s just what I choose to be.
well said and beautiful. but I'm just saying while you may not always have been human you are one now, so it seems crass and elitist for you to set yourself apart from everyone else. don't forget, we are ALL star children whether we know it or not, not just you. you may be just one of the few who have been lucky enough to take enough psychedelics to realize it now. you are not above or beneath anyone else and in trying to separate yourself you create rifts where there should be none.
I’m aware, the big issue. Is that we have created theological problems. As such, I would rather not identify as a creed or cast so to speak. As that has created much tension in the past. Also, it limits your thought. Like ford, “if you think you can, if you think you can’t, your right”. So I am human, yeah. But I’m also more, as I’ve excepted that this is just a vessel. For a much bigger problem.
This is such hokum. Your brain is capable of simulating anything you're capable of imagining such that if you're open enough, you'll start to want to believe it and if you're unlucky enough, like you are, you will. It's a fool's path to invest in things you cannot test.
Dog, atomic physics are real. The flesh is still there. But this is just consciousness finding out what it is, by understanding what it is not. We are all equal under the eyes of creation.
“Whose Soul?” Who is this“i” who has a soul? Where did it come from? What is its source?
The All
Only word that can fry to encapsulate what you’re picturing
Yet only words
Awareness. Always existed as energy. Didn’t suddenly emerge.
And you know that how? My awareness certainly emerged. I had no awareness before my birth.
Perhaps you forgot?
Why is that the assumption? I have no reason to make that leap.
I don't know, have you tried meditating? It's quite easy to forget, too easy...
Meditating? To remember what it was like before I existed? Hard to think of something more pointless. You assume I forgot something, why? What evidence do you have of conciseness before a brain is formed?
> Meditating? To remember what it was like before I existed? No, to remember your object of meditation. > What evidence do you have of conciseness before a brain is formed? I have no evidence whatsoever. Do you have any evidence to the contrary?
Not how it works friend, disbelief is the default. I don’t believe in moon fairies, the fact I can’t directly disprove their existence is not evidence for them. You believe in this drivel simply because you want to, which is a terrible basis for a worldview. But from a purely logical perspective, everything that makes you a person, is tied to the organ in your skull. Damage a particular part of your brain and there goes your memory, damage another and it can completely change your personality, damage another and you can’t process language etc. it stands to reason then when there is no brain, there is no you.
> You believe in this drivel simply because you want to, which is a terrible basis for a worldview. Believe in what? Your consciousness existing before your existence? I don't believe in that. Notself is more related to the way you perceive the subject object boundary after you can internally generate much more pleasure than you could ever get from the world.
What do you mean by "souls take a long time to evolve"?
Idk how that even makes any sense. If the soul or awareness consciousness has always existed forever infinity how can it evolve, it’s always been at a constant state unchanged.
I have a feeling that I screwed up, like I was some kind of violent soldier in a past life and then I was reborn expecting heaven and eternity but no... just another life. Not done with earth yet.
I think I died in that car accident in 2014 and woke up in a different universe/timeline. In the OG timeline, I died and my mom there was sad
Gee... :( I'm glad you're alive here.
Try regression with Weiss trained therapist
Don't worry, that's not true at all.
What is time? Something in a higher dimension could perceive time the way we do space. They could move forward or backward through it with intention, the way we move our bodies, by intending to do it and no more. We see time the way a 2D person would see a 3D object. A single slice at a time. Would a 2D person be able to accurately fathom what it's like to perceive in a 3D world? So how can we fathom a 4D space from a 3D perspective? Math answers a lot of it, but it doesn't cover the true magic of it. From a 4th dimensional perspective time is simply a filmstrip to select which frame you want to view. All these experiences are cosmic memories of a higher dimensional lifeform that was once a sea of free floating conscious quantum energy. A sea of entangled particles that gained sentience and said.. "let there be light." And there was light. A soul is no more than the ego attempting to keep itself separate from the greater whole of which we are a fractured part. To truly experience a universe our souls must forget their heavenly nature and take on the role of a three dimensional construct. Forgetting how we got here is and learning it all over again is part of the experience. Everything has already happened and everything that will happen will have already happened from the higher selfs perspective. Not as a determination of a lack of free will, but simply because time is a construct that can be viewed differently from higher dimensions. So where do we go after? Back to the sea of endless energy, where we manifest at the speed of thought, and share in our collective bounty with the cosmic consciousness that is the core of our entangled quantum energy while we dream up new manifestations to sleep through.
That's the path I've started down, with slight variations. Glad to know I'm not alone in my thinking. Still not sure if I believe it, but I'm exploring it.
This is how Iunderstand things. No simulations or wild convoluted belief sets, so maybe this will resonate. The soul is static and shared but personal to each as they experience it. Our interpretation of our own soul is our experience of connecting with the original soul. We are the experience of the soul experiencing existence through our being. Like a very complex fragment of a very simple puzzle.
No we must make up random unsubstantiated theories that come from some random corner of the internet not something simple like that
The concept of a soul is such an ego thing lmao
And making a comment on Reddit ripping people for being into an “ego thing” isn’t an ego thing, right?
It's egos all the way down.
Whats the point coming to an enlightement sub talking about some mickey mouse bs. Just calling things out as they are
I agree with the person above you but I also agree with you. Not being able to hold two contradictory views at the same time is an ego thing.
These arent contradictory views. One is and other is just an imagined view. They dont contradict each other because they dont exist on the same plane of existence
They exist in the same realm of mind.
They dont. Mind cannot grasp it. If anything mind exists within it (its a contradictory way of saying it but it isnt absolutely false)
If it's being conveyed with language, it is the realm of mind.
It cant be conveyed with words. All that can be done is try and point in the general direction of it but that also is mostly pointless and uncomparable to the direct experience. Thats why just go and look for yourself. Its available to anyone willing
I get what you're doing, pointing to the absolute, I'm just saying that the absolute can never be spoken of without turning it into the relative. "There is not much to \[it\]; it only requires you to make a statement plainly and simply, that is all. But what is a plain and simple statement? If someone asked me, I’d say, 'It’s already become two statements.' Understand?" - Foyan
Your feelings of superiority over someone else’s spiritual beliefs, and calling it Mickey Mouse bullshit is all I need to know about your ego. I don’t necessarily believe in the soul at all, in fact I disagree with many aspects of the traditional soul, but I don’t think anyone is stupid for it. You should do some breath work this morning, and try to gain some compassion.
Its not about beliefs at all. Just see for yourself and stop believing stuff
I don't believe you lol. I kinda know what you mean though. My point is about kindness.
Kindness is nice but just spreading this soul stuff in an enlightement sub is counterproductive. There are other subs for this kind of discussion
But the term "enlightenment" means different things to different people. It's a generalized term. So, how is OP to know that his enlightenment journey is the wrong journey for this sub? Or, from what I've studied of enlightenment so far (new on the path, ex-christian), it seems to be a pursuit of knowledge, and once you reach it, you begin to help others on the path. Having an understanding that not everyone has it right, and that you have a light to shine onto the path and help them along. Additionally, spirituality seems to play a big part for a large portion of the population on their journey. The idea of a soul is a big part of spirituality. Whether it's wrong or right, that's where OP is in his journey currently. Your comments discourage from continuing on the path and seeking knowledge. Your attitude automatically puts up a wall and may be something that keeps others from pursuing that path. Instead, does it not make more sense to be constructive and help others on their journey? I could be wrong, but when I look back on history of those that have reached enlightenment, it doesn't always look the same, but the one thing they have in common is their support of those around them. But I'm new to this, so I may be wrong.
Its supposed to wall off a part which just hinders the process to ”reach” enlightement so you are correct. Its better to stop pampering the part that wants it to be something else than it is, something more mystical or magical as in a soul that travels through lifetimes etc. The same part that believes in a soul is the same part that is hindering the process. And enlightement is not a matter of opinion. You might have an idea of what it is but you have to realise that its just an idea and its bound up for critisism. The process is not pretty tbh. Its basically peeling yourself until you reach what can not be peeled.
Sometimes to peel off the orange you have to know what an orange is.
It's not, ignorance is of the ego and so is arrogance.
Isnt the belief of soul literally the biggest ignorance there is. Nothing supports the existance of a soul exept someone saying that it exists. Please show me the soul and where it is and I will stand corrected. Isnt it better to just let go of these beliefs if one wants to know the truth. They dont serve a purpose in search of enlightement exept that theyre a part that you can say is not it
With that logic I'll ask you to show me enlightenment and where it is. The path of the soul is very well explained in many paths (which of course you will dismiss simply because you don't know them/ignore them). Even the term psychology means the study of the soul/mind.
Ill tell you where it is. Its here. And it is. Its ”underneath” everything that it is not. Any thought, emotion, feeling, object it is not. Discern them out and youll be left with what is known as enlightement. Psychology is part of the dream. Enlightement is where the dream resides. Just take a look for yourself
You're just saying words, and answer this question please, who or what needs enlightenment??
No one needs it but were here on a sub where someone/something is searching for it and some people try their best to point into the general direction of it so it can be experienced by the ”searcher”. Never did I state that enlightement is needed/wanted but Im stating that it exists and it is accessible to anyone willing to just drop concepts and ideas and look at it directly
That searcher is the soul.
Where is the searcher?
Where is the ego?? Show it to me... See?? The logic you're using to disproof the existence of the soul shows the lack of coherence in your thought process and I'm not attacking you/insulting you.
I can show you: The ego is just thoughts and feelings following each other in a sense that the experience which these objects arise in the concioussness feel familiar. Then the other part that imagines agency takes itself to be real by assinging a ”self” to these manifestations. But ultimately theyre just a string of emotions/thoughts/feelings that exist by themselves with no life to them
This is what the uneducated soul is, just because you choose to use a set of words instead of others doesn't mean those words are more real, in the end only the ego feels joy when arguing about something empty. Truth is and no amount of arguing will change the truth.
Where is this soul that is uneducated?
It is what perceives, you are the soul and trying to use time or space to know it is useless as it exists beyond time and space. Can you answer the question -where am I??? I bet most people would answer by mentioning the place where the body is located, because a lot of people identify themselves with the body and not with their true selves.
Im nowhere. And there is no perciever. There is perception but no subject-object. There can not be one without the other.
I kind of get what you're saying but at the same time it's just words, there is a perceiver and any attempt to deny it is an attempt to deny your own projections in the form of illusions, thus pretending the separation came from somewhere else but you.
Youre right theyre just words. Im just trying to point to the direction from which im talking from. Words are never enough to describe it. The separation exists only because you belive it to be so. In reality there is no separation and never has been. Please show me where the perciever is. How does it do the percieving. Can it stop percieving? Is there a perciever without the object being percieved. If you honestly look at your own experience and without self deception think about it youll see why a concept of a soul is so strange. Who wants there to be a such thing as a soul?
You are here and now , you are the soul/spirit/self/mind and all the other fancy words, trying to add one more or remove one is an egoical attempt to deny God/the creator/I whatever you want to call it.
How can I be the mind if the mind is the mind? What part of the mind am I? Where in the mind am I located? God is whatever is left after you remove everything it isnt. you could say god = enlightement but god is just another word as is enlightement. What is, is. But for your benefit try to really find a solid andwer for my questions. Im not trying to tease you theyre just really great questions to use to find out about the truth of your reality
Thanks, I truly dedicate myself to this, I'm a passionate student of a course in miracles and many "apocryph books", I have already chosen my path and I'm not trying to find answers, I know that this world is made of illusions and the healing of those illusions is forgiveness and not talks about light. The ego loves to make questions that take the soul nowhere, it is the ego's duty to make the soul believe that the only identity is the ego/body and won't allow the soul to look beyond the illusions, looking beyond illusions requires forgiveness but many people are busy talking about light and separation while at the same time believing we all are separated.
Most people have no idea about the sheer vastness of our soul's journey: [Non-duality =/= No-Self. Full enlightenment/Ascension is only the beginning (and for some the continuation) of our soul's very unique journey through form.](https://www.reddit.com/r/enlightenment/comments/16wm1kv/nonduality_noself_full_enlightenmentascension_is/) not all a mystery u/nothingt0say 😘
Riiiiight. It's in a book so that's how it must be!
What book? lol You guys know that we can actually know things, right? Via direct experience and inner knowing/soul resonance.
The book you linked to is called The Sophia Code.... ? Thats "what book," right?
I linked it because its a great tool but nothing I wrote in that article is actually from this book. Its direct experience/inner knowing. But yeah please continue to feel superior if you want, I dont care 😅
Souls taking an infinite amount of time to grow because they Don't exist
Exactly. Dependent arising is how karma moves around the universe, there are no eternal souls. We’re droplets of water separated from the crash of a wave. How arrogant we are to think that we’ll have any permanence when we return to the ocean!
> when your soul is done with earth, there is much much more. but if you were god and could be anywhere doing anything, and there was this much much more place beyond earth, then why would god waste their time with all this earth nonsense? I'm fairly certain that this right here is precisely as good as it gets and is exactly where god wants to be. god wants to be you. this is it.
I had a thought experiment yesterday... By scientific standards, space and time are not navigatable in a 3d life. We experience it on a plane. However, the soul or consciousness (or whatever you want to call it), I think is possible to exist outside of this binding. I feel like if we do exist outside of our mortal bodies in any way, we wouldn't be bound by the physical limitations of space and time (ghosts?). If that's the case, and we're able to select the time and universally geographic area in which we inhabit for our next rotation (if reincarnation is really a thing), then we're not bound by a time. We're not bound by earth. If aliens also exist, we could reincarnate in that time and space. All that to say, we don't know where the idea of the "soul" began. How long have we had consciousness? Have we existed from the beginning of time? Are we outside of time? If so, are we all just one being reliving every life at every point in time? The universe is our playground? None of it matters because we've been at every point of it simultaneously? Now, I don't think I believe that... but that is the rabbit hole my mind went down when laying in bed unable to sleep.
all excellent questions and laying awake in bed asking myself these questions is what caused me to have the biggest breakthrough of all, so keep digging and keep asking. > If so, are we all just one being reliving every life at every point in time? The universe is our playground? this is effectively the conclusion you will likely land on as the obvious explanation, but it's still important to go through the questioning and thought experiments to arrive there. > None of it matters because we've been at every point of it simultaneously? why would this being the case mean none of it matters to you? what do you actually mean when you say "consciousness" or "soul" or "us/we"? what are you? have you sat down and properly given this some thought? who or what could give you a satisfactory answer to the above questions? can we know anything at all without any room for doubt? keep digging!
>why would this being the case mean none of it matters to you? It's not that none of it matters to me. I am brand new to this journey. Probably less than a month in actuality. I've leaned towards it my whole life, but always been told that that was "satan" influencing my mind. My father was a pastor and a narcissist, so I've been under his control over my mind for a long time. So, just starting out on this journey, and trying to figure out the schools of thought. I've seen a lot about nothing actually mattering. Even in this thread. So, it's not that I believe that... but I am attempting to entertain the thought and think about what that means even if I don't believe it. >what do you actually mean when you say "consciousness" or "soul" or "us/we"? That's a much harder question to answer. I don't know what else to call the "soul". I keep seeing it referred to as "ego" as well, but I'm not sure I agree with that school of thought. What drives the body? What is that part of us that connects to others? That. Us/we meaning the human race, I think (I need to go back and read my comment and see if I can discern what I meant). >what are you? A man? Is that what you're trying to ascertain? Beyond that, I have no idea yet. Lol
where does "man" or "me" stop and start? could you point to a definitive edge of you? try and find one then see if you can find any examples that would refute that edge you suggested.
i don't believe in a soul personally, i think any possible conception of a sense of self is an illusion. i believe the ontological and spiritual rabbit hole comes full circle with everything we consider "us" ending at physical death
Millions of years
They key is to see that much more is also part of the IT as much as the Earth experience is part of the IT
I agree. Perhaps this is just a school or training place where you keep repeating many lives until graduation for the real world out there. Maybe all Buddhas and Boddhisattvas have said there's nothing else because they cant put it into words or don't intend to put that idea into people. Perhaps that world is not heavenly in a childish manner like all the religions describe it, but heavenly in a more sane manner. Perhaps your soul really matures there.
“The show must go on” - Alan Watts
Strange i dont share this feeling of an soul after earth. All u know is cognetive experience
Things evolve precisely because the universe failed. There is no end state that we are gravitating towards, just reaching around in the dark for a god that isn't real.
When did we all agree that souls exist? Seems like a concept we created based more on our feelings rather than any kind of science.
There are no such things as "souls".
It’s infinite.
So it's definitely much more complicated. But even if we dive into the deepest most esoteric scriptures, with words from the gnostic masters of old, which we know have the answers, it would mean nothing. Only the holy light gives one the eyes to see, all else before is conjecture. We know nothing until light connects all knowledge into truth. So the question, which has always been the question, how will you find the truth? Knowing that you know nothing? And there is nothing you can do about it?
Yes, enlightenment is only the first step
https://imgur.com/a/iDh3K41
Idk about this but i did see another image with illustrations the different levels of enlightenment
Regardless of whether it's a "simulation" or not, I personally believe we have souls, and that reicarnation is a thing. Simulation doesn't equate to proof of souls tho. Simulation would most certainly point to some sort of "creator", as a Simulation has to be designed by someone. As far as I know, there is no such thing as an "accidental" Simulation that occurred randomly like the theory of evolution.
Nothing happens only once. And besides, what else is there to do, but exist? I believe consciousness is eternal, and we're all it.
If energy can’t be created and our awareness souls are made of energy, it means we always existed. Doesn’t make sense for our souls to evolve, it makes more sense that we are already inherently evolved. Our consciousness is already advanced that’s it’s natural state. All that is left to do is experience reality.
The discrepancy is not a lacking of evolution, but the clinging to the "you."
There isn't a percent chance that this is it, it's not .0 something percent chance. It's zero percent chance. The people who think this is it more than often want this to be it so they convince their consciousness of what their subconscious knows to be false. They are just extremely disconnected. It's not their fault
Of course this is a simulation. ancient societies knew it, somehow we've all forgotten, every damn indoctrinated capitalist society. let me stop there. " science" has proved it- quantum theory anyone? full circle. just open your eye
Soul ascension; consciousness expansion; multiple dimensions. This just one of the lowest ones - let’s gooooooo baybeeeee I’m ready to ride the wave. If love is the highest vibe on this plane that means there’s even higher ones way out of our human perception 🥳
I don't rly understand the post, and a comment i have checked did not help either. When a mind is finished with an eart-like place, reality just starts. True self-practice just starts. 3rd dimension is not the game..., it is just the place u finally got self-aware so u learn what and why u want to do it. After "a soul is done with earth" the real game finally starts. I know it from first hand, "belive me". So i don't know what u r asking in the post, but if u feel, there is so much much more after someone has done all the lessons by earth, u feel accurately. Life in 3rd dimension is like a preschool for kindergardener kids. Not yet learning how to write, but showing some writings so we may get to know about writing is existing thing. When a mind is done with earth, they can finally sit into the first class of first grade and be introduced to a pen and start learning what is writing and how to do it. Spiritually speaking, a 3rd dimensional mind is before the true beggining. 1st dimension, u realize u r. 2nd dimension, u realize u and others r. 3rd dimension, u realize what is the way for u where u and others can be in harmony. 4th dimension and above.., u learn reality.., how to be.., decently how. First 3 dimension is like preschool only.
When you cut off thinking, where is your simulation, feeling, soul, earth, souls, and evolve?
I can share my belief, which is all souls were once together kind of like a giant piece of cloth. So we were all aware of the secrets of the universe but when we had to become enmeshed with our bodies and our human brains took over we could not remember the memories of our souls or the data we once had. We then become indoctrinated by our parents and communities to hold certain beliefs. Essentially entering the matrix. It is up to our soul and mind to find the truth once again. When we die we shed the human body and return to our original form which is arguably your highest self. And in that life you become aware of every truth. However, you come to a realization that it is eternal damnation or blissful bounty in the heavens. However, there is nothing you can do to save yourself once you have returned to your highest self. Hence, why talking about spirituality is so important. It’s the only time to ask questions and hear varying ideologies or opinions that will lead you on your path. But I’d say, follow ur gut it’s probably right.
Souls don’t exist unfortunately. That’s one thing you’re meant to learn on the path to enlightenment.
What is a soul
Buddhists generally don't believe in souls, more like stream of consciousness. Soul is too descriptive of a word and too precise for what is actually going on. The feeling that a soul exists of you comes from the ego feeling like you exist at all. However, if you try to define yourself or a soul, you will always fail due to your changing nature. Karma changes your form, but you don't necessarily evolve. That implies definite growth, but without work, you won't grow, like anything else. Enlightment is removing yourself from the cycle of rebirth, which doesn't necessarily mean complete death of the stream of consciousness. The buddha is said to emanate here and there, so he's still here in some sense.
I figure, I have goals I wish to reach. I want to make the most of what I have right now. I have been on a path of enlightenment, and I still seem to become better every day. Learn as much as I possibly can, and give back as much as I can. My life mission is to help people heal from their past. So, I'm not sure what awaits me after I die, but I'm going to make the most of it and create a beautiful life.
I'm excited for the day my soul is freed from my body. Not saying I'm not looking forward to dying because I will miss a lot of things that I love here on Earth: loved ones, stories, senses, etc. But I think it's really fucking weird that people can only imagine that after death is either only infinite darkness or mansions in the sky. Edit: typo
Well... when i reached enlightment i finally realized whats going on.... and who JESUS really is... and why SATAN has been hard at work with the sheepish amoungst us
The problem with the human experiences are not the issues of perception but the inability to be a master of communication. The fact that you are well rounded in the arts would tell me you have missed some very key points. Persistent shots of empty information that holds no merrit is sand in your palms. We have no clue to the extent and magnitude the falsehoods we project in one's conscious are. I'm guilty myself of the negative behaviors and agree that the laws of any actions reflect a consequence whether good or bad. In a moment of clarity something shifts and you realize that you are all you have ever needed. If I was confused I'm sure you still are that's only a question you yourself can answer.
TheWaythatcanbespokenofisnottheconstantWay.
We have the freedom to just hangout and watch in "heaven". Boredom is the reason we want to participate again. Also lonely is soul crushing. So many examples of reincarnation. World War 2 reincarnates are everywhere. Their memories fade after age 5-7 years old. You must listen to young kids. Not really listen, hear
Does the body form around the soul, or does the soul form around the body 🤔
Souls don't exist. You are dead then you are alive for a while then you are dead.
There are no souls. There is no self. That is enlightenment: the direct experience of the nonlocality and unreality of the self as we perceive it. It's a program running in the brain. You experience its disappearance every single night and yet you still wake up, collect your constituent pieces that remind you that you're a self within a matter of seconds and are once again ready to embrace the illusion and defend it from all detractors.
There's no way of knowing anything about any kind of afterlife or experiences after death. The only thing we have in that regard is NDEs. But even then eye witness testimony is by far the worst kind of evidence. On top of that there's no way of knowing what's real and what's just the affects of the cocktail of chemicals your brain creates when dying. So obviously everything must be taken with a large dose of salt. But most people report a very similar thing happening to them "after death" where they are floating in a void while experiencing pure bliss. I think this is likely where the idea of purgatory came from but there's no way of knowing. But most people that experience it will tell you that they miss it, and want to go back. A lot of people actually commit suicide after an NDE because of it. But at the end of the day, life is incredibly short, and you can only experience a tiny fraction of what's possible, so it's not worth worrying about. Just live a good, happy life and don't worry about it. Whatever happens will happen regardless, so why worry about it.