I can understand your disagreement, and shall not debate over
this here.
What I can share did not come through dreams or hearsay,
and is meant to be shared with all who are ready to know,
regardless of faith. There's a huge limitation in written
accounts. I can understand your admiration of Aaron, but
the Universe is far more complex that what he has experienced, or
what others' experiences had with him. Earth has a very long
history of spirituality, way before the time of Jesus and
Buddha. :)
There is a lot of sharing of articles on "I AM Presence" by
forumers. In reality, once that "I AM Presence" or "connection
within" or "soul connection" can be achieved, whether at times or
all the time, nothing is impossible on our physical Earth realm.
It's only the conscious mind that limits what can be done or
not.
I foresee there could be certain disagreements by forumers over
what I'm saying here, especially on the 'academic technicalities'
of "I AM Presence", but I'll just leave it here for all
who are open. Academic debates serve no real purpose, other than
feed the Self Ego. Everyone should aim to develop and experience
their full spiritual potential, and experience for themselves
what they can really do, and not limit their
potential based on negative programming of the mind.
However, I do agree that Buddhists should focus on realisation,
and the other core essences of Buddhism. It will help to remove the
negativity built up in people.
Rainbow Jigsaw of Life
What do you mean 'nothing is impossible on our physical Earth
realm'?
It is true that once you have access to the I AM Presence, there
may be some of those who simply see the non-local Source as a place
for them to tap mystical power over conventional reality. However,
then they miss the more important part of spiritual practice which
is of deepening their insight and enlightenment. That means they
tap the source not for enlightenment, but for mystical powers. My
understanding is that this would be a distraction from the main
goal (full enlightenment and liberation), maybe it can be of some
help in life, but not to over-emphasize on this aspect.
p.s. this is what Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching meant by 'Mysterious
and still deeper into the mysterious core, is the gateway of all
miracles':
The DAO that can be expressed
is not the eternal DAO.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal name.
“Non-existence” I call the beginning of Heaven and Earth.
“Existence” I call the mother of individual beings.
Therefore does the direction towards non-existence
lead to the sight of the miraculous essence,
the direction towards existence
to the sight of spatial limitations.
Both are one in origin
and different only in name.
In its unity it is called the mysterious.
Mysterious and still deeper into the mysterious core
is the gateway of all miracles.
p.s. the I AM Presence* I am talking about here is not some
sub-conscious part of psyche or something (that would be the 8th
Consciousness in Buddhism), rather it is the fundamental and
ever-present essence of one's Being, the undeniable sense of
Presence, Existence, Awareness - the ground of Being and Knowing.
Anyway this is not 'academic technicality', this is my current
experience and I am just mentioning to make sure my terms are not
misunderstood.
Bestseller book 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle available in
almost all major bookstores in Singapore is a good guide to get in
touch with the 'I AM Presence'.
*the I AM Presence/Eternal Witness is in mine and simpo's
terminlogy distinguished from the 'soul' or 'higher self' which is
a type of consciousness - particularly a form of subconsciousness
that serves as a 'storehouse' or 'alaya consciounsess', however
terms are interchangeable or in other words what you call 'higher
self' may not be what we mean by 'higher self' etc, as long as we
understand each other, that's good enough - these are two different
'realities' that can be experienced and are very different and
hence must be distinguished between each other:
(From last year's post by simpo/longchen)
This is a sharing. Nothing definitive. Just wanting to
stress something here.
During one meditation (many years ago) I had one experience
that might be what is termed as the alaya consciousness. By
comparision to normal state of consciousness, this state is very
subtle and profound. (To AEN, this is not the eternal witness
experience, but a different one).
In that state, one will feel that one knows the
purpose/reason of incarnation and that information of past-lives
are 'stored' there. It is like a very high vibration, vast
consciousness that holds 'seed intentions' and is aware of all the
rebirths.
Had i not come back to Buddhism, I will be stuck there
thinking that this is the ultimate purpose. This is where other
people from other practices and religion will term as Higher Self,
Oversoul or God. It is very easy to get stuck there as the
experience is so profound.
Sometime after that, I came back to Buddhism and have
experiences of the non-dual. Even so, for a period of time, i was
wondering, should i 'base' on the experience of the Alaya or should
i continue with the non-dual practice. It took me a long while to
realise that at the state of the Alaya, there isn't any realisation
of the non-dual. That state is seems as a supreme self (with vast
information/knowledge) but there isn't any understanding of the
non-dual nature of existence. Because of not realising that
non-duality is the basis of reality, 'it' functions in a certain
manner.
If all these is very confusing, please disregard this
post.
Just want to stress that Buddhism is extremely profound and
Buddha has covered areas that will leave virtually all other
mystics and meditators stuck in mistaken views. During meditation,
we will experience many different subtle experiences. Without
someone who has covered the entire territory, it is very easy to
get stuck at half-truths or mistaken views. The various experience
can move one off unto different paths away from
realisation.