3: How did you, and how can someone experience nirvana/enlightenment??

First off, I changed this question that was originally worded, “reach” with “experience”. I did this because I feel that ‘reach’ implies a level or even a constant level, when in reality it’s more like going out of town. You go, but you come back. Since we were ‘born’ in this ‘town’, it’s safe to say that we belong here. That being the case, I’m in no way suggesting that anyone try to visit the ‘town’. In fact, my interpretation of studies would say that many people have actually gone, but none fully came back! In Joseph Campbell’s book, ‘Myths to Live By’ he interviewed people that had undergone a certain type of, paranoid schizophrenic delusion, as defined by their doctors. The one’s that were coherent described a similar experience to mine. The difference being is that when I was being bombarded with information, I was able to let it pass through, thanks to practicing meditation. Without that, it’s very easy for me to understand why those patience are institutionalized. Another advantage I had going in was that I understood the symbolic meanings communicated to me. That being said, I believe that anyone, at any moment ,can experience enlightenment/nirvana. Anyone can fly too just do a running jump off of a building. In this case, meditation would be like flying, it’s needed for the landing.

Luckily, unlike the ‘victims’ above, I was also consciously seeking enlightenment through the practice of my interpretations of Buddhism, and Yoga. A little more specifically I was doing good things for people when I could, meditating, doing yoga, I was born vegetarian, I was reading a variety of religious texts and questioning everything. One of the most powerful things that I learned from my experience is that you can’t rationalize your way into enlightenment. Rationalization is a very ‘male’, projective, yang type of thing that is promoted by most religion. Most religion, including Buddhism denies our ‘female’, receptive, yin side. The thing is that that’s contrary to the trigger, feeling. The thing that took me to the state was the ‘feeling’ of wanting to go away in combination with the focus of thought to do the same. It was a perfect blend of yin and yang, male and female, projection and reception. I immediately noticed the void of the female in most religion and relating that is one of my main goals in communicating this text.