| Andrew Cohen has a magazine with this title. He | | | | a human being. |
| claimed that he was enlightened but said that he | | | | During it, time stops. I would have a feeling of |
| had doubts about it all the time. So his definition of | | | | eternal peace while feeling it. Eternal is a powerful |
| it included having doubts about himself. I am | | | | word, but it was a renowned psychologist whose |
| certain that I am not enlightened and have no | | | | book describes the flow as absolute. When you |
| doubts about it. But I am also certain about what | | | | feel it, you know that it is the secret of life or |
| enlightenment is. It is available to practically every | | | | the meaning of life. It is supreme. It is being one |
| person, but it is optional. This article could also be | | | | with the universe. So I would think about how if I |
| called East Meets West. | | | | could play volleyball all the time, without stopping, |
| In psychology, they have the flow experience. | | | | for the rest of eternity, then I would be really |
| There are a few books on it like, Flow: The | | | | happy. Of course that is impossible. But it can be |
| Psychology of Optimal Experience (© 1990) | | | | felt while doing nothing at all. Millions of people |
| by Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (last name | | | | around the world do meditation where they are |
| pronounced "cheeks sent me high"). Dr. Seligman | | | | doing nothing at all, physically. |
| (former president of the American Psychological | | | | A Harvard Medical School professor (Herbert |
| Association) calls him "one towering figure in the | | | | Benson, M.D.) has written a classic book on |
| social sciences." The first line of this book says | | | | meditation called The Relaxation Response (1975) |
| "Twenty-three hundred years ago Aristotle | | | | which is now being taught in many medical |
| concluded that, more than anything else, men and | | | | schools. Meditation creates a unique physiological |
| women seek happiness." | | | | state where your breathing and heartbeat are |
| In his book, Authentic Happiness (2003), Dr. | | | | slower than when you are sleeping. This book |
| Seligman (author of a dozen books on | | | | teaches that the very purpose of technology is |
| psychology) describes the flow experience like | | | | to make life easier so that people will experience |
| this: "When does time stop for you? When do | | | | less stress. But it explains that it is not working |
| you find yourself doing exactly what you want to | | | | since people are now feeling more stress than |
| be doing, and never wanting it to end? Is it | | | | ever before. So enlightenment is the ultimate |
| painting, or making love, or playing volleyball, or | | | | state that a human can achieve. An enlightened |
| talking before a group, or rock climbing, or listening | | | | person is someone who is in the flow experience |
| sympathetically to someone else's troubles?" | | | | to the infinite degree all the time. This is |
| The back of the book, Flow, says "These | | | | enlightenment |
| investigations have revealed that what makes | | | | If those ancient scriptures are correct, then you |
| experience genuinely satisfying is a state of | | | | will be feeling that infinite feeling the next time |
| consciousness called flow-- a state of | | | | you go to sleep even though you do not |
| concentration so focused that it amounts to | | | | remember it when you wake up. Several years |
| absolute absorption in an activity." Absolute is a | | | | ago, the singer Mariah Carey had a nervous |
| mighty powerful word. It is used to describe God. | | | | breakdown and she said that it was due to lack |
| People can experience the flow at different | | | | of sleep. Some people have asked if someone |
| degrees. I would play volleyball for hours and feel | | | | could be enlightened and not know it. So you can |
| it during the whole time but at different degrees. | | | | see from the above that there is no doubt at all |
| Sometimes for a few minutes I would experience | | | | that you would know it if you were enlightened. I |
| the flow experience to the infinite degree. This is | | | | would also read non-fiction books for hours since I |
| the greatest thing that a human being can feel. | | | | would feel the flow experience, but not to the |
| A woman had a near death experience and | | | | infinite degree. |
| wrote a book about it. She said that while she | | | | Where does this experience come from? It does |
| was dead she felt something nicer than she ever | | | | not come from the brain. The science of |
| felt when she was alive. This was her encounter | | | | cosmology teaches that if someone wants to |
| with the flow experience. To feel it to the infinite | | | | know how long it took before the physical world |
| degree, feels totally perfect. It is common for | | | | was created or how far do things extend beyond |
| people to never experience it while alive. Although, | | | | the physical universe, these questions have no |
| the most ancient scriptures known to man say | | | | meaning. Time and space are only attributes of |
| that people feel it while in deep sleep. This flow | | | | the physical universe, not the non-physical |
| experience to the infinite degree is at the core of | | | | universe. |