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