I didn't realize the enlightenment would not last overnight. I'm glad I had written down some of the stuff from yesterday, and solicited a few witnesses. Today I tried to explain to someone, and I found myself somewhat confused at some minor points. Oh well, next time.

I don't think any of my friends might follow a similar path. In fact, they have already agreed with what I have to say (since there's nothing new than what the great masters from the past have not said). I only hope I don't alienate myself among my friends--I am already so vain and emotional.

Hmmm, I did not understand what you mean by "maya" until now. At first I thought you were referring to the other Maya. Very interesting.

Let me contemplate on what you say about "The Known, the Knowable, the Relative Unknowable, and the Absolute Unknowable".

It is difficult to say about "the absolute unknowable". For a moment I thought I knew all there was to know, since I was with "it". So if there is anything unknowable, then there's no way that I would know those unknowable exist; and then because I know there's no way I know they exist, in a way I "know". Hmmm, mind boggling. I had never given this a thought. I will have to write a "wish list" of questions for the next enlightenment.

(Maybe this is why some people strive to reach enlightenment, to get answers? And some people abandon everything after the first revelation, in order to seek the true enlightenment? I will have to say these people are less likely to achieve it. But then perhaps that is their way?)

I read this physics news yesterday. Not really related, but interesting, since you were talking about the feeling of two clusters of galaxies passing through each other ....

OUR UNIVERSE HAS A TOPOLOGY SCALE OF AT LEAST 24 Gpc, or about 75 billion light years, according to a new analysis of data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). What does this mean? Well, because of conceivable hall-of-mirrors effects of spacetime, the universe might be finite in size but give us mortals the illusion that it is infinite. For example, the cosmos might be tiled with some repeating shape, around which light rays might wrap themselves over and over ("wrap" in the sense that, as in video games, something might disappear off the left side of the screen and reappear on the right side). A new study by scientists from Princeton, Montana State, and Case Western looks for signs of such "wrapped " light in the form of pairs of circles, in opposite directions in the sky, with similar patterns in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background. If the universe were finite and actually smaller than the distance to the "surface of last scattering" (a distance that essentially constitutes the edge of the "visible universe," and the place in deep space whence comes the cosmic microwaves), then multiple imaging should show up in the microwave background. But no such correspondences appeared in the analysis. The researchers are able to turn the lack of recurring patterns into the form of a lower limit on the scale of cosmic topology, equal to 24 billion parsecs, a factor of 10 larger than previous observational bounds. (Cornish, Spergel, Starkman, Komatsu, Physical Review Letters, upcoming article; contact Neil Cornish, 406-994-7986, cornish@physics.montana.edu)

And because many of it is processed beyond the "normal" reach of the conscious, we can "summon our knowledge", sometimes and if we know how. Or perhaps it just happens, if we are lucky, and some external input triggers some of the treasures within to rise out of the Mist and shine in the light of Awareness: This is when Mind, and Consciousness, discover that there is more to our selves than we were aware of.

This is interesting because I somehow understand. I grew up as a Marxist, and was trained in a hard hard science. Although I had been open to these ideas, I had always been skeptical, and could never "buy" into them. And now, somehow, I know.

Actually, we could make a specialized website that would document that and document our, your and my interaction on the subject, to which we could redirect inquiries, creating some resource base about the pursuit of Enlightenment.

The site I have right now is: http://jorielle.blogspot.com/ . Yes, it would be very good to turn it into a specialized website. I haven't done the search to see if there have been any yet. But somehow, I know, our website can be very successful, because in a way I am quite "unique" because I can relate to a large number of people (adventurers, Chinese, geeks, immigrants, internet junkies, musicians, scientists, women, writers, etc.). For now, I have included some of our conversation back in 2001, and also my thoughts (in terms of emails to friends) related to my "pursuit", although I was not aware of what I was pursuing. You are welcome to comment on the content, the style, and anything, of it. It is still a work in progress.

I use the word "love" to describe this feeling of wanting to embrace, so it is the same as your "commune", "unite", "become one with". Now I firmly believe that the enlightenments are all the same.

Anyone who'd wish to explore this must read a book that was very hard to find (although by now someone has certainly put it on the Net :), and is not exactly easy reading: "The Infinite, the Universe and the Worlds", by Giordano Bruno (Yes, *that* Giordano Bruno, and fact is, he got burned at the stake *precisely* for writing this book - may his memory be blessed in all times and places!)

Is this the book? http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/brunoiuw0.htm

> Everyone has a right to choose his own way to celebrate life. Life is a personal experience. There is not better ways or more correct ways; there are only different ways.

And if only we could get the thumpers of all religions and belief systems to agree with that, the world indeed would be a much nicer place to be.

I guess this was what I wanted to do last time I experienced enlightenment--I wanted to create a universal "religion" to re-unite the whole humanity. You immediately told me you had some notes written on creating a universal "language", and I was not ready to believe you. Now I am not so ambitious, but I will try my best to bring people closer to this goal.

When I say the "differences in enlightenment", I only mean the personal limitation of the enlightenment. I know there is only one kind (one great ocean of light) and everyone who's been there experiences the same. But I notice the difference in my two encounters. The first time I did not know what happened when I was suddenly hit by it, and because of my limited personal experience (and knowledge) at that time, I say the "experience" or the "non-experience" was also limited although still ultimate. (Hmm, seems I am just playing with words and logic?)

When we "summon our knowledge", we often find out that we actually "know" a lot more than what was so far allowed by our limiting beliefs, that one prison imprinted in us by society at large, to keep us remaining the obedient robots our masters seek us to be.

True. True. True. No wonder I have always wanted to be "free". The ultimate freedom is when we are one with the being.

There shall be some action soon.

-- email to master.