Hi all. I'm still progressing on my journey - or so I thought until I had a conversation with a Redditor here (you know who you are!) which propelled me into a sudden realization.

I was at the point where the realization dawned on me that "everything cannot exist. but because it does, everything must also exist." Which made no logical sense, but there was an

emptiness before thought, before words. At the heart of things. Before even things came into being.

That was what was understood as awakening.

I was all set to progress through more stages and models, but I also realized that if I wanted more obstacles, there would be obstacles. Why not just settle into the is-ness of Being?

A lot of what was read before (Angelo Dilulo, Eckhart Tolle, Zen etc etc) all made more sense. It felt that it had been comprehended more deeply.

(a chance post on the AtR blog made sense - you can only get to this AFTER anatta. Before anatta, it doesn't make sense = how can everything exist because it does not exist?)

There was a sense of knowing in the body (and spirit) of what was emptiness, dependent origination, all that stuff. I'm still processing it now - but there is also the asking - what is there to process? Inherent nature is the same as it has always been. Now the veil is just parted. .

I haven't felt the need to do self-inquiry since, just settling into Being. I do have more questions, but I thought I would post this first. (I'm also trying to let my questions answer themselves by quieting the mind. The voices still speak to me but they seem more integrated into myself.)