Talking about spirituality with people who have not had stream-entry is like talking to virgins about sex. They can try to imagine what you're talking about but until they get laid, they have no fucking clue.
Before stream-entry, spirituality is only a collection of perspectives and unique experiences. After stream-entry, a fundamental crack has been opened in the fabric of your dream. You are never again the same.
And similar to getting laid, everything is a lot more intuitive after stream-entry. You can appreciate, for example, two seemingly contradictory spiritual teachings while receiving the truth conveyed by both. Having tasted the truth that is not words, words no longer get in the way of truth.
So, what actually is stream-entry?
Contemplate the following metaphor:
You've been binge playing a video game as a character for an unknowable amount of time. It's been so long in fact that you feel that you are the character. Their fears, desires, sense of self, plans for the future, and so on, are all yours. That character's world is your world.
Then, suddenly, your mom throws open the door to your bedroom and starts shouting about laundry and Fox news. You are jolted from the game and pause it. You do your chores and then go back to playing. Now when you think of "I" or "me," you don't feel like you are the character. This isn't to say the character feels separate from you or disappears. But now you can play the character more clearly, enjoy the character more vividly, without the anxious veil of identity confusion.
Stream-entry shatters the felt belief in a false self.
All of us live with a thing inside of us and we serve it like a slave. Do you want to learn to serve it better or to break free from servitude forever?
We seek that which gives this thing pleasure and we try to avoid that which gives it displeasure. It requires constant re-enforcement with contrived confidence and fragile security.
The things that make it happy are temporary and limited. The things that cause it suffering are endless.
And the whole time what do we call this thing? Me.
There is a point of tension within each of us that is used as a reference point to interact with our idea of ourself and our idea of the world. We have become accustomed to thinking of that point of tension as “I.”
It may seem harmless enough but this fundamental point of tension becomes ten thousand tensions. The tensions between ourself and our desires. The tensions between ourself and our fears. The tensions stored in the body by traumas and fixations and triggers.
The Good News is that there is an alternative to living in this grossly deluded state. Stream-entry is the beginning of the end for this entire mess.
Stream-entry is the first profound revelation on the spiritual path that changes everything from belief to direct experience. Sometimes called awakening, stream-entry should not be confused with final enlightenment/buddhahood/self-realization.
How is stream-entry achieved?
Any practice done correctly should theoretically get you there, however the real question is how to enter the stream efficiently and with clarity. That clarity is important because you can imagine how suddenly awakening from an identity you've held all your life might precipitate a severe existential crisis or even psychotic episode. As such, having a guide is an immense benefit.
While there are a number of methods available, the one technique I strongly recommend is The Two Part Formula (2PF). Follow the link for more information and a free ebook, titled "Awake!" by Kim Katami.
The 2PF is elegant in its simplicity and powerful in its effect. It is best undertaken in the context of guidance--someone who has had stream-entry using the 2PF and who will correspond with you daily until you have had stream-entry too. While I can guide, I do not have much free time these days but you are always welcome to check in with me and see if I'm available. Otherwise there is a website with a number of qualified guides whom I wholeheartedly recommend. Check it out here.
And lastly, what is the stream being entered?
It is the inevitable current that carries you all the way through to complete buddhahood.
LY
This is the second post of the Fundamental Dharma series.
Post 1: Spirituality is absolutely essential. Why? Because humans are awkward as fuck.
Post 2: Talking about spirituality with people who have not had stream-entry is like talking to virgins about sex.
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"In the same way, monks, for a disciple of the noble ones who is consummate in view, an individual who has broken through [to stream-entry], the suffering & stress that is totally ended & extinguished is far greater."
