>>40216368
I prefer to aim for the most transcendent possible idea of enlightenment, where it really does put an undeniable permanent end to stress and suffering, and never get it rather than settling for anything less.

>the dreamer has a deep knowing of the unreality
See I've kind of had that. It's the "weird dissociation" I mentioned above. For a while and on several occasions I suddenly felt very viscerally that the world, everyone in it, and even my own body were fake, unreal, and empty. It was like I suddenly woke up in the twilight zone, like the world was a small mechanical toy with no substance, and my body was a small mechanical toy with no substance, and, on all sides, just out of sight, behind and inside every visible surface, there was an infinite perfectly peaceful void whose presence I could feel very clearly. It was disturbing, mystical, and weirdly comforting. And I also had lots of subjective synchronicities around that period that made reality seem dreamlike. But it didn't last, and considering it was set off by intense anxiety I think it could be more neurological, like a built-in biological defense mechanism, than anything truly transcendent. But it makes me wonder if it's the same sort of thing that inspired Buddhism, or at least some aspects of Buddhism, except the early Buddhists gave more credence to the experience than I have.

It might seem weird to suggest that the Buddhists were getting an experience through intense concentration and relaxation that I got through the exact opposite, intense anxiety, but neurology is weird, and that kind of horseshoe effect doesn't seem totally implausible to me.

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What's the quickest path to enlightenment? Are there any shortcuts to enlightenment?