Here are a few definitions i found:
**captivation: a feeling of great liking for something wonderful and unusual
**a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation
**a magical spell
hummm

The Imagination,
The Power of Visualization,
Guided Imagery
The Secret
...This morning iam sitting wondering if Enchantment may be the ingredient necessary
to animate the thoughts or images we hold in our minds?

I combined Touch with Guided Imagery in order to boost the image.
To help activate the FEELING aspect of the image.
This post is pushing me to realize the importance of being enchanted with the imagery.
Magical...Magical thinking is necessary to consciously create...?

Like with athletes that visualize winning.
Without the spice of enchantment i bet it is not as effective?

If you consciously tell yourself to become enchanted with something,
it is interesting to FEEL how the body changes and where in your mind you go to...
Like is someone asks you to remeber something from long ago you will look up and to the right to access the information.

I would guess where you go in your brain to experience enchantment is what people call the third eye?

Hi cowabinga,

Looking up and to the right when remembering...I have heard this before but some people have opposite indicators...I have not studied this but I think it has something to do with which type of person you are for example someone who is more creative may be different than someone who is practical...something like that

Now to enchantment, it took me a day or so to think about this because I was feeling somewhat enchanted myself, thought maybe a spell had been cast on me...lol

anyway, to me enchantment is when you recognize something in another person, place, writing, whatever that you long for in yourself or perhaps already have but are out of touch with. Therefore you become enchanted with the place, person, writing etc to reconnect with that part of you, or try to see, read or connect more with the object that has bought it up in you.

so I guess I agree with your description,

Hi angelsbe2

This is fun isent it? I like these conversations.

Here is where i am with this idea.

I like how you worded it because this morning i was looking at through the lenz of

Male/Female

Boy oh boy are we enchanted with these roles!

I wonder if sex addiction is a spin off of over identification with these roles?

Enchantment gone bad...

I have been letting go of the role female

yesterday i went out to eat with my dad.

i was not daughter...it was so different not being his little GIRL.

I wish i had more time to contemplate how deep in the egoic muck i am in regard to

Being a Women...

Oh boy i gotta go

i was going to color my hair.

.....What if i was Male?

Yikes,

can you feel how your body begins to change at the thought?

Amazing.

Im enchanted with this whole magical world.

Look at all the advertising flashing on this screen.

Oh we have no problem being enchanted.

Advertising thrives on our...addiction to enchantment?

So we get the shoes the dress....and

it doesn't work.

Where is the Prince?

Or,

i sent my child to the perfect learning center.

Ya know, The one showing all the happy family's...

and my child...

How a Enlightenment...now isent that an enchanting idea?

Humm,

how we will advertise enlightenment?

Are we hard wired to seek enchantment?

... with what is up to us...

...hmm maybe male/female ...I wonder if it is underidentification with the opposite within ourselves, which is probably what you said in reverse....lol

I feel very female, does that mean I am underidentfying the male part of me, could be? Now you have got me thinking.... yin and yang and all that.

How lovely to sit with your dad not as his daughter but just being with him

You know sometimes I just feel like going without the hair color, I often go without the makeup, the plastic can stay in the toy shop I have no longing to have that but you know what it does feel luxurious to go to the hairdresser, be pampered for a while, a massage, pedicure every once in a while. I look better, feel better and am easier on the eye to others. It is nice to have someone notice you and smile for whatever it is they see in you. But is this ego or is it connection with self and others, maybe it is not the makeup, clothes or do, maybe it is the serenity, kindness, love they are picking up on that makes them smile. I've also dragged myself around with wrinkled, worn clothing, bedraggled hair, stressed body and face. I know which feels better, is this ego or a direct reflection of matching inside with outside?

I guess if someone has a sex addiction it is no different to food, alcohol, gambling, drugs, excercise, gossiping, they are all just expressions of the one need, loss of self.

I think if I were male i would have to have a sex change because it just doesn't feel right, doesn't match my inner being...although some people have called me a dog of the female variety because of what I see as assertion, but who says males are the only ones who can speak up, go for what they want...?

Don't forget sex can also be a power play in many ways, that is when it has gone mad for sure.

Eckhart also said, we are not whole at the level of form. We are male or female.
So we will feel that way...

male/female are also strong roles that we must play at the level of form...
so i can see how this can be hard to dis identify with.
I am exploring male/female deeper than i have in the past.

So enchantment...Do enlightened people live in a state of enchantment?
I am feeling enchantment to be like what Eckhart calls Joy...
3 keys to the Present Moment are
Acceptance, Enthusiasm and Joy.
He points out that enthusiasm is Joy with a goal.
Or how about your grandson, would you say he experiences enchantment?

I don't know about enlightened people feeling enchantment, who is enlightened?

Joy is a good place to be cowabinga, happy for you.

I am often in acceptance of what I don't particularly like, it is so much easier to live this way

Joy is something I usually feel when I am at home, alone or with my grandson, doing ordinary things

Enthusiasm I am still distinguishing the difference between this and excitement.

My grandson is definately enchanting, but look out at 2 when he is not accepting, tiny, tanty, time...lol. He is very enchanted with the world and all the new words, views and actions he masters which is where he is supposed to be don't you think?

If enchantment is reaching for something missing within ourselves I don't think enlightened people would live in that state because being enlightened they would have it within

How are you exploring male/female at a deeper level cowabinga?

Who's enlightened? Lets say Eckhart is...
Oh ya, i see enchantment in him.
Yep it is a child like feeling.

The differance between enthusiasm and excitement is
excitment usually is about the Future.
Where enthusiasm is in the now the future is not a motivator of the feeling.
Children naturally live more in the now, in enchantment?

Its just a word, what i feel it pointing to is the True meaning to what the heck is going on vs our egoic story about life's situations.
So i am incorporating more of a playful magical energy into the now.
Untill now  i needed to just see a chair, the door, a person, a dog etc...
Thats it!! no meaning at all, shut the mind down and look.
Now i am giving myself a little more freedom to play.

I am exploring the male/female thing deeper by using guided imagery to pretend i am a man.
It may not feel very deep to most but i do not have a brother or son
so i havent had to relate to men in a variety of ways...
I am mostly noticing how different it would be to be proud of being tough.
How mens conditioning is to be strong...Which had me realize how my conditioning is to be sweet.
Eckhart does say women naturally have less ego. That is why men had to lower her in order to win.
So it takes men longer to drop the ego,
that is why his classes are mostly women.

Play on cowabinga!

My head spins at the thought of using guided imagery to pretend I am a man, keep me up to speed on how you get on with that, it's interesting.

You know what, I am proud of being tough, sometimes, I definately feel strong most of the time and I don't know if I've ever been sweet, so it is more and more interesting to hear about your exploration.

For me I am loving love, freedom, truth, peace and connection, that's where I am right now and I like it and it feels joyful.

Rock on cowabinga!