Leo Gura

@Antonius Better to have too much knowledge than too little. You just have a lot to implement.

A) Spirituality is full of traps no matter how you slice it. B) This problem is solved through studying diverse sources and having maps like the Zen ox-herding pictures and Spiral Dynamics. The greater danger with the way you are presenting enlightenment -- as total mastery -- is that people will always fall short of the fantasy, including yourself. Which then produces guilt and suffering. What you are really talking about is totally emotional mastery, and that is VERY different than enlightenment. It is significantly harder and a lot of people can become very frustrated chasing that. This sort of all-or-nothing approach is counter-productive and fills newbies with fantastical ideas of becoming perfect human beings after awakening. The fact is, you will awaken long before you become a perfect human being. Because these are independent variables. By all means pursue mastery. But make a distinction between it and awakening. If your definition of enlightenment excludes Ramana Maharshi, Shinzen Young, Osho, etc. you might want to rethink your definition.

Firstly, many gurus are not at stage Yellow integral cognitive development. Secondly, it is against the guru's business and marketing self-agenda to expose you to 100s of diverse sources. It is in his business interest to create a captive audience, a monopoly. Thirdly, exposure to 100s of diverse sources was almost impossible before the internet age. Be careful not to take this for granted. These days you guys are spoiled rotten with 100s of sources.

@Arhattobe It is problematic to conflate the realization of Absolute Truth with the development and perfection of the human body/mind. These are two very distinct things. By making this conflation, as you say, no one is enlightened, because your definition of enlightenment has become an idealistic fantasy. There are many lines and stages of human development alongside many states and degrees of consciousness. Nonduality can be grasped at many depths, it has multiple facets, and the realization of all those insights will not automatically make you a perfect human being. The way we use the terms enlightenment/awakening on this forum is to mean: the realization of no-self, God, Infinity, or Absolute Oneness. That life is a dream. This can happen and you can still have all sorts of fetters, bad behaviors, and psychological stuff. In fact, that's almost guaranteed. We do not use the word enlightenment to mean, "The total purifcation of karma and mind", or total mastery. Total mastery is a pipedream for most people and will take you 30+ years of industrial-grade practice. Enlightenment occurs when one catches the Ox. Not at picture #10. This is why the ox-herding pictures and Spiral Dynamics are so useful.

The solution to emotions is to observe them mindfully. But of course this takes years of practice. There are also emotions of the higher self which pull you up to spiritual pursuits. But they are often drowned out by negative emotions like fear, anger, envy, greed, lust, etc.

The distinction between self/other is a concept, and it will collapse. Leaving only one thing: YOU! Your mother is a concept. In fact, she is actually you. You came out of your own vagina. Ta-da! Yes, this freaky to realize. It can feel like you're all alone. That's right! God is all alone. But do not confuse this with solipsism.

@Speedscarlet Of course. But "feeling better" is not a good measurement. Rather, how conscious are you of how your emotions manipulate you.

At good way to view emotions: Emotions are self-manipulations to maintain the self's survival agenda.

Part of the problem with Green is getting lost in relativity: "everything's relative so anything goes. Let's let criminals run loose and do whatever they want." No! All POVs have some partial truth, BUT not all POV are equally functional. Some POVs are really pathological, dangerous, and limiting to upward mobility on the Spiral. Green is a more evolved and healthier POV than Orange, but Green still has its limits and problems. Your Orange friend is slightly more deluded than you. And it can be useful to point out his delusion to him.

Remember that people below stage Green don't have much concern for environmental issues because their mind is preoccupied with more selfish things. So the root solution to climate change is to raise more people to Green cognitive development. Then, from that, the rest of the external solutions will follow. A Green populace will vote for green politicians and green energy. Climate change is really a problem of excessive Orange. As we can clearly see with Trump, who is in such denial about it.

And another from the same artist: http://glenneth.bandcamp.com/track/haze

Forming outside groups is against Forum Guidelines.

Psychedelics are not for cowards.

Psychedelics will cause bad trips. This is guaranteed if you do them enough times. The key is it doesn't matter. A "bad trip" is just part of the growth process.

To awaken on your deathbed is like to open your eyes as the credits start to roll at the theater. I cannot imagine a greater tragedy.

That is a solid glimpse of the ox's tail. Good job!

@Lauritz You saw one dust particle that flew off the tail of the Ox

@herghly Tis a good insight.

That's a serious dose. Welcome back

I am creating a new course, it will be awesome and it will be released sometime next year. No more details beyond that yet.

The Dark Night does not usually last for years. That is rare. Many people don't even get a Dark Night. When the Dark Night lasts a long time that is for people who have no theoretical foundation, no good guidance. By watching my videos and reading the books you should be able to avoid all that. P.S. Giving up your loved ones will be necessary regardless. All loved ones come and go. They do not last forever. Enlightenment requires you to surrender everything, but after that you come back and can appreciate it that much more. Detachment -- counter-intuitively -- heightens your capacity to love.

@kieranperez Rules trade certain freedoms for others. Rules are important for a society to function, but also rules must be well selected and you must understand why the rule was created. There is a big difference between following rules consciously vs unconsciously. And rules in society are much more appropirate than a rule-based personal morality. Your personal morality should not be rule-based but heart and consciousness centered.

@Mihael Keehl What you got there with the mushroom is a little taste of BEING. A tiny taste. You only skimmed the surface of the ocean that is psychedelia. Contemplation will come naturally at deeper levels. You have to distinguish between contemplation which is artificial and contemplation which is organic. At higher doses you will be hit with organic contemplations without any need of writing down lists of questions. What's most important is just genuine curiosity about reality, not a list of questions. The list of questions is good to make, but you do that BEFORE the trip, and you don't look at it during the trip.

Great thread idea