Leo Gura

No, but perhaps they could become sentient if the mechanics of the design were correct. You probably wouldn't think of a virus as sentient, but you (mankind) supposedly evolved from something like a virus. It's not fair to compare 100 years of computer evolution with 2 billion years of human evolution. My current theory is that given that everything is one substance -- consciousness -- this one substance, if enfolded in on itself in the right ways, will create sentience. The question then would be, what is the correct type of enfoldment? One enfoldment creates a rock, another enfoldment creates a virus, another enfoldment creates a tree, another enfoldement creates a human baby, another enfoldment creates Skynet, another enfoldment creates a demigod, etc.

Even if that's the case, that doesn't mean a computer cannot develop sentience just as biological machines (humans) have. Don't create it artificially. Create it genuinely

Once you realize that everything is consciousness, including the sidewalk, your coffee table, and your PC, you might be more open to the possibility that a PC can develop self-awareness. From my current understanding, consciousness can involve itself to create anything. Of course a self-aware computer will probably not be one running Windows. It will have to be much more sophisticated. This issue is an open question. We simply don't know yet whether it is or is not possible.

@kuwaynej A few hairs of the ox's tail

@Ramu 5-meo is very very rare. It's very difficult to extract from plants, and production of it was banned in China in 2015, which has led to a world-wide shortage. The market for 5-meo is very small to begin with because it's not a recreational experience so demand for it is low. There are many other "lesser" psychedelics worth exploring which are much easier and cheaper to get: LSD, mushrooms, N,N-DMT, mescaline, etc. See my blog for a full list. You're better off getting your feet wet with the lesser ones any way. They are still extremely powerful and life-transforming. Always start with tiny doses and do copious research before you ingest anything. Yes, don't do salvia without a sitter because you lose motor control on it. Most other psyches aren't like that and can be done safely by yourself if you know what you're doing.

I want to keep the forum tight. If we have too many sub-forums, discussions get diluted, critical mass isn't reached, and the whole forum starts to feel like a ghost town. If we have a lot members discussing psychedelics, we can create a sub-forum for it. But for how, this setup is best.

It's not strange at all when you realize what Absolute Infinity is. It's ABSOLUTE, and it's INFINITE. Which means... EVERYTHING! There's nothing left unexplained. EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING! Because there's nothing to stop it. Your mind cannot comprehend this, because the mind thinks in terms of limits. You still assume reality has limits. It doesn't.

Yes, ego will find a way to twist every spiritual fact to serve it's self-agenda. Cause that's what egos do. And they don't care about how they do it. If they can co-opt lofty "spiritual" ideas, all the better. Who would think of questioning an ego that was acting in the name of God or Jesus or Buddha or "decency"? Perfect cover for the ego from doing self-inquiry. The whole point of religion -- and all ideology really -- is to avoid self-inquiry. It's been honed for this function for over 2000 years, and it does a damn fine job of it.

From my experience, people under 25 years old are not mature enough to get value out of coaching. And getting coaching on someone else's dime is problematic. Part of the point it that you're willing to invest in yourself.

Depends on your income level and your ambitions. If you work at Starbucks and you have low ambitions for your life, then no. If you make over $50,000/yr and have huge ambitions for your life and are looking for every advantage you can get, then yes. I've hired coaches to coach me, I will probably continue to in the future. My biggest bottleneck with coaching is that I don't have the for time. I mean, I don't have time to get coached. The key reason a coach is helpful is because it's very difficult sometimes to see your own problems objectively. You can know all the self-help theory, but that won't necessarily help you step outside yourself in the way a coach might do for you. Of course finding a great coach is important too. Keep in mind that all world-class performers in business or sports make use of coaches liberally. Because their job depends on it. Average people are lazy and unambitious, so coaching is lost on them. To make best use of a coach, you should already know a good bit of self-help theory, so you can come to them and say: "Here's exactly what I need you to help me accomplish. Here are all my psychological problems." You're never too good to get coached, because coaching is NOT about filling your mind with theory. Theory is 1% of this work. The other 99% is implementation, and that's where you need most help. Do not confuse my videos for coaching. I'm not a coach in the videos. I rant at you.

Of course nondual teachings need to be tailored to the culture and the time in order to be most effective. Which is what created all the religious diversity in the first place. But the key reason people can't pick up Zen, even in California, is because American culture is so materialistic, juvenile, toxic, and corrupt, that it's basically turned into idiocracy. And now our job is to teach Zen to materialistic frat-boys. Good luck to us.

Meditation is of course good. The reason I said the above is so that you focus on the self-inquiry aspect of this work. You can bring the meditation back in later, after you're got a handle on why you're meditating. Too many people meditate without understanding the true point of meditation. Or they attain meditative states and confuse them with enlightenment.

@ari Sounds like you smoked a bunch of it, and it was way too much way too fast for you.

@PureExp You're wasting precious time. Start by sitting down and asking yourself, "What am I?" The rest will follow. Without that, you won't be able to hear an advanced yogi even if he is lecturing at you through a megaphone. The only thing standing between you and You, is you. Nothing is hidden.

That's an important point to ponder. Reason is largely used for purposes of persuasion, both persuasion of others, but also of self. That's why in epistemology justification and normativity are critical concepts to study. Normativity is why most people want to employ reason. They want to be able to say: "Because of X, everyone must do Y." Normativity is what allows reason to apply universally to all people and beings. Which is grave mistake. Because in reality, everyone can reason however they want. And one's reasoning largely aligns with one's egoic agenda. Note that it's very rare that someone employs reason to argue against their self-interest. This fact alone should make you very suspicious of reason. Reason's job is to make reasonable whatever serves the ego most. Which is why even a rapist, Nazi, or mass murderer will have a great set of reasons for why he did what he did.

To become so conscious you "exit" the body entirely. The body/mind dies. You become the infinite, I would assume, or move on to another non-ordinary reality frame. I wouldn't worry about it. You're a million miles away from that right now and it's not something egos should deliberate upon. Such things are not to be discussed publicly. It's for truly advanced yogis only who know what they're doing. No one here is an advanced yogi, so we have to know our limits. Some things in this work you cannot properly evaluate until you're deep into the work.

That may happen too. No, that's something entirely different.

You can awaken from it permanently. To awaken from a dream is to realize it isn't real. But life will still continue because life isn't separate from nothingness. Nonduality includes duality. Of course that body/mind could kill itself or perhaps "ascend". There are many reports of people ascending. So that may be an option. But don't get ahead of yourself. Catch a glimpse of what you are first.

@Phrae Thanks, that issue has been fixed.

@bobbyward Yes, that's how it seems to work. Mushrooms become much deeper after 5-meo, in my experience.

@Flow With Life Now that's Big nonduality. Good work, grasshopper!

That's it right there. You're overlooking the obvious. Make that your life purpose. And now, go create the outlet! Outlets take years of strategic thinking and design. No one is going to hand you an outlet. You're not even gonna know what the outlet should look like at the start. If you did, you'd already have solved half the problem. The problem is that people have very obvious passions/interests/values, but then don't take themselves seriously, they don't have enough vision to follow up on it and to work it. Their vision is too short-sighted.

@dice I've struggled with chronic fatigue for a long time too. I've gone to doctors and tried to optimize many other things to no avail. Right now I'm experimenting with energy and psychic healing. The verdict is still out. Energy blockages and getting stuck in your mind can definitely be a leading factor for chronic fatigue. I wouldn't say 5-meo has helped me with chronic fatigue, although it did release a LOT of neurotic energy stored throughout my body. My philosophy is: I'll take every optimization you can get, because I need it. Sometimes you gotta settle for incremental gains and partial solutions. My positioning your mediation habit right after a short daily nap. Chronic fatigue is a very complex, messy syndrome. There are hundreds of possible factors. So keep troubleshooting it while staying hopeful.

If you liked that, wait till you get a glimpse of the real shebang

@WaveInTheOcean For someone as smart as Sam Harris, doing psychedelics on a row boat, by himself, in the middle of lake, has got to be one of the dumbest things conceived by man.