Leo Gura

@Deutsche22 You'll need to be extra-strategic about your spiritual work in this case. Use the most powerful techniques like: Psychedelics Kirya yoga 10-day retreats etc.

No, no, no. The ego self is your physical existence. The idea that were born and are alive. The no-self is death of that. Imagine that one day your life just ended. Like you were never even born. But your body keeps on living. That is enlightenment. What people fail to understand about enlightenment is that "being alive" and "being born" and "physical existence" are just IDEAS! And once you realize they are IDEAS, all of reality will unravel and your life will collapse into Infinity. Physical existence is not a fact. It is an IDEA.

Yup, sad. That's what happens when materialism goes to its fullest conclusion. It is totally hollow, and the more successful you become, the more you start to see the truth of that. Most poor people are lucky because they will never get successful enough to realize just how pointless success is. It's very hard to believe unless you actually start to experience this phenomena for yourself. After you get all of the material stuff you most-wanted, the very next day will be the worse day of your life. So be ready for that. Have an escape plan. Materialism corrupts creativity because creativity is a spiritual pursuit.

Enlightenment Intensives are very.... INTENSE. They will definitely push you hard and you will grow in more ways than one. Ralston's teaching style is very advanced. He doesn't coddle you at all. Most people will not get the depth of what he has to offer because he doesn't present it in an easily accessible, mainstream-ized way. But the Enlightenment Intensive is just dyads. You do not get any "teachings" or theory during an Intensive. It's just a week of pure self-inquiry in a very structured setting, with partners.

@dharm4 Indeed

I'm not sure why 5-MeO seems to not work on certain people. Or it works much less effectively. Probably has something to do with differences in brain physiology and also innate spiritual attunement. My guess is, not all human brains are equally susceptible to 5-MeO-DMT. I'm guessing you need to have the right structures already present in the brain which can utilize the 5-MeO, otherwise not much happens. Either you require large dosages or maybe this chemical is just not the right one for you. Do you have a high tolerance to other psychedelics like LSD or mushrooms? 20mg of 5-MeO should produce radical shifts in consciousness. You may want to experiment with smoking/vaporizing it. Just be careful with dosage. Smoked dosages need to be MUCH smaller. Start with something like 5mg smoked, then work up to 10mg, then 15mg.

Thanks everybody!

We already have a Mega-Thread about this topic in Consciousness sub-forum.

That's how we get wise.

And what if all of these conspiracy concerns are just a false flag operation masterminded by a race of Troll-people who live deep under ground to rise up and take over mankind? Allow me to pull out my Glenn Beck chalkboard and connect some dots for you... The Clinton Foundation, working closely with the Globalists, have been sending emails deep down under the Earth's mantle, as evidenced by their email server in Hawaii near the volcano. Now you ask, "But Leo! Why would Hilary Clinton want to ally herself with the Troll-people?" This should be obvious: They are both pedophiles. How do we know this? They both like to eat pizza. Which their child slaves bake for them in the underground volcanic pizza ovens. Why do you think the US has such a strong military presence in Honolulu? To keep the Troll-people in check, of course. Now you say, "Yeah, Leo, it sounds so silly when you put it like that." But that's just what they want you to think! It's precisely because it sounds so absurd that they can get away it! P.S. Check out my new Alpha-Male-Bro multivitamin pack coming the Actualized.org store. It's got calcium which we extract from the crushed skulls of arctic baby seals. We crush their skulls by hand to make sure the bone dust is 100% pure, unlike all the other brands. Make sure to buy a few year's supply because these suckers are flying off the shelves and you never know when those Troll-people will shut down the internet as the first step in their quest for world domination. Because they know that step #1 to subduing the population is by reducing their calcium and testosterone levels, turning them into effeminate beta-cucks, allowing the government to take away all our automatic weapons.

Even if they are true, they do not belong here because they are distracting. Even if the CIA killed JFK, what does that change for you? Nothing. Now you just become more paranoid and judgmental. Whatever the CIA is hiding, your own mind is doing even more such hiding within you. Allowing for discussion of conspiracy theories quickly devolves into Alex Jones -type nonsense. BTW, I think it is totally plausible that the CIA or some other internal elements of the government killed JFK. But that is irrelevant, and all it boils down to is speculation. The fact is, there's a lot we don't know about the world.

Yes, the effects could be due to lack of oxygen due to an initial increase in oxygen, which then leads to an even greater increase in CO2, which is what then produces the beneficial effects. The reason I am unconcerned about this is because this is technical minutia. It does not matter to me if this technique ultimately works via net total oxygen deprivation. I have done enough research to see that the technique is reasonably safe and beneficial for the majority of people doing it responsibly. BTW, early Christian Baptism worked by submerging the head underwater until the person nearly drowned. Triggering a near-death experience. That is real mysticism for ya. Spiritual techniques can be pretty hardcore. And I don't consider Shamanic Breathing anywhere near as dangerous. Having technical knowledge does not reduce ignorance nor increase wisdom. You could have the CO2 mechanism right, but your conclusion about not doing Shamanic Breathing could still be wrong. This would be the greater mistake. My concern is not debating scientific minutia (which is always subject to error and misleading interpretations such as you are doing) but with high-level, holistic understanding -- which is where my advice comes from. My advice is never based on technical studies, but on a deeper holistic intuitive understanding of reality. What you are claiming as scientific fact is actually your interpretation. You are misusing science by taking it so much on face-value, without proper context. You are ignoring the extent to which your mind is interpreting "the facts". I did not take any corrective action because none is needed. What I did was address your concerns by pointing out that you are taking your science out of context. Obviously you disagree, and you're free to do so. Tens of thousands of people have done Shamanic Breathing without damage in workshops all over the world. That is proof enough for me. This isn't rocket science.

Mmmmm... The God of Omelets

@blazed

A) My fame level is tiny compared to his. B) It has been challenging managing even my tiny level of fame. Fame is like jet fuel for the ego-mind. It worsens all of your basest proclivities. I have to be very mindful not to get the fame go to my head, and still, sometimes it does. C) I have been doing lots of personal development work unlike most successful people, so I can do a self-diagnosis much better and I know what all the solutions and traps are, so I know what to do if things get really bad. D) Low to moderate levels of fame are actually quite nice, as long as you are spiritually mature and you aren't chasing after it. It's the mega-levels of fame where things can start to get ugly. Tom Cruise levels of fame are toxic, I think. You don't want everyone in the world to recognize you.

A) Awakening to Truth does not necessarily end all suffering or pain. B) Chemical addictions (like alcohol) can be very stubborn and will not change by seeing Truth alone. C) There are many degrees of awakening. While Alan Watts clearly had some degree of awakening, I doubt he had Buddha-like abiding nondual awareness or a perpetual state of Nirvana. D) Awakening alone WILL NOT transform or develop the self. It will not clear all the chakras, all the bad habits, it will not fix all the mind's neuroses, it will not make you a good person, and it will not produce emotional mastery or life mastery. Many psychological problems can be distinct from existential understanding. E) After awakening, life must go on. Boredom can still set in and alcohol could be a nice distraction for some. After all, what is there to do, really? After awakening there is no need to do anything. There is not even the need to do good or be good. F) You have no control over anything. Whatever happens is inevitable. Alan Watts had no ability to stop anything. Whatever the universe has in store for you, is what will happen, and you are surrendered to that. Basically, stop expecting enlightenment to make you superman or a saint, or to fix all your Earthly problems.

As I said in the blog: No

– Jack Kornfield, Author of A Path With Heart and 11 other books, world renowned Meditation Teacher, Founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center P.S. If this was a cult, I would have kicked you out myself, or not allowed you to leave

The body and mind has addictions and habits which will continue long after enlightenment in many cases. Of course enlightenment is helpful for getting you more consciousness over your addictions, but that doesn't automatically end addictions. Alan Watts seemed to have some degree of awakening and yet seemed to be an alcoholic. After various awakening experiences I've had, my internet and smartphone addictions, for example, did not magically disappear. I could still feel the mind and body mechanically reaching for my phone or the internet. The brain's job is to maintain the body's survival, and that means lots of bias towards homeostasis regardless of whatever truth you've just seen. After all, after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. The dream must go on, and as long as you're inside the dream, you are subject to it rules.

Your individuality, post-awakening, will be grounded in being the entire universe. You can't get more unique and individual than that! But that includes every atom and every other living being that has ever existed or will ever exist. Your little ego will dissolve as if it never existed, and then "you" will just be the universe. What you experienced there on mushrooms was a step in the right direction, but still far shy of total nonduality, at which point even the thought or memory of ever being an ego makes no sense any more. You become so universal that there is no difference between living and dying as a body. In total nonduality it makes no sense to even ask the question, "Where will I go after I die?" Because you are forever infinite and cannot die.

A very common issue for artists. Confusing success for growth/happiness is one of the biggest traps there is. Nearly all mega-successful people fall into it. Which is WHY they're mega-successful. People who realize that success != happiness would never work so hard to accumulate the mega-success that people like Avicii get, because it often comes at a great expense to one's happiness and sense of peace. Of course this problem is made even worse with the low-consciousness club party culture in which Avicii swam. We have all the big name DJs here in Vegas. I often wonder how they can keep playing night after the night, the same stuff. After a year or two of that, it must become the lamest job in the world. Seems like he was at least wise enough to stop touring several years ago. The problem is that most such people don't even know there is any other dimension to life besides the material and the creative one. The spiritual dimension is not considered seriously because religion and science have made such a mockery of spirituality.

Hehe, that's the whole problem of life: you have a finite amount of time and an trillion different directions to explore. It's almost like you'd have to be God to explore them all Talk about a quality problem.

The Truth is one. That's not the issue. There is a pragmatic issue: how permeated is your mind & life by the Truth? To what degree are you aware of it? How deeply do you see/feel it? What is your everyday level of consciousness? Which facets of the Truth has your mind understood, and how deeply?

Conspiracy theories are against Forum Guidelines. They are a distraction from our work here.

Cause under the materialist, rationalist paradigm such things are impossible. So why invest billions of dollars in hocus-pocus?