Leo Gura

@Esoteric If I elaborated fully, you would probably call me crazy But I'll put it this way: I wouldn't be too surprised if I saw a yogi levitating Consciousness is not to be underestimated. Remember to be open. And if you read all the books on that list and maybe snort some 5-meo, you just might start to agree with me.

Yeah... This guy sure is doing a great job of NOT understanding nonduality. 1) Evil is a thought. It doesn't exist in the external world. Nothing is ever evil except in so far as it threatens a particular human ego. This is not a opinion, this is reality. And it's obvious to anyone with sufficient consciousness. Evil can only exist relative to an ego. 2) Solipsism is not nonduality. The guy in the video is committing the classic naive mistake of conflating nonduality with an ideology. It's not an ideology and never can be. To read a book about nonduality does not create any true knowing. 3) He claims that for solipsism (nonduality) there is no objective truth. This is false. There is ONLY Absolute Truth, which is Absolute Infinity. It's not merely subjective. It's utterly universal. So universal the human mind cannot even fathom it. 4) It is a fact that nothing can truly be known. We don't actually know what anything is. Everything is unknown. The mind only spins stories about it. 5) Evil stems from judgments and the kind of mindset this guy espouses. He doesn't understand unconditional love, nor does it seem he's ever experienced it because that requires high degrees of awareness which he doesn't seem to have. 6) This guy is ideological. 7) The woman was just being polite (and compassionate) with him not to flare up his obvious ego. 8) To a naive ego, nonduality appear egotistical, but actually the opposite is true. When I claim I am God, that's actually a very humble position. But the ego likes to attack that as arrogant. It's sad to see modern skeptics executing skepticism so poorly. He would be better off applying his own skepticism to himself. True skepticism means: suspension of all belief or judgment about truth, because it cannot be reliably ascertained through the mind. A real skeptic would be skeptical of judgments of evil. After all, how would he know a thing was truly evil? By what method? Moral judgments are the least agreed upon. 30 mg of 5-meo up his nose would solve his whole problem Nonduality can only be found directly through experience, not theorizing.

The problem is that true not-knowing isn't happening. You're just doing a mental circle jerk. You gotta really doubt what you think of as reality! You gotta really doubt that you are that body. Get serious! Right fucking now! What are you?!!! Do you know? Look at whatever you immediately identify as. Cut all the shit. Cut all the theory or answers you've heard. That's not what you actually identify with. You identify with that meaty body and monkey mind. So be honest about that and start your inquiry there, not in theory-land. You have to inquiry from a place of what actually feels true in your direct experience, not what you've heard is the right answer. When you ask yourself "What am I?", make sure you force a concrete experiential answer, not some vague idea like, "Oh, I'm everything." No! That's not true for you. In fact you identify with a body sensation or a mental image of yourself. So that's your answer. It's wrong, but an honest wrong answer is better than a dishonest right answer. You have to answer honestly, otherwise self-inquiry cannot work. This is why good spiritual teaches are loathe to give you any information or answers. Because they know it will put you in the current trap you're in. Now you gotta be wise enough to avoid the trap. How? Force honest answers. Then question them to see why you hold them and how they're ultimately false. Why do you identify with being a mental image or a body sensation? Who told you that's actually you? Question, question, question until you start to get a dawning sense that your self-image is totally arbitrary. There is absolutely zero proof that you are who you think you are. It's like a case of mistaken identity. The man who mistook himself for a coffee table If you get even 5 seconds of TRUE not-knowing of who you are, enlightenment is a hair's width away! But it has to be REA not-knowing, not pretend. Like -- REALLY -- you have no idea what you are! When you gonna admit it to yourself?

Yopo is actually quite different from pure 5-meo. It's mostly bufotenine, which is a whole nother critter from 5-meo, but still a highly visionary substance. Pure bufotenine, if extracted from Yopo, is some very powerful stuff! Pure bufotenine will make you hear spirit voices in your head, talking to you, telling you things. It's one of the few powerful auditory hallucinogenics. If you just do unextracted Yopo snuff, it won't be that powerful. You'll have to snort a ton of it to get a strong trip. Imagine snorting a gram of powder up your nose until you're throwing up from it. That's what the native shamans are forced to do cause they can't do a proper extraction. Extraction teks for Bufo can be found online. But check legality in your area.

@SBB4746 Easier but not easy. There's a reason people get enlightened and then spend 10 to 40 years deepening their practice. The ego is a tough son of a bitch, and it will still largely be there after enlightenment. You gotta polish it for decades. And just because you've had one enlightenment, that doesn't make the next enlightenment any easier. You don't really have control over such things. And being enlightened doesn't make you a good person. That takes WAY more work than even multiple enlightenments. You could be an enlightened thief, drug addict, molester, and asshole. There have been plenty of enlightened assholes throughout history. That is not the way.

Those are all good signs. You're definitely going in the right direction. The one trap to look out for is over-identification with any kind of phenomena, even the "spiritual" sort. So things like vibrant colors and positive moods, etc. Those are great, enjoy them. But always be asking in the back of your mind: "What is actually aware of these phenomena? What am I? What is perceiving all this? What was I before I was born?"

@UpperClassWhiteBoy Doing both is really what's needed for serious results: awareness + habits/action. Awareness feeds habits. And habits feed awareness. If you only focus on one or the other, you'll get much less than you would otherwise. 1+1=11 in this case. There are MANY very practical action steps you can take to catalyze and grow awareness. That's what all real spiritual paths are basically about: practical methods for creating massive levels of awareness rapidly.

A girl being sober doesn't make pickup easier, it generally makes it harder. When you really develop the skills and charm, you actually WANT girls who are sober, not drunk. Attracting sober girls is very easy when you know what you're doing. They aren't being attracted via coercion but seduction. Girls get attracted to guys just as easily as guys get attracted to girls. You don't need to be drunk to get attracted to a girl, do you? Neither does she.

@aurum Enlightenment is only the beginning. Not the end. And there's a ton of stuff to get enlightened on. Not just yourself.

Depends on your goals of course. But everyone's ultimate goal is simply this: fulfillment. And you can't get that through any other way but enlightenment. Of course it's important not to interpret this as me saying, enlightenment is all that matters and everything else is useless. That's not what I mean at all. There is much to learn and master besides enlightenment. But it will not lead to fulfillment unless enlightenment is reached. So of course positive focus and life purpose are still important and worth pursuing. But they will not complete you like enlightenment will. It's not possible to EVER be fulfilled if deep down you believe you are that body/mind. The body/mind must be transcended and put into their proper place. Right now the equation of life is upside-down. And no amount of lipstick will turn that pig into a swan. Although of course ordinary personal development is still WAY better than nothing. I'm a fan of this recipe: ordinary personal development + enlightenment work. Psychological mastery + metaphysical inquiry = Awesome life

@Wouter Yes, I've caught my mind doing that in the past. It's pretty freaky. Not sure you can deliberately trigger it. The more you learn about the subconscious mind and its workings, the more open you will be to accidentally see it at work constructing your conscious experience behind-the-scenes.

I find that people who don't like clubs/bars and haven't spent much time there tend to have an automatic negative stereotype of the people who visit them. Something along the lines of: "They're just stupid jocks and sluts and drunks." I sorta leaned towards that attitude 5 years ago when I was inexperienced. But having spent a lot of time visiting clubs/bars and interacting with 1000s of people in them, I can say that the people there represent a fairly average cross-section of society. Most people you find in a club/bar are not regulars. They're just like you. They're there on a Friday night once a month or once a year to hang out with their friends, celebrate a birthday party, celebrate a wedding, or blow off some steam from doing business. And girls like to go cause they get to let loose, socialize, and dance. If you're introverted and don't have much clubbing experience, that will be difficult to understand. Humans since the dawn of time have had the habit of gathering together around a fire, doing some drugs, playing some music, and letting loose after a long day of work. It's not a problem as long as it doesn't become a daily lifestyle.

@Neill Leo should... Leo should... Leo should... Humans should... Humans should... Humans should...

@Neill Your logic is exactly the sort of logic that leads to slaughtering of animals and all sorts of other unecological activity. The problem doesn't stop at animals. That's YOUR agenda. You like animals so you draw the line there. The true problem is one of unconsciousness to self-agenda. That humans tend to feel sorry for polar bears and cuddly puppies is totally arbitrary. It's like a form of racism but with mammals. It's not really inclusive. But I agree that on a practical level, we gotta start wherever we can. And so it's good that people show compassion to mammals. We can start there.

@Neill Again, you assume a lot here. I'm not defending meat-eating. I think it's something to ultimately stop. I merely said the problem goes much deeper.

You're assuming a lot there. The truth is more like YOU don't care what the flower or microbe feels. But that it feels is pretty clear. And that it has a survival agenda is pretty clear too. Why is YOUR survival agenda more important than a microbe's? Because you are bigger? A lot of moralization going on here. Microbes and grass have an agenda to survive, just like everything else. To ignore that is delusional. Why is YOUR survival agenda more important than a microbe's? Because you are bigger? Your outrage is very your-centered. When you get into a car or airplane to go somewhere, why do you ignore the fact that it directly contributes to global warming and the death of a polar bear somewhere where the ice is melting? Not to mention things like: when you buy an iPhone or any Chinese made product you are contributing to the suffering of poor sweatshop workers in China who are consigned to terribly inhumane and unconscious working conditions. The answer is, you have to draw the line somewhere. You cannot exist and also not cause suffering to others. All you can do is ignore this fact and construct justifications for why certain modes of living are superior to others. And I'm not defending meat-eating. I think it's something to ultimately stop.

I never drank when I went out. Drinking is counter-productive to growth. Again, watch out for your projections.

@LaucherJunge You'll be back! Once you recognize that that positive focus stuff won't ever work. I suggest you be more gentle with yourself in how you pursue enlightenment. It doesn't have to be painful. You're making it that way.

@cetus56 Obviously it works through the brain. How exactly? No one knows. It just works like crazy! If you want to naturally produce more of it, it won't happen automatically. You'd have do some serious training for that, if it's possible at all. We just don't know much about the mechanics of biological consciousness at this point. Although I don't even think that's necessary. Just the fact that is opens you up is already enough. And that effect sticks. You can't just have a breakthrough dose of 5-meo and then go about your everyday life in the Matrix. Once you experience God for REAL, your life will forever take on a new trajectory.

What's really freaky is if you ever catch a glimpse of your subconscious mind actually using unconscious information from your visual field to then influence your conscious thoughts and original ideas. Was this merely a coincidence? Or did your subconscious mind "see" the quote from Mr Lenny (without you being conscious of it) and THEN that triggers your thoughts about Socrates? Food for thought

@Don_Avocado Good stuff! Now go deeper

The biggest load of bullshit ever told! Buddha should have slapped that guy across the face for such smart-assery Monk: "Buddha, what do I do if a bird drops a fine 18oz NY strip into my bowl?" Buddha: "Eat it, but only if it also drops a bottle of A1."

@Hardik jain Sorry about your situation. See this video: https://www.actualized.org/articles/how-to-deal-with-strong-negative-emotions Rather than wishing the emotions or situation away, muster the courage to feel into it and see it as part of reality. Reality is brutal sometimes. It's important to cultivate a respect for that. An understanding of that only really comes through nobly stomaching the hard times rather than escaping them. If you do this, it will drive you deeper into true growth. So that's the up-side.

This issue goes very deep. It's really the problem of life itself. The fundamental dynamics of life are very unfair. For some lifeforms to survive others must die. Whether that be animals, plants, bacteria, human beings, children in Africa, the dinosaurs, planet Earth itself, etc. If we take a look a what humanity is doing to itself, it's killing itself at the same time as its growing and evolving. And this is sorta required by the laws of entropy. Even if we all became perfect vegans, we would still be killing other animals, plants, and smaller organisms in a very unfair way by the billions. We would still be destroying the environment. None of this of course is an excuse not to improve, but it just goes to show the intractability of being alive. To be alive requires a sort of turning one's eye away from fairness. Cause life isn't fair at all to individual beings. The great Jain sage Mahavira realized this. First he stopped eating animals. But that wasn't enough. So he stopped eating plants. And then he starved himself to death. That would be the only truly honest solution. Which brings us to the crux of the problem: YOU! Do you want to live? Most people do (although that's a choice). But if you do, then you must also accept all the collateral damage that comes with that. And there's A LOT of it! Now, the only question is, where do you want to draw the line. At pigs? At worms? At trees? At bacteria? At saving the whales? At recycling Coke cans? At not throwing your garbage into the street? At starving yourself to death? Everyone will have different opinions about that depending on their beliefs and level of consciousness. Generally speaking, the more one becomes spiritually purified and experiences personal suffering, the more one will desire to minimize suffering for other beings. But that's not as easy as it sounds, for you couldn't even walk on the grass to the nearest cliff to jump off of without stepping on some worms, snails, ticks, microbes, or flowers. Is factory farming unfair to animals? Surely so. The issue is one of convenience though. How much inconvenience should be tolerated? Is it wrong for me to buy a new t-shirt when there are kids around the world dying of cold or mosquito bites without a single shirt to wear? And is it wrong for the mosquito to bite the naked kid and infect him with malaria? And is it wrong for us to wage war against malaria micro-organisms by the billions? You be the judge.

@harisankartj For one thing, notice that you resist the suffering. Try flipping that on it's head and try enjoying the suffering instead. Open yourself up to it with your body. Allow yourself to feel the full brunt of the hurt, sadness, anger, apathy, or whatever emotions you're feeling. It's true that life is a dream, an illusion, and meaningless. But now ask yourself, so what? What's the problem? If everything is meaningless, what's all that suffering about? It must be meaningless too, right? The you you think you are already doesn't exist. And the True You is ever-present, so it cannot be killed even if you wanted to. Adopting a daily mindfulness-using-noting practice would be very helpful for you. See my video called Mindfulness Meditation.