RendHeaven

1) That's because you're assuming consciousness is fractured and trapped within individual people. 2) Thanks! I suggest you (and anyone else who is curious) take a look at this review of that book. These reviewers clearly know what they are talking about, as shown by their ability to take multiple paradigms into account. The important takeaway is, Nelson was evidently biased and paradigm locked. This is questioned thoroughly in this review. This does not discount his findings, but it does discount his conclusions. Notice, what a scientist finds and what a scientist concludes can be two very different things. https://www.academia.edu/9480789/The_Spiritual_Doorway_in_the_Brain_A_Neurologists_Search_for_the_God_Experience_by_Kevin_Nelson_review_

@Richard Alpert First of all, cite your sources. You may be bastardizing this finding, and none of us will know that unless you are transparent about your claims. Secondly, just because there are correlations between the brain and what you may call mystical experiences, that is NOT "proof" that the brain causes states of consciousness. Correlation is not causation. Basic statistics. You learn this in high school.

@Anirban657 Academic philosophy will not get you to Truth. Just come to terms with that first if you decide to pursue

@Keyhole Lol that's quite a non sequitur.

"Image looks like enlightenment?"

I wonder what makes you say this? I've seen this video 5 times over with notes as well, thank you very much. "Haphazard sharing?" This video addresses your exact concerns regarding Leo's use of the term "devil." Just because the video does not fit your preconceived notions of "devilry," it does not become invalid to the discussion. You won't be finding Truth with your current attitude.

@Nic Terpstra Therefore God and the devil are one. From God's perspective, of course. From the devil's perspective, God does not even register.

P.S. Let's not not derail this thread any more. If you would like to respond, please consider starting a new thread and tag me. I'll be glad to discuss!

Sounds impractical...

1) "But that's all they are - states of consciousness" - define that. I don't think you know the full meaning of "states of consciousness." 2) No, not "obviously an escape from reality." Why do you get to call your experience of reality True? Why is your experience more Truthful while his is somehow a fantasy? Citing "drugs!" is insufficient. People have profound enlightenment experiences sober. How do you explain this? More hallucinations? What, so all profound experiences that other people have are fake, but your experiences are what's actually real? Why do you get to make that exception? 3) Consciousness isn't "going on locally" anywhere. Location is a model you use to describe phenomena. A mental projection. By relegating consciousness as something within a relative model, you further show that you have no clue as to what "consciousness" is. 4) Why does the "natural world" get priority over Leo's hypothetical "hallucination?" Your "natural world" itself is your own hallucination. No difference. You just don't see that because of your impatience. Notice how in every single critique you mount, you are prioritizing your own experiences as somehow more True? You have this notion of what "real reality" is. What we are all telling you here is that you have investigated this not nearly enough. 5) Leo is not going to use any "counter-arguments," lol. He is not in the business of arguing. Fancy this: he has been in your shoes and beyond, and he is sharing what he has learned. You have only been in your own shoes and not his, and you are the one pointing fingers. And you really have the audacity to call Leo the arrogant one?

@dude Damn, your editing is fantastic. What program do you use? Would you say there was/is a mastery curve to learning editing?

@Surfingthewave @possibilities Holy SHIT how long did that take you to write?? This video should answer your questions: In the future, try to keep your points precise and short; that makes it easier for the reader.

@Surfingthewave Me being male and you being female is irrelevant. I would have said the same thing to Leo if he wrote the things you did. It's good that you're expressing your views. My intention was to simply point out your potential blind spots. I hope it's clear that I'm not attacking your personhood. It would be unwise to dismiss these insights. If my tonality was unnecessarily harsh, or you felt like I mischaracterized you, I sincerely apologize. That happens to be some of my blind spots

Going through this myself. Learn to love it, haha (literally). It's absolutely central to life. There's no getting rid of it, though you can try to ignore it. Key word: try Be curious. Wonder, "why empty?" It's not an accident that we feel this way.

Not sure what your question is...

@Surfingthewave The thread started with the question of why sexuality is so moralized. The answer to that was survival, and cultural norms were cited as examples of survival. You seem to really be against these cultural norms, as you keep bringing up that alternatives exist. Yes, of course alternatives exist. And nobody said the current cultural norm is the right way to structure things. Nobody here is encouraging unconscious norms. We are merely stating that they exist. This has nothing to do with acceptance. Do you recognize that these norms exist? Well, if you do, there's not much to do beyond that. You seem to want to do something about it. Norm is defined as: "something that is usual, typical, or standard." A synonym for it is "average." Who are you to demand that the minority be the norm? Do you see how you are injecting your own needs and wants into your questions? Maybe look into that. If your question, then, is "why survival?" then make that explicit. Survival goes deep. Very, very, very, very deep. It's not merely a matter of having food, shelter, sex, and comfort. It's about who you think you are and maintaining that. You are clearly underestimating survival.

How is this ignorance? What makes you think he's criticizing from below? You realize it's fair game to criticize from above.

I recall this, yes. In my opinion, it's a gross bastardization of spirituality though. Even though they stepped out of the rationalist stage orange paradigm for 1 minute, they undermined the whole thing by having Rick shoot the guy and learn nothing from the experience. They essentially dismissed it as hallucination and used the "union of souls" as a means to make rick's killing funnier. Not that any of it matters. Like Leo says, don't get seduced

Try this free home workout app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=homeworkout.homeworkouts.noequipment&hl=en_US

Oh boy. Ok yeah that's a problem First of all, can you see why that's a problem? We can't have a conversation unless we agree on that haha.

I love this. Yes, yes, and yes. It's worth studying the unconsciousness of most "love" simply to not personally fall into this trap. Nothing's wrong! I was merely saying that "raising consciousness" indeed mends almost everything there is that you could call "problematic." Is that not fascinating? A universal band-aid with a 100% success rate! Don't take it for granted, this is worth pondering.

Among a slew of other nasty, subterranean (unconscious) personal reasons. But speaking from a rational and biological viewpoint, yes.

@Manjushri Everyone was drunk in Plato's Symposium soulmates are a lie! But yes to be blunt, you are slowly creeping into codependency, as you suspect. This is nothing to fear, however. If things get real nasty, start a new thread haha. Until then, I wouldn't worry about "what if I'm codependent." That's unnecessary anxiety. If you catch yourself feeling lonely, really buckle down on YOU. What do you love? Independent of this girl? Surely you have passions.

I think you actually know the basic answer - you mention fear, which I think is spot on. To take it a step further, wonder "why fear sexuality?" One way to perhaps understand this fear is to inspect your own personal fears. If you can understand how and why your personal fears manifest, you can understand a lot about how most of the world operates as well. Overall, really solid insights. It's shocking how many problems are solved under the umbrella solution of "raising consciousness."

Same with me. I followed RSD for a good year before running into Leo through "recommended videos" on Youtube. Something clicked in me and I stayed with Leo ever since. Ironically, I rarely watch pickup content anymore My biggest frustrations are distractions. EVERYTHING I do is a distraction (to varying degrees). And I know this. And I do it anyway. It doesn't help that I'm a college student. The environment and culture is not very friendly toward seekers. Depends on what you mean by "tree" "falling" "sound" and "perceiver" >:) The answer is: yes; no; yes and no; inexpressible; yes and inexpressible; no and inexpressible; yes, no, and inexpressible >:) I'm sure you knew this already