electroBeam

@Shin This is exactly what one experiences when doing mirror gazing meditation. I'm 99% sure this is what you call "the dark knight of the soul" sorry dude I'm not sure on how to solve it bcos im a pussy like you but I asked Leo on how to make the jump and this is what his reply was: <after asking him on how to eliminate the fear of losing you and your world>:

When you've realized your true nature, you realize that the body/mind is just as much a piece of this universe as the person next to you is. With that, you realize that serving the body/mind is only serving 1 tiny part of you, while not caring for the other parts of you(like the people around you). In order to serve the body/mind, you need to think dualistically, and that is just laughable in the state of being one. So can you serve the body/mind and be in competition with other people, while being your true self? For example, if you were on an island with 3 other people, and the only food on the island was 1 beef pie, would an enlightened being choose the body/mind to eat the pie other others, even though the others are him at the same time? Is there a preference to serve yourself over others in that frame of mind? Because in my xp, acting egotistically just sucks you back into an egoic way of thinking, it puts you back to sleep, where acting wholesome keeps you awake. But can you do both? Thanks!

@Shin If this is all bullshit, ask yourself, what's the alternative? Is it less bullshit than spirituality? You're trying to find truth with a capital T. Truth doesn't hide. You can rely on that fact. If its bullshit, where's the evidence? If its bullshit, and reality is(as an example) just what science tells us, is that what is shown in awareness?

@username eating food is still egoic though right? Enlightened people still do egoic things like having sex and a bunch of other stuff.

@ashashlov That's not true in my experience. Be careful with assuming that the reason why you didn't improve was purely because of your age. There are plenty of 40 year olds who aren't enlightened who have been trying since 20. In the book of mastery it says that growth is exponential, you'll get big improvements, then it'll slow down, then increase again like a stair case. Its not because of your age, its because the fruits you were looking for were ripening, and you didn't realize it. I started this journey around October last year(taking it seriously, knew about it since june last year) And I am so glad I started, because the state I was in, in october last year was hell, absolute hell compared to now. I had social anxiety, I hated going to parties, I had a negative attitude about the human race, so much shit was in my brain. Satan had me by the balls big time. And now I'm able to ask for girl's numbers off the streets with only little anxiety. The heightening of awareness I've experienced from practicing self inquiry 24/7 for last 3 months has produced benefits that are almost godly. Sometimes when I walk to university, and cross a natural landscape, it feels like I'm in the garden of eden. The planet is so bright, vibrant and shiny, when Satan disappears, and all there is, is the present moment, the love felt for all of reality is overwhelming. And I'm turning 20 in a month. The problem isn't necessarily the age(maybe for some) but more so its the unawareness that things are actually changing, changing in amazing ways, but you're unaware of it until it slaps you across the face. Things happened to you before you were 25, but you obviously didn't notice. @BeginnerActualizer you have 12 hours a day do you not? When you are doing your work, when you are having a shower, when you are talking to your spouse, those are times when you should be meditating the most: Enlightenment is a lifestyle dude, not something you do, but something you act by. Its a commitment to being yourself, your actual self. If you don't submit yourself to god (definition of a muslim) there's a good chance you will keep in the hands of Satan. Start meditating 24/7 now, before you're on your death bed, wondering why you didn't earlier.

@Loreena yeah because I yearn for the exact same thing haha.

@Loreena maybe that craving for affection is a sign from god? Have you noticed that no matter how much you snuggle up to someone, or no matter how close and intimate you be with someone, you can never quite get to the place you want to get? You can never quite get close enough? You can never quite expose yourself enough to get all that love and affection you want? You want infinite love right? You want to be really close to your bf and family? You want to keep going until you almost be one with that person, become those people? And its so frustrating, because the physical world is stopping you! Stopping you from being close to them. You yearn to love them and be with them so much, but they are so far away. ... if you would just let go of that boundary, of all boundaries, let yourself be infinitely close with them, stop being confined to your body, and be the people you want to be close with. Then that craving will be fulfilled, with tears coming down your eyes too... you don't need to hug them physically to get all that juicy love you want, all you need to do is hug them with awareness. @Shin it depends though, seeing a sexy woman down the street, that's not real love, thats experience/sensation seeking, like eating chocolate.

@jse while this video is posted by the typical tony robbins types, i think the poem is about enlightenment:

Do you guys believe this? Seems a little far fetched. Why so many practices? Why so many paths? I have a feeling that Leo would totally disagree with Rupert on this one.

@Malelekakis though don't go too far the other way dude, 99% of people aren't seeking enlightenment, and guess what? They aren't enlightened either. Focus on being in the present moment for pure satisfaction(or focus on loving and nourishing god as the Christians say) while trying not to get anything. Enlightenment is a lifestyle, not a project to be obtained.

It depends who you are though, because saying 'who am I' can make you point to the body, because society has held up the notion that you are the body for so long that that's what you point to when you are asked that question. Where with 'who is aware' its pretty clear you go back to the creator. Though loved that excerpt! I've been looking for the best meditation practices for a while now, and I'm surpised I haven't come across that one(and Rupert's) so much time wasted.

@Shiva what do you do after 'locking' onto your awareness? Because in my experience nothing happens, you just stay ultra sober. But you don't bliss out like a buddha.

its funny how small atoms, particles, science, art, our insecurities, and ourselves are compared to the infinite expansion of god. Our universe as we understand it is infinitely small compared to all of the universes, rules, galaxies, worlds out there. And that's on top of the fact that atoms are tiny compared to objects in this universe.

@Principium Nexus just wanted to add something that hasn't been outlined yet: Try meditating 24/7. Constantly be aware of what thoughts are going through consciousness, and if you can, focus on the present moment very intensely. Put a buddha wallpaper on your phone and laptop to remind you of what you are to be doing 24/7 -> seeing god for what he truly is, without the devil's influence. set an alarm every 15 minutes telling you to MEDITATE! And also most importantly, do some shadow work! Martin123's guide will give you a great start. I tried cognitive behavioral therapy, Cognitive Modified Therapy, heaps of psychologist appointments and videos off the internet about my social anxiety, nothing changed for years. Until one day I spoke to my Buddhist teacher about it, and she gave me the advice I just gave above. And I'm now able to talk to random strangers off the streets without anxiety, because once you start meditating 24/7 your mind switches from anxiety being in the foreground, to the present moment being in the foreground, and anxiety in the background. ---------------- And lastly, we humans hate suffering and pain of course, we try so hard to avoid it all. But suffering isn't all that evil and horrible actually. Suffering is just god's way of helping you get through your journey. You can demonize and hate situations that make you uncomfortable, or you can stop fighting it and start to accept and love it. Walk up to a girl you like, ask for her number, and when that deep anxiety comes flowing in, don't try and avoid it! Don't try and change your external circumstances, fully accept the sensations, feel into it and imagine a massive pulse of energy flowing through your brain while you do pickup. ------ and for the awkwardness, I've been awkward since birth, and its not going away, and it doesn't have to. Awkwardness is like our appendix, its redundant and a pain in the ass to deal with, but its not harmful. Keep marching on.

@Rider yeah my main struggles with pickup is that, I'll go an apply a technique, and it wont work, because I'll get the context wrong, or I'll get the 'when to apply it'/situation wrong. But when you use your intuition, it can kind of tell you if a specific thing is appropriate or not, and it can guide you. For example, I watched a pickup video that woman loved dominance, so I decided to act really assertive and pushy on a date, and she basically told me that I was a control freak. Which my intuition did tell me I was being a control freak anyway though. Maybe use your intuition, and sprinkle pickup on top is the best way to do things?

I actually became more successful with the opposite sex, when I stopped watching RSD content and did things on my own accord and to what my authentic self wanted. Pickup is so mechanical and clunky, especially for newbs.

@Progress wassup progress, I just asked to join the group, look out for a ginger dude with an asian and white dude in his profile pic! I use to have this problem, but I somehow manage to get very very very deep with people by questioning them on a very personal level.

@SOUL faith and belief in something are extremely different.

@Annetta apart of who? ...

"My ego" Who is the one that owns your ego? The mother ego LOL

@Gopackgo Colours and sounds are metaphysical qualities, but the amazing part is that, we actually don't know much about them. We don't experience a chair, we experience a set of colours right? Now thoughts are most certainly real, like colours, but we have do idea of whether what they represent are real. So thoughts and the 'external world' are very similar to each other.

@Martin123 @Scholar Even more interestingly, considering text on a screen, when you meditate on it, is just arbitrary meaning produced by your own consciousness, why are you guys talking to yourselves like a mentally ill person?

There comes a point where you get so use to mindfuck, and actually from the perspective of silence, nothing seems mind fuckingish anymore though.

On the other hand, don't burn your ship before you've crossed the ocean

@Shubh_5S My business' purpose is to raise the consciousness of others, to a point where all of their material suffering is evaporated through detaching themselves to their mind/body. So I'm currently developing an algorithm that has an ego, and simulates egoic actions, so that we can discover more about how attachment works on a scientific level. Later I plan to make an neural network capable of self awareness. This mean using back propagation on back propagation. Its still in its early stages though. My initial plan is to make an app called TinyBuddha, make it cost like 50 cents so that I can make a living off it, and basically it will give one koans that are custom tailored to an individual's mental state(or level of consciousness). Then next I'm going to try and get into academia and produce my discoveries that I have made using my machine egoic model.