Enlightenment

@SoonHei Initially, this shift didn't make me completely spontaneous and authentic right away, seems like it takes some time to decondition the deep brain structures or whatever that may be, for the ego-personality to change its behavioral habits. Now after almost 2 years it has changed significantly. I can still plan events into the future, what I will do tomorrow etc. it doesn't take away that ability, however, I do make a lot more notes, set more alarms. Well, not worrying is not something that evolution favors

@SoonHei Of course, there are different degrees of that flow you may have It's not like enlightenment is just a persistent flow experience, but as it's really hard to explain, I'm trying to pinpoint you in a direction Leaving aside all non-dual talk, the biggest, most vivid change it has brought on to me is being completely in the moment and not daydreaming or worrying about the future

What you've described would still imply a watcher and life that he's watching which is a dualistic perspective. Imagine a situation where you felt especially self-conscious, being behind your eyes constantly correcting things, thinking what you gonna say next, and now the opposite to that when you where doing something you really enjoy and "lost yourself" in activity,in this moment perhaps even entered a "flow" state where distance between you and experience collapsed, there was a sense of effortlessness and then you popped out of this and instantly regained normal state. Have you ever had that experience?

@SoonHei From nowhere really, there are senses, mind and just experience, without this self-conscious fixated illusion of self that is somehow steering the wheel. It's like before I would feel like I am experiencing this in addition to experience itself, now I can still say there is an experience of being me, but I don't feel like a doer, experiencer, thinker etc. @Tistepiste It did tremendously! I was undiagnosed but probably depressed before

@Outer Initially I stumbled upon TM video, and it kinda was like, what is this meditation all about?... Ok so I have to think mantra over and over again, let me try it... Did 20 minutes, got up and you know forgot about it, went to the gym and noticed something was probably different but couldn't pinpoint exactly what, and at the time I was very skeptical about meditation and seriously doubted that it's gonna do anything, did probably another 20 minutes in the evening that day and at some point I felt kind of spacey and realized that my sense of self is expanded, which at the time was very weird to me. For the next 2 weeks I did about 2h every day and eventually, in one meditation I sat down still having agency and some vestiges of self and got up having none. Since then I tested a few mantra methods and fine-tuned them to be able to deepen that state further, but definitely the biggest change is going from the "normal" self to this no agency and after that initial transition what can deepen even more is you being in the moment to the point where it actually weakens your episodic memory. No self-referential thoughts that is correct. Is everything one? Well, I would say so, yet it is not the same kind of ALL ONE as a full-blown psychedelic non-dual breakthrough.

From the outside, it obviously looks like I have a personality but subjectively definitely no, I mean there is a complete disidentification from the ego, no centrum to the experience of being me (used to be in my head).

Lower back pain, occasional strong headache, a situation when I'm fatigued/have no physical energy but have to do something demanding, things like that are still "bad moments" they are part of the flow, yet can still cause suffering. I have no sense of agency, so there is really nothing I (as an agent) do, they just are.

99% of my life is like deep flow experience but of course within this flow there are "bad"/aversive moments and blissful ones

@eputkonen Just out of curiosity of whether or not is it possible. I don't do that anymore but just to be clear I think it is possible if you apply a proper method, however, it's very persistent if you don't intentionally try to take it off, I would say almost permanent.

@eputkonen I disagree. Have you actually tried through effort and strong intention to "come back" to dualistic perspective? Because how can you know if you haven't actually tried? I have that non-dual perspective almost 2 years now, and can bring myself out of it quite easily by doing the opposite method that has gotten me there. Yes they can, but most of them have not even tried seriously

If by suffering you mean like mentally created one(dissatisfaction, depressing thoughts etc.) then yes it ceases. If you mean something like aversion to strong physical pain - no unless you're sitting in Nibbana.

@legendary Seems like LSD is capable of producing the same insight. 1mg of legit LSD would be already INSANE and last very long, a lot of people who claim to take 600ug for example and go on a hike, have underdosed or degraded blotters.

@Serotoninluv But it's not non-existence

@Outer Well, I'm rather referring to how good certain psychedelic is for experiencing a temporary ultimate state that is completely dysfunctional and not like persistent non-dual awareness in daily life (what Eckhart Tolle is talking about). More like a blast to your mind to enable you to see your subconscious aversion, ill will, fears etc.

Your personality does change, but it unfolds in 2 and 7 year cycles after the initial experience, when I first had that no sense of agency experience, nobody noticed any difference in me, but now after almost 2 years I can tell you that some of my behaviors have changed. Why does it make enlightenment a delusion?

It's definitely one of the 6/7 most effective methods for awakening

From my point of view they are, but as enlightenment exist on a continuum so are animals "level" of enlightenment different and it probably depends on episodic memory for the most part, for instance, goldfish may be extremely enlightened because there is no episodic memory there, but an animal like Crow may only be partially enlightened

Monks can enter into Niroda Samapatti and be burned to ashes without even flinching, so yea you can definitely transcend all pain, be free of all suffering, but it's really hard to do.

If you want to have that experience, you have to get to stage 9 Samatha/stage 9/10 from "The Mind Illuminated" "At the adept level of practice, you’ll also notice that mindfulness can still be quite powerful even when you’re dull and can’t think clearly because of fatigue or illness. Furthermore, you can sustain strong mindfulness even as you fall asleep at night, and lucid dreams aren’t uncommon. Even in deep, dreamless sleep, we can have the experience of “knowing” we’re asleep."

@BornToBe Thanks, almost 2 years but the typical concentration meditation/Samatha that I'm referring to, about 14 months

Guys, seriously it's all about finding your meditation fit, once you find it - transition to non-dual awareness is quick and it doesn't take years or decades

@Marinador No you don't have to, in fact many enlightened people have never had that ultimate experience of Absolute Infinity.

@outlandish Scales also can be "fooled" by adding a small portion, below the lowest measuring threshold of the scale, slowly bit by bit like if you would've taken a 0,5mg piece weight it, wait 5 seconds, add another one. It's not really a problem if your scale is accurate to a true 0,001g, but many scales aren't. here is an example of how accurate micro scoops can be https://www.reddit.com/r/5MeODMT/comments/6ctodn/advice_on_precise_measurements_of_5meodmt_dosages/

At some point, you would be falling asleep from fatigue but 16 hours in one sitting is doable and who knows maybe even if you started as a beginner meditator, after 16 hours you would be able to enter deep jhanas. @BornToBe I'm sitting 2,5 hours every day on a sofa with back support. Eventually, you get into what is called physical pliancy and pain doesn't bother you that much

Fire kasina is good but I'm not sure whether you use it correctly, because from what I've heard you supposed to look at the fire until "afterimage" appears, then close your eyes and concentrate on this light. I've always used breath. There are a few different definitions of what access concentration is, if you want to just have enough concentration to do some vipassana insight practises then 1 hour is ok, but if you want to get to deep equanimity then 1 hour is almost certainly not enough.