TheAvatarState

Conscious awareness is something you practice to build your capacity in your early journey. After a certain point, after many enlightenment experiences, it'll start to "click" and become effortless and something you are, like @Hellspeed said. In the early journey, it'll take great effort and concentration to treat your entire day like a meditation. You will fail hundreds of times a day, but always bring yourself back to present awareness. It's worth it!

@clouffy you're not alone... You're here, aren't you? Present some great questions to us, and we'll be happy to answer. You can try to go to seminars and retreats to meet high consciousness people, but you're probably not gonna find one to mentor you very easily. Not saying it can't happen; just don't hang your success on the notion of finding some spiritual Guru to guide you. Enlightenment doesn't just rub off on you from an enlightened master. At the end of the day, you have to learn to be self sufficient on this path. You can't expect anyone else to just take your hand and guide you along... You are the hero of YOUR OWN hero's journey, and you're ultimately going to face your inner demons alone. One other thing I'll add is this: your longing for enlightenment is what's holding you back. It is not a thing, it is not a place, it is not a marvelous event. I'd encourage you to read my post "Existence is a TV screen: My Enlightenment Experience." And never forget, we're always here for you! ❤️

@Manjushri it's not the THINGS you'd do. If today was literally your last, you'd probably seek immediate pleasure in things that are unsustainable. What is pointed to is the MIND STATE. Would you complain about petty shit? Would you fear death, or celebrate life? Would you be present? Would you see the beauty in everything? Really think through how your perspective would shift if presented with a literal last day, embrace it, then carry it with you every day. It's a lot easier said than done, and this isn't something you can do tomorrow. You'll have to work for it. That mind state isn't sustainable for you now, but it could be. Life becomes so much sweeter when you do

This paradigm of "existence" (materialism) denies the very foundation of its own existence, which is what it calls nonexistence. It would be wise not to get caught up in that.

Day 10: Energy: 4 Awareness: 4 Sexual thoughts/urges: 3 Self-esteem: 4 Social confidence: 4 Meh.

@ground In order to come back to this forum and communicate, one has to enter a crude form of being: intellect and rationality. There's only words here, only pointers to higher modes of being. One has to conceptualize the words into meaning, then to take action on it, one has to ascend to trans-rational modes through practices. Seratonin meant that most people only know one mode, the intellect, but to be a successful self-actualizer, one needs to be able to shift fluidly between different modes of being. Become the Alchemist. I'm not really sure what you guys are arguing about. Are you denying the validity of other modes of being? Can we find common ground here?

@Manjushri There is no difference between external and internal. So if you've awakened to the fact that the external world does not exist, the next step is to awaken to the fact that you do not exist. What are you? Hmmm, very interesting... Right now, there's only my perception of typing words on a screen, my perception of sense data, my perception of a thought of Las Vegas, my perception of mental images (are those really mine?), and my perception of a reply that I'm conceptualizing to come from another human being typing at his own keyboard. Don't take the you-centered approach, that's like saying the sun revolves around the earth, and you don't want that line of reasoning. It's not truthful, and it's certainly not healthy. It leads to a psychotic break. Instead, put yourself in another person's shoes, and say the same thing; all of our perceptions are equally valid. Millions of people are experiencing Las Vegas right now. One day, you can go experience it yourself, maybe you already have. But does Las Vegas exist? If we call existence something that can be experienced consensusly and "verified" (by consensus perception), then only material things exist. That is to say music the way you hear it does not exist, your thoughts do not exist, love does not exist, consciousness does not exist, your emotions do not exist, etc. But how did we "verify" existence? That's right, through awareness and perception! This paradigm of "existence" (materialism) denies the very foundation of its own existence, which is nonexistence. It would be wise not to get caught up in that.

@JediArron Why are you meditating? You lack vision, so work on cultivating that. Vision is the fuel of an exceptional person.

Thanks for sharing! Sounds like you're really ready to jump down the rabbit hole... if only you knew where it led, lol. This forum is a wonderful resource, use it. Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, cause Kansas is going bye-bye.

This times 1000. SUCH an important tool for tripping. The trick is to remember to do it and trust that it works when you're in the trip. That's why having these practices in your everyday life is so helpful. Also, Happy 9000! Your next post will literally take you super-Saiyan!

@pluto Wow, thank you so much for this. It makes so much sense now! Now I'm thinking maybe I should start a tradition of taking mushrooms on the winter solstice...

The trick is to study and observe your own delusions. I highly recommend Leo's 3-part series on Self-Deception. That really opened my eyes. Just the fact that you can understand your delusions and move past them means that Truth exists and that it lies within... Also realize that everyone else suffers from the same delusions that you do. So with that knowledge, you'll start to see the world a lot more clearly when you understand your own.

@Arthur Interesting you brought that up. That means none of us are here on our own accord. We were meant to be here. Not "chosen" by an external force, but by the internal force which led to my inevitable reading of your comment, which led to my inevitable positive reaction, which led to my writing of this post driven by my passion for Truth. We're not plotting the course, we are the course. Not even the universe knows how this is all going to play out, but it does everything it can through the present moment to evolve. Now, I don't know for sure if what I just said is true, but it seems nice. However, I'm seeing more and more evidence that might totally shatter this popular notion of "The present moment is all that exists." That's true in the absolute sense, but we live in a fundamentally relative world... As an example of how it could be different, what if this infinite void not just existed in one present moment, but versions of this reality existed simultaneously at infinite points in "time?" Wouldn't TIME have to be an infinite and indescript aspect of this infinite intelligence/consciousness? There's quite a bit of evidence for all of reality in all of time to be accessible through the now, like remote viewers sensing things in the past or future, QM proving that this is all a probability field that materializes when viewed, etc. Even I have had some interesting and downright scary interactions with time, such as speeding up relative to my friend, and sensing things that were probable in the near future. I'm starting to believe that anything is possible at this point, lol. Just some food for thought.

@Serotoninluv is right. All words are empty. This is because all language is relative, and only means something in relation to something else. Think of language like a web or system, where the connections are more important than the word itself. Any one word is just a pointer, because that word is defined by a series of other words, and those words are defined by a series of other words, and when you get down as far as you can go, the base words only point to an experience. If someone has not had basic human experiences, then our language would mean nothing. Words cannot equal truth, they can only point to it. If you're still having trouble getting this, consider how much your experience colors and shapes your understanding of words. Your understanding of "enlightenment," for example, is vastly different now than when you first heard it. It's not even the same word to you! Rationality cannot be trusted, for it is empty and completely controlled by your emotions. Can it be USEFUL? Of course. But understand what it is fundamentally, and realize it can only, at best, point to an experience that is truthful. If rationality led to truth, then every brilliant scientist would be stage Turquoise, wouldn't they?

@Shin This is all very good and nice to say, as someone who is already "on the other side" in a sense. But such practices like psychedelics, retreats, etc., are fundamental in gaining this understanding. In gaining the proper body of EXPERIENCE to start embodying what you said above. Take a random person of the street, or even many people on this forum, and they won't be able to resonate with or understand a word you said. Personal development techniques that you say "aren't necessary" are what allowed you to speak the language you now talk in, and make no mistake about it, you ARE speaking a completely different language. An earned and hard-fought language that very few people can truly understand. Appreciate what got you here, and please don't dismiss them to newbies. It's like climbing a building with a ladder, pulling the ladder up with you on the rooftop, then shouting down, "Follow me! Not necessary!" Perhaps you're thinking, "But climbing a building is a goal, you missed the whole point of my post!" Yes, I get that. But try to understand from the perspective of the person on the ground. All he sees is you on top of a building, and what you see is that the building is a strange loop, and that you're actually standing face to face. The difference is that you're basically in a different dimension, and the other is still trapped in the mind.

Nonduality INCLUDES the number 10, and everything else. That's similar to saying saying 1=10^(infinity). Yes, one is the first digit, but it is not equal. Further more. Mathematics is a man-made concept within nonduality. No mathematical equations will ever describe reality, just point to it or model it. The universe is not a number. "Infinity" is not a number. Within mathematics it can be manipulated like a number, and there's different sizes of infinity, so that should give you a hint at where math does not equal the territy.

@Fairy you know that can cause frostbite and permanent nerve damage right? Did you have the intent of attaining enlightenment before you started? And if so, what gave you the idea of trying something like that? Psychedelics, meditation, and self-inquiry are much safer and more effective methods of attaining those understandings (and much much more). Discounting other (physically) safe methods of spirituality because you found success while almost losing your hand is not only irresponsible, but stupid. You probably don't have experience with these other methods, and don't understand the validity of them. Like others have said, you have a lot more to learn, and I'd challenge that you don't know nearly as much about "enlightenment" as you think you do. If you were enlightened, you wouldn't be encouraging people to physically harm themselves, now would you?

@Psyche_92 k. I'm not fooling anyone here.

Day 9: Energy: 4 Awareness: 4 Sexual thoughts/urges: 6 Self-esteem: 4 Social confidence: 4 Not gonna lie, I watched a little bit of porn today just to take the edge off. I didn't touch my dick, just watched. So I'm proud of myself for that. I'm building up a strength and immunity to actually masturbating. I have this 90-day challenge so ingrained in my mind that it's almost physically repulsing to start masturbating. Like, if I put any thought into it at all, it's so clear that I don't really want this. The 5 minutes of pleasure from masturbating couldn't possibly hold a candle to the deep-seated pleasure of ramping up my sexual energy and completing this challenge. I feel like today was a big turning point... I was this close, in a way, to doing the deed... but it never really felt like an option at all. This was my first major test, and I proved to myself that I have what it takes to go the distance.

@moon777light Awaken to the fact that you've been deluded your whole life. Question everything to its essence, not just spirituality. You fundamentally cannot trust a single word any of us are saying; you only know something for real when you bring it into your direct experience, for that is all there ever really is.

Day 8: Energy: 4 Awareness: 4 Sexual thoughts/urges: 4 Self-esteem: 4 Social confidence: 4 Today was a little more difficult. I'm noticing that I get more frequent thoughts about sex, and that it's a little more difficult not to drift off into fantasy land. I feel like I've breezed through this so far, but I have a feeling the next week or two might be the hardest. This is what I signed up for though. Bring it on!

@CreamCat That's what it takes to satisfactorily answer your question from a yellow perspective. Yellow is broad and big picture. Anything less is merely uneducated conjecture.

@CreamCat Perhaps some better questions to act as a precursor would be: What would a Stage Yellow society's police enforcement look like? What would their laws look like? How would they deal with situations we have now? What would prisons look like? What would the judicial system look like? Once you start painting the picture of how a Yellow society might deal with their own problems, that would shed light on how they (or even AT ALL?) would value violence for personal security or invading other countries.

@LoveandPurpose I'll also highly recommend reading the Alchemist. 11/10, and it's pretty short.

@ZZZZ My sweet spot is 200-300ug. Any more and the likelihood of a bad trip or mind soup is greatly increased. That's what I'd recommend.