Brahman

I think this video is incredibly important and this topic of safety overlooked If you dont want to watch the whole thing just skip to 19:20 to see the insane and somewhat alarming development of AI abilities keep in mind this video is already 8 months old…

Unfortunately there isnt much incentive for companies to pause/reflect these are the same guys who made “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix and while being well recieved and widely viewed, there was little to no change in regulation of social media platforms So the lack of anything done there points to how this will probably go too lol

@bebotalk Yeah exactly this is the point. A little bit more awareness and intentionality moving forward goes a long way

Focus seems to be a very important part of spiritual practices. "Focus on the breath. Focus on bodily sensations. Focus on your third eye. Focus on nothingness. Focus on impermanence. Focus on your fleeting thoughts. Focus on energy/prana running up the spine." The list continues, and thus I think it's important to really define: what is focus? I recently had a shrooms trip where I experienced pure insanity. In the sense that I could not focus on anything because nothing was staying still. Everything was morphing from my visuals and sounds - to my thoughts- to my body -to my sense of self and even my breath. The one thing I thought I would always have. And it wasn't necessarily gone but the power of all the ever changing stimuli i was experiencing left me without a ground, without an identity, and without the strength to focus on just one thing for even a full second. And i was fucking scared out of my mind. This lasted about an hour and a half until I started to chant a mantra aloud - "just breathe and breathe and breathe, all you can do is breathe" I chanted this for a long time (abt 30 mins) and it brought me back to center. And I finally was able to just stay with that motion and leave everything else behind. All of this really got me thinking what is focus really? How do I cultivate this? Is it a muscle? Is it innate? Because technically we are always focusing on something, maybe it's not what we want it to be on or one-pointed necessarily, but focus still remains right? Or is it ultimately completely unimportant and a distraction to even try to focus? I would love to hear any and all thoughts. Please share your understanding of what focus is below.

Hey man this looks pretty dope! Thanks for taking the time to make something like this. Excited to try it out

Another perspective of viewing this is that you are going through waves of consciousness. Sometimes you'll feel connected and aware of everything. You'll feel like you're growing and learning and maybe even enlightened. Other times you'll feel lost and unconcious. Allow yourself to be where you are in this wave at this moment. Not much else you can do. And know that the waves will keep going. With every low comes a high and vice versa. Don't need to overthink your position or whether you know enough or how much you've grown etc. This is all just mental games. Be as you are now

Well in the moment after you've daydreamed you now are aware that you daydreamed in this moment. So the experience of the (no awareness) is within awareness right now. It's the same with sleeping every night. It's not that awareness disappeared but you are aware right now spinning a story of how you were unaware for a time. Never are you actually unaware, that would be a direct contradiction to your ability to even say that. It's tricky but ultimately everything is resting in awareness at this moment. There is never an unaware moment. There is only now where you are aware of X . X being anything at all including the story you spin about your entire past and moments of supposed "unawareness"

@levani Leo's not wrong. That is not in depth real kriya. But it's definitely a great meditation nonetheless. Agreed with what @Thought Art said. If this is your first time with kriya or yoga in general start small. Big jumps into complex routines will leave you energetically very flustered and can throw you off completely. Sadhgurus stuff might not give you God realization but it will feel really good and can clean your energies up! Even the simplest of yoga asanas/pranayamas can be incredibly transformative to a person who is mindfully moving and breathing with a sense of gratitude and love in the heart. Yoga is 90% how you do it 10% what you're doing. If youre just getting started, I recommend building a Hatha yoga practice first. YouTube videos will be just fine for that. Then start some basic pranayamas and build to a full kriya routine. Also agree with @Eren Eeager santata gamanas books are great. No nonsense straight to the ultimate point of why one should do kriya and some powerful practices to get you started.

I like this response but have to ask for some elaboration. Let's say you are attempting to focus on the breath. I understand that letting go of distracting thoughts and stimuli that attempt to grab your attention is important here. Mainly achieved through disidenification with thoughts and the mind. This certainly increases focus on the breath, but isn't there an initial effort required to go to the breath in the first place? And to stay there? Otherwise the focus just naturally shifts to whatever grabs it most. For example you see a beautiful woman and naturally your focus shifts there. If there's a truly emptied body mind then there would be no particular object of focus and this turns into awareness now doesn't it? So how is focus different from awareness?

How would you separately define attention vs awareness? Yes that is true to my experience as well. Anything that is focused on will ultimately start to fractal into more distinctions. However subtle it may be. Pretty amazing. A cool meditation I've been doing is just starring at a single object like a rock for about 10 minutes and trying not to let my focus shift. It's a curious investigative type of attention. Naturally you'll start to notice more and more and more distinctions in the rock. Certain patterns, shades, markings, edges, colorings, etc. At first it feels like these are already there and you're just becoming aware of them now. But after a while. Sometimes in as short of a timespan as 5 mins you can become conscious of how you are in fact creating these distinctions not only on the rock but in all of reality. Pretty crazy

Great video thank you. Especially like the part about paradox of focus in meditation. Are you the video creator?

I have definitely had the same thought but I agree with Sir Valdimir to a certain extent. I think people becoming educated about psychedelics is great and theres no reason not to suggest to offer some resources you've found helpful and interesting. But it's got to be their own choice and their own journey to decide they want to do it. Making it into a persuasive manipulative act even in the slightest way will not end well or bring about the healing people need. You can't force someone to change they have to decide to do it themselves. Same goes with spiritual healing in all ways including through psychedelic therapy. You can however offer resourses, videos /etc they may find interesting and help to spark an interest. Another idea is to start a lot smaller. Try watching some ram dass lectures together (or anybody else you like), try meditation nights once a week, try yoga sessions together (yoga with Adriene is great for all ages and levels), maybe even schedule a retreat for a week with the family (I went on one in Thailand with my father and it really brought us closer and opened him to spirituality). Then after a lot of that maybe see if they seem to fancy the idea of psychedelics.

Hope this brings you insight and joy!

For a long time I thought this perspective was silly. It neglected the work that needs to be done and breeds laziness and pride. However, it is true, and this perspective opens up space for jolting you into realization. Your doubt is the thin veil that separates you from God - this veil is ultimately also an illusion and substanceless. You say "I can't be enlightened yet there is so much work to do" and "my mind is so busy, I have so much resistance and problems in my life". You are creating a "later" which does not exist. There is no later to get enlightened. It's pure imagination. Be as you are now. If that's anxious, doubtful, heavy mental chatter, sad, tired, energetic, happy, etc. It doesn't matter. You are already there. There is no other way to be. Being itself is it. There is nowhere to go. There is nothing to do. In this space of understanding there opens up the potential for the will of God and your own to merge. There is no separation. The union was created by full acceptance of things as they are. Of your so called "lack of enlightenment." Herein lies the benefit from this way of viewing. Here and now is your portal. Exactly as it is. Imagine a portal which you already walked through yet simultaneously stands in front of you. And you can walk through this portal to infinity. All of this talk is completely circular if you haven't noticed. "Benefit from perspective" implies something to be gained, something you should do - and there is none. "All you have to do is fully accept this moment" also implies there is something to do. You aren't there and all you have to do is accept - this too is false. May these contradictions serve a similar purpose as Zen Cohen's. May the paradox spark understanding. The union is already there, simply you chose to forget at this moment. Or maybe not! In which case you are conscious that you are God here and now. Either way is of your choosing. Be as you are now. Namaste

I'm like your friend and also pretty sensitive to psychedelics. 1.5-2g shrooms is plenty for me, 200ug acid will cause a breakthrough

Ok I see what you're asking now. I don't think I have the understanding to fully answer your question. But this is what I've experienced with time dissolution: Motion is a completely relative phenomena. Which only exists with the concept of time in place. For example lift your hand into the air. You can say the motion is upwards because you are creating a past in which it was downwards relative to where it is now. This process of creating the past and future happens so quickly and unconsciously. You imagine the hand has potential to move in all types of ways, and you also imagine it can't move in some ways. For example you imagine the hand cannot detach from your body and move on its own. Now let's say you haven't lifted your hand yet. You imagine it can go upwards and thus there is now space for motion - you created potential for movement only because you also created time. Try to get closer and closer to the now and see this. I haven't experienced a slowing of motion if thats what youre asking. Like everything goes slow motion or all motion freezes like in the movies. Maybe this is possible, but it's more that since the concept of time is broken all motion is simultaneously super fast and super slow mo. In fact there's no difference because faster and slower are relative to each other - on an infinite scale where there is no actual substantial difference between the two. When you have an awakening experience it's clear that all phenomena is imagined and really there is just an ever morphing field of awareness where no object is ever fully still. Even if you stare at a rock that isn't "moving", if you watch long enough you'll start to notice new things about the rock. "Oh look there's this gash I didn't see before. " "Hey those lines on the rock kind of look like a circle." That process of noticing new things is actually you creating them right now. Consciousness is morphing everything, and everything being morphed is nothing other than consciousness itself. Both you and the rock merge into each other. This motion of morphing doesn't stop and in that consistency of motion there is also a stillness behind it. Its a big mindfuck where complete unstopping motion forever exists as well as complete stillness. Notice that no two moments are ever the same. As you're reading these words your eyes are moving and you're analyzing new sentences, creating meaning. No two moments reading this text are the same. Even if you go and re-read a line. That moment of re-reading is not the same as "before." It's getting weird haha. This is a glimpse of the ever-changing nature of consciousness. The stillness aspect is prior to all of the change. Prior to all relative difference that creates any motion at all. Hopefully this helps, I know it may not have exactly addressed your question.

Right! Beautifully said

Yup it is! This post was even written from that place. Both perspectives are valuable and make for a beautiful dance. Be as you are now includes seeking. Includes the desire to not be as you are! It is complete and fully encompassing

There is no time. It is clear that the past is all arising in your mind only in this moment. The future is obviously completely imaginary. The past is also realized to be imaginary. It is imagined right now. Think of a time in your past. When you were a kid playing with friends. Where does that memory exist? Only right now. You are in fact creating that memory right now. It's hard to stomach but undeniable when experienced

That is the hardest thing isn't it. Firstly just understanding that this is temporary and you will get out of the slump helps a lot. But as far as actionable things. What helps me a lot is realigning my core values and purposes. So literally getting a notebook and journaling. What do I want out of life? Why do I do what I do? What are the reasons my "bad" habits are "bad" to me? (In other words what are they keeping you from doing or being). These are very general questions so you can get way more specific about the things unique to your life. The reason this helps is because backlash activity occurs because you start to unconsciously shift your values. You value instant gratification more than your long term health. (So you eat fried food and ice cream instead of a healthy meal). This is just one example. Notice how a lot of these bad habits have been caused by value shifts. The problem is these values got shifted unconsciously. You didn't sit down and say okay for this week I'm just gonna default to activity that gives me comfort and gratification over my larger life goals. That would be insane. It was a subtle sort of shift that happened without you noticing. So just intentionally realigning yourself has made a massive difference for me. But also know that it's really difficult to instantly change back and give yourself time. Be very forgiving and loving to yourself. There isn't a magic fix, but bon't worry you will get out of it. Be patient and as mindful as possible. Periods of backlash are a great gift in retrospect. They teach you so much about yourself.

This sounds very similar to Kundalini awakening experiences. You can do some research on these and it might make you feel better to know you aren't alone. Oftentimes people will have radical experiences like this followed by deep backlash and pain through the desire to live normally again. Understand that something very special is happening and embrace it as best as you can. You can do this! Any downward spiral is completely temporary. May want to check out Leo's vid on ego backlash if you haven't seen it. @Carl-Richard is also right. The fear gets justified through thoughts. Becoming aware of this process will be extremely freeing for you. Notice the fear cannot touch you. Watch these fearful thoughts arise and fade in your awareness. They are not you and they cannot touch you. You got this man. Always got a community here too if you run into troubles.

This is the right course of action haha. From reading your responses it seems you are living too deeply in the conceptual mind. You say "but isn't my experience processed in the brain" - this is an idea. You are experiencing the thought of a brain and the idea that things are processed here. Get closer to this moment right now - where everything is found. Being is prior to all concepts. Notice that thoughts come and go through your awareness right now. The thought of a brain is just that - a thought. Which arises and fades. Try to notice the awareness underneath all of these fleeting concepts. You have it right. Just sit and attempt to experience it. Have patience and know that you're on the right track! Good luck!

True acceptance isnt about achieving a better state really. Honestly from the way youve been speaking i think you would greatly benefit from yoga practices instead. Yoga often creates immediate and dramatic changes in state. There are a lot of techniques that you can explore, shamanic breathing, pranayamas, Kriya yoga, Kundalini yoga, even just basic Hatha yoga I do daily and see radical state changes. However, meditation will also get you these benefits. Especially when paired with a yoga practice. Except you have to even let go of the desire to change anything and just completely surrender to this moment. Otherwise you'll be playing mind games to infinity. The "but this doesn't seem to be doing anything" and "if I do nothing, nothing will happen" thoughts are just more mental trickery. Sit in the place of watching and let those kinds of doubts fade away. It takes a lot of patience so like you said - you may just need this. To answer your other question, I was introduced to acceptance of sensations through a 10 Vipassina meditation retreat. Which is SOOOO worthwhile and deepens your practice immensely. This however requires even greater patience and willingness to go through very painful experiences. The path of acceptance is not easy, but ultimately it's the only one that will get you where you want to go. When you accept all sensations and thoughts a miraculous shift happens. Let's say you have severe pain in your knee sitting in lotus posture. First you'll hear the mind say "FUCKKKK, Jesus this hurts .... I need to move, Godd ..... Pay attention to something else... Just distract yourself and it'll go away". When this happens do not give into the temptation to move. Instead, counterintuitively, sink deeper into the sensation. Drown the sensation in awareness. Eventually through this awareness, the sensation gets recontextualized. It's a very sudden Ah Haa! moment. So just wait for it. And then you see that this is not pain. It's simply sensation. It's meerly another object in awareness. A very intense and vibrant one, but just an object. You may have several realizations here. One realization will be it's impermanent nature. This sensation is comprised of change. Pure change and it will eventually fade. Another will be that this sensation cannot actually touch you. You are the witness of it. Like a child who watches a horror movie and gets scared. You can tell him it's only a movie but until he realizes it for himself it will affect him greatly. Right now as I explain this you may conceptually understand. This is not the same as the actual insight. Practice and find out for yourself. Try a 1 hour strong determination sit. No movement allowed. And inevitably that uncomfortable sensation will arise. You will be tempted to move and comfort yourself. Don't do it. Sit with it and go deep. The only way out is through. Use the pain to have a breakthrough. Hope this helps

Yes @Recursoinominado is right according to Vipassina theory. I'll add that samskaras (impressions) are essentially the seeds of karma and multiply through craving and aversion. Everytime we crave and avert (which is reactionary at this point for most humans) we accumulate more and more samskaras - thus more and more karma. From my formal teaching of Vipassina, they say in order to purge these samskaras you need three things: equinimity, awareness, and understanding of anitya. Anitya meaning impermanence. Everything is always changing. By sitting with awareness, equinimity and deeply understanding anitya you no longer express craving or aversion to any thoughts, sensations, or experiences. Past or present. When you no longer crave and avert you purge your old samskaras and stop the process of creating new karma. The trick is to sit in what they call "witness consciousness." Sit in the seat of pure awareness and watch everything as an object of consciousness. Notice everything arises and fades within consciousness and you are this awareness through which everything arises. Sitting from this place you are now watching everything like it's a movie. It's like watching a horror movie when you were a kid. You'd get completely sucked into it and it would freak you TF out cuz you thought it was real. Once you realise oh this is just moving pixels on a screen and watch from this place you are not effected, until you get sucked in again. The mind is constantly sucking you in, creating craving and aversion and multiplying samskaras. Sitting in witness consciousness you start to stop this process. Remember this is all theoretical for now and it takes much practice to get used to sitting in witness consciousness. In a 10 day retreat it took me til day 6 to reach a consistent place of sitting in awareness like this. But the rewards are unspeakable!! Good luck and hope this helped.

There is no waiting - that's the thing. You aren't sitting and waiting. You're sitting and being. You keep choosing to accept the present moment over and over again. Each changing moment is fully accepted. You narrow deeply into the present and from this place the whole notion of gaining anything for later becomes ridiculous. All you have is Now and you just choose to connect to this truth through your practice. The practice is of sitting with the intention of just being with the moment - however it is. Whether it's filled with thoughts, uncomfortable sensations, sleepiness, emotions or whatever. You choose to not reject anything. Then Bam - you hit you're desired state. Even this sentence is wrong because there is no desired state other than whatever your current state is. In summary im saying the only problem you ever have is resistance to this moment. And if you make your sitting meditation practice about noticing this resistance when it arises and choosing to accept instead. Miraculous things will happen. You'll see the mind react. "This isnt working I'm not doing anything here", "this is a waste of time", "Am I even doing this right?" "My back hurts", etc. all of these forms of resistance are completely natural and you can even accept this! Accept the resistance itself and you've gone deeper. Sorry if this has gotten confusing now but I'll just finish by saying complete acceptance is the most advanced practice I've found. Hope this helps