The Blind Sage

@Leo Gura False. I have already mentioned in my post: I'm here to learn so if you think this will cause problems by all means, do enlighten me on how this is the case. Dude, I'm not refuting any of what you're saying here. I actually mostly agree with you on such topics! Our disagreement is in terminology, not in view. You are conflating mysticism and spirituality when there should be a deliberate intent to point out the differences and similarities amongst these 2 things. In fact Leo, you are quite literally already doing this. You simply are not using the proper term for it. Do not think I am dicking around being nitpicky, these things are important else you will have many unnecessarily confused people. At the end of the day they are labels- meant to have a practical function for communication, etc. I was lucky enough to stumble upon this distinction several years ago in a youtube video. I never forgot it since because it was so useful in a number of ways. I do not know why you cannot see it's value. But hey, I'm not the one who will have to be rehashing his views on this topic repeatedly every couple of months. You do you

No. Your work is not at all spiritual. Your work is about mysticism. A lot of people will awaken following your methods (not me because my physiology unfortunately cannot handle psychedelics), but no one following your methods will transcend suffering. You can claim mysticism>spirituality (and I mostly agree with you btw) but that does not in any way change what they are. Of course, wrong expectations about methods you employ will fuck you in the ass. Which is why making the distinction between spirituality and mysticism is so crucial. No shit. Forget 40 years they must know this before they even begin, nobody that isn't ignorant ever said otherwise. Many other practices lean towards spirituality rather than mysticism Being freed of suffering is not a 'perk'. It is the very function of such practices. I'm not saying it's not a waste of time because I simply don't know but am committed figuring things out as I grow. "The downside of pursuing only mysticism and not liberation is that there is no guarantee that you will become free of suffering and full of bliss. In fact, without training for those things I pretty much guarantee you won't get them." I reiterate; Spirituality=liberation Mysticism=understanding This distinction is not only accurate but very useful. It did not come from me, it was observed thousands of years ago. Do not ignore its value.

@Leo Gura I would advise you to make a clearer distinction between spirituality and mysticism. Spirituality=liberation (i.e what bhuddism focuses on) Mysticism=pure exploration of existence (i.e understanding) Whether Buddhist processes are 'worth the risks' is not my place to say, but it is a misunderstanding of what Buddhism is designed to do if you are criticizing it for its lack of results in understanding the nature of consciousness. On the other hand, it's foolish to be convinced that a knife is a suitable tool to sew a sweater because it gave you value in a different circumstance. Different things for different purposes...

Keenly waiting sir? "But Leo, isn't my mind identical to yours!?!?" - pls address this in your video thanks

Not really, I think you're unhinged/ungrounded. To what degree? Idk, but definitely to at least some small degree in the short term. Nothing unexpected, cant possibly expect someone to behave normally 24/7 when they delve deeply into mysticism. Not invalidating your recent insights/awakenings/discoveries or anything but sometimes you just come off as fkn strange lol. And then moments later you comment some shrewd take on a political discussion which makes you look very grounded lol ☝️Case in point ??

@Leo Gura what do you mean by 'alien'? Do you mean a degree of foreignness so far beyond our frame of reference you label it as alien? Or like some extraterrestrial shit? I've been out of touch with the forum in recent months so to me Leo just sounds like he's lost it a little bit with this 'alien' talk. But then again, at every step of the way where Leo grows to a new level he always seems crazy. A feature of his path I suppose. Or maybe its just the way he communicates, almost seems like he does it on purpose. Probably both...

My thoughts exactly

Assuming you mean the Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan; what you have to understand about is that it's not really Kundalini Yoga. It's hatha yoga dressed in the garbs of Kundalini Yoga, singing Sikh mantras. It's wonderful for general wellbeing but not very good for growing spiritually. Besides, Hatha yoga seems to be more of a prepatory system anyways, something you do to prepare the body before you crank up the voltage with intense energy practices. Not to say it isnt possible to have mystical insight with it, it's just that you're better off doing kriya yoga. True Kundalini Yoga is supposed to be an incredibly potent tantric (occult-based) practice that requires initiation and transmission. Where are you going to find people capable of such things? Not even Sadhguru is willing to do Kundalini Yoga because it's apparently too risky to do it with people who haven't had the necessary preperation.

@Lincisman Martial arts for personal development isn't talked about enough on this forum imo. Especially considering that the audience here is mostly male. I'm 23 and just had my first lesson a few days ago. I wish I started as a late teenager. Just imagine how different you'll be as a person after several years of training-mentally, emotionally (and of course physically). Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is considered a pretty good go-to tradition for begginers. I'm still experimenting on which one I'll commit to but the consensus is that you can't go wrong with BJJ. Read the reddit FAQ forum on martial arts if you're interested. It's got pretty high quality info.

Agreed. What you said in the context of this discussion implied it was a generalised claim that anyone who has a notion of wasting time is judgemental-not something that happened to you on a personal level. But you've cleared that up- Yes, I can relate to this. I'm of Indian ethnicity as well. I remember wanting to learn pottery making as a young child but mum basically implied I was a sissy in front of a friend lmfao. She wanted me to do something that wasn't a 'waste of time' you could say. Not at all her fault tho-she was just acting out her programming. I don't completely agree but this tangent isn't very relevant, so fair enough.

I actually agree with what you're saying. I'd just add on top of it that even though your experiences are always teaching us something, we often resist acknowledging the misalignment that life is trying to show. Meanwhile we bullshit ourselves that we're resisting, and lie to ourselves that we're even playing this game to begin with. Survival's a bitch aint it! Meanwhile we could have just accepted the pain and dealt with the situation immediately. Thus, the 'wasted time'. You've got to take responsibility for the choices you make whilst also understanding the fact that this moment right here is inevitable and cannot be any other way because reality is what it is. So time most certainly can be wasted and is simultaneously never wasted. What's an actualized forum discussion without a sweet paradox? This, on the other hand, is nothing more than your projection. (An ironic one, I might add)

I originally stopped because it was an impediment to my growth. I had some family trauma I wasn't dealing with and became ant-social. Cannabis allowed me to numb the loneliness and boredom and suffering. When I grew out of that and tried to use it again I basically couldn't. Every trip was too intense and it would activate energy in my subtle body to an overwhelming degree. It would also cause insomnia; everything was too fresh and new for me to slip into sleep-even the process of breathing itself became incredibly stimulating. It would spark a fire of creativity and deep insights (metaphysical and otherwise). My relationship to it has changed from something I associate with pleasure to a plant that I consider as holy/sacred. I've used lsd&mushrooms about 6 times-none of those trips came close to the growth I achieved tripping on weed. It didn't always used to be like this tho. I suspect that the kriya yoga practices & meditation I've been doing over the last couple of years changed my physiology such that I'm much more receptive to the plant. But for some reason this receptivity doesn't spill over to lsd, shrooms or 2cp TLDR, my view=Cannabis can be used for tremendous growth-but only if done with sense. Pumping your body with thc everyday is silly no matter how you justify it.

top kek

The attached image is an excerpt from his autobiography 'Apprenticed to a himalayan master'. In the excerpt, babaji refers to Maheshwernath babaji, and sri guru babaji refers to Mahavatar babaji (the one that Yogananda refers to for all you kriya yoga practitioners). I've read 'autobiography of a yogi' by Yogananda but I didn't enjoy it. Yogananda was a phenomenal yogi and I revere his level of accomplishment but the book is not something I connected with. This book on the other hand, I found quite captivating-it entails the story of a young boy less than 20 years old leaving home to pursue a guru in the himalayas in the mid-20th century. Here's a Batgap interview with the guy: There's also a 2nd interview which I didn't attach here. Here's a link to his website: https://satsang-foundation.org/ You can even get initiated and learn practices from him. Judging from the interview and the book, he seems like hes sincere. Looks like he's the real deal. *Warning* Radical open-mindedness required. He will make references to crazy paranormal shit. Are they bs? Who knows. I find his perspectives broadens and deepens my understanding, which is the important part, whether the crazy shit he claims happened were real or not is actually not all that relevant.

Yet again he's shown his poor level of integrity. But that's not why I'm posting this. It's only a matter of time before someone else posts this video here. I'm posting this here to make sure our response as a community is grounded. Don't go spamming his comment section like. Just treat him exactly how he's behaving; a troll. Ignore him; anything else will just be helping him leech more views and attention.

Well said

Good for you.

@Inliytened1 Probably because he's such an easy target. His work is incredibly nuanced so it's easy to just take a one-line quote from a 3 hour video out of context like 'I am god' and spin some bs cult narrative for easy clicks. And just quickly contemplating, here are some of my thoughts about why do trolls troll? -Attention -stimulation from boredom, -Unhealthy means of channelling their creative energy Just look at the first couple minutes of the video, the guy's a childish troll lol

@Farnaby It might not be as bad as you expect. I took SInovac (since it was the only one available at the time) and everyone who took it had a mild 1st dose and an awful 2nd one. The opposite happened to me-my first dose was a bit of a shitshow and the second one was mild. I've never heard of people having horrible side effects for both doses regardless of vaccine brand. As far as I've seen, it's either mild->shitty or shitty->mild.

@machiavelli I'm assuming you never watched Leos spiral dynamics series, because ^That, unfortunately, wont work. The content isn't the problem. It's how they process information and filter it through their worldviews. You remove idol worship from their minds and they will simply replace it with another dogma. Pretty bog-standard stage blue religious type thinking. The ego-mind will turn black into white and white into black. You misunderstand the nature of the problem. Watch the spiral dynamics series (link in the post on page 1), otherwise you're just wasting your time. This website is a fucking goldmine dude. You can continue complaining or understand the issue you described at a deeper level.

I take it then, the only question is: "To what degree are you conscious of what is?" Correct?

You're right. Ideology keeps you paradigm locked. What I gather is that you're basically asking; how does one escape paradigm lock? But before we jump the gun, lets slow down a second. Every Tom, Dick and Harry wants instant solutions and answers. Not many are willing to really understand the problem at the roots first. So then, if you're sincere in what you're asking, I'd suggest you to spend time understanding why people get paradigm locked in the first place. And for that, you've come to the perfect place. Some of my favourite actualized.org videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FtVLnmuJzg&list=PLWq2PmY0jhcpCShDDL_H4D3CDdw4Y9DXm&index=5&ab_channel=Actualized.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM-5NFY1C3c&list=PLWq2PmY0jhcpCShDDL_H4D3CDdw4Y9DXm&index=5&ab_channel=Actualized.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tLZ2a1uafk&list=PLWq2PmY0jhcpCShDDL_H4D3CDdw4Y9DXm&index=7&ab_channel=Actualized.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRgLWFzGodg&list=PLWq2PmY0jhcpCShDDL_H4D3CDdw4Y9DXm&index=10&ab_channel=Actualized.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVcxIamwO5g&list=PLWq2PmY0jhcpCShDDL_H4D3CDdw4Y9DXm&index=24&ab_channel=Actualized.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi_K402KU0A&ab_channel=Actualized.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9MS701rvoQ&ab_channel=Actualized.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ODZLAAQsE&ab_channel=Actualized.org Spiral dynamics series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23aDNBvn_2g&list=PLWq2PmY0jhcpz1T8_HCUrhuw0mRp1z7Aq&ab_channel=Actualized.org P.S, just to reiterate, please do not commit the mistake of failing to make a distinction between idol worshipping and genuine tantric practices. Leo's got an amazing episode on the importance of making high quality, fine grained distinctions as well btw. Good luck brother.

There are many tanrtic paths that involve the consecration of objects into deities and goddesses. It's not just a metaphorical 'worship'. What they're worshipping has been transformed into a device to raise your consciousness through mantras, various rituals, or maybe even direct pranic/life-force manipulation, etc. The 'gods' they worship are nothing more than tools. Maybe they will be very devotional to it, but that's just another device for spiritual growth; using a deity as a point of devotion. Like all world religions, it usually sprang from deep wisdom and mysticism but got hijacked by collective ego. But of course, the majority of people that worship idols are dogmatic sheep. And even those that aren't, I'm inclined to think at least the majority of practitioners are tribalistic and stage purple-ish. Of course, I could be wrong. Just don't throw the baby out with the bathwater is all I'm saying.

I'm not well informed on ecological sustainability, many of you on the other hand, I think would be. This video challenged a lot of my previous perspectives. I was under the impression that the most worthwhile thing to do for sustainability is to give up meat. Now I'm not so sure. I'd like to hear your perspectives on this topic. I'd also like to hear your suggestions on what the most impactful things we can change in our lifestyle. Edit: I'd prefer to keep the morality of killing animals out of this conversation if possible, as that's a whole other discussion for another time and would convolute the clarity of the intended topic.