Consilience

That doesn’t change anything about what I wrote. There is a distinction to be made with craving after an experience that is not currently present and having the equanimity to be with such craving. When craving is directly experienced (equanimity), it no longer drives behavior. When craving is resisted, which is only possible via the belief in a separate self, craving no longer drives behavior. When one is casually using drugs, even consciousness expanding drugs like psychedelics, its fundamental, psychological root is in the belief of a separate self, dissatisfied with its current experience and seeking to change it. When the actuality of craving is penetrated wholly and completely, there is no room left for dissatisfaction. The entire mechanism driving the need for a state change unravels. Of course, at the highest there is no separate self, just a movement of reality. But if this movement was seriously recognized, there would be no need to casually jump states. The actuality of what is already so is just as profound and mystical as any altered state. After all, there is no difference between the psychedelic and “sober” state. - Please note there are crucial distinctions between craving and other such mental states like desire, curiosity, excitement. Not all mental states lend themselves well if the pursuit is Awakening.

If you’re casually using a drug, it’s most likely a crutch to escape from some quality of your sober, grounded experience. Therefore, ultimately a distraction.

Oddly enough, solipsism has never really activated agitation in the mind. It’s been strange observing how many threads and how much resistance on the forum there is about solipsism. I just have no problems with it. In my experience, realizing solipsism has an incredibly palpable heart element. Recognizing absolute solipsism feels heart wrenching, it’s like tapping into infinite interconnectivity and taking on the weight of reality’s pain, joy, sorrow, ecstasy, bliss, suffering, peace, love… it’s all just one. And that oneness is overwhelmingly beautiful and I suppose could be horrifying to the unprepared mind. Perhaps an acquired taste. Yet there is a very grounded element to solipsism, an intrinsic freedom and equilibrium it necessitates. Yes it’s on some level horrifying, but on the other-hand, it is utterly unifying. Every moment, a perfect union with all other moments and beings. I don’t know how to describe why such an actuality is so supportive, but it is, truly, supportive.

I find often the abandonment creates what feels like a psychic vacuum. The thoughts and feelings of "right action" are pressurized into manifestation. If I try to act on what feels right, "right action," there always feels like an underlying wrong action, like the roots were more "what is wrong for you." But when abandoning right action, again, right action is the only actuality. Behavior starts to get quite paradoxical at this point.

I dont think the rate needs to be that quick but lets face it. Humanity is severely lacking wisdom and compassion. If we don’t collectively get our shit together, we will destroy ourselves. There’s no better way to develop wisdom and compassion than these contemplative practices like meditation. Unfortunately, they don’t work quickly enough to meet the exponentially growing challenges that we face such as climate change, rapidly advancing technology, massive wealth inequality, etc. Id also say don’t become attached to the image of the long hero’s journey. Just as there’s nothing wrong with the current speed (other than its lack of scaleability) there’s equally nothing wrong with speeding it up. No reason to assume its impossible and guaranteed to have something wrong.

It makes sense to me. I agree. I do think with technological advancements and perhaps a merging of psychedelics, neuroscience, and meditation, we could discover a new technology that speeds up the development of the brain regions associated with spiritual development such as concentration, mindfulness, etc.

I think Ive seen Leo make a distinction between understanding vs embodiment. To him, these are very distinct facets of the spiritual path and Actualized.org focuses more on the understanding component. I think there is wisdom there, but I also see a deep wisdom in unifying the concepts of embodiment and understanding in the sense that true understanding is embodiment. But… you know… #relativity

@Mosess Not sure if that's a reply, a question, or something else.

I'm speaking for others, not myself. What I observe is most people do not want max consciousness, they aren't interested in reaching some permanent exalted state, they're merely interested in living a good, meaningful, fulfilling life. This can be achieved without max consciousness. Meditation is perhaps the single most effective technique towards actualizing this aim. And since you're bringing up clear seeing, let's be clear - an exalted, fleeting, impermanent, sacred, empty, God-Realized state that shares the same fundamental essence as taking a morning shit is not intrinsically more clear than any other state when Clarity with a capital C is realized. There is something deeply fundamental missing in your metaphysical model. Obviously you'll disagree with this and I don't even disagree with striving after these states both with psychedelics and meditation both, but clinging to them is just another form of bondage and existential ignorance. But again, most people just want authentic happiness. Meditation is an amazing practice towards moving along this axis, even if the pinnacle is never reached. A good, meaningful, fulfilling life is achievable without psychedelics. To preach otherwise is not only wildly disempowering to your audience, but comes from a place of ignorance, delusion, and falsehood.

Your senses are biased. It depends on what you mean by effective. If living the good life is one’s aim, meditation and even some Buddhism are extremely powerful technologies. If the aim is God, in isolation these are probably not enough. The thing is, “most people” are looking to live the good life. Therefore, meditation and Buddhism are wildly effective.

Ironically, noting not self IS what opens consciousness to the Self.

No that's not vipassana, though looking at body sensations can be a form of vipassana practice. Vipassana is about studying the actuality of one's perceptive experience. Traditionally taught via noticing three fundamental qualities to experience, impermanence, dissatisfaction, and not-self which can lead into other insights such as interconnection, unity, the spacious quality of all phenomena, the dreamlike & empty quality of all phenomena, etc. If there's experience, vipassana is possible. You just turn mindfulness onto whatever is being experienced and notice its actuality. Vipassana while tripping is quite powerful. If there's no body, notice the sensations of no body, the sights, sounds, or other mental phenomena. If there's no form or infinity, notice those too with mindfulness.

?‍♂️

Mu ?

That would actually be a lack of acceptance. You’d be denying the part of your self that feels inspired to change.

Thank you @Inliytened1 and @Adamq8 and for the feedback. In all honesty yes I get triggered so that’s certainly a mirror for attachments, attachments to meditation, non-duality, an attachment to a different view regarding psychedelics. But It also comes from a place of compassion, seeing how lost people can get endlessly chasing paychedelics and never getting to the root of reality, of the self. If you frame awakening, the “deepest” awakening, as only being possible in a particular state, you’re lost. End of story. And to see this with crystal clarity while watching an influential teacher walk thousands off a cliff is stirs a sense of suffering on behalf of others inside. Overall I also recognize it’s all games, mind, projection, ego. And selfishly, it’s a great opportunity for further inquiry and introspection. There is no Leo, teachings, Actualized, self, or other. Agreed. Doesn’t change my view though.

Everytime he gets on this forum or video speaking about Awakenings he’s coming from a place of ego. That’s the whole trap. His mind is paradigm locked in conceptualization and this never ending grasping towards deeper Awakenings. True but if you don’t see the arrogance, you’re stuck in hero worship. 1) It is crystal clear Leo is not coming from a place of selflessness. This should be overtly obvious and if it is not, there’s a shitload of work left to do. 2) Yeah, Leo BELIEVES in his teaching. He’s lost in mind, lost in grasping, lost in samsara and duality, essentially. ? The real work begins finding God right now, not in an altered state. Go and do the work.

vv Yeah not a waste at all. Enormously powerful image. It’s actually on my vision board it strikes me so deeply. Most likely yes. My guess is he was in an extreme samadhi state while burning, had been training intensive retreat level prior to the burning, and was deeply conscious in general. He knew what pain was. He knew he was not a body or mind.

Hai ?

For as many books as you've read on the topic and you still think meditation is about stilling the mind? How could you even begin to imagine what thousands upon thousands of hours of meditation does to the mind? Do you not see how deeply self-deceptive you're being here? What happened to direct experience is king? Edit: The quote feature quoted the user @Hello from Russia, but the original quote is from @Leo Gura

Well said.

That’s the thing, fear of pain is one of the crucial dualities preventing infinity from breaking through while being sober. If you look at higher jhanas (jhana of infinite consciousness for example), it requires absurdly high levels of equanimity.

Well technically Im not trying to fight anyone, but I hear ya ? Im unironically about to go meditate so take it away bro @Salvijus

Two fundamental forces separating ego from God: 1) Fear of pain 2) Fear of death Meditation unravels both. Psychedelics give glimpses into what it’s like to unravel. Astronomical difference long term.

It actually does say a lot about consciousness. The mind’s relationship with pain is one of the most fundamental mis-percpetions, or veils of ignorance about the true nature of reality. Penetrating that level of pain with clarity is only possible via consciousness, as it goes against one of the deepest layers of evolutionary conditioning of mind and body. Although given how out of touch you are with actually increasing one’s consciousness long term rather than short trips, makes sense you’re utterly clueless. Yeah, Shinzen doesn’t teach God consciousness. It’s even better. He teaches the tools needed to get to God consciousness sober. All of his retreats focus on PRACTICE, not spiritual-mental masturbation. Why? Because the masturbation is bullshit and get’s people nowhere. Want to actually wake up? Do the fucking work. That simple. Shinzen teaches people the tools to effectively do the work. Just because Shinzen doesn’t explicitly talk about God consciousness that doesn’t mean that's not where you’re going as a result of the work. The fact that you think psychedelics lead somewhere different than hardcore spiritual practice just proves this. Again, this place is turning into a joke for serious sages. Your lack of holism, wisdom, and arrogance is just astounding given the quality of your earlier content man. What the hell happened? Honestly…