Consilience

This is almost getting comical. So much deception, so much arrogance, such a lack of direct experience. Ever watched the video where Shinzen talks about his 30 day SDS retreat? Every day, there was a 4 hour SDS sit. Four fucking hours a day of strong determination sitting and you think he’s full of shit? Lmao ok. I wonder how many days of 5-MeO it would take to be able to do 30 days of 4 hour SDS sits without emotionally breaking. I wonder how many 5-MeO trips it would take to do a single 4 hour SDS sit. This forum is turning into a joke for serious sages.

Are you sure? Not trying to be cute. What I tried communicating is extremely nuanced with extremely subtle ramifications.

Can you hold the paradox that exactly where you are right now shares the same existential quality as whatever ultimate awakening you achieve in this lifetime via psychedelics of some other spiritual practice? Can you seek deeper and deeper awakenings without the need for deeper and deeper awakenings? Can you seek deeper and deeper Awakenings with deeper and deeper understandings while understanding that these are no more deep, valuable, or special than exactly where you are? It is truly a paradox, one that I don't see anyone addressing directly or appropriately, including Leo and nevermind the majority of spiritual teahcers. That this moment IS IT, but this doesn’t dismiss the path of increasing consciousness. The thing is, you’re right - it’s an infinite rabbit hole of possible depth. There is no end. So how do you go forward? You keep going home until your dying breath, all the while knowing you’re ultimately going nowhere at all. Hold this paradox, apply this paradox in practice, and an understanding beyond the capabilities of mind to understand or properly articulate will arise.

In my view, this is one of Leo’s colossal misunderstandings about the nature of meditation and the spiritual path. A few thoughts that come to mind - 1) Meditation is not about turning the mind off, though this can happen. 2) There are frequencies of mind, information, and intelligence we can “tap into” when resting in the space of silence and stillness as the mind naturally quiets, giving relative insights on par of psychedelics. 3) The distinction between nothing and infinity is an ego game. 5-MeO God consciousness and meditation lead to the same place, but meditation involves seeing the divinity, and God-ness of the ordinary state. 4) Meditation, particularly when training concentration, can lead to just as powerful, sometimes more powerful, altered states of consciousness as psychedelics. The more advance one gets with practice, the more this begins to take place. 5) Psychedelics cannot cultivate wisdom, meditation does. Though they can open a mind up to being more receptive to wisdom, which in itself is extremely powerful. The mistake is trying to get the psychedelic to do the work for you. 6) How can we be conscious of God right now, in all of our ordinary suffering, just as it is? Can we see the imaginative, illusory, dream-like nature of reality righ now? No? Keep practicing. 7) This framework is steeped in duality. Reality is non-dual.

Hello actualized.org fam, For those of you who are entrepreneurs with experience starting businesses, or have worked with logo designers on passion projects, YouTube channels, instagram accounts, websites, etc... is there any advice for picking a good logo designer? I have a pretty clear vision of what I want out of a logo, but finding an artist to actually actualize that goal is so foreign. I've realized I have no idea what I'm doing and don't want to waste 100s of dollars because I don't understand the nuances of working well with an artist and perhaps most importantly, finding the right artist. So far, I've scoured on r/DesignJobs subreddit and while there are a lot of artists out there, it feels a little unprofessional trying to randomly find a good artist on reddit. Perhaps this is a story I'm telling myself, but I can't shake the hesitancy of using reddit. I did find an artist's work that I loved and fit exactly the style I was looking for, but she was charing a flat rate of $3300 for logos, which is way beyond my budget. I'm willing to spend some money if it means getting it done well, but nowhere near that amount is reasonable with where I'm at right now financially. - How to find an artist that's a good fit? - What if you begin working with someone and they're just not producing material that feels aligned? - Where would one find high quality graphic designers with affordable prices/good websites for this? - Any general feedback/advice? Thank you.

It definitely happens and will more than likely occur again even after this phase of anxiety is released. This is the process of purification, the mind slowly training itself to be at peace in the midst of pain or pleasure without craving and aversion. Long story short, sounds like you’re right on track! As far as strategies to help soften these kinds of phases of practice, 1) A shamatha focus rather than vipassana or open awareness. Focusing on feelings of bliss, happiness, contentment, and equanimity while following a meditation object like the breath sensations at the nostrils or whole body. 2) You can try a short breathwork session before a sit. Ive found doing anywhere from 2-5 mins of wim hof style breathing followed by holding my breath as long as possible afterwords to be extremely grounding and energetically clearing before meditation. 3) Throw in walking meditation. These can be very rejuvenating when formal seated practice becomes too intense. 4) Intentionally scale back practice. If 10 mins is all you feel called for, no reason to “should all over yourself” into thinking you need more. 1 minute of formal practice is better than none. Id keep the daily consistency, no matter how small. 5) Try meditating with meditative music or sound bowls. Can be very healing and help dissipate and transform the anxiety energy. 6) Listening to guided meditations. The only guided meditations Ill listen to are from a YouTube channel called Samaneri Jayasara, which is about as enlightening as guided meditations can be. 7) Endure, push through, bring equanimity and truth even to these sensations. At the end of the day, all moments are moments of truth and freedom. So even if we find relief through transformation, the process of purifying the mind means we will eventually be able to sit in sensations of anxiety with no issues.

Meditation. 1-2 hours a day. During these periods of silence, stillness and space, difficult emotions will arise out of the lack of stimulation. Great emotions will arise too. We sit with them, hold space for them, and not react to them. This is emotional mastery. Learning how to be with our emotions. We can then begin the process of learning how to create new ones. I could not even begin to articulate how powerful of a practice it is to be able to sit in positive and negative emotions with real equanimity.

Beautiful

I started writing this morning quite spontaneously, and this story appeared. I felt some on this forum may resonate and find these pointers helpful. A careful reminder that this is indeed one way of framing reality, and should by no means be taken to indicate I believe any of this as though it’s absolute. Therefore, while conversation, clarification, and challenging can be helpful, argumentation or any of these from positions of right and wrong are useless. Of course, this too is a story ;P - One of the keys to manifesting our highest desires is to recognize the ultimate nature of reality, on any level. We don’t need to be completely awakened to recognize the non-dual nature of reality, but any degree of such recognition will inevitably open the mind to enormously powerful possibilities. This mind and its contents, activities, and orientations, from the subtlest to most macrocosmic, are inextricably entangled with our entire field of experience. Therefore, how we think literally creates. The synchronicities of circumstance and opportunity cannot be separated from the mind in which is observing them. There is no separation between mind and what is normally referred to as “physical reality.” Upon deeply mindful investigation into reality’s infinite casual-chains and interdependency, i.e. it’s true nature, we can see that our mind’s and the unfolding of life are a self referencing loop of experience. Just as the unfolding of life shapes, penetrates, and conditions the mind, so too does the mind shape, penetrate, and condition life. The key is to recognize the beliefs which limit this mind’s penetration such as “the mind is in the head” or “the mind is just a brain.” These two beliefs are merely contents within experience that shape, penetrate, and condition life, even when such beliefs are operating below the threshold of awareness within the subconscious mind. When one sees clearly the nature of beliefs, we can see these two examples as just lenses that artificially filter the way in which life is experienced. When we change our beliefs, or better yet, move toward an alignment with reality’s ultimate true nature, such beliefs and their conditioning qualities fall away. As we practice an honest, objective observation of our direct experience, we can see how much fabrication and relativity of the world coexist. In every moment, we are shaping and transforming our realities based on this mind. A mind that is clear on its desires and free from unhelpful beliefs, or clear on how to reprogram itself out of unhelpful beliefs, is a mind capable of transforming, transmuting, and alchemizng how the unfolding of life unfolds. The key insight is to realize this flowing of life is always subject to our mind, all of it. When the actuality of this flowing is recognized at deeper and deeper levels, it starts consciously moving rather than its typical unconscious moving. The other point to recognize is the multiplicity and relativity of identity, or of “who we are.” Who we are is not merely a human being with a human mind. There is a deeper, more primordial level to identification and fabrication of self identity that extends beyond a single lifetime. This is what we can use the word “soul” to represent. The desires, intentions, intelligence, and mind of this soul are also conditions which are attractive forces on the unfolding of life and reality. When life hands us seemingly impossible or bitter challenges, or even mundane circumstances we feel in no way aligned with, it is paramount to recognize even these forces and attractions are our doing perhaps on subliminal levels of unconscious conditioning and trauma, or the soul’s higher intentionality, as well as the non-dual entanglement of both and the ineffable, a-causal, boundlessly free, intelligence behind every moment.

I posted this in the wrong sub forum… If a mod would kindly move to the appropriate location ??

One thing that helps with the being in core vibration at all times is recognizing the shift from “forcing” to “flowing” can be instantaneous to a mind that sees reality deeply. We can literally shift up and down the emotional scale at will. The more trained, unified and clear the mind is (cultivated most effectively through meditation and mindfulness), the more quickly this shift can occur. Another crucial point about this kind of mind akido is that the “shift” that occurs does not always create the downstream “in flow” or “in vibration” feelings immediately. There can at times be a lag in the time it takes for the new momentum to build, the immediate shift in vibration we’re looking for is not in the manifest feelings (although again these too can be subject to immediate transformation), but an immediate shift in the context holding emotions, which is actually more powerful, as this context is actually the space creating reality and at the deepest levels, all of reality. The emotions and being “in state” are just downstream by products. After all, sometimes being moody and depressed is exactly where we need to be to be at our best and in state, when we hold this topic holistically and maturely.

Wtf that’s ridiculously cheaper than the US. $1000 barely pays for a small apartment in most cities. Nevermind utilities, wifi + phone, food, transportation, healthcare, car insurance.

Have you been in the presence of a real master? Doesn’t seem like it. But similarly, I don't think a real master is concerned with mahasamadhi. They’ve already understood the actuality of death. What need is there for the physical body to die when nothing was alive to begin with? This is good input. All is well @Sam Johnson ??❤️

I posted about her channel awhile ago as well. This entire channel is a Dharma goldmine of extremely powerful transmissions from all kinds of different traditions, lineages, perspectives. It's so awesome you found her channel I stumbled into sometime this past summer looking for videos on the ox herding pictures haha. From a spiral dynamics point of view, it's about as tier 2 of a spirituality channel as there is on YouTube. Extremely high quality. Hopefully more people on this forum can find her stuff! No doubt many would benefit.

@Average Investor @Yarco Appreciate the feedback ??

The irony of posts like these is real. Wisdom. It’s as simple as this.

Regardless, it hasn’t integrated the pathless, position-less, absolute equilibrium, non-dual quality to this path. All of the stories about more and less advanced have to be let go of in order to truly harmonize with the raising of one’s consciousness.

@Yoremo Yeah I don't 'want to further confuse the conversation. The most important part of meditation is dedicating time for the silence, and stillness. I'd stick with @Nahm 's advice for now. As for your other questions, yes the book is geared towards enlightenment and yes enlightenment helps with your relative success. When you know what you honestly are (enlightenment), you effortlessly, naturally, and necessarily show up more up authentically in your life. A life of total authenticity is the good life, completely.

This. I wasn‘t meaning to insinuate you HAVE to always be switching. Ive had months or even years of only following one technique. But don’t let it become rigid or inflexible. If you’re new to meditation or feel like you should be having more significant results, Id recommend the book The Mind Illuminated. Really great book that teaches you how to have more of these profound, quasi mystical states from meditation on demand. Though that’s not the point of meditation long term, learning the steps needed to unify the mind with its intention to explore these altered states is extremely powerful. @Nahm ‘s list is good too.

Ultimately doesnt matter. What matters most is you’re consistently sitting and following your intuition. Id also recommend going on a meditation retreat asap of you’re wanting serious results.

It’s important to experiment with many techniques to a significant enough degree where you’re proficient with multiple. This will teach much more about the mind and awakening than using a single technique. So how do you choose? Just follow your intuition, the intuition that’s created when you’re familiar with many practices. Last night I sat for 45 minutes and cycled through 3 different techniques, one every 15 mins. Other times I may sit for 90 minutes using a single technique. Other times Ill just sit without a predetermined technique and adjust in real time based on what feels good. So many combinations and possibilities open up when we approach practice playfully and as an ongoing experiment and exploration.

Originally this was just a reply in another thread but thoughts kept flowing and it turned into something worthy of its own thread. Thoughts aren’t quite as organized as other threads, this one was more stream of consciousness but felt worth sharing nonetheless. Question from other thread: “Neo advaita could be bullshit so could Buddhism or any other religion. How can one know ultimately?” By experimentation. And understanding Buddhism without rigorous personal meditation is impossible, hence why most people misunderstand it as well as misunderstand meditation in general. Meditation as a formal spiritual practice does not necessarily imply seeking, as Neo Advaita always either explicitly or implicitly implies. There is enormous depth to this practice beyond stumbling into ultimate truth. There is an unveiling of the relative dynamics of self, world, another, death, life, the nature of existence, happiness, suffering, duality, creation, manifestation, relationship, communication - all of this is in addition to the possibility for direct consciousness or enlightenment, the seeing into the true nature of self and reality which is that there is only tightly bound aggregation of phenomena giving rise to a self and world, but there is nothing behind these appearances nor anything grounding their amalgamation as a solid ‘thing.’ Meditation, when done properly, allows one to literally see this self and world construction in real time. It’s no longer believed this is all a dream, we become directly lucid. The deep problem of Neo Advaita is that while the communications are generally spot in terms of their existential descriptions, it has a massive danger - the possibility of forming a belief in the no self. The belief life is a dream vs the direct experience. This belief vs. the direct experience is widely distinct, heart wrenchingly distinct. But because the belief is wrapped around such a solid intellectual understanding and even worse, because the belief is representing an accurate description of reality, the belief becomes that much more believable, ingraining itself even more subtlety into the unconscious mind. This, is ultimately a form of self identification, but one so subtle and sneaky, many never even see it, thinking they’ve discovered ultimate truth. Moreover, because this belief is so powerful, it does indeed provide comfort and a conditioned form of happiness, similar to the happiness a Christian would feel as a result of their religion. It’s a wicked form of devilry. Let’s take a step back, What does any being really want, ultimately? Happiness. Reality tends towards happiness even when those methods are wildly dysfunctional due to existential and psychological ignorance, regardless of whether it’s recognized there is no one seeking happiness or no reality at all. The intention is always a favorable manipulation of the present to best serve the self, which when taken to its pinnacle, is unconditional happiness and when at its lowest, the pettiest scrapping by of survival. No matter what one’s conceptual or direct consciousness, happiness and self serving manipulation is always the priority. These self serving manipulations will vary wildly depending on the quality of the being’s mind in relation to ultimate consciousness. One of the cornerstones of meditation’s utility - it grounds the being’s understanding. Similar to how an MMA match would ground a fighter’s martial understanding, meditation grounds one’s “level of consciousness” or more specifically, one’s understanding of what THIS really is and points towards. As long as suffering, resistance, psychological challenge is arising as a result of meditation, there are aspects of consciousness that have not realized what THIS is, directly. Please understand, this does not mean pain, emotional distress, gross psychological or physical challenges never arise during meditation, it means that one is actually, legitimately, authentically experiencing the true nature of these phenomena which eliminates the meta-resistance, ie suffering, of these phenomena. Whereas Neo Advaita implicitly invites you to believe in the nature of reality, meditation invites you to sit down and experience it. Utterly different approaches. So while on the one hand, ultimate reality is indeed always present, always available, a being’s consciousness of such reality is still conditionally based on present moment experiences. If the conditions were to change, the consciousness (or in the case of Neo Advaita, belief) would be gone. Hence why practice is so powerful, it is a slow permeation of this consciousness into all moments regardless of condition, whether mundane and taking a shit, or mystical non-dual union with God. Is the famous seeking trap a risk with meditation? Yes, 100%. But generally this is due to a misunderstanding of meditation, poor instructions, and not rigorous enough participation, persistence, and patience on the part of the meditator. Eventually it must be recognized that the activity of seeking has nothing to do with one’s consciousness of what is true. Seeking, not seeking, doesn’t matter - truth, awakening, and liberation are possibilities and simultaneous actualities. It’s as though there is a simultaneous expansion and contraction of the drop into the ocean and the ocean into the drop. As a result of practice, reality unravels itself like an unfolding eternal fractal, the fractal as itself is always present yet the traversing more deeply into the fractal is taking place in an endless loop. Things get really paradoxical, trans-rational, loopy, and on the surface, insane with hardcore meditation, and especially post-satori practice. At the end of the day, if 2 hours of silent stillness is creating problems, you can rest assured there is still much self fixation and identification, yet simultaneously no self or fixation at all. The choice - do we want to experience this liberation or pretend? Sit and you’ll find out.

I understand. What Im saying extremely subtle though - fearlessness does not exclude fear. Until you understand that, you’re not going to understand what is being pointed towards.

Because fear is just a formation of sensations, both the physical sensations and then the emotional sensations of interpreting the physical sensations and the cross multiplication that happens when these sensations are not seen deeply. The deeper truth is that even these sensations share the same nature as the ultimate Nirvana state that you speak of, nothing is excluded. What is true is already true regardless of whether one is in this ultimate state of awareness. You're idealizing Buddhahood, and turning a shadow out of terror. Buddha's Zen: Buddha said: "I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons."

This is not some clever message. What you’re describing is a condition to box in the unconditional. >> Fear never arises. This is a nice belief, but impossible for the body mind complex unless there’s been an immense amount of psychological rewiring, but the rewiring is not necessary to recognize the illusory nature of fear. Can you get that? This is huge. The context that holds the sensations of fear is completely fearless. Recognize the context, and all sensations of fear will be seen to be fearless. You experience fear so deeply, so completely, you open to fear so fully, that the nature of fear is seen to share the same nature as all, and vanishes even in the moment of total terror. The terror’s nature shares the same existential nature as the mind incapable of even experiencing fear. Please reread that last sentence. Guy’s, everyone, start opening up to more paradox.