Consilience

This is an awesome breakdown man. Couldn’t agree more about spending time hanging out with awareness; not sure if anything matches the silence, stillness, and space of formal meditation. Thank you for sharing your routine. ? Any Qigong youtube channels you’d recommend?

Where does he say this? Pretty sure this is only in the context of God realization. If you want to live “the good life” you’re going to want to meditate for that hour. Leo’s “65 principles of living a good life” he makes this clear. Interesting video.

So true!

Joshu earnestly asked Nansen, “What is the Way?” Nansen answered, “Ordinary mind is the Way.” Hanging out in the jhanas has a profound recontextualization like effect when deeply explored with detachment. The only real viable way to explore states is while understanding with crystal clarity that no state, no matter how profound, is it. Truth is just as actual now as any and all moments. So why practice at all? Interesting question.

Ah got it. For better or worse, that makes sense haha

Curious about this. Buddhism also says there are no “things” at all.

Yes. ?

Not only can multiple thoughts be occurring simultaneously, seamlessly interacting and fueling each other within the mental image, mental talk spaces at the conscious and subliminal spaces of perception, thoughts also manifest in the literal way we experience life. Watch this video very closely: Notice how the distinction Ralston is creating is not in the mental talk, mental image space, but the space of the physical body. ALL of our sense of reality is a function of mind and therefore thoughts. When you understand the extent of this mechanism, the whole house of cards may fall.

Yep ?

There is no one to awaken, and yet consciousness can awaken, and yet a state of unconsciousness is another expression of awakening, and yet this is only recognized once consciousness has awakened, but yet is frequently taken on as a belief. Best to do the damn work until what you are is awake. Or don‘t. ?

Super great report man! Thank you so much for sharing ? Yes SDS is a powerhouse of a technique for advanced meditators. Our relationship to pain is one of the fundamental dualities reifying a sense of self… breaking through this barrier with equanimity is a huge step on the path. I don’t always do SDS sitting but throwing mild sits in first 30 - 45 mins of a sit not moving, or more generally not shying away from discomfort by immediately adjusting posture, has been very powerful for practice.

There are layers of thought existing at supra subtle frequencies that are typically too faint for the untrained mind to notice. Also underlying uncognized thoughts feeding into the thoughts that appear in conscious awareness. It gets wild…

Such an important insight! There are multiple "orders" of equanimity. There's the equanimity we can systematically cultivate through meditation, which is when the mind is neither pushing or pulling at experience. And then there's a second order, existential equanimity that is always present. It is the noticing we can never NOT be with whatever is occurring by virtue of the fact that it is occurring. This second order of equanimity is always available due to it being a fundamental feature of reality. We can always see that reality is never not equanimous with itself because in order for anything to be, it must be. Ha. The cool part is, the more we meditate, the more the mind actually harmonizes with this existential equanimity. The human mind literally starts to mirror the mind of reality. That's mindfulness But on the other hand, stepping into the equanimity of our true nature is always available, even when the mind is pushing or pulling at experience. That's Liberation.

Hair was on point ?‍♂️

Im seeing 5 MEO DALT, not *MALT. Are you sure you’re seeing results for what Leo is talking about?

You’d be amazed what finding the correct set of techniques, teachings, and busting your ass can do. If you’re determined to radical, and I mean RADICALLY, increase your baseline level of consciousness with meditation, you will. But based on what you’re saying, yeah don’t bother. Nope. Ego activity can be occurring while not being identified with it. Ego activity is just another expression of infinite consciousness. Believe it or not you can become conscious of this, while dead ass sober. Anyways, done for now dude. Dont want to derail the thread too much.

As long as you have this limiting belief, it will be so. Spoiler: Infinite Consciousness =\= ego death. If Infinite Consciousness where limited to needing the ego to be dead, it wouldn’t be infinite. Meditation can take you all the way when you realize what it is you're actually after. Nevertheless, psychedelics help us see what was already so as well as exploring dimensions of consciousness not normally available within the sober state of mind. Looking forward to this one… @Leo Gura

^ ?

Beautiful.

This is key. We also start to see how a lack of equanimity at these subtle, microscopic sensations leads to grosser, macroscopic suffering. When we purify the depths, the surface starts to shine.

Ive taken the vaccine. Never has meditation been as deep, or my life as aligned. This is months after having taken the vaccine. This.

Typically vipassana is practiced by mindfully scanning one’s perceptive field while focusing one one of the three marks of existence, impermanence, not-self, dissatisfaction. You can do this while limiting concentration to the body sensations, or other sensations like sights or sounds, or you can do all three. Id highly recommend Shinzen Young’s See Hear Feel article. He breaks down the basics in a much more powerful way than how it’s traditionally taught. Shinzen’s emphasis on the expansive and contractive elements of our moment by moment experiences is extremely powerful and much clearer than how traditional vipassana practice is framed.

Posted this on my IG story earlier, quite relevant: Pain is not equivalent to suffering. Suffering can be present during emotional feelings of happiness and pleasure. Suffering is when the mind is pushing or pulling at perceptive experience, whether internal mental perceptions, or external physical perceptions. When the mind rejects whatever is present, that is suffering. When the mind is craving for an absent experience, that is suffering. When the mind is craving for more of a present experience, that is suffering. When the mind is holding onto a present experience, that is suffering. There are many examples and ways of framing this phenomena of suffering, but fundamentally it is about the mind being discontent with what is. The degree, subtly, and significance of this discontent is generally only appreciated once we take on the effort of investigating our personal suffering. There are absurdly deep dynamics at work fostering the mind’s discontent with experience. To prove this, we can set a timer for 60 minutes and sit in silence, stillness, and without stimulation. We can watch as the mind struggles for peace, sometimes to the point of panic. However, when the mind strategically and systematically practices being with what is without interference, in other words practices letting go, acceptance, being, this is the beginning of the cessation of suffering. This is the opening into true happiness.

I remember when I had this ideology… then I started being conscious of God while sober. ?‍♂️ As long as you cling to states, as long as you setup the duality between ‘this’ is better than ‘that’ you will be in bondage. The ego hates the possibility that all states, all forms of delusion and suffering could somehow be just as perfect an expression of God as the most radical psychedelic trip. There’s nothing to cling to and no goal to achieve. Let that actually sink in. In terms of the sober state being trash, yeah that’s also just a load of bullshit you’re believing based on unconscious biases. If you do the work with rigorous meditation and have a really solid conceptual framework, your sober state of consciousness can DRAMATICALLY increase, but even this increase is not it. But if you believe the sober state is trash, then it will be trash, as is the tricky nature of self deception and ideology.

??❤️ Nothing but gratitude for this man and his contributions to humanity.