Consilience

Happy you're happy brother. Your own soul is the path home. This entire Universe is interconnected, interpenetrating wholeness where no two parts can be separate. This is not dogma, new age, actualized.org, Christianity, or any other school of mysticism; this is a fact of your direct experience. You may feel Christ is the answer, but that is only a projection of your essence onto an externalized manifestation. Christ is literally within what you are at your existential core, your very nature. May the holy spirit within you bring the clarity and wisdom to see that you and Christ are inextricably and irreducibly one Being; you are Christ, Christ is you. May the holy spirit within you bring about a reintegration back into this wholeness such that you see Christ not only within yourself, but within the Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Leo, all sentient Beings. May you see the deep unity that is absolute. Amen. With love. - You

Ill bite and answer in a relative sense. Please note it’s all ultimately false, as nothing is dying. Reality is already dying and being reborn moment after moment. Look into Shinzen Young’s expansion and contraction model on YouTube. Expansion = birth, contraction = death. This process is happening at infinite scales at infinite resolutions right. Your present moment experience this very moment is a birth death cycle. Literally. But it’s all empty. Anyways. Ive had multiple past life regression experiences, archetypical “soul-awakenings” on psychedelics to give the impression that one’s work in one incarnation does carry momentum into subsequent lifetimes. However, best I can tell if this is a valid model of relative reality, is that it’s not a linear process. One life you may be a simple monk getting woke as fuck, the next you may be a CEO pursuing money, next you may be living life in society who finds spirituality at the end of life, and the next you are a yogi even more woke than your monk lifetime due to working through karma in the two incarnations in between. Again, no clue literally at all if this mechanism is “valid;” these are based on very mystical, altered states via psychedelics. I suspect there is some truth to it. I don’t think it would be too much of a stretch for karmic patterns and momentum, including the overarching process of full enlightenment, would build pressure and momentum over incarnations. Life is already absurdly cyclical, rhythmic, and process oriented. Why would life and death not follow some sort of trans-intelligent flow? However, all of this is completely speculative, ultimately. Time is better spent doing the work to awaken now. At least in my relative opinion ha.

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.” From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones This passage will transform in its meaning, and significance as the path is walked. Don’t be so sure you understand.

Mods?

Must have had pretty horrible meditation instructions to meditate for 25 years straight and not understand what the self, or reality is. This is why conceptual understanding, learning from many traditions and masters is so important, not to mention contemplation as an important tool for enlightenment. Meditation in a vacuum seems to have a horrible "success rate." When one can seek without seeking, meditate without meditating, contemplate without contemplating, be a self without being a self, this is when true awakening will awaken to the fact that it was never not awake at all, and so now can truly and finally Awaken.

Mystical experiences aren’t needed to see through materialism. I actually discovered materialism was bullshit before finding actualized.org. The only reason I found actualized.org was because I was trying to find ANY mainstream philosophy on materialism vs. idealism; I was so shocked at how my philosophy of mind professor and science teachers in University were just completely ignoring the hard problem of consciousness. Accidentally found the “brains don’t exist” video... Understanding why materialism is bullshit requires you to realize it’s a belief. Then this requires you to understand that the nature of all beliefs is that they are false. ALWAYS. This requires an extremely high level understanding of epistemology and metaphysics. You have to see that it’s impossible for logic and reason to justify the belief in an external, physical world. Again mystical experiences aren’t needed. Not only are they not needed, they wont do the deconstructing for you. Contemplate either while sober or while in the middle of a mystical experience. Deeply study the philosophy of this stuff via Leo’s videos while grounded and sober. Recognize materialism is not inherent to experience, but is an existential assumption about the nature of experience.

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ifHks5EYZU You’ll find everything you need to know on this topic in this video. Ive experienced after glow and after shock and neutral experiences post retreat.

5 days straight during an online retreat with Shinzen Young alternating between his See Hear Feel vipassana technique/shikantaza/self inquiry. My concentration was so sharp I was watching the moment by moment flux of the phenomenological field expand and contract out of and back into literal nothingness. There was a palpability to the context out of which reality was arising and dying into moment by moment such that this context, this emptiness, was experienced to be more real than perception, even though it was no-thing, an actual void. Even when the self was manifesting, I saw with crystal clarity the perceptual aggregates that are typically knotted up and coagulated into the feeling of "me," but in this state, even this feeling of me was seen to be completely unreal, moment after moment after moment. Perception was experienced as almost being liquid, fluid, spacious, wave like, effervescent, contractive and expansive. And when perception is experienced with this degree of mindfulness, one's ego suddenly has no solidity whatsoever. It's like form became quicksand and all that was left was formlessness. It was magnitudes beyond anything I've experienced while on a psychedelic. The problem with psychedelics is that they're so energetically overloading this can have a scattering effect of the mind; the psychedelic is dragging the mind into the present moment, sometimes violently. Whereas with this degree of meditative absorption, there's a lightness, a clarity, a precision, a purity that I've yet to experience on psyches. However, it also felt like I integrated every psychedelic trip I'd had on that retreat. Now whenever I meditate, regardless of what technique, I pretty much enter into some sort of absorption state. These states in and of themselves are not "it." It's easy to see the illusion of self and world when in such an absorption state. Can we see the illusion of self and world while we're getting chewed out by our boss, while we're experiencing physical pain, while we're trying to hit on a girl, while we're driving, while we're meditating for absurdly long periods of time, etc.? There are many litmus tests to our degree of understanding besides the frequency or intensity of absorption during a comfortable practice period, I've come to realize. However, having a powerful, sustain, sober satori seems to be an important first step towards an authentic experiential embodiment of truth. Lately I seem to be hitting into the "white infinity" part without psychedelics and the fear of death has started spontaneously popping up during sober practice. I just assume death coming up as a theme during meditation means I'm doing something right.

How many gurus actually teach about the depth of self deception? How many gurus even know the mechanisms behind self deception? There's enlightenment, and then there's deconstructing the MANY processes and mechanisms of the human mind that compose the self structure. My personal theory is that many gurus that end up becoming zen devils are gurus who never bothered to study their own bullshit, aka didn't bother to study the mind in the way that they studied the absolute. This is why I appreciate the teachings of people like Leo or Peter Ralston. Full Buddha level awakening alone isn't full "enlightenment," in a sense.

The chakras will open in their own time as a by product of this work. I would leave the chakra opening to the intelligence of the body rather than the intellect. I dont know much about chakra openings other than what Ive personally experienced through serious practice, which is they’ll open on their own, in their own time independent of whether Im trying to open them or not. Not a yoga expert though. But I can tell you truth doesn’t need fully opened chakras to recognize itself.

Extremely careful, persistent, observation of our direct experience either through mindfulness or inquiry. Usually both are present. Mindfulness could be thought of as experiential inquiry and inquiry demands a mindful mind. Or just sitting and doing nothing at all. There has to be a clear seeing that the aggregates of this self contracted energy do not form anything called a self. A metaphor is this “triangle.” There was never a triangle, only an appearance of one when the shapes a are ‘contracted’ in a certain way. Yet after one sees there is no triangle, you can still observe the lack of triangle even when the aggregates are contracted to form the shape of the triangle. To have this type of observation with the self requires an incredibly sharp, attention and awareness. But once it’s seen, the whole insight goes on auto pilot. Poof. The fun part is, there’s so much further to go with understanding reality than the illusion of self. The seeking turns into a playing and exploration completely void of attachment or meaning, the purest expression of joy and happiness are now possible even within suffering and pain. Of course, this too takes time to develop, “de-envelope” (uncovering what was always the case) and the typical use of develop (cultivating, training). Both of these developings being direct logical inconsistencies yet the paradox resting as the actuality of how the seeker will find the end of their path to be. An ever unfolding, growing, cultivating dead stop.

Wonderful

By finding an intrinsic source of compassion for all beings. Recognizing that the foolishness you find in them is foolishness you found in yourself at one point. Understanding everyone is on their own spiritual journey's and are exactly where they are, and could ever be; the idea that they could be any other way than how they are is your own egoic projections. By seeing through the illusion of moralizing. By awakening to Absolute Nihilism. By recognizing the underlying primordial perfection of reality and all of its manifestations. By cultivating your own wisdom and recognizing that the work you're doing on yourself is the work needed to free the world from foolishness.

The TB definition would mean you could literally sit for 12+ hours straight without moving and experience 0 suffering. Probably not is probably an understatement. However! Happy for you man. This seems like a big breakthrough... one of those where there won’t be any chance coming back... so to speak

Does your life suck? Or can you recognize the divine bliss of heaven by sitting down and breathing? If you knew such bliss, even hardships, illnesses, and struggles will be contextualized and recognized as primordially perfect. Speaking from someone who has a very difficult to manage illness that’s being exploited as a cash cow by the US pharmaceutical industry. Heaven is still available. As the suffering increases, the harder such a view becomes, obviously. Stop focusing on the immensity of the suffering imo. You can’t change that. But you can change your own. This is, counterintuitively, the work needed to help alleviate the suffering of the world.

It is neither the calm nor the storm and yet is the nature of both the calm and storm no, therefore inclusive of the calm and the storm no? But yes let’s be clear, manic episodes are not enlightenment nor are needed for enlightenment. However, an enlightenment experience can generate a manic like response. Manic relative to what our society considers normal and relative to how the ego-mind interprets the experience based on it’s survival agenda, conditioning, etc.

Love this reply hahaha. Love this apparent paradox! What ever should the seeker do with so many contradictory teachings and communications... my goodness.

Exactly! You don't exist! Which is why you could only be the completely spontaneous moment by moment birth and death, expansion and contraction, yin and yang of creation itself! You are literally creating the universe because you aren't creating shit!

What she’s defining as consciousness would not be how someone like Peter Ralston defines consciousness and certainly not Leo. She says verbatim “consciousness is separation.” Yet goes on to describe how there’s actually no separation, hence defining this “no separation” the same way Ralston or Leo may describe “consciousness.” Ralston uses the word consciousness or being to describe the that which is totally indescribable. How could you reconcile the surface level discrepancies between this video and Ralston? By recognizing it’s all a word game. There’s no objective vocabulary with this stuff so you really have to read between the lines when listening or learning from different sources.

Who am I is THIS. But what am I?

Shikantaza fosho. Literally just jump straight to the end of the deconstructive path lol.

Great stuff above. What I find interesting is that deconstruction happens at so many levels, insanely subtle levels. The more one can deconstruct hidden mind patterns, attachments, distortions, the more one can see clearly into the nature of both the relative and absolute. I remember reading about the “uncognized mind” in Peter Ralston’s The Book of Not Knowing and having no idea what the dude was talking about. Well as it turns out, this uncognized mind is a web of supra-subtle beliefs, attachments, thoughts, views, orientations about reality, that are so subtle our default state of mind is incapable of seeing them clearly. As one cultivates a powerful mind through spiritual practice, one starts to bring more and more consciousness these unconscious cognitions - this awakening into relative and absolute domains of mind is deconstructive by default. When these are clearly seen, their relativity and “arbitrariality” is seen as well. Eventually, this place of total deconstruction is the only fertile ground for authentic construction of self is possible. Thus, if one’s goal is to self actualize, a process of powerful construction, the only way to fully embody this would be through a total deconstruction. And even then it may not be enough. The habits of mind are one of the most powerful forces in nature. These habits ARE literally life!

Full blown Awakening into Love after watching it... I think watching the preceding episodes helps build the payoff.

Agreed!