Consilience

Thank you everyone for so much feedback. I will take it all to heart ??

My breakfast is usually beans, soy milk and a bagel. That’s my thinking too though. There is a lot of research indicating it has numerous health benefits. But it’s a weird balancing act given that it is addictive. But part of the addiction is the value I get from it just like with the brushing teeth example.

Absolutely. There are going to be stabilizer muscles (smaller muscles that play a role with balance and body control) that aren’t worked from machines. That being said, machines are a fantastic place to start and build up initial strength. But Id start investing time into getting proficient at barbell training. The main caution, however, is that improper form can create injuries so just be patient with yourself and take your time. I promise the long term benefit will pay off though, especially if this is approached from as a form of spiritual practice. The body will thank you.

Mindful lifting. Learn how to properly squat, hip hinge, push-up and row. Especially if you have a disease which causes muscle loss, you’re going to want to make sure your bones stay strong regardless of muscle mass which lifting will help with. Lifting will also help with muscle retention, as well as increasing your proprioception which is essentially body awareness. Eventually you’ll want to learn how to properly barbell back squat, barbell bench press, barbell deadlift and probably other barbell lifts such as an overhead press, pendlay row and Romanian deadlift. Yoga is also definitely a must, as ajasatya mentioned, but Id also work towards mastering these body movements as well. Dont worry about how much weight you’re lifting, but also focus on progressively getting stronger at them. The key though is mastering the movements and learning how to connect with your body, and breath as your lifting. Cant stress this enough for muscle retention and bone density. Eating more protein, Staying hydrated and sleep will also help with resistance training recovery. And actually so will yoga.

It is on his booklist. You should consider supporting Leo and purchasing the list. Not only does it help him out, but you’ll gain access to a library of extremely high quality books, including the Kriya Yoga book you’re looking for

It was a joke

None of what you just said makes sense. If you don’t see the infinity, well... sucks.jpeg. Anyways, for op, just remember this discovery cant be made with the mind. It has to be made with consciousness.

How can that which is finite take on an infinite number of possible forms?

The concept and symbol 0 is not that which is refers to. All language and symbolic representation is a map, not the territory. When I say 0 = infinity, it is pointing towards something, it is not to be taken literally. You cannot confirm infinity. Confirmation is a function of mind, not being. Being is infinite. You can either be conscious of this, or not. But trying to “confirm” is just more ego, more mind. The mind being a subset doesnt change the fact that it’s not separate. Separation is yet another function of mind. So if the mind is infinite, by definition, reality must be too because reality and mind are not separate, they are one in the same. Moreover, trying to create the distinction/duality of “reality” is still the mind. Without mind, all that’s left is one unified being.

Been really digging your posts man! This book has also helped tremendously with my meditation ??

Something which exists that has no qualities that can simultaneously take any an infinite number of qualities is infinite. 0 = infinity. It’s odd this isnt understood. Perhaps you need a direct experience of infinity either via psychedelics or meditation. Even on an intellectual level this isnt too difficult to grasp, as long as you’ve transcended the materialist paradigm. Moreover, this separation you’re creating between “mind” and “reality” doesn’t exist. It’s all one integrated, unified existence.

@Shadowraix Idk if ive fully or permanently activisted it, but every time Ive tripped on mushrooms or LSD, I feel a shit ton of energy pulsating through my spine. So yeah it really can happen with psychedelics. Crazy stuff.

Aim for 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. There wouldn’t be any negative health consequences unless you have a problem with your kidneys. But just drink plenty of water and you’ll be fine. Best practices to strengthen the nervous system are hatha yoga and meditation. Both of these really help balance and mitigate the stress of resistance training, besides helping with contemplating the existential nature of reality

Look into Alberto Nunez. He is a professional natural bodybuilder who would eat poptarts during his contest preps. Zero effects on his physique because one’s physique is primarily determined by the energy balance of your diet since your physique is an energetic output. Obviously eating like shit will eventually catch up to you because you wont be able to train as hard, but thinking simple sugar is bad for building muscle is just inaccurate. Moreover, there is more and more research coming out indicating our understanding of glycemic load is incomplete. Individual’s response to sugar is dependent on genetics, activity level, how much protein and fat was consumed with the meal, and microbiota. Anecdotally, Im someone who’s eaten plenty of wheat and sugar and had very good gains both with building muscle and strength. It’s much more nuanced than simple sugar is bad.

The more mechanical explanation is that thoughts are literally not separate from “physical” reality. The space in which thoughts exist is the same space in which physical reality exists. All of it, thoughts, physical reality, emotions, attention, any phenomena or form, is existing within your consciousness. Understanding this lack of separation, and more specifically, this unification of mind with the rest of the universe, is crucial for understanding why the LoA works.

For gaining muscle, sucrose isnt anymore or less effective than more complex carbohydrates. For overall health, there may be better carb sources.

Athlean is not the great imho. Dude is jacked but that doesnt always mean much. Look into 3dmj ok youtube. They have an absolutely phenomenal series on nutrition and exercise. To make gains, both are needed. They’re a bodybuilding coaching group, but the principles still apply for non bodybuilders. Ill link the series below but just a fair warning, it's very information dense so be prepared. However taking the time to understand these principles will absolutely pay off.

What is the existential nature of separation? Ill spoil it for you: it doesnt exist. No part of existence is separate from any other part. God, consciousness, the true self, absolute infinity is not separate from itself, as separation is an illusion.

Because reality is literally subjective experience Notice the only way for reality to ever “be” to an individual is through direct, subjective experience. That’s all that has ever existed for you and all that could ever exist.

@ardacigin Your other post inspired me to look into this guy’s work, so much so that I went on ahead and invested into his book The Mind Illuminated. It feels like Im finally starting to build consistent progress with meditation. I severely downplayed the importance of stable attention when it comes to contemplating reality or the self. And moreover, severely overestimated my concentration ability. I think investing the time required to master attention will pay off down the road, thanks for bringing this guy up on the forum. His work has been very helpful thus far.

Beautiful

Look into the hard problem of consciousness. Notice that everything in your direct experience is consciousness, including brains. Sight, taste, touch, sound, smell, mind, awareness, everything that is form, is some manifestation of consciousness. The idea that there is physical reality is itself an IDEA which is mind, which as we just discussed, is a manifestation or expression of consciousness. Physical reality has never been proven, nor could it ever be since literally everything we experience IS consciousness. Just because brains correspond with experience, this does not entail that they are the experience or even responsible for the creation of the experience. This is basic logic, correlation =\= causation. Moreover, since brains themselves are consciousness, it means that brains are consciousness interacting with itself. Does mass create gravity? Why does every particle of mass have a gravitational force associated with it? You could say, “oh mass creates the gravity!” But this is making a metaphysical jump. We only “know” that mass is correlated with gravitational fields and these can be calculated using mathematics. To say that mass creates the gravity is to make a claim (the mind) about the fundamental nature od existence that is ultimately just a belief, since such a claim could never be proven. Similarly, we only know brains correlate with consciousness insofar there seems to be a relationship, just like with gravity and mass. However, to make the claim that conscious is produced by the brain is to make a metaphysical jump that extends beyond the limits of honest epistemology. There’s your logic. Notice how quickly you’ll want to counter argue everything I say though, and point to gaps in the explanation. This is ego (more conscious manifestation). Ultimately you must become conscious that all that there is is consciousness, including brains. I hope this helped.

The body is dependent on physical nourishment. YOU are not.

I appreciate how blunt you are with these God-weed threads.

If Im meditating 1 hour per day doing self inquiry right now, would you recommend stopping the self inquiry and investing that time into concentration practice? Another question I had, more metaphysical, what exactly is attention? Is it awareness? And like... what is the mechanism of attention? Who or what is creating this attention around a particular object? It almost feels like concentration is a manifestation of ego.