Consilience

I'm not sure if this is simply a concept or idea I've been latching onto, but for awhile now I've been having this subtle... intuition about my direct experience. By direct experience, I mean literal existence, the "actuality" (go watch Leo's video) in which direct experience manifests. Interestingly... This shit is morphing left and right, 24/7. I mean seriously, our phenomenal field is in CONSTANT flux, in all 6 senses. And somehow the fact of this slippery field makes it feel really really empty. Not in a nihilistic way, just in a like... I can't describe it. And this feeling has really been snowballing over the past month or so without much warning. I hadn't necessarily been thinking about it until recently. If we reflect for a second on direct experience though, NOTHING about it remains consistent and yet each form it takes is perfectly distinct from every other form, giving rise to an infinite number of possibilities. So form is constantly manifesting in various ways at an infinite rate (literally infinite). Then you have to think, what is the 1 substance that reality would have to be made of in order to manifest in an infinite number of ways at an infinite rate? NOTHING! And in fact, taking this idea even further, nothingness itself is the only substance which could be infinite, at least with the ways I'm currently conceptualizing infinity. So nothing = infinity My biggest potential bias is that I'm somehow intellectualizing everything I've learned about non-duality, as multiple sources I've researched discuss this idea of "nothingness." On the other hand, something about this direct experience truly feels very "nothing" like or empty. The best way to describe it is that this "direct experience" of phenomena feels quite indirect and I'm missing something. I wish I could more effectively describe what I'm talking about. These last few meditation sessions have me really not understanding what I'm directly experiencing though. Just leaving me with a sense of... literally nothing. If anyone has insights or thoughts, I would be very interested to hear them.

@Enizeo Should be yes. The channel I posted is my personal favorite. Results may vary though, as Lofi Hip Hop is a very broad and open-ended genre. It kind of plays on nostalgia and chill beats... And for whatever reason it tends to really put me into a spiritual place. Almost like I'm revisiting childhood in a re-contextualized view which spills over into how I'm observing the rest of the world. Anyways there's definitely similar music out there to what I posted.

@Enizeo really like this one

Im not sure why but lo-fi hip hop has been integral to my spiritual developement so it gets my vote!

Thank you everyone <3

I mean honestly who knows what will happen when general AI forms. It could be the end for humanity or a new beginning. Wont really matter to god.

What do you mean by recharge?

@aurum Technically Im still working through the details, Im also finishing Leo’s course. But as it stands, my ultimate vision is to have a stage yellow personal training/life coaching business. Right now the industry is pretty much locked in at stage orange, but the potential to use training, nutrition, and personal developement as a vehicle for understanding the self is there. It’s how I began my actualization journey and eventually stumbled upon spirituality. I have a pretty damn extensive knowledge of how to achieve fitness results, but see, that’s really only the beginning and the type of lessons one learns from fitness are immense IF you have the framework and perspective to learn. Id also make YouTube videos with a focus on training, nutrition and self with a yellow focus, and ideally work within my community locally, but as well as through the larger, global platform the internet provides, which is why YouTube would be advantageous. It also allows me a medium to express my ideas through speaking, which Ive found I really enjoy doing at the gym. Rattling off to clients about various facets of fitness gives me a lot of joy and tends to help others master their bodies. The joint PT business would most certainly be more geared at a stage orange level and while it still would impact and contribute towards people’s lives, I know I could provide a different type of value with what I just described above.

Why? Because it increases your overall awareness, which is distinct from your concentration abilities. Both are intertwined and the exact nature kf their interaction is still unknown to me, but nonetheless both can be “trained,” so to speak. If increasing your awareness of both yourself and the world, plus lower stress levels and higher and more frequent states of fullfilment are something you’re interested in, meditate. You convince the subconscious to meditate by meditating. You see results by 1) sticking to a consistent meditation schedule all while being patient for results and 2) doing 60mins per day gives pretty robust and innediate results so id recommend thta volume. More if you have time but consistency is key here.

Recognizing that effort is an illusion and so that, in fact, maximum effort is really effortless. This insight’s been huge for me and my ability to get shit done

Honest to god I have no idea why. After watching and reading as much as I have about spirituality, and intellectually understanding the metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology of why this consciousness work is not bs, Ive recognized how there really isnt a self at all, even when it feels like there is one. So why? Literally no idea. It just feels like Im letting some primordial force actualize as I continue to contemplate and meditate on this, all with the full recognition that non of it matters. And somehow it’s been an incredibly beautiful journey thus far, even in spite of the lows this work causes. The best answer I have is that Im just trying to BE myself in the most honest way possible, as well as follow this intrinsic curiosity towards finding what’s really true

And beliefs are more thoughts right? So boom! Strange loop >:o

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Emotional stability More compassion Deeper insights Greater understanding of my own self structure More focus More discipline More in touch with intuition Probably more but increasing awareness has been an extremely powerful by-product of consistent 1 hour/day meditation. 10/10 would recommend

From a materialist paradigm this is the case. However it isn’t that black and white once you begin to expand your awareness. Introversion can also be conceptualized as a belief - investigate why other people drain you, or why you’re shy? What in your direct experience of others makes you shy? Where is it stemming from really? You’ll eventually uncover that answer and can either let it go, or continue to hold it. In Ralston’s Pursuing Concsiousness bookc he goes into the dynamics of self traits (such as shyness) in more detail. The short answer is that all character traits like shyness boil down to serving the ego in some way shape or form BUT you can work towards letting go of these traits if you can trace their roots.

Haha nah dude you get full credit. Thanks for posting!

So this post inspired me to go back and reread the Book of Not Knowing's section on contemplation and then really try to practice his technique. I chose to focus my intent on discovering the truth about NOW. Interestingly enough, I did indeed have a mini enlightenment about the nature of NOW. At some point in, I think around the 40 min mark, it literally felt like my body was expanding outward and my mind had reached some sort of access concentration of no mind; it felt very mystical. And then I realized I was literally the NOW I was contemplating. Like the present moment is literally what I am... The subject of my question was actually just another way of asking "Who am I?" After that insight reached intellectual understanding (which happened really quickly) it kind of kicked back on my monkey mind and the mini mystical state ended. I remained super aware and just continued to contemplate for the remainder of the meditation.

This would count yes.

Id be interested in hearing Leo’s thoughts on this as well.

Has anyone considered the possibility yhat all causality is an illusion. For example, NOW is the only moment that exists, so how could something cause something else? Like seriously. Causality necessarily implies a past, but there is literally no such thing as the past, there is only right NOW. Moreover, this also means that randomness does not make much sense either. For example, randomness implies “could have been different.” But “could have been” implies past which we’re already established doesn’t make sense. In this light, causality, which is a necessary component of determinism, doesnt make much sense. But nor does randomness or probabilities. Using probabilities as a conceptual framework for QM works on paper, but does reality in and of itself operate off of probabilites? How could it if there is no past, no future and therefore no possible “could have beens.” Anyways Im not entirely convinced of all this but just more food for thought. It’s not as simple as “no free will” or “free will” though, that’s for damn sure.

Most definitely.

Knights of the Old Republic 2 That game was pivotal towards opening up my mind philosophically and realizing at a young age how grey the world is in terms of right, wrong, good, evil, etc. Low key would probably not have stumbled upon Leo’s work had I not caught the philosophy bug with that game haha.

You are funding the slaughter of animals when you buy meat, yes. In a relative sense, this is no different than murder or genocide of humans. The difference is that it is socially acceptable form.

@Joseph Maynor Im still confused with why you’re creating a seperation with awareness and experience. That seperation seems more like a mental object, an arbitray line drawn than a seperation. Doesnt non-dual mean there is no seperation from awareness and the contents of consciousness? Unless Im mistaken and you’re not drawing a seperation.

@Pouya WHO wants that though?? YOU literally do not exist