Inliytened1

Thats understandable. I was an atheist my whole life. But you are a Materialist also as you still believe your awareness is happening inside your brain. And that's fine too...but let me ask you...do you meditate? Are you open minded enough to see if maybe Agnosticism may not be the answer? Also these are not Leo's or mine..there are plenty of Awakened people out there.

@Truth Addict ahh Truth...ya know for some bizarre reason you are the only Materialist around here i like (besides Coldfacts)...so I'm going to ignore that in the hopes that you being here on this forum means there is a part of you that wants to grow and gain wisdom - and not just try to tell others what they did and did not experience.

Here's how it works..and Leo feel free to disagree but this is what I've experienced and learned over my 48 yrs - and i believe suffering played a huge rule in my Awakening experiences. The ego doesn't want to suffer, not purposely of course. It want's pleasure. So it goes out and scours for resources..gets money..women..sex..etc etc. But what happens is this counter intuitively leads to suffering..because ultimately what the ego thinks will bring happiness does the opposite. The ego is completely selfish and cares only for itself. Now, even more counterintuitively, this very suffering that our own ego caused us now actually leads to spiritual growth and alignment with our True self. It causes us to become more conscious and we start to become conscious of what is really important. Through this process we are slowly purifying ourselves of the Ego's devilry. So its like a vicious cycle. Our ego will still want pleasure, which leads to suffering, more consciousness, then cycle repeats. But slowly you begin to transcend the Ego and maybe even have an awakening experience if you are lucky enough to stumble into spirituality and start meditating. This is exactly what happened to me. Now, with all this wisdom you can actually harness suffering and that's where retreats come in. In this way you are consciously trying to invoke suffering rather than having it happen inadvertently from the Ego's stupidity. Again this is my story and Leo you may completely disagree.

@Leo Gura That was my point..if its deluded its survival. Truth is very counterintuitive to the Ego. For example you go against your own ego's desire for pleasure and make plans to go on a 30 day retreat with intentions to suffer. But your ego immediately kicks in and tries to talk you out of it. Even during the retreat your ego will be trying to delude you. But you will feel the suffering at some point - and that is not delusion. Just as feeling Love can be not deluded. That suffering will align you with Truth even though your ego fought you the whole way. Its very counter intuitive.

@Norbert Lennartz The hard part is watching out for the ego's traps..falling for your own mind's self deception. An example of that is what Leo mentioned - letting the ego co-opt your pursuit of Truth and distort it into its own devilry. So it's tricky work.

@Leo Gura yeah but then they're not truly aligning.

@Pouya It's really the same thing yes. Its thoughts you aren't aware of..which is what subconscious mind means. It is a distinct part of the mind, yes..but at the same its still all one mind. Just like the finger is distinct but still at the same time the whole hand.

That would mean that going on a 30 day solo retreat is to move you away from Truth. See, something that aligns you with Truth can't be a survival strategy. Because Truth means the dissolution of the Ego. Doesn't matter if its a thought or an emotion. It's bringing you closer to Truth / Death. Anything that moves you away from Truth is Ego / survival strategy.

@Shaun you are consciousness itself but knowing it conceptually and becoming conscious of it to the point where it triggers a mystical experience is another. So just keep meditating you have plenty of time. No rush. You are already Infinity right now.

I see what you are pointing to..our very existence as the ego is survival. Every thought we have is survival otherwise we wouldn't be having it..we would be dead. So you are right from that perspective. But lets talk about survival strategy not just mere survival. let's take suffering...that's something we feel but we aren't consciously thinking it. But notice that it's not a survival strategy.

Your ego has a subconscious mind..sure..but what is the ego really? No different than asking if your coffee table exists. Its all part of the content of this dream we are in. From within the context of the dream they exist.

@Shaun ok..but thats..an answer..really contemplate that. That entity you think you are.. behind the eyes...how can that be an experience. That's like saying you are your thoughts or you are your emotions. That entity you think you are..how can that be thoughts or emotions? They are just what they are..thoughts. emotions..experiences..thats what they are..that's not what you are.. Thats how this works.

So lets assume its the body you identify with. Now you can rule that out because if we cut a part of your body out you would still be you. That's how you do self inquiry..you rule everything out, not just conceptually but becoming conscious that those things aren't you. You do that until something hits you.

Well that's the beauty. There is nothing objective except Absolutes. Reality is absolutely relative. You as your perspective can choose good over evil, or to go left or right. As for the illusion you are getting into the free will topic. From your perspective you have complete free will. From God's perspective everything has already happened and never happened. It's a mindfuck. So in that sense its an illusion. But that perspective is only concept to you until you actually Become Yourself. All you have is your perspective and it is absolutely real and whatever you want it to be, that's what it is. Both perspectives, all perspectives, are happening simultaneously. Thats Infinity.

That's because you are what we call the ego. You forgot you are God. It has taken ownership of universal consciousness as its own, for the sake of feeling all the things you just mentioned.

Not thinking is God's highest perspective. No perspective. It is pure formlessness. Absolute infinity. Being. Nirvana has no dualities it is just pure isness. Survival is a duality. There is no where to go and no where to escape itself. It just is itself. It's substance is nothing. This becomes unstable ultimately and must explode into dualities and form. Even God has a perspective that is form..in which all is One. That is infinitely intelligent and indifferent to survival or non-survival..or any dualities. Just Absolute Love for itself and all its parts. This is the Godhead. God's Mind and everything in the Mind is God exploring itself from its own perspective. Ofcourse the form and the formless are One and the same.

@Devansh Saharan but what is interesting is that without Awakening you will never understand science at the highest level. For example you will be baffled by the relative nature of light as both a wave and a particle depending on perspective. You will get there through mathematics and pure genius..but the mystic that studies science will have a true grasp even without the details of the math - which there is no doubt takes brilliance. That's why science and spirituality must one day unite and transcend today's science.

I don't know his whole story, but some do not need psychedelics for enlightenment.

@Truth Addict because the Truth can't be known through logic.

Leo asked us to ponder this question at the end of his last video. Can anyone guess what this is?

These would not be full no-dual states. In a full blown non-dual state there are no dualities. You are the Absolute and you are showing yourself Absolutes. These would be glimpses which still can be very profound but which the ego does not fully surrender. You may later have a non-dual experience come out of a glimpse in which you become conscious of an Absolute.

I wouldn't conceptualize too much about the being alone part right now. That's gonna be something you will become conscious of much later after multiple Awakenings. For now figure out what you are at an existential level and become conscious of that.

Honestly in my opinion Leo's enlightenment videos if you start from the beginning - i think the second or third one has some really good self inquiry in it. He also has a more current episode on it. But his early ones where he takes you through contemplating "what am I really" they are really good. Ill see i can find it later and link it.

You are gonna want to start with basic self inquiry..that's not what this is...its what i said earlier.

What this particular method is trying to show you is that there is no objective world out there. We only have perspectives. What you can't see in your direct experience is the formlessness - or Being - or pure potential. It doesn't mean there aren't other perspectives happening now simultaneously. The formed. The dualities. All reality is is different perspectives. That's why its an Absolute Relativity. There are Absolutes that you can become conscious of such as that one. Now there is a perspective...Gods perspective..the highest..that you can mystically shift to..and from there you see that all of this is your own mind. All of the perspectives out there are actually one..God..you..But you are way off from that and it will probably only confuse you. Understand for now that there are different perspectives that you do not have access to from your own vantage point. These are all the different people or self conscious beings.