Gili Trawangan

I can only speak for myself, but I was an atheist and a materialist all my life. I saw Leo's video on enlightenment and wasn't convinced, but tried to be open-minded. At the time I knew nothing about non-duality conceptually. During meditation I had a glimpse of nothingness, but didn't think too much of it, I was skeptical. Decided to try magic mushrooms with an open mind, all I asked for was the truth. I literally asked for the truth out loud, that was my intention. What happened during that trip I could never have predicted. I heard myself say many times "this is impossible!". According to what I believed it was impossible. Nevertheless it was happening. It changed my view of reality upside down. So, I understand your point, it's a good one, but no, that's not what's going on

I've stopped worrying about this long ago. If you have a varied diet you're all set, even if some of the stuff you eat isn't that good, it balances out with the rest. Just my two cents

@Preetom Will do

Thanks, will definitely check this out later!

I don't agree that there is no clear sense of progression in life. In this forum it is referred to as levels of consciousness. I look at myself five years ago and ten years ago and it is absolutely incredible how much happier and well balanced I am today. Ultimately this sense of progress is self-created and is not to be found in reality, that is correct. But then again we create our own reality, don't we?

Nice, thanks for posting. I meant to ask about core beliefs on the forum before, but never got around to it. I will try this out!

I gotta be honest with you, this was too long and I didn't read all of it. But around your age I had a lot of physical symptoms that had been created by the mind, I had real diseases that doctors couldn't make sense of and they gradually went away as I worked on my psychology. As far as your family issues go, I think you need to grieve. That means going into the memories and actually feeling what your child-self felt. When I was able to do this through a technique called EFT (and others) I sobbed like a little kid and understood what that child had gone through. After that, there was only relief, no more blaming of my family. The emotions get trapped in the body and need to come out somehow. Finally, don't demonize the ego, it's there for a reason and it is what allows you to experience this life, both the good and the bad.

What you say here says it all. Your suffering is completely self-created. 100%.

@Shaun Do yourself a favor and take a break from this forum and from non-dual teachings altogether. You are creating stories around other people's pointers. Every teacher tells you to verify things for yourself and not to believe anything you haven't directly experienced. Have you directly experienced creating all of reality? If not, then stop making it a story in your head, because that's all it is.

Why do you have to present yourself as something you are not?

Sounds like experience has taught you a lesson. Mixing substances is a very bad idea, it's a good heads-up for others.

This is EXACTLY what the Buddha taught, word for word. Read about the Four Noble Truths, it's all there. Why there is suffering and the way to end it once and for all.

@Natasha Good one! That one works for me

I understand where you're coming from. Leo's teachings are indeed very helpful, but they focus on the work and on raising consciousness fast, so it can get a bit neurotic if that's all one does. Listen to some Eckhart Tolle to balance it out, when you listen to him it's all about acceptance and peace. You need to accept whatever level you're at, see the ego stories for what they are, stories. And these two different teachings are not contradictory at all, just two different perspectives on the same ultimate truth.

I've just had a very strong sense of deja vu. For about five seconds it felt like I had already experienced those five seconds before - exactly like that - it was a repeat. I used to think that it was an anomaly in the brain, but when one drops the materialist paradigm what does it mean? I apologize if this topic has been covered before see what I did there?

@SoonHei Fair enough, I'll take that answer, thanks!

OP has been trolling for a while now with all this red pill stuff and I see many taking the bait.

Awesome By unscheduled do you mean it's not illegal in most countries?

@SoonHei I appreciate the response. You're right, based on my current understanding of reality I don't think I get it

@Aldo @Aldo@ Any idea what the deja vus mean?

Try dating apps. Don't be too picky about their looks though

Needed this today, thanks

@lukej Very nice post. I have to admit that I sometimes fall into this trap of demonizing the ego, in others and especially in myself. Now here's the problem, if I just accept everything as it is and as divine, will I be able to awaken? Isn't self-inquiry in a way a bypassing of the ego? Isn't there necessarily a struggle in the process? For example, I tend to feel a lot of resistance towards doing yoga, and even towards meditation. Isn't there the danger of just saying "hey the ego is divine and wonderful as it is, so let me love it and go watch TV instead?" I'm not trying to disagree with you, these are genuine questions. From the point of view of someone who has awakened such as yourself, I think you are absolutely right. But for most of us, who have not awakened (and want to), I think there is a balancing act that isn't easy to figure out...

Just use your intuition on where to look at, no need to strain, keep yourself relaxed. If you focus for long enough while also relaxed you will begin to see a light. Forget about the neck for a while, you need to have more awareness of the chakras before it makes sense. It will come by itself with time.

I can't believe I'm seeing supposedly highly conscious people around here arguing for solipsism. I don't care how many psychedelics you've taken or how enlightened you think you are. If you believe solipsism is true, then either: 1. You don't know what solipsism is; OR 2. You're deluded. Rupert Spira has talked about this before, he has refuted solipsism as nonsense. It may be that there is only one giant mind (aka God), but that does NOT mean solipsism. Solipsism is the belief that your FINITE mind is the ONLY mind existing and everyone else is a bunch of puppets with no mind or experience of their own, only illusions. Kind of like the Truman Show, your ego is the only ego around and everyone else only seems to exist to provide with that illusion. Simply not true.