BipolarGrowth

Not necessarily what I meant. All you sense through the six sense doors is all there is. The end. Done. You have an imagination of an alien fucking a cow with a care bear on a water slide? That’s just sensations occurring right now with no substance to them other than how they present themselves in the moment of imagination.

It has done a whole lot more than just “help.” It’s revolutionized my moment-to-moment experience exponentially to make it permanently better than it ever could’ve been otherwise.

Sounds like a series of mystical experiences rather than an awakening technically. Looks like it could’ve easily turned into a deeper awakening if your ego wasn’t resisting as much at the time. Nothing crazy about it. And I know crazy.

You distinguish it from mahasamadhi when you realize that your ass is not going to accidentally mahasamadhi by doing a psychedelic… lol We’re talking about a huge difference in levels of development and mastery. I like your posts and drive quite a bit, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re at that level. Mahasamadhi is also traditionally not seen as an accidental thing from what I’ve seen. You should be a lot more concerned with some sort of rare heart issue being exacerbated by it resulting in your death even though that’s incredibly unlikely if you dose properly.

Bliss with suffering is worth more than the same degree of bliss alone.

If you’re meditating well, it should generate attentive energy rather than reduce it.

You could say this is just another phrase for viewing the world as God. There is no need to do other people’s roles. There is no need to do anything but your own part. To do everything with conscious control would not be the real use of God’s power. This is the ego’s idea of what being God is. The highest power is to be perfectly harmonious in your own role in things realizing that everything and everyone else does themselves. There is no need to control another aspect of reality for you are not even capable of controlling the smallest aspect of yourself in the way the ego might want to or think that it can at earlier stages of development. Tao, Nature, the Universe, etc. is what moves you. Can you learn to dance purposelessly as a purpose? To ride with the current as it presents itself? Can you take your hands off of the steering wheel to discover that all aspects of Reality are more capable of governing themselves? Enjoy solving “problems” as they come and making “improvements”, but don’t get too caught up in the idea of any necessities beyond what is already taking place. This is the profound peace of nondoership. Even the ego’s responses to situations are going to do themselves, so why do You even need to be concerned? Keep in mind this is a partial perspective and incomplete teaching. My role in it is done. Do with it what you will. I’m not here to defend any part of it and can see many inconsistencies within it, but I do see it as potentially being a nudge in the right direction for some of you.

There is no Ethan. There is no coffee table. There is no you. And that’s what “you” are. Any typical spiritual practice taken far enough will show you this. Some are faster/more effective than others. Don’t forget that there is Ethan though. Don’t forget that there is a coffee table though.

There is nothing but this right now, and this includes when you are in a dream. There are not other realms going on. All realms are right here.

@Loba in many respects

Go have fun.

How can someone actually know there’s an end to the cycle? It’s assuming a lot based on an experience or lack thereof that has yet to come, at least if you’re to take birth and death literally. The Buddha did not just teach that life is suffering. That is only half of it. The four noble truths basically consist of two core things. Dukkha and dukkha nirodha are those ideas which are dissatisfaction/suffering and the cessation or end to it.

I want to simply say that this man has been one of the most instrumental people in saving my life. Due to my condition of bipolar disorder type 1 with psychotic features which I was diagnosed with 8 years ago, I have been through countless periods of nearly suicidal and even homicidal depression as well as life-risking manic episodes. My path has been plenty ugly at times, but it would’ve been a whole lot worse if I never discovered his teachings. Even more significant than potentially saving me from physical death, he helped to free me from a life trajectory that was in many ways not worth living and worse than death in the context of what my soul truly needs. My life with Leo Gura’s influence is LITERALLY infinitely better than it ever would’ve been without it. You are truly an inspiration Leo. I cannot say that I love you as I do not even know you, but what I have seen has certainly sparked love in my heart many times over. Merry Christmas ❤️?? Keep up the outstanding work. The world needs it desperately.

The picture doesn’t do it justice at all either. I find church services to be some of the best places/times to practice as the whole energy is conducive as long as you are not harboring resentment for the people and belief structure’s limitations.

There’s nothing like some good old catwakenigs.

This is all true, but I would encourage you to examine and break down the external/internal duality for more results.

Nice. Good to see you being so organized with the records of your trips. It might make for a good book or larger piece of content in the future.

I got to enjoy a wonderful Catholic mass yesterday. It’s great to see people come together.

To unfortunately be even more confusing and seemingly unhelpful, the Truth of the situation is more precisely held in the statement that the answer is neither something nor nothing. Both of those poles of dualistic conception are rudimentary Homo Erectus scratchings on a forgotten cave wall compared to what actually is/isn’t. There is also no something which can prevent something from becoming nothing. Even something and nothing are really downplayed words of the more fundamental duality of Existence vs. Nonexistence or you could say Experience vs. Non-Experience. Furthermore, you could also say God vs. Nibbana (this is specifically referring to the definition of Nibbana which covers cessation as opposed to the waking life of one who is an Arahant). If anyone is sure of the absolute nature of one pole above the other, I can almost certainly guarantee you that they haven’t explored the true nature of their preferred pole far enough to be speaking with conviction in a accurate sense. Please do not look at your struggle to grasp the nature of these concepts and your questions as a basic or simple thing. The core of this goes back to the most advanced human beings who did not have a real understanding or answer then, do not have one now, and will never have one. Not only is this problem ungraspable, it is unreleasable. You’re doing a damn good job for even caring enough to ponder such a thing with serious intent, and it will get you far as you unravel it to find it even more raveled than before. If you’re interested to go deeper, I encourage you to spend an hour researching the Two Truths in Buddhism. Here is a link to start that: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_truths_doctrine Feel free to shoot me a PM for discussion on this tasty treat of insight sustenance.

His model has two levels after God with emptiness/Arahants being at level 4 of 5 and the Natural State being level 5 which is enlightenment which has no levels to it.

Source = Appearance or in other words all the stories behind something that you have for understanding are empty, including emptiness Where do DMT realms come from on a practical level? Mind.

Great photography and setting

Work out 3-5 days per week. Start taking classes again to continue working toward a bachelor’s degree. Do a solo three day retreat with vipassana, cultivating jhanas, and fire casina at home then do two 10 day formal meditation retreats of either vipassana or fire casina. Clean up my diet.

I recommend reading Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram for getting an idea of where you’re at. He has some phenomenologically-precise ways for gauging such things. You can read the whole book for free online here: https://www.mctb.org/mctb2/ Another thing I would recommend is speaking to masters directly. I’ve spoken to both Daniel Ingram and Dhammarato for free. They are both quite available if you’re interested. Send me a PM if you want details on that. I’m also happy to chat with you sometime. Dhammarato has online sangha video/voice calls on Skype multiple times per week for his UK and US sangha groups.