Johnny5

@mandyjw I take it your path was different... ?

Imbalance is not possible, circumventing the Logos is not possible. Seriously, neither man nor woman is that powerful... And from the perspective of Logos, neither man nor woman has final say in this, or anything else. This may not be pleasant to hear, but rape is balance. I am by no means arguing for giving rape of any kind a place in human morality, but like it or not, Logos is not subject to human morality. And nothing ever happens that is not completely in balance and completely in alignment with Logos, because it IS Logos. And no that's not an excuse for rape. Not only men are Logos, women are Logos too, and social justice is Logos too. Everything is already accounted for, even the shadow accounting of humans.

? The cretins will consider you unenlightened for that. But in my ever-so-humble opinion this already puts you way beyond them.

Same thing. I wouldn't call it "metaphysical", but no big deal. Truth is an orientation in the search. You never actually find something that you can call truth, you can only find out that you're it and always were. It's the ultimate corrective against "misunderstanding", "misperception", "delusion", or call it what you will (even that's not true). After that I'm sure "truth" becomes most irrelevant. If life is a movie then truth is the bathroom break. It really has no place "here". Enlightenment is the final facade. "If man will strike, strike through the mask!" -- Herman Melville

Bullshit, guaranteed.

Actually closer to 15 years, but I didn't know about waking up back then.

What I mean is that if you see life for what it is from the personal perspective, and you don't know that it's just a dream, then it's a nightmare. There is no rational reason for not commiting suicide. The only thing that keeps everyone going is fear and denial. I only held out as long as I did, and only barely, because I knew about the possiblility to wake up. And still I almost did it, just two months ago. Because knowing it's a dream and not being able to wake up is even worse. I was shown just enough to stop me. Somehow the universe manages to keep me teetering on the edge for almost a decade now. Things took a turn for the better since two months ago, but it's not over yet.

Coming out of denial about life, and not being able to wake up from it (or even knowing that it's possible). That's what broke mine.

There are two enlightenments? ? ? ? (sorry, please don't mind me, I'm just in a silly mood)

https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/innlvg/the_cat_beats_the_dog_after_he_farted/

Compassion never forces anything.

As are we all. LOL! Nonduality 101 does.... (talking about "true", no idea what "valid" means)

Because it's usually not that difficult to see the sense of self calling attention to itself or whether someone believes their own act. If you're striking a pose because of how it reflects on you in the eyes of others, then that speaks volumes. It's kinda funny. That's also why "I am enlightened AMA" threads are instantly suspicious. Not because there's a law against it, but because you can sense the vibe.

Yep like I said, in my book enlightenment is not on any such scale. That is to say, no such scale has any bearing on truth. So if someone says that, then they must be talking about something else (i.e. something false). You could say that one inches incrementally toward the abyss. But until you fall off, you ain't got shit. And you can only fall off once.

But then, that's how heroes are made afterall. Gotta admit, the hardcore psychonauts are pretty damn heroic. I'd almost say the same of actual enlightenment, but I don't think it's heroism that gets one there. More like stupidity and desperation.

Not enough goddamnit!

@trueself I wouldn't get hung up on the terminology, energy is just energy, but yes it sounds to me like an energetic thingy. I suspect that your contemplation allows you to relax and let go in a way that you normally don't, and that's when lifelong tensions and blocked energy has a chance to release. This can indeed feel very good and freeing.

@arlin I've heard about depersonalization, but I've never had it like you do. On "the road to truth" there are many things to realize (or rather un-realize), and from your description it sounds like depersonalization has some aspects of that, but in a highly partial and incomplete way. Understand that the experience of free will is not actual free will. Nobody experiences actual free will, they only think that's what it is. It is an imputation of the mind that says "this over here is my choice and that over there is not". When in truth there is no distinction between the two. You were never concerned about not choosing to grow your hear or digest your food, right? Why not? Hope you can kinda see what I'm getting at. The distinction between voluntary and involuntary is an illusion, it always was. In one sense, everything was always voluntary, and yet in another sense, nothing was ever voluntary. When you really get down to it, nothing anyone might say about it is factual. "Conceptual" means much more than just thinking about something, it determines how you actually experience things. Neither way of experiencing is any more true than the other, they never were. Same with the experience of the body being yours or not yours. It is, and it isn't. It can be experienced either way, but it doesn't really change anything other than how it appears. Hope that makes sense at least in theory. Not sure that I'm of any help as regards the condition itself.

Sorry to hear that, I didn't know. It's also not what Jim Newman talks about, so apologies for the confusion. I don't know what depersonalization is like, so I'm afraid that I can't say much about it. Do hope that you recover from it and don't mistake it for the truth either.

Same as before you ever heard about it. Except now you don't need to keep carrying all that guilt and blame etc. about yourself or put yourself down. You can forgive and accept yourself exactly as you are because there was never anything to forgive. You were always just perfectly you, even when others don't really see or understand it.

No need to stop it to use it for your benefit. Head in the sand will not make you happy, and growing pains are alright.

@arlin You've always had exactly as much or as little free will as you do now, nothing changed except your ideas about it. You can still do everything you always could do. The idea of "no free will" could never stop you, unless you let it. Remember, your beliefs about truth are never true... Use your insights to set yourself free, not to imprison yourself. ?

@BipolarGrowth People are asking questions all over the forums. ?

Well then dangnabbit, that's what I'll do!

@Recursoinominado Was just a friendly heads-up. Nobody who's in a cult ever thinks they're in a cult. Not saying this is a cult, but it's all too easy for something like that to sneak in under the radar. That's usually how it happens.