Water by the River

What would be aware of the absence of consciousness? Consciousness or awareness. And here one runs into the singularity of the Absolute where all words and pointers fail. What is always right here right now? Necessarily so? How could THAT not be the case? And at the same time THAT is so empty that it kills any remaining individuality or separate self arisings/contractions. Including the alien. What we normally call consciousness is a self reflective type of consciousness, an arising. Temporary. Illusion. And that can already be Nondual, or a nondual alien, yet identified with it. The Absolute is utterly utterly empty. The psychedelic version of it is not. The end of the game is sayonara to any type of center, lense, individuality or separation. The Absolute is so fundamental it can’t turn around and see itself. The alien can. Hence alien consciousness. And not clap of the one hand. Clapping the Alien with the One Hand by the River

The answer to that question is so profound that if you took bufo 100 times you would still not reach the bottom of it. It will be revealed to you one degree at a time. After like 500 trips I still don't have the full answer. Hint: Infinity. You will drop dead before you have the full answer when the goal is exploring the appearing Infinity. Exactly. Emphasize: Struggling. Anyways, Godspeed and all the best as always! Relaxing and celebrating the magnificent flow of the River

That which is truly aware doesn't come and go. Sometimes "it" has nothing to be aware of. I see this deep intuition in your posts, and why you value Ralstons material so much because of that. In my view, that comes deeply from your soul, and I consider it as a very precious intuition of your soul. And THAT which is aware watches all the Ant/Human/Alien/Divine Being "individuality" (aka consciousness), which is nothing else than the subjective appearing side of the nondual whole. It is still an arising in the dream... For me its perfectly clear why Reality looks for Leo the way it does (some "consciousness" higher than the other). Because he has never let go fully of all of these juicy subjective parts (aka what he calls higher consciousness, or "consciousness of" Ant/Human/Alien/Divine Being, n+1), leaving some filters/lenses and subjective distorations (aka states) still in place. Even in nondual states giving rise to beings more complex than humans (Alien)... And I totally understand why he totally doesn't understand what I am saying and why I am saying that. My challenge for Leo would be: Sit down on the pillow, meditate until suffering and boredom stops, die on the pillow, then die some more, then die until the Leo-thing is done with, and then see what is really the case when one is able to shut down the arisings of the illusionary separate-self (aka Leo) in real-time - sobre. And if that is not doable, then why? Hint: Leo not quite dead transcended and done with. Ah, the untranscended self-contraction. And once this bug is fully transcended in real time, then tell us when the bliss of the Absolute and the release of any form of self-contraction has started flowing, if the Alien is still so fascinating. Maybe then he will understand why everyone who has achieved Enlightenment (or realized ones own True Nature) values the flow of bliss and the infinite release of Duality, or resting in ones True Being as the Summum Bonum. All possible questions are answered in this. All there ever could be (including Alien) is just mere appearance in ones boundless Being, and the bliss of that Being drowns all grasping. And the end-point of this multi-life-journey is not exploring the multiverse in a grasping way to ease the contraction of the untranscended separate-self. That is done until one tires of it, which can be speeded up with insight. Then, one can still celebrate Gods Infinity of realms. But then, in a non-grasping way, a celebration, because the self-contraction that suffers/grasps/contracts is dead/gone, a mere illusion that once appeared in ones True Being. You will never have the answer going down that road, since its Infinity on Infinity on Infinity forever. God will never run out of Infinities/Aliens/Diving Beings/whatever n+1. You will drop dead before you have the full answer going down that road. But if that is the only tool you have to ease your self-contraction a bit, well, go ahead on do it until you are tired of it - this life or the next. Which, btw., is also the point of the ride: To do what you like until you get tired of that. Or maybe have some insight into the whole process and jump to the next step. Less tiring & suffering. Either way, its how Reality celebrates the appearance of your life. In that sense, let's celebrate the journey we are on to the best of our abilities, and Godspeed in/by/on/as the River PS: UnbornTao wouldn't be UnbornTao if yours truly wouldn't get a snarky comment on his blasphemy, so... and Namaste! PS PS: Leo, having read Reductionism from you quite a lot quite lately.... How about replacing that with Essentialism, and coming home? See you there! And then, from "there", the exploration of the Infinity of Infinities is a celebration, being & feeling at home wherever possibly one seemingly goes.

Yes.

Hey, I even plead guilty to platitudes by the River! And besides, I truly wish him the best, like I do to all of you.

Hey, something we can agree on! Guess one can be sure that God and you will have great fun together. Selling platitudes by the River (Cool . Gotta remember that one!)

An "I" conscious of "God"? Well, um, some chaps would say that is a "I" and a "conscious of" and "a" "God" too many.... "There is neither Ox nor man" Yaeko Iwasaki’s in Kapleaus, Three Pillars of Zen after her Full Enlightenment. Strange, hm?

Um.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_(philosophy) The essence of the ring (appearance) is gold (Absolute). But the essence of gold (Absolute) is not the ring (appearance). "In philosophy (often specifically metaphysics), the absolute,[a] in most common usage, is a perfect, self-sufficient reality that depends upon nothing external to itself.[2] In theology, the term is also used to designate the supreme being or God. While the notion of the absolute varies across traditions and thinkers, it generally signifies something that transcends all forms of limitation, relativity, and contingency" I guess appearance depends upon "something/nothing/THAT"... Take away appearance, and THAT remains... The Reality of appearance is "the" Absolute. The Reality of "the" Absolute is not the appearance. Of course, emptiness is form, and form is emptiness. But appearance, or illusion, is.... not quite the "self-sufficient reality that depends upon nothing external to itself". Because its, um, temporary. Reality = permanent. Or maybe there is some realization which you have not yet had about "that" which watches the whole Ant/Human/Alien/God gig.... Who knows? But you do you, and I do.... apparently also you. Ain't "we" are having fun. Uhum. Btw., in case you guys start a discussion about Solipsism during the gig in the usual forum style, I guess even the Godess doesn't want to miss that. Something for WbtRs Bucket List for this lifetime: 10 tripping ladies & gentlemen in a nondual boundless state with remaining egos "residual-individuality-arisings" discussing with each other which one is now the One (and only). A pity heretics like poor me probably won't get admitted. Did you notice that your event is also in the (literally) Selling Water by the River business, as in Well, its an honourable endeavour, at least if not approached too seriously - because of the absolutely hilarious nature of the self-contradictory gig if taken too seriously. So I wish you and all participants good luck in not getting into too serious solipsistic discussions during the event while tripping & selling Water by the River. My recommendation would be: Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses by the River

Your consciousness yes. But that consciousness is not the Absolute, it is a mere appearance. Ant and Ant consciousness arising, Human and human consciousness arising, Alien and Alien consciousness arising. Arising/appearing in THAT. YOU are aware of it. Aware of the Ant, of Leo, of the Alien. That which is truly aware, which is truly the Absolute Subject, the Ultimate Looker, never changes. No moving parts. Selling "no moving parts makes maintenance free" by the River

Ain't we I You God Leo It THAT Clap of the one Hand having fun? Yes, according to pretty much all OBElers yes (I like Jürgen Ziewe). And why not? Makes the game a bit more juicy. Leo can become his alien, but maybe after another few lifes have thaught him that considering the zombies rats rodents fellow childen of his own Being a little bit more benevolent. Like, a Kindergarten-planet with many many growing children eager to learn, each with its own curriculum and needs.... And planet Earth can provide lessons Leos idea that everbody ending up as stable Infinity upon death is in contradiction to all OBElers having explored the Afterlife Realms. Why should the 2nd grader suddenly get its PHd - sounds a bit traumatizing, and robbing the poor chap its wonderful journey through school and college. We shall all see... That is the one thing in life that is totally assured: The final out of body experience. Nobody gets left behind. Anyways, where have we been... Ah, yes: The only "thing" that cares about ignorance (ignorance defined as seeing any arising/appearance as "other") being gone forever is.... ignorance-arisings. So maybe, when the Avatar is developed enough, after maybe having been an angel, a planetery consciousness, or a being that spawns a whole Universe in its being/perspective, and n+1 .... becoming a bit more stupid and ignorant again becomes quite very attractive? Ever had the feeling that THIS was a really interesting dream the night before, totally bought into its exciting (although totally ignorant with lots of "other") story? That you would miss something if that was no longer possible again (ever)? As Francis Lucille once said: Ignorance is only a bad idea from the perspective of ignorance. As Consciousness/Being/Reality: Who cares? Nothing to loose.... And, from a personal perspective: Nothing can ever truly happen to True Being. Neither loose, neither gain. Ignorant or not, even the ignorance is only arising, never have I been that. Ever. THAT is always right here, ever was, ever will be, can not not be. There never was anything beyond a mere illusion-arising appearing to believe in ignorance/other. Was never truly the case. Can never be. But how tremendously beautiful that ignorance/other arising is even possible! Enjoying looking forward to this life, the realms beyond, an alien or two, the planet-gig, assembling this or that realm, and then maybe enjoying another juicy drama of ignorance all of over again. And all of that words/meanings are just ripples on the mere appearing surface of the River, which in Reality doesn't move, become or change in the slightest. PS: I know. Blah Blah Blah. But: There is good Blah Blah Blah, and bad Blah Blah Blah. Blah Blah good? (the no-foreign-language-warning-point fraction may be so kind to click on auto-translate. Gracie!)

Right

Agree with all of that. But WHAT is watching all of these Alien/Divine/whatever consciousness/arising/imaginings? All of that x/y/z/n+1/Alien/Divine/... consciousness is... temporal imagined arising(s). Even human/Alien/Divine consciousness is not the Absolute Looker/Subject/Reality/Being, but an appearance. Temporal, arising within THAT, and gone a bit later. Watched by WHAT? In WHAT? Made out of WHAT? What watches all of that? What never changes? What is never not the case? What are you truly? What eats the ant/human/alien/divine being for breakfast? THAT which manifests/imagines the whole gig within its boundless Reality/Being, and at the same time is aware of it. THAT which can "forget" or unimagine its realization of what "itself" is anytime... while never not being itself, even if that realization is lost. THAT can never loose itself, or become anything else. Yet, it explores its imagined potential of x/y/z/Ant/Human/Alien/Divine Being-consciousness and the worlds these consciousness perceive forever. And btw., none of that invalidates what you say, that alien/divine/.../n+1/whatever is a much grander perspective of God understanding herself. Its just, well, all of that doesn't change the unchanging Reality a bit. Did (true) YOU ever change, or just the temporary waves/ripples on you imagined surface? Leo, how about you answer this one? Isn't that bringing your "God/THAT/Reality imagines it all" theory/concept/experience nearer its final conclusion? And as always, since THAT never truly changes, "that" which is truly aware, and "we" are it already... meet you "there" already Leo. The various "consciousness" from ant to human to Alien to Divine Being are the "subject"-side of the manifestation. Changing, relative, like the "objective"-side of the "world". Like arising lenses that THAT uses to create, watch and understand its manifestations & light-show in different ways. What is aware of the boundless limitless Totality of all of that, having that arising within "It"self? What is unchanging Reality that sees ant, human, Alien, Divine Being arise within "It"-self. PS: Becoming part-time Alien/ then part-time-Divine Being, on which we recently learned after Alien comes Divine Beings, so whats next? Hint: Infinity = n+1 = forever.... https://www.actualized.org/forum/search/?&q=Alien&author=Water by the River It seems that our two Rivers are approaching the same ocean... Maybe soon we will be selling Water by the River and laughing at the illusion and ultimate joke of that activity, and throwing Koans at the waves of the River. But hey, what else is there to do than (hopefully) celebrating manifestation, enjoying creation/manifestation for Infinity, and... Selling Water by the River PS: Now the Backup-Koan, since all of the above is just illusion: Basho: The old pond, A frog jumps in: Plop! And: Who is hearing these words right now?

Guess the wave surfing is now much more beautiful, open and free when no „one“ gets in the way, and boundless Reality celebrates itself manifesting its eternal magnificent dance… now without any contraction/center in vast limitless eternal Being.

Oh well. „Form is Emptiness (śūnyatā). Emptiness is Form“ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra What are you again Leo? Like in „can never not be“? And now tell me that that which you really are is not always the case… Being is. Non—Being is not. Parmenides. Sitting beneath a bright moon on a Dodecanese Island and watching all pointers dissolve in THAT — meet you there. Always already.

Hic sunt dracones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_be_dragons https://www.actualized.org/forum/search/?&q=hic sunt dracones&author=Water by the River No dragons Nothing to see here! But it seems after a little heavy dracones-partying some time back in the day, the most obvious "nothing to see here" performances ebbed a bit down. Godspeed! Nessie & dracones & Angels & Demons swimming & frolocking in the River & biting our heroic psychedelic avantgarde pioneers to the best of their abilities. Even Truth-loving ones. Its their Raison d'Être. The only thing they can't stand is love & compassion & boddhichitta. Truth-Love alone they eat for breakfast. Musical Coda playing by the River: Why? Its Game Lila on. Dr. John Churchill paraphrased: Its true that it can be considered a divine adventure, a divine play & comedy, but its also a f****** war. PS: Of course the higher dimensional (Alien) subtle beings/intelligences/entities are by a vast majority non-demonic/evil, although some high-performance higher dimensional dark/subtle beings have also been reported since the dawn of time. Not ones standard demon. And if operating in subtle realms (aka psychedelic trips), one better is firmly rooted on the Light side of the Force. Or one tends to attract f****** smart demonic distorter-shadows: Please allow me to introduce myself... And having these chaps with style & taste in ones pit crew... can be quite a show.

Chris Bache did many very high dose LSD trips (LSD and the Mind of the Universe_ Diamonds from Heaven). He had horror trips in which he relived the suffering of humanity until: "In the 17th session, the consciousness behind my sessions seemed to shift its message in anticipation of the coming interruption. I have no doubt that this is what happened. In this session, the collective suffering returned in full force until it completely saturated my experience. The anguish that is always so hard to describe surrounded and saturated me. I was being relentlessly pursued. There was no escaping the torment. It followed me everywhere, surrounding me completely. At one point I remember searching through all the pain looking for my death to orient to. All the anguish seemed meaningless without my death to give me my bearings. But there was no haven “I” could retreat into, not even the haven of my own death. The only “I” that existed was hundreds of being-fragments, and all of them were suffering. (S 17) This time, however, I was refusing to surrender to the pain and rejected everything that was happening to me. Eventually, I was backed up against a psychological wall and was told that if I persisted in rejecting the suffering, I would be turning my back on humanity, on life itself. To not care seemed to be the ultimate existential withdrawal from life. With multiple scenarios echoing this refrain, I was being confronted with an absolute choice of whether to open to this pain or not. At this point, my “No” changed to a “Yes.” This transition felt like a conversion in the deepest religious sense. In the middle of terrible suffering I found myself saying, “Yes! I can make a difference. Yes! I accept responsibility.” I was accepting responsibility for the anguish and for trying to make a difference in the lives surrounding me. This shift was fundamental. It reached to depths I cannot now fathom and impacted me in ways I cannot summarize. It seemed a free choice on the most basic of questions. With this acceptance, the torment suddenly changed to positive themes. Themes of young children—happy excitement, delighted play, self-abandoned joy. Many scenarios of childhood wonder and adventure. This was the beginning of a “new way.” It contrasted with the former negative way in every respect. It was simple instead of chaotic, shared instead of individual, fresh instead of repetitive. I felt cleansed and made new. (S 17)" In the trips following that, the horror & suffering trips stopped, and he was shown the mechanics and workings of the Universe/Consciousness/Reality.

"Because the worst possible outcome is if the monkey remains monkey, but thinks the monkey is God. That's the worst monkey. It's a monkey that will cause great destruction around it, and then will suffer." Déjà vu?

@Xonas Pitfall How to leave a door open on something one is not sure of? Declare that x% of your teachings are wrong and justify that with "to get the herd to think for itself." Infinity of Gods is indeed where the not-fully-empty psychedelic explorer ends up—still having an identification arising as being God/Reality/whatever. Plot twist: That Absolute Reality can do very well without any identification and concept. Such as... before the birth of your parents. "Absolutes" in the plural is a contradiction in itself. The real Absolute is that One (without a second) that is aware of all of those "Gods"/Void-Universes/Realms/Dimensions, which "It" manifests in its own Infinite Reality—the only Reality there is. One Absolute/God reaching out to another Absolute/God, but of course doing that voluntarily, because otherwise they could never really intersect- since each is sovereign and infinite and fundamentally separate (that is, with the exception that sometimes these two God - chaps reach out to each other)? If that is not a (just appearing) dualistic story, I don't know what is. Koan: Who or what is aware of that funny story/appearance? Selling Water by the River (without a second) PS: https://www.actualized.org/forum/search/?q=%22%20Infinity%20of%20Gods%22&author=Water%20by%20the%20River&sortby=relevancy

Not that any of use will achieve this fullly: ... here in our lifetime. Yet, it is my experience that a view oriented towards that makes it much easier to stay open in Awakened Awareness in daily life considering all survival (which I prefer as concept) / corruption (which can easily close ones sobre Awakening down, which is why I prefer survival since its easier to have compassion then) on our lovely little backwater planet Earth. Planet Earth, a playground which in our present time seems largely to be a Kindergarten of developing souls. Which, in itself, is also a precious learning and development opportunity for all those souls engaged in the survival/corruption of the lower Spiral Dynamic stages. I don't consider you as such. Honestly, I quite like you and your development over the last years, having Truth as uncompromising North Star and guidance. By definition, that North Star leads to the Summum Bonum of the Good, Truth and Beautiful ("Wikipedia, The transcendentals (Latin: transcendentalia, from transcendere "to exceed") are "properties of being", nowadays commonly considered to be truth, unity (oneness), beauty, and goodness" ), to becoming the Alien this life or the next. And then maybe, "like shepherds of consciousness, tending its evolution across vast expanses of life and energy.... as they do to millions and billions of other lives and consciousnesses within the field of their awareness—as if it were the brightest, most valuable flame in creation." So, Godspeed and bon voyage on/in/as the River!

Ever thought about how your Alien considers you? "I have encountered subtle beings in the higher-order realms in comparison to whom my consciousness is not much more evolved than the sentiency I find in my sofa. Their response to me is always loving, caring, considerate, and appropriate. They are like shepherds of consciousness, tending its evolution across vast expanses of life and energy. The light of my sentiency is like a shadow compared to theirs, yet they tend to it—as they do to millions and billions of other lives and consciousnesses within the field of their awareness—as if it were the brightest, most valuable flame in creation. This is the true implication of saying that everything is alive. We are each caretakers for the consciousnesses evolving around us, particularly those of lesser complexity and capacity than our own." - David Spangler, Subtle Worlds. An Explorer’s Field Note

Excellent. Allright! Singing along Allright with Freddy by the River...

Chapeau! And there is the love Singing along with the Black Eyed Peas by the River

Do you believe that all is calm, positive and enchanting in the subtle realms? Humanity has told a different story over the millenia concerning the darker entities in some of these realms. Hic sunt dracones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harada_Daiun_Sogaku Of course, Mr. Miyagi was way cooler, considering especially that Harada was a bit, um, nationalistic.

Maybe those who seem to be annoyed easily? Well, its a free country, so everyone can choose his/her own Koan de plaisir I guess. Godspeed!