Hey Leo. This is kind of spontaneous and I have a feeling it's going to be good.
Not a hardcore follower, but I have been around here for some time and I consumed quite enough of your content on YouTube. While I do have my disagreements with some of your ideas and ways, I want to make it clear that I am very grateful for your contribution to this world. You helped me and so many others, in so many ways. The work you've done is truly mind-blowing.
I enjoyed listening to you Leo these past few years. I enjoyed it, most of the time. I could never really put my finger on what was putting me off. It wasn't the information you were sharing. It was something beneath that. As if there was a disconnection between what was being said and what was being demonstrated - if you know what I mean. It seemed like you were not really rooted in that which you were talking about. As if you were out of alignment with it.
But today it kind of came to me in a simpler form. In a more down to earth way - if you will.
It's just your attitude. That's what's bugging me.
While watching you and listening to you, I often feel like you are assuming that I am dumb. You are assuming that I cannot possibly comprehend what you are sharing with me. It almost feels like you are trying to convince me that what you're saying is true. Or even, convince yourself. Simply put, it seems as if you assume your audience to be kind of stupid. It's like you are talking down to them. It's like you are assuming yourself to be in a higher position, by default. You do not demonstrate enough humility or compassion. And I'm not talking about the words you're speaking. I'm talking about your general state of being - for lack of better words. What are you rooted in when you are talking about Love, Truth, God, etc.? It's often not Love. It's arrogance, frustration, anger, cynicism, desperation, pain, confusion, fear, etc. You can get quite neurotic, too. Yes, all that is Love, of course. But also, no, it isn't, really. You know what I mean.
I understand why this is. I understand that you have your own journey and your own shit to deal with, so of course you cannot be all Love n Light all the time. That's not what I'm trying to say. I just think that you could be more relaxed with your approach. Not so tense and aggressive. I think you could speak to your audience in a more mature way. Not like they're these slacker students who failed a bunch of classes. If you were to speak to that camera as if you were truly and actually speaking to God, or yourself, your tone of voice, your attitude, your state of being, would be quite different. Not saying you should do that, just pointing it out as an interesting thought. 
Sometimes I want to share some of your content with people who are not really into all this stuff. Or maybe they are a little bit, but are coming from different backgrounds. And what I noticed is that what puts them off, is indeed your attitude. The way you're presenting the information. Not the information itself.
It's not just what you say. It's how you say it, too. 
Give it a thought. Much love and respect.

I need help with being on time and my intuition says that you can help me. The reason why I am late to classes is because I don't have a habit or a routine for an entire week but that my habits for individual days are mixed up. I also put things back out and in my backpack too often or too slowly and I don't really know how to break this habit. I'm also not fully present with getting to the next class. Why is it that I'm not as alert when I am at school and how can I fix this? Why doesn't my focus create an automatic routine over time or did I not install the right habits becauuse it's too weak? How do I feel more energized to leave the room and go to the next class faster? Why do my meditation sessions not help me become more present? What do you know about meditation that could help me optimize them? What is it that you need to know about me to do that? Here is all of the information that you might need about my detention papers and my school schedule:
compressedwithchitroimagecompressorhttpsplay_google_.zip
Also, the next time I get 3 tardies, I will be suspended for half a day, please help.

It seems to vary a lot and is highly personal. 

The transformational aspects that may come are your decisions to make. From the ego perspective, it doesn't make sense to want such radical transformations so it would seem "unproductive". But actually, this planet could use more selfless awakened healers/leaders, so if your self-identity becomes about the collective then it actually makes perfect sense once you yourself are healed and able to give more than you receive from the ego standpoint (eg, where you start to live in the reality that by giving to another that you're giving to yourself, but with self-respect also). Awakening does not guarantee this path it takes more decision-making to reach that, but it certainly can if used for this purpose on top of understanding. Understanding to me goes hand in hand with transformation so it just depends on what you are personally inspired to do. Deep awakenings can inspire you to be dedicated to being an artist, conscious leader, saint, empathic healer, spiritual teacher, etc on this planet, or just a really good/generous person. But to actualize those things you still have to actually decide for such. Or you can still live out the rest of this life through the ego perspective if that is what you feel inspired to do and there's nothing wrong with that either, or "away from society", it just highly depends on the individual and where they are at in their evolution. Most people's immediate concern is to heal their own traumas and internal conflicts, and that already can improve their lives drastically for themselves and the world, and I would say a requirement for the next steps. However it can also disorient you for some time and cause you to change your work and life drastically. It is helpful to have some support in your life during the awakening process if you have the luxury of such.
Some people can awaken a lot and not really change that much or change very slowly, others it can cause a total shift that the person you once knew is no longer. The glory and love from God should inspire you but it's not a simple process, the permanent dissolution of the ego is an arduous process and there are many layers of it for most beings and takes some time if you are not born awakened at a young age. But sometimes you just know that that's what you're meant for in this incarnation, whereas others have to go through a few things and come back to it. During this time it's not uncommon to go through bouts of depression, suicidal thoughts, doubts, etc. So one might seem to the world that one is going insane and "lost it". But you will come out the other side and have grown from it. 

That would require years of training your focus.
Serious Awakening is so radical that even after you experience it, you will not have any ability to reach that place through conscious effort. It's like aliens teleported you to their home planet and then dropped you off back home. You have no idea how to get back there.
There's many degrees of depth to this, so the question is what depth are you talking about?. Mild stuff you can do through retreats and strong concentration. But not the really deep stuff.

This is an interesting dichotomy to me.
 
On one hand, there is absolutely no room for intellect if you’re awakened to absolute unity and presence. It just simply doesn’t get used or thought of because you’re always in flow.
 
On the other hand, there’s no such thing as awakening without intellect. The concept of awakening is an entirely intellectual experience and pathway to self knowledge. Even the insights and epiphanies that ultimately shut you up is “instantly” intellectually delivered. 
Everything you’ve ever experienced or done was likely processed with intellect. Denying that to me is just ignorance or willfully lying about it because it’s natural to process experience with the mind. That being said, your post-awakened self is not driven by the intellect. Or at least is done in a more indirect way.
 
I’d argue that once awakening happens, you’re finally free to start winding down the overused and abused intellect. But not before.

@Jowblob the reason why these glitches happen is synchronicity, if you think of the matrix as a web of interconnected minds, then one persons thoughts influence another. Carl Jung was on to something. Let’s say something happened and you were just thinking about it. for example you were thinking of a song and then it plays on the radio, or you were thinking about someone, the phone rings and its them. Your thoughts are spilling over into the collective unconscious and influencing other minds .

I saw myself  in another person.
ok let me explain it.. when I was around 14/15 I was in a market with my parents and I saw a kid with his parents who looked exactly like me when I was 6/7 I mean he even wore my favourite sweater which was a blue and white striped one. I couldn’t believe my eyes, at first I thought that maybe its a similarity but no it was me, everything the same even the hair, I clearly remember well because I had this thick slightly curly hair. By the time I could get my parents’ attention to show them, the little me had disappeared in the crowd. I still have fresh memory of that incident and tried to reason it out but so far haven’t come up with an answer…a glitch? maybe…
That's also why people seem to look at you weirdly . And the entire universe seems to revolve around you .this been happening to you your whole ife but you never stopped and thought why.  It is a clear indication that you are God.  I would go as far to say that If you pay attention to your daily life ..you will notice a lot of glitches in the matrix. But you have to concentrate and not take for granted those subtle moments when you experience a Deja-vu or something alike. 

So I've found this app called Antar a while ago and it's amazing! I'll leave the description from Google Play below.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.satya.antar

- Meet Antar, a window to your inner world. It's a new approach to align your thoughts, emotions and decisions.
- Antar offers you a unique way to have an internal argument using various personas or emotions. You can be your own coach and help yourself through tough decisions.
- This unique approach can give you clarity of thought, bring you closer to your emotions, and help understand the multiple voices in your head.
- A clear mind leads to a motivated, happier and confident self.
- FEATURES:
- Chat interface to discuss with multiple personas
- We believe chat is the most natural form of communication. Communicate every thought with a message.
- Switch personas and guide yourself to look at different perspectives.
- Effortlessly switch between personas
- Each thought comes from a certain emotion or persona. By being able to switch easily, you can be more in touch with your emotional self.
- Identify the hidden emotion in your thoughts and explore multiple ways to understand your decision.
-A comprehensive and growing list of personas for your use. Also, the ability to create new ones to suit your needs.
- We provide a large list of personas and emotions.
- Create your own personas or emotions to represent yourself better over time.
- Ability to dive deeper into individual thoughts, by utilising our unique hierarchical argument format
- Our hierarchical format for thoughts gives an opportunity to immerse into a sub-argument easily without being distracted by other messages.
- We believe that our thoughts are not linear, so we give you ways to hop across to sub-thoughts as much as you like.
- Secure, Private and totally Offline
- We understand that lot of this information is sensitive. So, it never leaves your device without your consent.
- Currently, no data is transferred over to any server. You're always in control of your data on your device.
- Themes and Customizations
- Customize your personas through different colors.
- Dark mode support
- Various ways to visualise your chat message / thoughts
- Export to Share
- Ability to export your thoughts in markdown format.
- Integrate with any notes app on your device.
- Antar is free to download and use.
 
I hope it's gonna be helpful on your journey!
Happy holidays!!! ☃️?

Cute when used metaphorically or with humor
 
Absolute delusion when taken seriously

We don't have an answer.

That formulation doesn't ring well.
More like: Reality is too profound for meaning.
If you are disappointed that reality has no meaning, you don't fathom how profound reality is. I would be disappointed if reality had a simplistic human meaning. Children want that. Adults want something deeper.
You think you want meaning in life, but you actually want something much more basic: consciousness of its Infinite Beauty.
When you see God in everything, you don't ask, "What does it mean?" You mutter, "Oh Wow! Oh My God! How could I have been so blind?!"
If you were wise, you would trade all the meaning in the world for awareness of Infinite Beauty. Human meaning is just a shitty substitute for those who are unable to see the raw Beauty of consciousness.

2022 Was a hell of a ride and I accomplished things that I hadn't dreamed of, and also learned some lessons. But overall it's been okay. I am still fighting to get out of the mediocre life, I am still trapped in a poverty and poverty mindset, I still have 0 savings in my account and live week by week, but I won't give up. 
Someone or something will shift my shit fucked up message about money in my head and things will become clearer to me. 
I am not clear about the line between acceptance and boundaries. I want to call my parents and accept them as they are(after I have done THE WORK again - Byron Katie), but then, will they respect my boundaries?  The fact is that I am in constant survival mode and this will not translate well in any relationship I have, be it with my parents or girlfriend. 
Now I am waiting for the new year to come and for the recruitment office to start working again, so I can switch careers.  January will be met with lots of pressure, especially as I got a speed camera flash, and that means that in about two weeks I should receive a speed thicket. It shouldn't put me out of business but I will be on the very edge. Plus $100 fine. This and ....well, I can't talk about yet till is done, but it's something... 
 
 

This is a time of joy and cheer,
for it is the time of a happy new year.
Do not worry what lies ahead with fear,
and the time is comine and the time is near.
This year, oh what more can I do?
The new year is coming, and it's coming very soon.
Oh how I ponder on the days wof my life,
and think of the ways of fulfillment.
I need to give my life my all,
and if not, then I shall fall.
The next year is soon to come,
and this year, consider it done.
 

@tuku747 What does this have to do with the 3D/5D split? This explains a lot about contradictory afterlife experiences by the way.

Hey imaginary Kael. All the limits are here for a reason. If you could fly it would be fun for like a month, then not so much. We have eternity to cope with so there needs to be actual stakes in this dream to keep it entertaining over the long term. When I awakened there was a few days where I wouldn't get tired, I didn't need to sleep and I could run infinitely. It was absolute hell. The only option which opened up was I could re-enact the film Forest Gump, but why would I? I want a normal life being cared for by people. If you want to change your life I'd recommend talking about this stuff with a trained professional, they'll give you a diagnosis of psychosis or whatever and you can get free money from the government and chill out while playing the victim. This isn't immoral, there's nobody here. My life is only bearable because I don't have to work and my parents look after me and I see therapists and can discuss spiritual ideas with them (they never listen btw, this forum is the only place that listens). Life isn't so bad, just try your best to minimize any suffering because joy doesn't really exist post-awakening and it's super fleeting anyway. My biggest advice is get comfortable playing the victim, it's the easiest role there is with zero responsibilities.

There is no 3D/5D split. 
21th december is geting close again and this specific New age pathology still persist.
I remember back in the 1990s some new agers were writing about a profound shift coming in the year 1999. Of course nothing happend, except a loss of a few delusions. And that was a good thing.
No ascension, no evacuation by Galactic federation and no clean up of the Earth. Bodies aging, people being selfish. Nothing ever changes. Except dates on a calendar...

Hello to whoever is reading this, yesterday morning was going so well until something happened and I am here to report what happened because I don't really know what else to do:
So yesterday morning was going better than usual because of the worksheet from actualized.org that I wanted to work on. I'm ususally too tired or I get distracted masterbating. I actually made progress in the worksheet and rewatched the video about intuition to take notes so that I can fill out the worksheet since taking notes on the video partially worked for the worksheet about paradigms. I did this before meditating because my motivation was redirected somewhere else which might have been the cause of my downfall, I will let you be the judge based on my story.
So I was on YouTube (because that is where I also watch high quality content, this story might indicate that I am too reliant on it or that I was coming from a place of boredom rather than inspiration). Anyways, I went down the rabbit hole (with music videos specifically). Your advice might to just be more aware but I am only aware NOW and that it probably won't stay that way. Before I can raise my baseline level of consciousness, it seems like I need to be more clear with what I want to do like with Leo's worksheet and meditate if there is resistance rather than going back to unconsciousness. Rather than going back to normal the next day, it seems like the effects lingered this morning even though I want more control over my life.
Why is it that livng a conscious life takes more effort while living an unconscious life is automatic? What determines one's baseine level of consciousness?

When I go back and read my first posts on this forum I can't help but cringe at what I used to say and my worldview at the time . But thank goodness, for the two years I've been on this forum I consider myself improved and matured intellectually. And that is by doing three  things . And those are my advice to anyone who wants to improve intellectually :
 Number one , I would suggest you to start reading, as much as you can. Read books, fiction, biographies, anything and everything, Soon you will be on the right stuff. Start with topics that interest you, it is easier. Very Important : Read philosophy. it will be invaluable, you will know yourself, have control over yourself. You don't have to agree with the philosopher you are reading, in fact it is very important to have your own view while you are reading. JUST START READING. I read Kant ,Schopenhauer, Descartes etc and Im writing a book at the moment outlining my critique to their work .(I hope I can finish it soon and sell it on Amazon,  but I will definitely share it for free on this forum for everyone).
 The second thing is ..Explore things, ask questions, seek answers. Question absolutely everything. And I mean everything. Question life and death .Question the existence of the universe. How do you know anything is real ,etc become a cosmic skeptic that you don't take even breathing for granted.  When you do that ..you will actually increase your IQ and it will show in your writing .
Third thing .is to write .on paper or in the journal section or just by posting frequently on the forums .and you will notice radical improvements in your intellectual capacities. - someone here

When I started college back in 2019 I was progressing slowly but surely in my self-help journey by meditating, reading, taking life-purpose courses little by little, and taking attempts at chatting up college girls. First-year was going great until the pandemic hit and there was a shift to online classes. I was in complete isolation in my parent's house with just the task of doing school work. It only took a semester or two after the lockdown to fall off track of my self-actualization journey because I felt soo isolated and online classes were so easy to procrastinate on. For about two to 3 years (late 2020 until 2022) I tried keeping my habits going but discipline was non-existent. I might have read several books, tried to eat healthily, and attempt to finish the life purpose course over that timeline. However, nothing was sticking because something would throw me off like one of my family members getting covid and tending to them.
I spent a lot of my time trying to do things to make things fun for myself during these times of the pandemic like going fishing, learning new recipes, and working on cars/motorcycles.
I also did a fair share of wasteful activities like Youtube, Netflix, Facebook, and video games.
Fast forward to now, I just finished my first semester physically back in school and had some time during this winter break to work on myself. Once I took a good look at the progress I've made in personal development/setting my foundation over the college pandemic years I realized I didn't make the progress I wanted to make.
Now I am filled with regret about having wasted so much time and I'm dwelling over the past wishing I could snap myself out of that lazy sleep to tell myself what I know now. I have a newfound deep sense of desire and motivation now to work on myself as a result of regret.
I'm back on track now better than before, but I'm finding it extremely painful to do anything personal development related because I just think back to how I could have done it a lot sooner. I feel old at 21 not having made the progress I wanted in PD, and still have my "v card".  Also, I have 1 1/2 years left in my 5-year university degree and getting close to reaching the real world. My degree is in computer science and I have ambitions to become a sort of self-help/spiritual guru that I found through the LP course.
I've gone through the process of learning from my experience/regret and trying to move forward, but I just keep coming back to dwell on the past.
Could I get some advice to deal with this situation?

Book recommendation:
Early Retirement Extreme: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence by Jacob Lund Fisker
Its a good book about  frugalism, which really attunes your brain to this lifestyle. Its not a blueprint, but certaintly features good ideas, especially if you are not accustomed to this concept. A rather fast read.
Description: "  A strategic combination of smart financial choices, simple living, and increased self-reliance brought me financial independence at 30 and allowed me to retire from my profession at 33. Early Retirement Extreme shows how I did it and how anyone can formulate their own plan for financial independence. The book provides the principles and framework for a systems theoretical strategy for attaining that independence in 5-10 years. It teaches how a shift in focus from consuming to producing can help people out of the consumer trap, and offers a path to achieving the freedom necessary to pursue interests other than working for a living. The principles in Early Retirement Extreme show how to break the financial chains that hold people back from doing what they truly want to do. The framework has been used by many people over the last few years to accomplish a variety of goals. It provides people a means to achieve almost any goal, whether it’s debt-free living, extended travel, a sabbatical, a career change, time off to raise a child, a traditional retirement, or simply a desire for a more resilient and self-sufficient lifestyle. The book was initially written for people in their 20s and 30s, but its ideas aren’t limited to early retirees. Middle-aged people in the grips of consumerism can use the principles to take back control of their lives. People closer to retirement age who don’t feel adequately prepared can use it to set themselves up for a comfortable retirement in a relatively short period of time. Anyone worried about their financial future can use the principles in Early Retirement Extreme to make their future more secure."
 

I wouldn't say that Muhammad was enlightened. He was genetically spiritually gifted and had mystical visions throughout his long life. He was more like a Teal Swan character. It was not pure Awakening.
Not should you assume that Jesus and the Buddha accessed the same states of consciousness.
Moreover, enlightenment is not God-Realization and all of Buddhism is a just a dream. So keep your whits about you as you explore this terrain.

https://www.spiritual-integrity.org/ethics/
There is a similar honor code for organizations: https://www.spiritual-integrity.org/org-ethics/

As the forum grows, we want to preserve the cream of the crop. This will be especially useful for attracting newbies.
This thread is intended to be a place to link to the best, most helpful topics of this sub-forum. Meaning, any topics which are found in the "Meditation, Consciousness, Enlightenment, Spirituality" sub-forum which you think are particularly juicy, link them here. I will then periodically update this post with links to the best topics.
Please don't link to topics from the Self-Actualization sub-forum, or other sub-forums, here.
By "best" we mean: topics which are popular, or highly up-voted, or which contain lots of useful resources. Please be selective with your suggestions. We want the cream of the crop here.
Best Of:
The 5-MeO-DMT Mega Thread Meditation Techniques Mega Thread Music To Inspire Enlightenment, Meditation, & Personal Development Enlightenment One-liners Sharing Our Favorite Enlightenment Videos 5-meo-dmt | Trip Report #3: On Being God Enlightenment Jokes Here A Challenge To Everything You Think You Know MDMA and Spirituality 4 Grams Psilocybin Trip Report: That Was Intense Secrets Of Concentration - Part 1 Enlightenment Quotes Paradoxical Quotes

We all know it's perfect, but just in case
This should be a doozy.
Let's hear it all.
No guarantees of implementation.
Be gentle with me. I might cry.