Davino

“Often God gives a light affliction and thereby prevents a much graver one. Sorrow too is one of His own expressions. Through sorrow God often attracts living beings towards Himself. Suffering is also an opportunity. Dire difficulty demonstrates to man how weak and helpless he is. When he finds that nothing can be achieved by his own efforts, an urge arises in him to turn to God in prayer. When in great trouble, man spontaneously invokes God's help. For God prevents and makes us overcome difficulties. For those who can convert affliction into an opportunity for the invocation of God, affliction is a supreme friend." ~ Anandamayi Ma

I don't know how you do it honestly. People being active for years. I also need to take breaks from the forum regularly to avoid burn out

@Breakingthewall Maybe there is no end. Maybe we can always get more rabbits of the hat I like this poem:

Can an Enlightened Person be Evil? Charles Manson He is a very peculiar person to say the least. If you hear him talk you can see his more conscious that 99% of people, he is very sharp and sees clearly reality. Having said this, he has many many many psychological problems. I find his case very interesting, I'm still making my mind on it and investigating it. I wanted to share it with you as it may be of interest. Many times conversations here get too abstract and having a real case scenario to study can greatly help

I don't know about you but I can experientally feel it. I have been training for years. It is called darshan and is a meditation I'm very familiar with, even science supports it and calls it mirroring neurons. The point is I can see someone behave for a few minutes in video and get a pretty accurate picture of where they are at. What usually happens is that you can see better down than up in levels, but still the signal to noise ratio can get good enough with years of practice. This direct experiential recognition is simultaneously mapped with models of both personal devolpment, awakening and facets of awakening. The word maximum makes me cringe in the sentence but I do agree. In my obsessive study of saints and mystics of all history I have been surprised to found more people that really had the "ultimate" glimpse more than what I expected. But here we get the difference between states and stages of Awakening from Ken Wilber which I think is central to understanding this topic. He does have some serious blind spots, yet he also is more accurate in departments where most gurus have blind spots. Ideology and body awareness come to mind for example.

People forget the power of prayer Praying in high states of consciousness can move mountains It is a powerful tool that left brain spiritual practicioners sometimes dismiss. There are degrees to prayer, from egoic to egoless and spontaneous. If you only knew what experiences I had while praying... It manifests into existence

Amen

I would say the first thing that happened for me is that I loved myself. When I discovered I was God it was the first time in my whole life that I loved myself. Embodying God may boil down to Self-Love. Don't overlook self-love, it is really the solution to all your problems

I liked how he said: I once climbed that mountain but I never came back down It is a good story, it felt genuine when he explained it, but there is much more to the game

Whatever God does is for the good. It is difficult for men to understand this. That is why if one’s desires are not fulfilled, the result is unhappiness. Many a time hindrance and obstacles come in the way of honest desire and auspicious act. Nevertheless, it should be remembered, that through what He is letting me in, is beyond my knowledge. He is kind and merciful, and at all times is bestowing mercy on me - MA.

“Whatever you say, it is That. Why? There is only One. Nothing else is there anywhere. God is there in everybody. He is everywhere. He is in everything. There is One and the same God in everyone. It is impossible that you can call Him, and He won't come to you, that He will not show Himself to you. If you wish to see Him and call Him genuinely, He will come. He is everywhere… Wherever you call Him, He will meet you. If you just sit by a tree and call Him, that very tree will become God and talk to you because He is everywhere and in all forms. At whatever place and time you call God, He will come and see you. There is no doubt about it.” ~ Anandamayi Ma

Change your habits And you will change your life What are you doing everyday? What have you done today? There you have it There are great episodes of Leo to help you but maybe you have watched them all, but anyway gonna share them with you

Having a family and 5 kids surely will have an impact in the Awakening journey. Maybe a partner no kids and some pets is a sweet spot.

@r0ckyreed all good?

@Leo Gura What is the biggest downside for you? For me personally is time and energy that could go to other areas. As well as a concern that it may affect my Awakening unfolding, in some way. The former, I see it as an investment. The latter is something we have worked through for years and she is very supportive of my path now. Providing healthy and loving anchoring in difficult awakenings, like solipsism. She also had her first awakenings some years ago and is curious to work on that, when the right time comes for her. However, I've had a bee in my bonnet about Awakening and romantic relationships and whether if that is compatible in the long run. I would like to hear your thoughts on it. I have done the work and we've talk about this dozens of times because she knows what I would pick. So we both wanna make it work in this regard and we are just doing it the best we can. What advice would you give me? Regarding this topic, you are almost 40, do you see the rest of your life living by yourself? I'm also very solitary so I empathise with you, I have always enjoyed being by myself. What is the role of being alone in the process of Awakening? How does that impact your human self? I'm talking in the long run, as by this time you have surely seen the bigger picture of the unfoldment in both sides. What advice would you give to your past self regarding this matter? Hope you can see these are honest questions of me trying to figure out how I want the next chapters of my life to be

Birds of a feather flock together

@Breakingthewall Thanks for clarifying, I'll reflect about it

I also like your examples. I think they are a strong feature of your techings

The reason why Solipsism is tripping you out is because Solipsism assumes you have recognised who you are in the first place. When that realization is in place, Solipsism follows naturally, like rain from clouds

Solipsism is to see God in everyone, to recognise here everyone as God itself This is solipsism. To see God through each and everyone

@Breakingthewall I mean we are splitting hairs here It seems to me you are talking about Pure Consciousness, am I right? For consciousness there is no distinction between form or formlessness unless it imagines so. Formlessness is another form in a sense The essence is the same but how much chocolate is there in your ice cream? What percentage of cacao? In a sense it's all cacao but you can get more cacao, this doesn't make sense till it happens. The unfathomable alive can be ever more unfathomable and ever more alive, so much so, that it seems different though it is not. Even though it is all chocolate, hot chocolate is different than ice cream chocolate or a chocolate bar. It is not the same to taste chocolate, than to smell chocolate than to see chocolate. Once you fully become and self abide as formlessness, which you are transitioning into, once that is complete and you are perfectly stablished in self-abidance, what then? Well the formlessness may express back into the form and in each way it does, it reavels itself in a unique way. Once formlessness expresses into all forms, what then? In all infinity and possibilities and modes of being... then you return back to formlessness unity again, and now it tastes different, and so on you will do this in cicles... Each time more chocolate, each time more tasty but surely the same unfathomable alive one

Returning to the topic of Solipsism. The moment you realize solipsism you will kiss your table, walls and floor, out of pure recognition and love. Imagine not seeing your beloved wife for years and then reuniting again, like that but even more close to your heart, loving all the disowned parts of yourself

@Breakingthewall This is true but it's a facet. There is more. My answer to your post is Yes, but more, much more.

Bro there is certainly a cessation that ejaculates everything out of existence. A full colapse of reality into pure nothingness. This has been talked about for centuries. I haven't experienced it myself but there are too many reports of this. It's the whole aim of buddhism. Although I have to say that the one time I did experience the void it was very similar to your experience. In my case everything was pure void except for little spec of dust, very very far away, which was my body. I still could think and feel, however I honestly was more surprised about my body being a tiny dot in the void, than the void itself. It was a strange thing, I'm used to go arround with this body you know or at least you breakthrough, but having an infinitely small body in a boundless limitless void; that was a bit too much to add into my Salvia trip. Then the trip ends and I settle down. I remember crying while feeding my cat minutes after finishing the trip. So beautiful to see colours and shapes, being able to use my body and to have another sentient being to whom I could feed. This possibility just minutes ago, was gone forever. Then I cried again while I was eating, what a bliss it was to be a human in a rock eating some macaroni! That was enlightening, pure zen appretiation ahahahha This is the closest I have ever been to shit myself in a trip I had to even check...