What Am I

I don't necessarily mean for this to be a gotcha, but more a genuine question of how far we should go in the West. During covid in China, the doors to some peoples' domiciles were welded shut to prevent anyone from coming and going. There's a possibility this saved some of their lives, as they may have otherwise left home and became infected and/or spread it to others. Is this something you'd be in favor of? If not, why not?

This may be accurate, my mistake.

I agree, pretty mysterious. It's my guess that the black void is the reaching of the state without kundalini being a factor, or perhaps it's still functioning but not at 100%. So in essence, they'd be the same thing, but one would be missing the full brunt of the engine of spiritual transformation.

I think at least in my mind, I was drawing a comparison to the way Michael Keaton was taking something literal and turning it abstract. To me, it's profoundly obvious that this infinite white light is a common experience among advanced mystics throughout history, and clearly a manifestation of God experiencing itself as itself in its own home, so to speak. It's not necessarily something to where the word "white" would be broken down and its meaning dissected, but rather, this is a literal and supreme mystical state that humans can and will directly experience when going through a full spiritual transformation. It's not just you though, pretty much everyone is breaking down the words involved and seemingly not being aware of the state. The OP gets the significance because he had the experience, and it led him to check if anyone else has experienced such a thing. It'll be an interesting step on his journey as he realizes just how ubiquitous it is in mysticism. I shouldn't have singled you out though, sorry. And maybe I misinterpreted what you were saying.

@Reciprocality a few of your posts bring to mind "Michael Keaton's" response to a Jeopardy question in this skit from SNL lol. No offense intended.

LOL it is funny this question is being asked right after Leo's recent blog post. Perhaps God requires sensitivity training for its superconscious bias.

Here's a 5meo breakthrough report. This one is interesting because the user experienced an alternative form of breakthrough during their second trip. Definitely a mystery there as to what that was and why it differed. But his first experience involving the white light is typical of what can usually be expected. https://www.reddit.com/r/5MeODMT/comments/1dtf637/trip_report_two_sides_of_the_bufo_coin/

Very cool, was it from chemical assistance? From many of your posts, I could have easily guessed that you've had the experience.

It's very common for a breakthrough experience of 5-MeO-DMT to give you a disembodied non-dual experience of infinite godly energetic whiteness. It can also occur from specific other psychedelics, such as LSD. I think 5-MeO-MALT can also take you somewhere similar, but breakthrough reports interestingly sound slightly different. As you've already realized, this is likely the exact experience of God described in NDEs. It's also reachable via sober meditation, as described by an individual in the video below. So yeah, the term "white light" is 100% literal and independently verifiable. I believe it is God's default state of experiencing itself as the fully transcendent. The true eternal form, as opposed to the endless layers of relativity.

I refer back to these comments that I made in a different thread from about a week ago. It seems like there may be a massive blind spot in this forum and on the left in general in terms of understanding the motivations of their political opponents.

It was probably hyperbolic, but perhaps not the worst prediction of an outcome that could arise from an ever-worsening climate of excessive universal hate and disunity. I think your intuition to strive towards spirituality is the correct one. Through tried-and-true practices, there's an innate human capacity to authentically shift from a false sense of identification with your mind to a wholly liberated existence as Consciousness itself. This rectification of Self brings with it a proper alignment to the natural order. It seems more than likely that we're watching the results of an exaggerated mass misalignment when you examine the current state of the world. We've somehow ended up in a condition where this spiritual human capacity is so esoteric, it's likely that literally 99%+ of people on earth aren't even aware it exists as a potential.

Sure, fair enough. Upon reflection after I'd sent my posts, they were a bit passive-aggressive themselves, which is ironically the type of behavior I was railing against. I think I just sympathized with OP's plight and lashed out in shared frustration. I'm old-school in wishing for a previous era, but perhaps we really are going through this tumultuous time to reach something better. It's relatively often in history that we've been close to calamity, and things always turned around those times.

I see the potential wisdom in what you're saying, but I firmly believe that we're more dysfunctional now. I guess the argument could be made that we'll dive so deep into dysfunction that we'll come out enlightened on the other side. After the nuclear winter blows over, of course.

There was a time not so long ago when you were expected to keep your religion and your politics to yourself, and to broach either topic was considered rude and foolish for the same reasons OP listed (breeds hate, creates division, etc.). Clearly those times are over. I imagine most people on this forum are too young to remember a life lived in relative peace and unity. It's just my opinion, and I haven't thought too deeply about it, but it almost seems like we peaked in the late 90's and 2000's. Now it's a steady stream of disdain for anyone not on our team and who doesn't fit our expected mold, for better or worse. We'll have to see where this current climate of contention leads. @manuel bon, you may have been born in the wrong decade. Even if you'd prefer to remain apolitical, it doesn't seem like society will let you. Good luck.

The Gnostic definition of God is quite interesting as well. From how they view our curious existence here on earth, you could almost consider them the original conspiracy theorists lol. The beings they're describing could have a relation to the UFO phenomenon we're seeing today. Makes you think. In Gnosticism, the concept of God is complex and multifaceted. Gnostics often reject the idea of a single, all-powerful, and all-knowing God, instead proposing a more nuanced and abstract understanding of the divine. Gnostics typically believe in a supreme, unknowable, and unnamable divine source, often referred to as the "Monad" or the "Pleroma." This ultimate reality is considered to be beyond human comprehension and is often described as a unified, eternal, and infinite expanse of light, consciousness, or spirit. The Pleroma is thought to be the source of all existence, but it is not directly involved in the creation of the material world. Instead, the material world is seen as a flawed and illusory realm created by a lesser deity or a group of lesser deities, often referred to as the "Demiurge" or "Archons." The Demiurge is typically depicted as a false or inferior god, who created the material world as a prison or a realm of ignorance, separating humanity from the true, spiritual realm of the Pleroma. This false god is often associated with the God of the Old Testament, who is seen as a flawed and wrathful deity. Gnostics believe that the true nature of the divine is hidden from humanity, and that the material world is a realm of darkness and ignorance. They seek to attain gnosis, or spiritual knowledge, which allows them to transcend the material world and reunite with the Pleroma.

I like this AI-generated response regarding Hinduism's definition of God (Brahman). It uses words to label both what it is and also to describe the characteristics of the mystical experience itself. The latter could be considered more important. I think a good takeaway is that it's the true ultimate state of reality, and it's unknowable by anything less than the full direct experience, whether that's within the unified state of God as God, or as God filtered into the material realm. In Hinduism, Brahman is the ultimate, all-encompassing reality that is the unchanging, all-pervading, and eternal essence of the universe. It is often described as the ultimate truth, the absolute, and the unmanifest. Brahman is considered to be beyond human comprehension and is often referred to as the "unthinkable" or "unspeakable." Brahman is often described as having several key characteristics, including: Sat (existence): Brahman is considered to be the ultimate reality that exists beyond the cycle of birth and death. Chit (consciousness): Brahman is considered to be the ultimate consciousness that pervades all of existence. Ananda (bliss): Brahman is considered to be the ultimate source of happiness and bliss.

If anything, I'd imagine this will shift public sentiment in the opposite direction of additional regulation. Zuckerberg himself seemed remorseful that he went along with it. A large number of people will see this as a betrayal, especially so since it had been vehemently denied and occurred secretly outside of public view. I agree with large parts of your assessment after the first line though. Social media in its current form is a scourge on humanity. Actually, I agree with your first line too. Actions like that done in secret have helped lead us to exactly where we are.

It reminds me of Angulimala in Buddhism. For a simplified version of the story, he was a murderer who had killed 999 people and chose the Buddha to be his thousandth victim. Upon meeting the Buddha, a better way of life was demonstrated and Angulimala went on to eventually reach full enlightenment. Obviously very unlikely to be a true story, but it's a cool little narrative to show how even the worst of us are inherently capable of the greatest heights.

I suppose on a fundamental level, it would be that the communicated ideas in question have the potential to spread and lead to action, and the censoring side would prefer that action to not occur. So the government official in this example wants to effect a certain outcome, and they're removing obstacles towards that end. It's understandable that they'd want to do that, because we all would like our goals to be accomplished with the greatest level of ease. I think the real argument here is in the limiting factors of allowed censorship. I admit, I'm not educated enough in this area to determine when the line has been crossed. And "free speech" has become such a polarizing topic, everyone is just going to dig in at the mere mention of the words.

I'd be curious for an answer if you have one.

Last thing I'll say here is Tulsi Gabbard is operating on the same assumptions regarding a long-standing global conspiracy heading towards a profoundly undesirable future. In her mind and others like her, Trump may be a dangerous narcissist who could fuck things up, but the risk isn't equivalent to a group of ultra-powerful elites ushering in the literal New World Order.

For sure, you're right, places like Russia and China are quite a bit further down this path than the West. Their examples actually assist in observing the progression, and make it more predictable the types of new anti-privacy laws that will be pushed. I think the term "freedom of speech" has probably become too tainted by the odor of ideology to be useful in conversation. My worries are more about the stripping away of privacy. Coincidentally, I do think this will have a chilling effect on people feeling comfortable to freely speak their minds. But free speech as a specific concept is a bit murky, with various groups having different interpretations.

The need for additional moderation is relative and a matter of opinion, but I think you're probably right. Telegram pushes really hard against the limits of what's acceptable, both to governments and even to the average person. As someone who pays attention to the tech and security side of things, I'd have to disagree. No matter which country you're in, similar removals of allowed communication opacity are likely coming your way.