Key Elements

No it's not. Like I said over here, baby steps. Where are your hands and fingers going? You want to apply it in real life, correct? It's much easier nowadays than in ancient times. We have computers at our fingertips (smartphones). It's only a touch away.

@Mulky during an awakening, since you're not embodied anymore, and there is no phenomenon anymore, you don't suffer because you don't have to deal with an ego anymore. Even during that transformation back to your ego, you don't suffer. Instead, you fall into love (bliss) when you embody back into the ego -- both the body and our world (earth realm). Now apply this to life. How well are you going to apply this to life?

One thing important I must add (just so that others don't assume that I'm excluding 'absolute infinity'). We still have to live this life to the fullest. How you apply 'absolute infinity' in this life counts a lot.

@Mulky good question. What I got so far is, it's a story that already ended in peace no matter which way it went. However, we are in the story as it is being written out. We get to participate in how it's being written out. I keep saying here from time to time, what are you doing for your life purpose? That could set a positive ripple effect for the world. Do you want to participate in making positive ripple effects? How are you going to do this?

@Aakash I'm going to mention this because I find it important into seeing the Ox pics. Your karma counts too. Sometimes it's not so easy for us to take the right action in a "meditative state" because we're looking at the big picture too much. We don't understand what are baby steps. We think we know but we don't. Take a look at your fingers. Are they going for YouTube? If so, are you watching the same thing over and over again? Are you repeating without progress? If so, touch the camera button of your smartphone or laptop. Start recording something of your interest. If not, just start talking. Come on! Do it! It doesn't matter if it's silly or you make mistakes on it. It's only your first clip. It's just practice. You can always edit it later. You see! Now you've made progress. You recorded something! Just look at your fingers and hands and do self-inquiry on them. Notice where they go. Notice the compulsion. The moment you touch your smartphone or laptop, stop! Do this exercise. Repeat it several times. Observation of fingers to hands to touching the computer--repeat this exercise many times. Increase awareness in this way.

@Aakash I have to listen to my own advice too. Take it one step at a time. Saying to myself, "ok, today is the day I try this." You know, try something simple before taking another simple little step. Sometimes if I keep looking at the big picture, it won't work.

So, what simple habit/action are you taking in your life? It could be a new simple habit/action. For example: chopping onions to cook saag paneer, going to the library to check out a book on YouTube, discovering / researching what is a networking / entrepreneural event at a prestigious university and planning to attend the event. Sometimes it's better to do something new and change the habit. Go out of the home to a new place once in a while. Or, make the habit according to your interest. Meditation and self-inquiry is great but not all the time. Also, not forum all the time.

What did it look like? Don't forget to work on yourself daily. That counts too. Remain calm. Enjoy the process. Remember, there is only you doing this step by step. The secret is patience. Sometimes the simplest things in life become the most powerful. An example in my life goes with the saying, "The pen is mighter than the sword." It all started with a pen and notebook. I kept writing in it. It gradually evolved me to write in a foreign language. Then, I became a bilingual teacher. From that moment on, one day, it lead me to realize the 10 ox herding pics. Too profound to put into a few words, but basically, be aware of what you're doing now. Each time you choose a habit/action, it should help you find yourself, not take you away from yourself. I say this because everything is interconnected and counts toward the ultimate.

"No one is more hated than he (she) who speaks the truth." -Buddha

@Nahm the majority are muggles. They're not ready to hear it. It won't be correct to make them believe. That would be "cultish." It has to start from the basics. Everyone understands that no one wants to suffer in life. So okay...where do we go from there? Then, start learning a skill--like kung fu. Well, it doesn't have to be kung fu. It could be something else. A skill could be used to help you survive. Therefore, reduce suffering. Then, you could teach the skill. It goes with the quote: "Give a man a fish. Feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish; feed him for life." But see, you got to teach without harming others or the environment. (Stage green ) and so on and so on. It would be helpful if the LP goes in this way. Show, not tell, right? Show in the LP that you're doing this.

@Cortex yes, you are. You are nothingness (no-self). Then, you transform into everythingness. From there you transform back into your ego. While this is taking place, you are at peace--no suffering at all. You're completely detached from what is occurring. You're complete and free (even while making such a transformation). When you go back to your physical ego and this physical world, you'll think that this experience is absolutely amazing! Oh wow! It's so massive being that infinite black hole and collapsing into myself! Because you felt a love (bliss) when you became embodied again--which indicate that you're in the to love realm--earth. However, even though it's amazing to the ego, it's really nothing. Later, if you look carefully, life itself (you) operates on the "principles" of an awakening. Yes, sometimes life may seem hard. You have to struggle to work. Some ppl really are in a "horrible" situation. But, "horrible" is an illusion and it's temporary. This is just a scarcity mindset. There is no distance between you and success. Your awakening points out that distance is an illusuion. Everything is temporary. There are always ways to learn to get out of it and go with the flow of life. Transformations in life are flows. Flow into love. You did that in your awakening. Learn to love yourself first and eventually others. Teach them how to live and love. When you mastered this, you become "enlightened." Beautiful life lessons from the deepest awakening that can be applied to living life to the fullest: Easier said than done. Sometimes we have to unlearn many things.

@Nahm ?

Yes. It's just like Shaolin monks. They teach kung fu and spirituality. But, they mainly teach kung fu. Everyone can relate to kung fu, but few can relate to an awakening and apply that to everyday life, even in kung fu. So, they teach that sparingly.

Yes, it is one and the same. During an awakening, you'll actually see yourself as the entire universe (aka, no-self, nothingness, infinity, whatever you call it) going back into your "small, little" ego. If you include such a description in your LP, be tactful in how you say it. That's all I'm saying.

@Nahm yes, I understand that everything around us are just thoughts, including our physical environment, but that wasn't my point to Leo. No, I'm not bothered about what other ppl think when I'm going into my LP. I know that's limiting. But, from what I'm learning in the forum, sharing what happened in your spiritual path directly in your LP may not be a good idea. Not everyone is able to relate to it. I'm only saying share it carefully in your LP. That's it.

I know that the proper way to teach it is how the Cloth Bag Monk did it -- 'teaching it through the pores, hands outstretched.' The best way to present such information tactfully (that I could think of) is through a life purpose sparingly. Otherwise, it may sound like a "woo-woo" sales pitch.

A person who did the empirical research will not just go into a forum or wherever and say exactly what happened. That will be too "woo-woo."

@Serotoninluv I like how the Cloth Bag Monk was known at the end of the story. To me, he did well in how he taught, in his approach. Now it's a matter of how to apply the wisdom during our time. Cloth Bag Monk lived in ancient times.

@Serotoninluv are you saying that I'm bypassing? Because now you're mentioning being a Zen devil indirectly. I do not wish to share what happened to me in my path because I do not want to look like a "show-off" or an "authority." Ppl do get such labels. I'm learning in this forum that I have to approach my life purpose tactfully. This is a very sensitive topic.

@Serotoninluv See, in looking at your posts here and your other posts, you label ppl disagreeing with you as "having only one perspective," without even knowing their path, and you go into things wayyy too much--unnecessarily going into things. It's like, I say: I have a blue cup. And, you argue that I have a blue cup with bubble design, and you comment on the position of all the microscopic bubbles. We all know that. I already got an answer to my question: the answer is no. The physical environment doesn't change during a psychedelic 5meo experience. You seem to not be happy with that answer and start to go into other things, and start labelling me and others. Like it or not, we still have to live in a physical environment and body. Yes, both are egos and both are one. Most ppl here already understand that. I'm not interested in coercing ppl to take psychedelics or not. That was not my point. The question has already been answered.

@Serotoninluv I don't want to get into judgements. You really do not know exactly what happened on my path, which is why I don't talk about it much. I'm not insisting that anyone do anything. Go and take psychedelics if you want. I just wanted to know if there were any physical changes in the matrix. The answer to my question is still a no.

@Serotoninluv well, then that's your choice. I don't have anything else to say. To me, the physical environment that we're in counts a lot. There's a saying that goes something like this, "If you spend too much time seeking the spiritual world, then life becomes pointless." We're not talking about languages. That's different. We're still embodied in the ego.

@Serotoninluv I'm not flipping the question around in any way. I mean it literally--the physical environment--our everyday ordinary life. Did the furniture move? Was there a major glitch in the computer? Did a dead flower come back to life without you doing anything to it? Did you enter a room and you saw it exactly how it was in your dream? Something that would shock your ego and other egos. Because there can be witnesses.

External environment. The external world. Not the embodied, ego "you." I don't want to explain it here in a post--takes too long. I rather go into it in my LP.

@Serotoninluv yes, but I wanted to know out of curiosity if there were any changes in the environment as the result of a psychedelic trip. I take that as a "no." Haven't heard from Leo or anyone, and so far, haven't heard of it when I research.