Hyperion

Good God, these types of threads never fail to crack me up lol. Most people are so stunningly incoherent and illogical in their reasoning, it is truly amazing. Which of course shouldn't come as a surprise... lack of (meta)logical coherence and consistency are the means by which the ego mind keeps itself (un)comfortably stuck in delusion. And so, round and round it goes.

Welcome to the club, lol.

...which automatically nullifies (or rather relativizes) anything you say about it. Even saying "it cannot be defined" is already a definition (aka. conceptual limitation). The fact that God/Reality/Infinity/The Absolute has no opposite means that anything you say about it isn't it... and also it is, but so is the opposite of whatever you are saying. Simple (meta)logic.

No offense, but the idea that you could comprehend the entire unfathomable range and depth of Buddhist methodology/philosophy (and what it implicitly conveys) by reading a few books and listening to a few talks by a bunch of glorified Western spiritual influencers is so stunningly preposterous that I honestly don't even know how to respond. But hey, whatever helps you keep your inflated self-image afloat.

Buddhism is an incredibly nuanced, multi-faceted and sophisticated exploratory system, or rather a wide variety of systems and traditions that - in spite of certain commonalities - offer very distinct methods and approaches. What most people (including Leo) refer to when they talk about "Buddhism" is little more than a grotesquely distorted and dumbed down pop-slop caricature which has about as much in common with the actual teachings of Gautama and his heirs as the ramblings of a modern day ultra-conservative American mega church pastor have in common with the original teachings of Jesus. In fact, Buddhist philosophy is so rich and elaborate that anyone who claims to have fully grasped it is almost certainly just kidding themselves. To paraphrase a paraphrase of a famous Richard Feynman quote: If you think you understand it, you don't.

I would argue that spiritual awakening is neither about emptying the mind, nor is it about refining the mind. If anything, it is about "seeing through" the mind and recognizing thoughts (as well as all other appearances) for what they are: Relative manifestations and expressions of the Absolute. And btw, I suggest you stop fixating on Leo (or any other persons, for that matter). Obsessing over relative appearances isn't really doing you any favors on this path.

@yetineti

Yes, I guess you could say that. The thing is that progress in this area is somewhat tricky to keep track of and even harder to adequately put into words due to its often very paradoxical and non-linear nature. To give you a rough impression of where I am at and what I have been through: My initial breakthrough shift in early 2021 (during which had my first (sober) experience of what you might call "The Void") was followed by a pretty intense dark night of the soul phase that lasted for about two years, during which a lot of heavy unresolved trauma came to the surface and which was marked by long stretches of deep existential despair and disorientation; after that storm had finally passed, I felt much more at peace with myself/reality and began to experience progressively more and more heightened and expansive energetic presence and bliss, to the point where life basically started to feel like a 24/7 acid trip... which in a lot of ways it still very much does to this day, lol. Now, would I say that there is "no more suffering"? No, I wouldn't. There is still a lot of shadow stuff coming up and being aired out, if you will; but there is less and less resistance towards it. And the less resistance there is, the more directly and intensely everything is being felt (to the point where it sometimes almost feels like the entire body is being electrocuted by strongly vibrant energetic waves), and yet at the same time the onslaught of sensations loses its harrowing & intimidating/overwhelming quality and starts feeling strangely blissful, at times even borderline orgasmic... again, very hard to put into words. That's why I like to say that bliss is not a specific state or feeling; if anything, it is the acceptance and allowance of all feelings and states. I tried all kinds of stuff over the years... talking to friends and professionals, journaling, hypnotherapy, holotropic breathing, psychedelics, reiki, energy healing, trauma release exercises, ecstatic dance, crystals, you name it. It is honestly hard for me to say which of these tools and methods were effective and which ones weren't; I am sure that they all contributed in their own ways to getting me to where I am today. So really the best advice that I (and probably anyone who isn't a thickheaded dogmatist) can give you is: Just try out a bunch of stuff and see what resonates. I honestly don't think that there are any true one-size-fits-all solutions; there may be certain valid and valuable guidelines, but in the end everyone has to find and walk their own unique path. Which in a way is actually the beauty of it all, if you think about it. Bon voyage, my friend. 🤘

Religion is spirituality put into words (and confused for absolute truth). Plain and simple.

Sure. Guess what, "anything that can be expressed with words is a relative perspective" is itself a relative perspective. Yes, that is a perfectly (in)valid perspective.

Eeeexactly. - In other words, anything that can be expressed with words is always going to be a relative perspective rather than (the sole) absolute truth. Q E.D., my friend.

"This" being... what?

Sure, whatever floats your boat. Such as...?

Acknowledging that anything you can name, think of and experience is always relative leads to true Humility... the kind of humility which is not the opposite of confidence. See, I am not calling these questions silly in order to make myself appear smarter or better than others. I am calling them silly because once you "get" what I (and many others) am/are pointing to, it seems so utterly simple and obvious that the thought of anyone "not getting it" just seems utterly absurd and preposterous. Such as...?

As I have pointed out many times before: Anything that has an opposite is relative. That which doesn't have an opposite is Absolute. Once you truly get this, it will immediately answer all of your silly questions about the "nature of reality"... or rather it will show you just how silly all those questions really are.