Joseph Maynor

You have no control. That’s the mind at work. All you are is being the field of perceptual awareness. You are a self aware field of awareness. The problem is that thoughts are making stuff up that looks and sounds real but is not.

The imagery of other people is you. Think about it. You are everything in your perceptual field. All the sounds you hear are you too. The mind is what adds a little though in there that says ‘that’s not me’.

Anything that is not a direct perception of reality in the present moment is an illusory distinction, relation, or augmentation of reality. Even thoughts are perceived, but what their symbolic nature is aping is false. For example, you may see lots of shapes and colors in your awareness. But only the mind individuates and labels shapes and colors from the whole. E.g., you may see a two dimensional photo — but only the mind says that’s so and so in the photo. So, thoughts are real as perceptibles, but what the symbols are relating to or pointing to is false. The imagery you are perceiving in a daydream is true imagery, but those images are not reality, they are aping reality. What the images are being interpreted as being is false. Like the photograph example above. So, you can think of it like this — thoughts are a false distinction, relation, connection that the mind augments perceivable reality with. The symbols exist, but what the mind takes them to symbolize is false. The mind likes to surrender to symbols rather than reality because it keeps the illusion of ego alive. It distracts you from being: which is threatening to the ego. The ego wants you to live in the mind not in being. In that way the mind can be a handmaiden for the ego.

This is great. I think the only way to be a true guru is to speak from direct experience. Any kind of extrapolating or speculating just hurts people because it is misleading them under a pretense of knowing. The true guru is modest and cautious and is genuinely concerned about others’ growth.

To me breathing is important when I’m meditating to kind of get my mind and body harmonized and re-integrated. When you meditate, you wanna be reconnecting with your body. Breathing is part and parcel of that. If you pay attention to this re-integration process — you can actually see it happening. It lasts a couple few seconds/minutes. The mind has sort of forgotten about the body and those bits of awareness need to be brought back into consciousness. Sometimes there are little sparks here too as this process happens — little jiggers of awareness bubbles, like carbonation zapping out.

You might be controlling yourself! That’s a trap. Stop trying to act enlightened and just let go. You might be like a quarantined dog that needs to run wild. Open the gate and let go. But be keenly aware as you do this. Don’t control, just be keenly aware.

I like it. To me it conjures up a flowering and maturity of a lot that happened in the 60’s and 70’s. That’s probably the exact reason you don’t like it! You don’t like hippies. That preference is the underlying issue and determinant of our differing tastes on this issue perhaps.

I find that the ego returns around people in general. I am the most enlightened when I am alone. The ego also returns in full force around any kind of temptations — be it food, entertainment, booze, judgments/moralizations, etc. The mind will riff off whatever it is fed. If you keep your feeding tube clean, then the mind has less to riff off. This is why it is important to watch your inputs in enlightenment work — not just for shit information, but for a much wider net than that. The mind will surrender to anything that keeps the illusion of ego alive given the opportunity. If you can stay away from those kinds of things, you can prevent a lot of egoic reactions from happening by controlling your inputs.

No because they aren’t aware of the ego or the distortions of the mind.

Wow! This is so true.

I worked my ass off since I joined the forum 4 months ago. Probably more than most would. So, my results are abnormal. I almost treated this like a full-time job. It was worth it. Sometimes you gotta brute force it in life. The most useful thing I think I got from all this work is the organization and use of the theory without clinging to it in an inadvisable way. Used in the right way, the theory can expedite your enlightenment. Of course, you gotta organize and figure out a way to apply the theory -- derive the theory through self-inquiry and contemplation. But also watch all of Leo's videos with highlighter in hand. Take notes! Lots of notes. Organize those notes. Figure out how to apply those notes. Like that. That's how you do constructive work. It's like self-study. I've watched all of Leo's videos multiple times. There's a lot of juicy gold in those videos if you can figure out how to capture it and use it. Ten variables: Daily review/organization of theory/notes + meditation routine + a profound psychedelic experience + self-inquiry work (a little bit daily) + walking meditation + constant mindfulness of thoughts + watch 1 Leo video per day + forum participation + stay clean (stay away from all shit whether it be people, culture, food, negativity, temptations) + practicing “being perception”. I have a binder of theory that I made that I review 1/4 at a time 4 times daily. I also meditate 6 times daily for 10 minutes each. Practice "being perception" too: Watch:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridge_(band)

I got a lot of results by doing a lot of self-inquiry and contemplation work. I also had one profound trip on Salvia Divinorum. Working with the theory is not to be under-emphasized either -- that's what triggers your awareness epiphanies. I notice that there's a silly taboo against theory in enlightenment, but you do need theory to grow faster. Theory is like a catalyst in Chemistry, as are profound psychedelic experiences. But theory is a double-edged sword too if you don't also learn how to dump the theory in favor of awareness. I've found a nice balance. Theory now serves my awareness rather than distracting from it. You gotta make sure you don't fall into the trap of believing the theory like ideology, but rather use it to calibrate your awareness muscles. It takes a journeyman's touch to negotiate the theory without getting trapped by it. You might need a profound psychedelic experience more than anything -- an experience of ego-death. Once you see that you can't unsee it. That moved my awareness up a few pegs when I had my trip. It got me beyond beliefs to a profound awareness of Being. Now, what's cool is more shifts are happening that are kind of balancing things out now. I feel like my enlightenment is getting both deeper, but also wider too. Wider in the sense that I am less neurotic about "being enlightened" and just let go and let what happens happen. So, I am re-acquainting with much of what I was doing before, but in a more conscious way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_(Klaus_Schulze_album)

Your "control" is just a sensation in awareness. There is no control. It's an illusory control.

What would a rock be without your awareness of it?

Truth is just what is perceived minus thought augmentation. Basically, you need to realize how the Mind is freaking up your reality.

Notice that your question is nothing more than images and sensed thoughts being picked up in your awareness. And reading answers is nothing more than images and sensed thoughts being picked up in your awareness. That's all that is real. Everything else is thought-story -- pure fantasy.

When you give up trying to control and you give up the idea of free will and you just accept reality for what it is and you give up the idea that you are an ego -- what remains is authenticity. Great video on point:

Here's Leo's Enlightenment Exercises:

@Arman I appreciate your reaction. We need to be careful about moralizing. You gotta be able to let go and trust that you will do the right thing in the moment without clinging to any rules. I still take Hero in progress' recommendation in good faith as valid, but I appreciate the trap of moralizing too. I will take some liberties to scribble about why here. All in good fun! I enjoy a little scribbling from time to time, so bear with me. Just because we're enlightened beings doesn't mean that we deny reality and cling to some moral rules -- which is just mind too! Sometimes you gotta punch someone! I can conceive of contexts where this would flow as a matter of course. If you're standing at a bus stop and a wild rabid dog attacks you, you're not just gonna stand there and say -- dig in boy! That would be suicidal. You're gonna grab a rock, a stick, whatever, with the specific intent to injure the animal bodily if necessary, maybe with the intent to severely injure said animal. We don't need to be pacifists just because we're enlightened. Sometimes an ass-kicking is exactly what reality orders in the moment. It depends on the context! And we certainly need to take caution clinging to any moral rules, since all beliefs are false -- as tempting as it is to pretend that we are Jesus -- we are not. Even Jesus would throw-down if he had to, if his bodily security were seriously at risk. That's reasonable, right? Kick him in the balls, stick a knife to his throat, and take his wallet and see if Jesus really turns the other cheek! Yee-ah right! I don't think so, haha. He's gonna grab that knife and end you with it -- whaddja think he's stupid! I always tell people, "I might be crazy, but I ain't stupid." So . . . We can't be pipe-dreamers. That not reality either. That's model-building, rule-making. Maps masquerading as the territory. We need to fully trust our authentic Being without clinging to any "goody-goody" moral rules. Meaning, purpose, and values are relative, and beliefs are false. Rules are wrong basically! -- an augmentation of reality. Projecting "What would Jesus do?" everywhere, although full of good intentions, does not make that a reality one bit. It's a sneaky augmentation of reality actually -- a sneaky rule that we've created to try to control reality and not accept reality as it actually is. Jesus is a concept, a thought, a mental projection, a pipe-dream. Leo actually says that the high consciousness person can get tough when he needs to: Watch: In this video Leo talks about the error of clinging to should statements: Watch:

Here's a great video to get you a primer on the scope of Inquiry:

Two great ones: