Emerald

Well, it's really a personal decision as to whether or not lies are acceptable or unacceptable. I would accept them if they cause no direct harm to self or other. The main problem with lying is that we often can't identify our own lies. For example, I could have an experience where I've done something nice for someone then tell myself "I'm such a nice person." This is a lie because it is a false label. Then if I go on believing the lie "I'm a nice person." Other small lies can become attached to it such as "Nice people are better than people who aren't nice." or "I'm nicer than John." or "I'm nicer than John so I'm better than John... oh wait... that thought wasn't very nice... I would never think anything like that." "But I'm definitely more admirable than people like John." "Nice people don't hurt other people... but eating animals is still okay because it's different. They would be killed anyway." "Nice people usually listen to Raggae... that type of music is more chill, so people who listen to Raggae are super nice. It's just a better type of music to listen to." "People who are nice are always chill and relaxed. So, type A, preppy people aren't very nice." "Nice people like me are better than those preps." Then finally, "I wish that everyone in the world would be as nice as me... then we wouldn't have all the problems that we have. I wish people who aren't nice just wouldn't exist oe change." Pretty soon you'll have a snowball effect that grows to distort your view of reality.

My advice is to trust the pain in your life and don't resist it. Adopt the view that 'everything is perfect exactly the way it is' because it is a manifestation of the existential self (aka god, source, allah, etc.). There are no mistakes. So, consider that you are not the self that you've identified with but that you are the creator, contents, and container for everything in your field of awareness. So, everything in your life comes purposefully from the "higher self". The higher self is who you actually are once you realize that the "I" is an illusion. It is the emptiness from which everything in reality is born. Existentially, that is what enlightened people live as. They live as the higher self which creates reality perfectly. So, just be aware of how your family projects things onto you without making it bad or wrong. Remember, that at the deepest level, you are the creator of the reality that you're living in a very literal way. And it's manifested perfectly to help the expansion of the higher self. So, even if it feels wrong or bad to you, it is still exactly as it should be. But once you accept your reality and hold it in your awareness without invalidating it, life usually starts to change. But on the more practical level, consider also that you could make changes in order to make life more livable. You can talk to your family members and ask that they not do this by respectfully bringing up your feelings. You could leave the situation, although I don't necessarily recommend it because kids are involved. But at the end of the day, this is all you can do. You don't have direct control over what others do. Just try to accept it and understand that 1. Reality is always perfect even if it isn't preferable. 2. Your thoughts and meanings you ascribe to the situation are what causes your suffering. 3. People are often unconscious and that's okay too. 4. You have the power to make changes even if it makes waves.

My advice to you (given that you're in high school as another commentor said... correct me if I'm wrong, of course) is to make a master plan with particular milestones that you need to hit. But make this plan very flexible so that you can tailor it to reality. Also, be careful with too much negative motivation. Don't fall into the trap of taking things too seriously, not being well rounded, forgetting to smell the roses, or thinking that your success in your career makes you more important or better than anyone else in the ultimate self. Don't also fall into the trap of thinking that you can add value to yourself in any existential way. Also, it's important to keep in mind that the professional world often has a lot of logistical circumstances and complications that are unforeseeable in the planning stages. So, always keep your ear to the ground and don't let your ideals and expectations drown out your awareness of what is real in the industry or profession. Always be willing to adapt to fit your circumstances, instead of sticking to your ideals. But in order to be successful, I always found this affirmation helpful for keeping myself working when I would lose inspiration or get tired: "Successful people do things well, especially when they don't want to." Otherwise, good luck and give it hell!

Steal it all you want. Just don't become nefarious and start tying dames to the railroad tracks!

Well, I don't think Leo is doing anything nefarious in running this business... but it is certainly a manipulation. A business (and most other human actions) consist of a high degree of manipulation. Every thing we do is either directly or indirectly related to getting what we need or want. You can even watch it in your daily comings and goings. It's pretty much inevitable, even if we're not conscious of it. This is just the nature of being a sentient being. Heck... even flowers turn their heads to face the sun. hehehe. But it isn't Leo who decides whether or not an individual becomes subject to manipulation... it is the individual. If a person feels as though the product that a business is offering will contribute directly or indirectly to getting what they want or need... they will buy in. If they don't, then they won't. But on the individual level, it is important to realize that Leo doesn't hold all the answers and that all he's offering is a perspective. So, if what he says helps you, take it. If what he says doesn't help you, leave it. No one can manipulate you if you don't let them.

I'd be careful not to use Leo's newest video advice not to backslide. If you feel like you've been making sufficient progress, continue onward without sabotaging your progress. But if your willpower doesn't work, allow yourself to become aware as you backslide.

I was laying in bed last night at around midnight and I had an interesting experience. I often bring my awareness to the sensations in my body as I go to sleep. So, because I recently switched to a Vegan diet, I was bringing the focus to the areas of my spine where the chakras are said to be located. Many say that going Vegan raises your vibration, so I was scanning the chakras regions to see if I noticed any changes from the norm. I have also been having some strange emotions relative to the change in diet/lifestyle which have been very uncomfortable, and I wondered if it had energetic origins. I noticed that my solar plexus area was pulsating and the pulsating sensation seemed to be rippling outward. I found this interesting because the solar plexus chakra is said to correspond to identity and sense of self, when I decided yesterday that instead of trying to diminish my ego, I am going to create my ego as a masterpiece as I did prior to my enlightenment experiences. Only this time I would create the ego with full knowledge of its illusory nature. So, I watched the sensation for a couple minutes, and here's where it gets a bit fuzzy. But it was very clear to me when I was going through the process despite the fact that it's very fuzzy to me now. I began asking myself internally over and over "What's experiencing this?" As I asked this question, my vision changed a bit. It was dark in the room so things were already fuzzy. But my depth of field easily flattened. Many of the darkest areas of my room began to shine a little bit with almost like a white noise look but not quite. It was a more subtle effect than what I wrote implies. It was more of a visual disturbance than a hallucination. Then, there was a strong surge-like sensation through my entire back and for a moment I was in sleep paralysis where I was paralyzed and hearing a strong vibration in my ears. I get sleep paralysis all the time, so I recognized this. But then I pulled through to another vibrational state where I was feeling a more subtle vibration in my arms and hands but I was no longer paralyzed. This was when I got really fuzzy about what had happened just before. I could barely remember despite having just done it in a full state of awareness to what I was doing. I felt fear and a little frustration at the fact that I couldn't remember. I continued to ask myself "What is experiencing this?" My depth of field was still flat and the visual disturbance was still going on. As I asked, I felt a little fuzzy about who I was. And then I felt a sense of stillness and timelessness. It was as though my flattened visual field was just floating there in stillness. Fear was still slightly in the background. Some thoughts still came and went, but few and far between. I still slightly remembered who I was and where I was. But I kept asking "What is experiencing this?" I was a lot more open to this inquiry because I was already tired. So, I was in a deep meditative state experiencing this stillness for a couple minutes. Then the fear got louder and thoughts got more frequent. I began to wonder if it was enlightenment. Then I found my thoughts urging to "kill the ego". My husband then came into the room and I began telling him about the experience. He's not very receptive to my interest in spirituality, so he just rolled his eyes and said that he's going to bed. Then I was mad and got all sulky, and I realized that the ego was still alive and well. Anyone had a similar experience to this? If so, I'd love your take on if this relates to enlightenment or is some other state of consciousness. Thank you!

They probably would. But I'm looking for a chat with someone who's had a similar experience for emotional reasons rather than to ask advice or something like that. It's nice to converse with someone who can relate.

Oh yeah. Definitely. But I wouldn't say that I'm particularly interested in chakras or anything super spiritual. I have sort of a resistance to it for fear of seeming non-credible so I don't like to be associated with anything too new agey. But I try to operate from the idea "There is no way to enlightenment" and I also try to stay in a state of not believing but not not believing, if that makes sense. So, from that standpoint, couldn't it be true that there may be an energetic component to the realization of enlightenment? If so, applying awareness to the sensations of the body (chakras or not) could potentiallyhave some kind of effect.

Asking myself this over and over actually allowed me to focus and drown out the logical answer to the question and to hone more in on my awareness separate from thoughts. I may not have given the impression of this from my post, but this was what I believed enabled me to be the stillness because I wasn't consulting my thoughts for the answer, I was really observing in a state of receptivity using the question as prompt to observe without losing awareness of what I was looking for. The question was like a magnifying glass through which I was focusing my awareness to make the focus more penetrating. To go in a little more detail, when the visual field was flattened I still saw my nose, part of my cheek, and my body. So, those parts of me were just part of a 2-d screen. I've known this for a while. But in asking what's perceiving, it separated my awareness from this 2-d screen, and so I truly didn't identify with the image of the body or anything within the visual field. The same was true of my sensations and my thoughts even though this was less pronounced. These were floating in the stillness too. There was a time of compete quiet and timelessness too. But this was only a brief part of the experience. I suspect that the stillness aspect is what is referred to as "being" and "emptiness". So, I believe that this was a firsthand experience of this. Although I didn't get the overwhelming experience of unconditional love, oneness, and feeling of heaven that I got during my two enlightenment experiences. But I believe the other aspects of the experience relate more to physiological brain wave states that relate more to sleep and also changes in energetic resonance due to lifestyle changes.

Ask yourself what this means about your experience of sensations. Do your sensations of your body relate to your visual experience of your body?

You're welcome

I would think similar in the sense that you go from identifying with the self in the mirror that you imagine does all of your experiences, to being the awareness that both contains and imbues all things within the field of awareness. It is being able to hold both of those perspective without knowing which one is "correct" in the same way as in the image. The faces and chalice are both valid interpretations. But I would say that it's different in this way too. Because the existential 'being the awareness' realization is more true than the 'identifying with the small self' paradigm. So, it would be more of a perfect analogy if, within the image, there was a more true interpretation. For example, instead of seeing 'faces' or 'chalice' , you literally see it for what it is, two black shapes and a white shape on a flat surface.

It's your decision. There is no right or wrong here. The better question is, do you want to go back and restart? If so, do it. If not, find something else.

It has been very helpful for me to seek guidance. I had two "enlightenment" experiences years ago, which I wasn't directly seeking for. So, I did a lot of foolish things to try to replicate the state. I was very confused. So, finding people who are informed about it was amazingly helpful. As far as who's meant to teach you, look no further than how they make you feel. You will feel a feeling sort of like expansion or relief if you really resonate with a particular teacher. But you will likely move out of resonance with and in resonance with others as you move along. So, be willing to come and go with spiritual teachers. This has always been true for me.

I like this.

This seems true. Thoughts are certainly happening within the field of awareness. You can perceive the thoughts, but you can't perceive what is perceiving the thoughts. Yet perception is happening.

That's what a lot of things have seemed to be pointing to for me as well. There has been a bit of a shift in the type of external information that I've been encountering about enlightenment lately from various sources. It seems to be moreso about focusing on the consciousness that is aware. Actually looking for being. Before, if this information was presenting itself, it never seemed like the most significant advice. Now, the idea of 'look for what is perceiving' seems to be popping up everywhere.

Death used in this way is a great and terrible motivator for those abiding in ego consciousness. It is a highly effective and addictive form of negative motivation. Nothing will keep you motivated more than the thought that you will one day die. It was the horse whip that I once used to beat myself into being motivated toward my goals. The ego needs to feel significant, so death is enemy number one to the ego. So, many people seek to make their lives significant through aggrandizing their ego through 'doing.' This is the primary motivator for most people who are pursuing self-actualization. But no matter what you do, significance can never come to you. You will do and do and do for your entire life and never feel significant. You'll be running on a hamster wheel for your entire life. Your achievements and successes will only subdue your feelings of insignificance for a short time, but life will still be empty. No matter how much you achieve, you will die and be forgotten. If you're "lucky" enough to get famous enough to go down in history, your life will amount to nothing more than a boring footnote in a history book that no one wants to read anyway. I know that I sound like a ray of sunshine, but I hope that this is illuminating to you. Resistance to death is a perfect obstacle for the ego to struggle against. It is struggle that the ego needs to maintain its foothold on your consciousness. If you're interested in enlightenment, don't use death as a motivator. It will be a huge barrier because you'll become addicted to using this 'ego vs. death' struggle for the sake of achievement and motivation. It's a difficult addiction to break because it will seem to reap you many rewards. Instead, use only genuine motivation toward future visions to motivate yourself. If you want something to happen for the sake of it happening, the motivation will come naturally. The completion and enjoyment of the task and the fruit it produces will be the reward, not the inflation of ego and temporary feeling of relief from the ever-present emptiness that motivates most people. Always ask yourself why you want what you want. @Leo Gura - Any thoughts?

I feel you. But Adyashanti said that struggling is what's necessary to keep ego alive. The ego is like a paper tiger, it isn't real so it needs constantly to be fed by thought to have a foothold on reality. If you starve it out, it will naturally undo itself. The way to do this is to stop struggling against it. Accept ego and everything else in your reality. It's like a chinese finger trap, if you struggle against it, it gets tighter. But if you relax getting free is effortless.

I doubt it. Enlightened people still use I to refer to themselves. I would moreso think it has to do with the identification you have with the "I" than using it is colloquial language.

Thank you!

You're welcome! I watched that Teal Swan video too. It seems that similar themes are coming up for me as for other people as of lately. More and more stuff related to my most recent topics that I covered in my videos and that I'm focusing on in my life are coming up more than before. It's all been very synchronistic. I hope that it's a sign that I'm on the right track. I haven't watched the Mooji one but I'll definitely have to check it out now. Thanks again for the encouragement!

In a sense, yes and no. Yes, because life with ego is hell. I know this because I've experienced ego transcendence and the quality of experience was night and day from mundane consciousnes. I let go of so much suffering that I didn't even realize that I had. This is my primary reason for seeking. But no, in the sense that you can always choose to let go of suffering and be happy. So, the answer isn't so clear cut. But at this point, I do truly feel as though dropping my ego is the only way to experience true happiness and love. I have a lot of resistance to what is.

I will enjoy life.