Forestluv

Yes, I ‘ve encountered this too. Well said. It’s a deep liberation

@winterknight You seem to have an interesting path toward awakening. What teacher / teachings would you recommend to a seeker entering such this path?

Leo Incognito. ? Winter kinda reminds me of him a couple ways tho. . .

And how is it recognized that knowing of itself is not a deeper layer of the ego?

Ahhhh, very nice. . . That sent me for a loop ego - yes awareness - no

Is there a knowing of enlightenment?

Nice. That opened up an avenue for me. You’ve got an interesting perspective. Is maya within truth?

@alankrillin I like your screen paradox idea. There are so many different views on psychedelics. It’s fascinating

How can one differentiate between maya and truth?

Zen mind, beginner mind.

Stuff like astral projection, alternative realms, clairvoyance

@winterknight Do paranormal phenomena exist?

@alankrillin Rupert Spira uses screen analogies a lot, so I am influenced by that. The idea is that the pixels and screen are one. The pixels modulate and create images that misinterpreted as real. Awakening is the realization of the screen.

I’d bring a benzo or etizolam. I’ve never actually taken it during a trip- just knowing I have it can settle things down and increase confidence

@winterknight Have psychedelics been part of your spiritual path?

@Solace I think one of the challenges at higher levels is being able to hold multiple views simultaneously. Multiple perspectives that may seem paradoxically, yet eventually collapse. You are perfect in every moment and there is a spiritual process. We are zero steps from Enlightenment in each moment and Enlightenment is a process. Grounded groundlessness, meaningful meaningless. It's post-rational stuff that is unpalatable to a rational mind.

OK, let's go into the silence. . . everything is within emptiness. Everything is nothing. None and All of these ideas are "IT". It can't be figured out. Once you venture to the null void and return you come to know distinctions. High level spiritual concepts are great. So are high level quantum mechanics concepts. The contraction occurs when someone believes it and it hinders expansion. I'm completely comfortable acknowledging that everything I have ever written on this forum is wrong and lies. Or, that it all is partially true or absolutely true. It takes an understanding of relativity, multiple perspectives, direct experience with multiple facets of awakening and complete surrender.

All of these ideas are within absolute infinity. Within enlightenment. None of it is "IT" and all of it is "IT". We can't pull out anything from everything. One trap I see at intermediate / advanced stages is believing the spiritual concepts are true. Buddhism, nonduality, advaita, Ramana Maharshi, Shamanism - all of it. People can get so immersed and deep into one area and not recognize that they have not transcended higher. They are unaware that there is a higher level. It happens at all stages of development. I see it with myself, buddhist, advaita masters, in this thread etc. . . The higher you go, the more subtle it gets. That's why psychedelics are so powerful at the higher consciousness stages.

It is a question of distinctions. There is no problem when one ventures to the null void and back.

This is an area I've been contemplating a lot. It's easy for me to think / feel enlightenment manifests a certain way. For example, the loss of self, sincerity, connecting heart-to-heart etc. Yet, it seems all of this can be transcended such that it's ALL of it. Whatever is happening, there is an expansive consciousness present. A singularity. There is no difference between faking one's way through an enlightenment test or sincerely connecting with someone's heart. It's all part of the One Everything. It's about being awake - not how consciousness is expressed, because it's all consciousness. Everything in this thread seems to be *within* enlightenment. When someone says "this is it. . . " it's easy to hold the idea separate from everything. Just some stuff passing through my head. Like logs floating down a river. . .

Be careful, believing ideas as true is a nasty trap common during intermediate stages of awakening.

@kieranperez I saw a video of Adyashanti saying that he continued to train as a competitive cyclist even after he awoken that it was just an identity - that it wasn't real or the true him. He said something to the effect that his mind-body still had to go through a process before it was ready to give up cycling.

The traditional use of "why" doesn't really work here, because the self doesn't make a choice to prioritize truth. The self is transcended. Imagine a character in one of your dreams. Within your dream, does this character chose to pursue truth? Do the dream character chose to wake up? Not in the traditional sense. A higher consciousness wakes up, realizes he was sleeping and that the dream character wasn't real. Asking why some dream characters wake up is an odd question to me. Asking why a higher consciousness wakes up is an odd question. . . Why does someone awake from sleeping? There isn't a reason why. I think the better question is "How?" Similarly, the personality doesn't chose - the higher consciousness becomes aware of itself. IMO, the idea that an illusory self can awaken itself is a major trap and just keeps the self relevant - it keeps the game going.

IME, trying to avoid or repress fear just strengthens it. The self loves to create push-pull dynamics. What if you surrendered to the fear? What would happen if you let go of all control and became willing to experience whatever arose from moment to moment? For me, complete surrender was the key to transcend fear. I had to completely let go of all control and be willing to experience fear nonstop for eternity. At the moment of surrender breakthrough - fear just was. It was no longer good or bad. It was no longer something to hold to or to avoid. Then there is true liberation. Facing it head on is much, much more difficult than conceptualizing about it. The first time my self truly faced terror - and was powerless to stop it - was hardest thing I've ever gone through in my life - by far. Yet, each time my self faces it, surrenders and dies it gets a bit easier. I see so many people seek refuge in spiritual areas that are safe and secure to the self. Yet the deepest transcendence is ALL of it. Absolutely everything. (A major source of the fear is the self's resistance to dying).