Truth Addict

Differences only seem important when looking for survival.

Work in baby-steps. One by one. Slow and steady wins the race. Avoid multi-tasking. Avoid unnecessary distractions. Avoid negative people. Meditate. Meditate. Meditate.

Of course ? No. I actually think that the authentic self is more of an animalistic natural kind of self. A self that is incapable of creating and identifying with thoughts. Therefore, a self that is unable of creation. Creation requires the ego (I mean practical creations, science and anything that aims at survival in general). Yes and no. Desire is limitation, but it's not necessarily suffering. To realise that, it requires further integration. Suffering is optional. Desire is not. With even further integration, it's realised that limitation = freedom. So, desire = freedom. Yes ? Love is being. Yet, being is a messy thing, it's evolving all the time. So, love is also learning and evolution. That's what liberation of the mind means. It means embedding consciousness into the subconscious to make room for more love to sink in. Yes. I agree ? That's where art comes from, from the authentic self. ..... I really love this conversation ❤️

@tsuki That makes perfect sense! Thank you ❤️ I wouldn't call that "God" though. I think "the authentic self" is a better term for it. God would be the integration of both the ego and the authentic self. Also, let's say there's no struggle for freedom, and yet there's still a desire to learn the violin, a desire stemming from love. Is it possible to learn it without actually practising it? I read stories about people learning foreign languages randomly, unwillingly, and instantaneously. I don't see a reason why that would not be true in a dream world.

@Neorez Learn how to sew. Play video games. Do anything that occupies your hands with work until it becomes easier for you to break that habit. Once it's become less serious, you will have more chances at ending it forever, but that'll require emotional labour at first, and then from there on, things will only get better.

I could give you the answer, or a list of possible reasons. But it wouldn't help you a bit. Anything I or someone else will ever say will pass through your mind, and you will overthink it and then misinterpret it. So, what you should focus on is moving from thinking to feeling/doing/being. Breathe deeper and focus on your bodily sensations. A little mood booster: running in nature/shamanic breathing. Ahh, also remember to have enough food, water, sleep, rest, sex. It's hard to feel satisfied when the body isn't satisfied. That's because you lack presence, due to overthinking/identification with thought. Here's a clue: you will not find the answer through the mind. Define delusion and illusion. They don't meet the standards that you have established in your mind?

Addiction.

@Mikael89 It cannot be communicated because for that to happen, the mind has to become alive, an illusion has to be created, a duality has to be established. There is no illusion. Period. That's the most accurate way of saying it, but it's still not it.

Jed McKenna.

You are awake. You merely think you aren't. You think that you should do something to awaken, but that belief is the only thing that is keeping you from awakening. All the mystical stuff is unnecessary. You can experience the highest levels of bliss without touching a substance, if that's what you want.

Was just a metaphor. Yes. Now what is the difference between thought and reality?

I thought you said it's kindergarten to God. I mean why would God not be able to do that? Right? Why is there suddenly a difference between a "technical skill" and existential realizations? There must be no difference to God at all. Why did knowledge suddenly become true? Why did logic suddenly become a true measure? Or, simply this God you're talking about is not all-powerful. And you are doing that exact same thing as well. You are demonstrating precisely the dangers of psychoanalysis, which is to take the by-definition psychotic mental agitations that result to be Truth. That's how your argument looks like from an outsider's perspective. Just like Leo's arguments look like to you. You understand that all of those terms are just pointers, right? Just like this pointer you gave. That's still not a true measure. It's all still in the assumptions zone. Who's to say that it shows the truth?

@Serotoninluv Ugh. I didn't say it has to, but it certainly can. Good point. Try applying it for psychoanalysis. @Aakash Maybe I should have been clearer. I didn't mean all of them. Maybe some of them are just doing it out of love. Then again, maybe you're not aware of how you're using spirituality as means for survival, including psychological survival.

At least I'm being clear and honest.

Good point. I'm always skeptical with this. I believe "truth-telling" is just one way that "enlightened" people use to survive. It's getting more convincing every day. I'm not saying you're right though. You made some epistemic mistakes, such as using logic to make absolute conclusions. @Serotoninluv I don't know why you and Leo are concerned so much with advertising psychedelics. It sounds like you make your living from selling drugs. LOL. Classic.

@Mikael89 You guys don't know what you're talking about. What is the difference between the relative and the Absolute?

I'm going to throw up.

Sounds like a great starting point. Question that!

I feel like I have to become more "Alpha", and I have already started working towards that. That is absurd but I can't help it.

@Nahm It's fine. Thank you ❤️ @Mikael89 Don't forget that I also realised infinite love

Reality kicks beliefs' asses. That's what it did to mine But yeah, if it gives you the luxury to choose, then why not? Change what you can change, and accept what you can't.

I lived in a state of complete no-self for about two months. In that state, I wasn't the one looking through the eyes, there was no one looking at all. There was only the scene. It was complete bliss. I was/still am ignorant. I still have a lot of programming to undo. So, I would say that the levels of happiness that you can reach are completely irrelevant to your level of understanding. I would say that the more you understand, the harder it is for you to feel the bliss. Happiness is mostly dependent on surrendering/acceptance of the present moment. You don't need any special knowledge to do that, you just surrender and stop wanting to control/change/manipulate anything. I'm still not sure though, because my awakening started with a series of strong traumatic events that stroke the ego really hard that there was nothing else to do but to surrender. Suffering was key to my awakening. Here's what I realised in that state: Infinite beauty; I could look at a garbage can and see the beauty of it. Every "mundane" thing was beautiful. My heart was breaking everytime I looked at something for sometime. It was filled with love. I asked some people if they could see the same thing, and they couldn't. Now I can't either. I'm very disconnected right now. Infinite divinity; I'm not sure it's very different from the former, but it's like everything and everyone is sacred and must be how they are. Nothing needs to be changed at all. Infinite love; I don't wanna talk mystical nonsense or rational explanations, I'll just tell you that I got beaten up by a stranger and I could still feel the love for him. I felt petty for him as he had such a strong ego. The whole thing happened in like 10 seconds. I didn't know how to react, I responded to his attack at first with a punch to his face (old pattern), but then realised that there's no point in doing that, so I let go and let him do whatever he gotta do. The true meaning of life; I was in a state of nihilism for a long time. However, one month into no-self, I realised the meaninglessness of meaninglessness, which was a very profound realisation. Truth; although I would say there's still a lot more depth to it. I think it was just a surface level realisation. This realisation grows by the day, and I realise more facets of Truth every now and then. All of this happened without any super understanding of reality. I would say that I now understand reality a lot more than before and I still don't feel the same. My lifestyle is very different now. Back then I was unemployed, I had no internet access almost at all. I stopped hanging out with anyone almost completely. I barely talked a few words a day. I used to meditate at least for 4-5 hours a day. So, yeah, lifestyle is a very important factor I guess.

What works best for me is: 10-15 minutes of meditation (until monkey-mind is calm), followed by asking questions concerning the issue (anxiety); such as: How do I feel right now? Am I anxious or relaxed? Do I really not want to feel anxious? Is anxiety bad? What is the purpose of anxiety? Is it possible to turn it into something positive? Can I allow myself to feel it without suffering from it? Why? And why not? Could it be a friend, not an enemy? What situations create anxiety for me? What is the most common situation that makes me anxious when it happens? (the goal here is to find a solid case to study). How does anxiety arise? Is it thoughts? Is it other people? Is it my physical body? Is it related to my past traumas? Is it related to the future? Or is it all of those things? How do other people not feel anxious about the same situations? What is the biggest difference between me and them? When was the first time I felt anxious? What was the situation back then? How did it sneak into my system like this? What could I have possibly done to prevent it? Who are some people that I tend to never feel anxious when they're around? What do they provide that I lack? Should I hang around them more to find out? What are some of the things that help me deal with anxiety? Like real solutions. And what are the crutches that I use to bypass that feeling? Does my diet affect my emotional system? Is my lifestyle hurting me? How do I feel after a workout session? What are the states that make me anxiety-proof? What makes them so? Is this anxiety organic, which requires a professional help? Or is it something that I can cure by myself? You see, the list can go on and on. The questions are by no means limited to the ones I mentioned. You can invent a million other questions. Yet, to make the inquiry most effective, you must follow the problem to its roots. There is no formula here, but a pen and paper can help. What I do is that I pick up the one question that feels the most penetrating and follow it to its conclusion. It is almost always fear/love. I probably fear a possibility, or prefer/love something more than something else. And that is almost always rooted in survival. As for self discovery, well, it's as simple as it's called. How do you know who you are? By watching how you feel, act, react, etc... without judging yourself. Of course, you can repeat the same process above but this time the main questions that I propose are: What does it mean to discover one's own self? What do I want right now? Why do I want it? Is it helping me or anyone else? Is it aligned with my values? What's on my mind right now? Why is it there? What are the thoughts that are mostly on my mind? What am I concerning myself with the most? Why? Or, you can ignore all that and just meditate for as long as you can. The more the better. Questions will naturally arise, and answers will naturally arise as well. What I mean by meditation here is not to sit in lotus position and remain in that fixed position for hours. I mean simply not doing any kind of stimulating activities for as long as you can. It means becoming friends with loneliness and silence, and limiting your activities to the most essential necessary ones. It's like a vacation from "fun activities". That alone will teach you a lot about yourself. You don't need to do anything for that, except dropping the idea of an unliberated mind. That is the main obstacle towards liberation, is that you are already free but you think you're not. Or, you need to kill your ego so that you don't have no identity no more. Or, you need to become meta, and to see everything from a meta perspective. All of those things can happen through meditation, self-inquiry, and mindfulness practices. I'm not sure about psychedelics, since I've never tried them. ..... Brief alternative ways for approaching those goals: For resolving issues that has to do with thinking, become friends with death. Become comfortable with the idea of death. For self discovery, become friends with the present moment, silence, loneliness. Become friends with yourself. For liberation, stop seeking. Just be/surrender. Of course, it goes without saying: 100% self-honesty is the key here. Also, keep in mind that any progress that you make is purely a grace, not a personal effort. Acknowledge that you can't force awakening, that'll be a major hit for the ego. Acknowledge that awakening is a matter of luck. And acknowledge that you are the luckiest man on earth, because you are! Good luck!

What are your intentions with the practice?

Me too. But then how do you motivate yourself for long-term goals? Like going body building, finishing college, etc... Sometimes vision is not enough, especially if I don't really believe in it.