Search the Community

So you're on a spiritual path, gradually awakening, resolving trauma, purifying yourself, self-inquirying, releasing contracted energy, burning karma, practicing mindfulness, integrating shadows, disidentifying with thoughts, contemplating, doing psychedelics, watching spiritual videos, meditating, doing all kinds of yoga and so on and so on... Welcome to the spiritual rat race! Congragulations, you have still achieved nothing! This may be triggering for some if not most here, I may be accused to promote spiritual bypassing but if you are truly interested in “Truth“ and open-minded enough, just stick with me. Fleeting Absolute? You actually don't seek a fleeting state of consciosness, something temporary that comes and goes, you seek the Absolute, don't you? If it is truly absolute, it must also be right here & now. But you orient yourself on these fleeting appearances to claim you still haven't arrived there, this can't be it, this is not the full blown god awakening you once had, there is still ego and identification and blablabla. And all those teachers including Leo perpetuate these claims, reinforce your belief in a process within time that isn't fully over, you're still not done with and you need to keep on working, doing shit or to zenizize it: do nothing, walk through the gateless gate or knock from the outside to open from within. These subtle claims about your imperfection might be sugarcoatet in spiritual paradoxes to confuse you even more, so you suspect there must be something wrong with ME, so you try to get rid of yourself in quite strange ways if you think about it. Thought is a thought - there are no thoughts The spiritual search is somehow fueled by a burning desire, an avoidance/rejection of “what is“ , the feeling of “this is not it (yet), this/I am not good enough, there must be something else/better, I still feel incomplete, something is missing“. You don't go to a doctor when you feel completely healthy and you won't seek a therapist if you're absolutely happy. So you wouldn't (spiritually) seek for anything if there wasn't something that bothers you and that you want to get rid of. But seeking sucks. You want to stop seeking and finally feel home, be ok/fine with everything, be at ease/peace. So you search for the end of the search. Good look! You can go on forever, and if you resolved your own trauma, go transgenerational and then universal! If you let go of body identification, let go of conscouiousness/god identification and so on. This is fucking infinite, you'll NEVER reach an end point, look at Leo for example. If reality is infinite, there's no position to know it from. If there is ANY kind of positioning, clinging to words like Consciousness or God or Absolute Solipsism or Nothing even, if there is any definition of “Truth“ vs “truth/falsehood“ whatever, absolute relative etc., then the illusion of seperation, time, distance apparently kicks back in. You wanna let even that go? Who does it, and why? Who wants to go till the end, dissolving, reach enlightenment or full-blown god awakening? Why do you believe this fantasy of peaceful future is preferable to THIS, which is everything there is ALREADY? Why do you wanna get rid of the veils of seperation, who wants that? If (in the imagined “end“) there truly is no seperation, it must be boundless ALREADY. You're apparently mudding the water by desperately whirling around in order to settle the dust. You're hitting the waves with the paddle in order to get a still and silent sea. You're chasing your own tail. Apparently, of course. Because it's all a scripted story in a book with blank pages, written by magic ink that dissapears the moment it solidifies. This avoidance of NOW, this present moment, overloaded with fantasies offered by the spiritual marketplace, a buffett of empty temptations for a hungry ghost, where does it come from? Is it trauma, is it a psychosomatic misunderstanding, is it ignorance? It doesn't matter, it's not even real!!! It's the next story of your infinite imagination to keep you on track, looking for the root cause, the source of the misery, keeping things real, maintaining the story of the very important trauma-resolver, the open-minded psychonaut, the serious seeker and so on. You create the next identity to keep the story real that “this is not it (yet)“, to avoid the fact that this is as it is already and it may feel shitty/incomplete/whatever at the moment, but This Is It, despite of all your stories, WITH all these stories, which aren't even stories but The Unimaginable appearing as empty words loaded with a web of codependent meanings, made of illusive thoughts, reliant on other thoughts until the very “I am“, which is a thought as well as synonymous thoughts like contracted energy, ego, consciosness, self, Self, god and so on. These thoughts serve as the compass of your spiritual search, contrasted by each other and devided into (more) real/unreal representations of THIS, boxing life into a narrative of a series of serious To Dos (time) with the grandiose ability to contrast THIS with an imagined and twisted version of THIS projected into the skull of “another“ (space) like Leo or Buddha. It's a fucking joke!!! There is no self, no contracted energy, no karma, no ego, no seperation, no illusion, no awakening, no whatever - These are ALL thoughts, and even “thought“ is a thought, there are not even thoughts! There is ONLY THIS, appearing as whatever, call it whatevery, devide it into whatever, it's unimaginable, undiscoverable, unrealizable, undevidable, undescribable, it's so uncontrastable so there is no one left witnessing to even claim it is existing, YET - it is all there ever was and will be, including the Illusion of the appearance of an illusive thought about time. So what can you do about it? Who's there to do something about it? Don't you perpeatuate the story of “I am: not good enough/not there yet/not enlightened“ when you act from the very same resonance frequency of “not enough“ to overcome “not enough“, when you search for the end of the search (or the beginning)? Reminds me of “I will win this war But never the peace I am my own free spirit Hence I will not rest“ (The Invaluable Darkness by Dimnu Borgir) “Nothing holy about it“ - Seeking is (spiritual) bypassing “That's Cassical spiritual bypassing/Neo-Advaita/Non-Duality/not God-Realization“ - EVERYTHING could be seen as spiritual bypassing if you pull that card, and from this framework everything is kind of the attempt to spiritually bypass (there is no spiritual bypassing really, you can't avoid THIS, you can't run away from yourself, it's absolutely hopeless, utterly futile, this is unescapable freedom). Every approach motivation can be reframed/recontextualized as an avoidance mechanism, even mindfulness can be called out as a trauma response like Scott Kiloby points out. Untangling the web of illusions can always be like trying to step out of quicksand. So who is really spiritually bypassing? Isn't the whole spiritual path the illusive idea to find a bypass for THIS very moment? Find a final solution for your suffering? Reach a point where you have finally overcome the ego/illusions/desire/karma/etc? You think by whipping yourself you become worthy for enlightenment and can finally leave this unbearable realm of constant struggle? By accepting/letting go/mindful observing/embracing/integrating you will finally arrive at all-OK-ness? Wouldn't that include the solid idea and a lived feeling of “it's not OK yet“? So where do you think will you arrive? Would you then finally be OK with getting looped right back into the beginning of another spiritual search? See, apparently you're actually in resistance to THIS, you truly believe THIS can't be it, it must feel more enlightened/god-like, you dismiss this god-like human nature and wish for alien insanity or to finally become a cartoon wolf or whatever. And when someone says straight in your face “THIS IS IT“ you instantaniously reject it. Unconsciously you yourself actually hope for a cheat code, magic pill, shortcut by taking the position that something like spiritual bypassing is even possible and someone else is guilty of it. That you're on the right path and face your dark side. Think about it! If you were beyond it, you wouldn't get triggered about apparent others delaying their awakening, since it was clear that all of that is nothing but your own trap. Like Jesus said: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?“ Notice that “This is it“ does not mean I am there and you're not little brother, you still have to realize blablabla... It means you're here already, bypassing is impossible, this is the unavoidable void, devoid of anything other/apart/seperate. “This is it“ is an honest reaction to bottomless claims of “this is not it“, it's the end of gatekeeping, it's the declaration of bankruptcy for the rich man who tried to enter the kingdom of heaven. There is no one who could accept it all, (s)he is not even necessary, it is already completely accepted just by BEING, emptiness/spaciousness invited it to appear so to speak, no need for an “OK!“ by you. Every “Not OK“ by “you“ is OK too, already. Nobody can practice unconditional love, This is unconditional love already. No gatekeeping by a guru claiming he's ok with everything but not accepting that you little seeker are still in resistance, trying to bypass. It's a fucking joke! These clowns are your projected insecurity about yourself, God! If there was such a thing... haha^^ Don't let anyone fool you, THIS is it, including all the suffering, drama and struggle your mind can project into a dreamed past and an imagined future. But THIS also means: All the stories melt away here, no one is left suffering from the illusion that he could have done different and life would be better, the madness of the idea that the avoidance and ignorance of pain and suffering would erease them, leaving the Full-On-Aliveness of What-Is, an unimaginable easyness and simplicity that passes all understanding. So This is it, already! You can stop self-inquirying your way around instead of telling your loved ones the truth, you can stop meditating until you are ok with being rejected by people, you can stop tripping until you feel smarter than the scientist, you can stop all these spiritual practices to avoid simply being a completely authentic human being, not better or worse than anyone or anything. Or you can go on doing them, nothing wrong with it, of course! If you enjoy it, go on! Actually, there is nobody who had a choice in the first place. There never were stories to melt aways, because that's just another story. No one suffered from the story of someone suffering from blablabla... You get it. This here, these words you read, are nothing but blablabla, birds chirping, dogs barking. They don't add into a spiritual library or steal your nuggets of wisdom. It's just a pointer that there actually is NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL between these words and a cat meaowing. Because all of it is This! It's YOU, not as an identity, just limitless being, Isness itself. Isn't it beautiful? No prescriptions - just an apparent personal wake up call So what next? Well, there's no prescription for What-Is/YOU of course, boundless freedom is just appearing the way it is. But what about the realization that you probably somehow seek something in the forum - maybe just distraction from uncomfortable feelings or body sensations, maybe approval, attention or answers to questions, whatever. Maybe you hope to find a message out there to seriously tell you: “STOP it! Enough internet for today, enough distraction, enough seeking for a better state of consciousness, enough is enough! You won't find satisfying answers to your questions when they are just based on thoughts that come and go and will soon be forgotten.“ So you may hope to find a messiah, a savior, a liberation in words, thoughts, ideas and concepts. Someone or something that will present to you the ultimate method for awakening, a spiritual insight, a good entertainment, an inspiration or aha-moment, whatever. But God is not a mistake. If god needed anything to awake itself, it wouldn't be God. You are fully liberated already, there is no need for anyone or anything, that's just a story. No next ultimate awakening video from Leo, no next word here in this thread, no next moment! These are all thoughts again, externalizing/projecting and fracturing your infinite power/sovereignity into the multiplicity within the endless hall of mirrors since there is nothing but the eternal self-referencing of the selfsame echoe(s) of nothing. Which is another thought. See, it's not IN the thoughts, it's appearing as everything, the screen, the words, the feelings, your whole bubbleless bubble of consciousness. So you (!) will never find it anywhere since it hides in plain sight - as everything. And no guru, gura or messiah would ever be able to fully point it out to you, for you - since there is literally no point(ing out) in THIS, and there's no you or any guru. Your waiting for a realization is utterly hopeless and futile, and even “so relax and let it go“ is too many words for nothing. In the appearance, you may become conscious of the potential fact that this seeking algorithm has become quite wild and dysfunctional, like an autonomous parasite eating time, energy and attention, draining the apparent ressources. And now personally from me, the guy behind “Exystem“: I oftentimes wished for someone out there, seeing my suffering, holding my hand, seeing the madness of it all and how much I got lost inside my own mind, how I meditated, contemplated, self-inquyired and tripped to finally get it (again and again) while having a fucking messy room, eating quickly and without love while consuming the next spiritual video, smoking weed “for spiritual purposes“, sleeping not enough, barely expressing my love for my loved ones, unconsciously repressing emotions the whole time while knowing that but not being able to stop because of (unconscious) belief systems like “I need to once hit rock bottom before I(t) will go up forever from then on“ or “I am not worth it, I deserved that suffering“ or “It doesn't even make a difference, that's just life, it's suffering“. I wished for someone telling me: Come on, put away your phone, clean up your room, you will soon be fine, just face your shit, I'll be with you, you are worth it! I longed for that figure, oftentimes renewing Leos blog or the forum for a message like this. Enough for today, now just face the next struggle, step by step and it will soon be over. Forget the idea of “awakening someday“ for a moment and cook yourself a healthy meal, go sleep for a good recovery. Leo said it too in other words, don't prematurely start this journey, get your ducks in a row, build up a good life and then you can still seek for the absolute. But I always wished to be adressed really direct and personally, it was never enough! And here is my very personal message to you: “FORGET IT! It won't be clearer than this. You're it already. What you seek is you, so you will not find it, there's no need for that, not even the need to realize that or to drop seeking. You just can be, you are already, it's done, it's over. It won't get more personal than this: You are your own messiah, your own saviour. When you reject/ignore that INSIGHT, a messiah will never be reflected OUTSIDE, as above so below, as within so without. You are God, your own creator, nothing and nobody knows you better than you do, not even the idea of your “unconsciousness“. You PRECISELY know what is good for you, stop kidding yourself. Be true to yourself, act authentic with your needs and weaknesses. You are unconditional love, let yourself flow. You don't need more love, love yourself, you're fucking beautiful, unimaginable wonderful, you are paradise itself! You can fuck yourself so crazily, distorted and twisted and then untwist yourself in such fantastic and infinitely genious ways again, WOW!!! Let your love for that wonder you really are overflow, give from the heart, don't fear any loss, this is empty FULLNESS, limitless free energy everywhere. You seek for that which observes you seeking for that which observes you. How could anything really go wrong?! This is a play, sometimes a tough one. But play it, that's what it's made for! When you consciously play it, you'll enjoy it, it's for your entertainment. Don't run away from the demons in this Dream, face them and see them melt back into the ocean of unconditional love. Don't try to act like a god and face the endboss at the beginning. Start with the immediate little things that are on your way. Tidy up your room, eat a healthy meal, do some sports, write those you love you love them, take babysteps. It's ok, it's good so. You're god already, no need to jump world record, take just one little step right now, that's all. You don't have to be mindful 24/7, that's fucking exhausting. You are here and now aware already, just be it, only this moment. How do you feel right now? Which needs do come up? Which way is the right way? Only now, act authentic, in allignment with yourself. What do you really want? You don't have to focus on the huge pile of shit, just focus on the present shovel and it's over the next moment. It's ok, you're good. No need to be harsh to yourself. See what a beautiful loving being receives this warm treatment from itself. You deserve paradise! Which form would you as god sculp yourself into that represents and deserves paradise? Act like it! Easily, of course. Lightheartedly You are Love yourself, beauty! Love what you love. Look at your pains and aches and see that they are just contracted forms of love. Observe them like an exotic fruit, maybe hot and spicy, bitter or sour, but worth a bite. Look at it like you became aware of it the first time in your life, ask what it wants to show you, without clinging to a way it should reveal itself. This is a magic mystery, it will unfold in strange, counterintuitive and unconventional ways never expected. Look like a child in awe and wonder how this infinitely intelligent soup cooks itself to enjoy its precious flavours. This is the unconditional WOW, and you're it! Be gentle to yourself. You created others to love them. Their purpose is to be loved by you, that's what will make them grow, sprout and love too. So be gentle to them too. Don't act upon them like NPC's/philosophical zombies the same way you don't treat your phone like a black piece of metal/plastic. Discover their full infinite potential by awakening them with (your) LOVE. No words, no acts, no experiences can awaken anyone, only LOVE can, disguised as whatever. Mindfulness is practiced love if truly understood. All of the de- and also the prescriptions above are empty words, they don't mean anything really, still birds chirping. They may seem to contradict each other, and that's ok. In the appearance, they carry a certain energy with them, a wave that can flatten or heighten or equalize other waves. These personal words were an expression of love from the wave “Exystem“ as well as the other wordwaves, apparently of course. Don't get hung up on words, stuck in thoughts, let the birds chirp and enjoy the melody, or not. Personally, I just wish the best for you, I am a mirror of your own love towards yourself. And I wish I could be there for you even more (personal), but this is just a forum, and I am just a random online guy with a full calender. But check it out yourself, send waves of love out there, spread the gospel wherever you can, so to say! See which beautiful miracles will return when you stop seeking for instant gratification and realize the bottomless fountain of Love within yourself. Express yourself, be brave! No need to hide the light. So do yourself a favour and do whatever god needs to do right now, eat a bit or take a shit or whatever. In a way, that's the most important task in the whole universe right now, easy, isn't it?“ Solipsism Lots and loads of words, but the essence is this: YOU are the only “source“ of Love, don't seek it anywhere else, give and thou will be given. If you ask about solipsism: On one hand there is no one and nothing out there that could ever possibly convince you otherwise. Think about it, what “proof“ could ever be valid? On the other hand: This infinite intelligence imagines the 100% smooth, coherent, understandable and real seeming appearance of “another“, which is mirroring your body, behavior and reported inner landscape in a perfect way. How do you think this becomes possible? Through a lifeless, mechanic, reductionistic and simple process, devoid of any feelings? Well, maybe, who could know except for you? But how would you feel if people really started flickering and lagging? See on what a sharp edge of knife you were dancing if you stick with your love to your limited sense of self and believe in a philosophy like that without really knowing. What if ALL your emotions are nothing but the language your inner parts are communicating with each other, no center of emotions, but an 360° orchestra of vivid silence. The same way you can zoom into a sensation, focusing your attention towards it, and just become aware of the potentially infinite capacity it has to reveal, morph and develop itself, while still remaining “your“ sensation, the same way your mirrored selves are an extended bodypart, never seperate from YOU, with instant effect on everything you may ever identify with. As your inverted unconscious, they may not have “a life of their own“, but who thinks it has such a thing? You? You don't HAVE a life, you're it! But you can only experience and call it that way in codependency to “other(s)“. Be grateful for everyone out there - I know, sometimes “hell is other people“, but what's lucrative about being the only one in paradise? For how long could you enjoy that? A billion years? Be careful what you wish for, don't call demons before knowing how to get rid of them again. And don't get rid of angels before knowing how to call them again. This is a masterpiece of an illusion! The same way you can become mindful with your body, get a more intimite and loving experience, get a more detailed resolution in space and time and start to simply enjoy its presence, the same way you can extend that towards others. Develop a deeper sense of compassion, and even sacrificing yourself for someone else will become a natural response to lifes' challenges. Imagine this was a dream and your apparent decisions form the neural pathway for the preferences of your next dream - when you don't love your right arm for example, you try to not feel into it because it hurts, avoid looking at it because it's ugly, you may not even get one next time. So ask yourself - what do you love most? Can you love it with all its apparent consequences? Nurture it! In my case, I really love people in general, they are not a bug but a feature to me, they may be the last thing I could give up in this illusion called life, these strange but most clear and beautiful mirrors of infinity. Clarity - by far the most clear speaker on THIS So here I have a gift for you - I was excessively bingewatching all kinds of spiritual teachings additional to my practices, with the hope to find more gems like Leo for example and the subtle fear to miss out on something important. Then I found the radical/contemporary nonduality niche, some of you are familiar with - Tony Parsons, Jim Newman, Kenneth Madden, Andreas Müller, Richard Sylvester and so on. But they all become very repititious and hung up on words like boundless or contracted energy for example. And finally, a year ago, I found emerson nonduality He's a genious in my eyes! Always fresh and new, his easyflowing poetry is music to my ears. Always eradicates the sandcastles he built up before, pointing to the rise and fall of the empire of words. You're gonna be left with nothing in the end, realizing there never was anything in the first place. He had experiences with psychedelics like ayahuasca/DMT, a background as a spiritual teacher before, knows about actualized, solipsism and is always funny and spreading good vibes while being completely authentic, no gatekeeping, as sharp as a laser knife. His one-on-ones are just BOOM!!! FULL STOP. I speak from experience. Enjoy him I'd love to see Leo talking to him but I guess that's a pipe dream. Here's his last video - a one on one: And here is one of his older videos where he talks about stuff related to solpsism. This format is an online meeting you can regularly attend (starts at minute 3):

Not two. Oneness (or a Unity experience of being one with the visual field and all arisings) easily leads to the "I am God", a merging/Unity experience. Oneness basically is Nonduality, which can be had as Unity experience with a subtle identity still well and alive, hijacking the nondual state. Which is then not true Nonduality with the center/identity fully transcended/seen through/gone, but a nonduality/unity experience hijacked and misinterpreted by a remaining subtle separate-self, which basically leads to continued suffering/resistance because its not fully seen through/transcended/cut off in real time. Oneness is still one too many... Not understanding this (but thinking one understands it) is basically to a large part the Leitmotiv of this lovely place here... And since this can only be understood once it fully happens, ones soul either intuits that truth and goes for it, or doesn't and goes happily exploring ET & company, and yours truly has to be happy with Selling Water by the River ... which he luckily is absolutely content with. PS: The nondual/oneness trap:

You sound completely human, babe. Don't play into the fantasy youre not human. Yeah, I called you babe. What a chad. When you absorb yourself in a lot of nonduality content you start speaking like that. I was like that years ago on my journey, just spitting the facts for others. You are the one who is trying to understand with the mind, and you have even believed you did understand thats why you're explaining to me. Whats so hard to understand about the notion that you do have a choice whether to stop a rape or not. Im not even talking about the nature of reality, but about my own self. Do Not Tell Me that I cant know my own experience, thats everything I know. You are explaining away something that cannot be explained and teling me that I'm doing that. I want you to know that Ive read and watched probably most and even more of the content that you have, so you cannot blow my mind with anything you say. I will not think you are deep, because I am not hearing anything original from you. You have a very single coloured understanding at best of the truth of not twoness. If its One doesnt mean its just one color. And here in the nonspiritual section, we are completely talking within the frame of duality and relationships, but you are trying to seep in nonduality into it, normalising rape in the process. You also keep flipping. First everything is unconditional love, now everything is included in unconditional love. Refer to my canvas and painting comment from earlier. We are here talking completely about the painting on the canvas, we are not exploring the canvas. Thats for the other section of the forums. So I dont get why you are arguing.

ahh shit is it just semantics, or do you think there is something different between solipsism and nonduality? when I think of solipsism, I guess what I’m thinking of is my own ego being everything. so that’s what, I believe, alien consciousness would disprove.

Brad warner talked about this. “nonduality” wasn’t really a thing 2500 years ago. the thing the Buddha was saying doesn’t exist is what we would call ego. Zen and Advaita began the true self doctrine about a thousand years after the Buddha died

Unfortunately not on youtube, but on audible: Shift into Freedom by Loch Kelly One of my favourite practical books on nonduality so far

Thank you, I appreciate. I also appreciate the time you took to have a more detailed answer in my journal where I go into more depth of why I feel hesitant with Turquoise. I agree, I always felt like Turquoise felt more vague compared to the other spiral stages since there isn't as many examples of Turquoise and because most of the examples that are there if I remember correctly had to do with nonduality, meditation, spirituality etc. while the other stages had examples in spirituality, economics, media, pop culture, etc. And that's understandable because the world has yet to evolve that much. I guess that's another thing that I'm coming up against where I feel like *let's not fix something that isn't broken* in reaction to growing from yellow and green because humans grow with their environment and influence their environment to grow and vice versa so it feels like I'm trying to adapt to something that doesn't really exist yet on a wider scale. I was using the spiral much more so to track my growth over the last few years and I also find myself hitting against a wall to where even though I resonate with green and yellow, I have worked through my own kinks and limitting beliefs to where I don't really resonate with the excesses and unhealthy manifestations associated with the stages, hence why to peg myself more accurately, I have been focussing on lines of development instead and taking that information loosely. As for the hardcore spiritual work, I guess for me it would be good to figure out what degree of spirituality works for me and that I find fulfillment in which can change as I move into different stages of my life. And if that's not what I'm authentically into, that's perfectly fine but I am seeing myself getting back into my own sense of spirituality and spiritual practices lately. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking of Leo's video on The Ultimate Guide To Happiness - How Happiness Works and how he goes into different things you should think about regarding your preferences on having a happy life. If I remember correctly, there was a part of the video where he mentioned that for most people, meditating in a cave for days and not using your mind isn't the path to happiness and that while this works for hardcore monks, for him specifically he needs more intellectual engagement and creativity than just meditating because or else it feels like he's just sitting there like a vegetable. I agree. I don't think that I'm trying to "win by developing as much as possible." I can see the value in all of the stages and if I stagnate at yellow, that's perfectly fine by me. Moving up the spiral isn't inherently good. Hell, I think you can even stagnate in the lower stages and so long as it's healthy manifestation of that stage, it's all good. But while I don't think there is anything wrong with staying at a stage and enjoying where you're at, I just wanted to check in and make sure that it's not coming from a place of complacency or demonization of a higher stage because of biases I might have of it.

If it's close to nonduality then it is no longer a religion. Buddhism can be a religion or it can be advanced sprituality, depending on how it is done. For many folks in Asia Buddhism is just a religion, not nonduality.

That is always a possibility, but contradiction is a feature of nonduality.

I can't seem to shake the idea that others don't exist. After watching Leo's "Guided Exercise for Realizing You Are God", I had a moment in which I felt that everyone I knew was a projection, but soon after I found myself asking "But how could they not exist." Every time I saw another person, I questioned whether they were just a part of my imagination or if they are actually having a conscious experience. For example, anyone that replies to this thread could say "others don't exist", maybe evening having the thought that the person who wrote this was a projection of their own imagination, but I on the other side of this thread know that I in fact am not a projection because I am aware as I write this and have consciousness. Perhaps the higher the degree of consciousness, the closer to Nonduality someone gets? Even then, if there are other autonomous units of consciousness, regardless of the degree to which they are conscious, how is it possible that they don't exist altogether? I'm aware that my ego will fill in what I have conceptually striped away and that the more real I believe the Self to be the more real others will be, but then how do I practically experience ongoing Nonduality . I truly do enjoy the concept of nonduality but I'm having some trouble putting it in to practice. Any insights?

https://www.netflix.com/title/80013552?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=cp Here is the link to watch the movie. Moon is in Pisces ♓ (so it's time for some existentially woke shit) The Tale of Princess Kaguya by Studio Ghibli is the most profound and stunning metaphor for nonduality, and the existential sadness (and joy) for living through Earthly lifetimes. I had a full on existential awakening at the end of this movie and cried violently in front of my girlfriend for 20 minutes straight. I highly recommend watching closely. The ending is one of the most mind-blowing and beautiful endings of any movie. The entire movie is a masterpiece that will endure throughout human history as one of the most beautiful pieces of art ever made. The crown jewel of Japan's Walt Disney, Hayao Miyazaki. Also, the nature imagery and unique art style is stunning. He captures the innocence and purity of nature (and also of humans).

Loosely. Yes, of course. 0, 1, 2, and even 3 are rather special numbers. 0 is the ground. 1 is the unity of all things. 2 is the duality of forms. And 3 is the count of 0, 1, and 2. But in the end numbers are just one way to look at reality. Don't give numbers too much importance as the scientists do. You could look at reality in a completely non-numerical way. Don't make numbers into your God. Sure it is. I have episodes about duality and its importance. But also remember that duality and even nonduality are one lens to see reality, and you can look at reality in even more advanced ways.

This is a really spot on, precise and non-bullshit viewpoint on nonduality and mindfulness. Bottom line: people either tend to get stuck in neo-advaita, which results in endless mental masturbation and self-delusion or they get stuck in meditation/mindfulness practises and get nowhere for years or even decades. Here's the article: In the context of American spiritual practice nondual traditions and mindfulness traditions appear to be in sharp contrast. Nonduality is often associated with the “doing nothing” schools of meditation, and mindfulness meditation is often very effortful. Mindfulness meditation masters in the States commonly refuse to even discuss enlightenment, whereas nondual teachers never stop talking about how we’re already enlightened. At the extremes, these two traditions can become very critical of each other. Some nondualists think that mindfulness meditators are caught in the trap of working hard to get somewhere, and end up just building a meditator ego to replace their everyday ego. Some mindfulness practitioners think that nondualists are just playing a recursive word game (“Who is playing a word game?”) and narcissistically kidding themselves about how enlightened they are, while complacently denying their own foibles. It’s a shame that these two wisdom traditions—especially in their American expressions—are antagonistic to each other. Really they just represent the two ends of a spectrum of theories about the same idea—the idea of how to awaken to real freedom. It’s a shame, because in my opinion most nondualists (especially neo-advaitins) could use a little more of the mindfulness attitude, and most mindfulness practitioners could use a little more of nondual outlook. Working together they could, like peanut butter and chocolate, form something much more excellent than either on their own. Something we might call Nondual Mindfulness, or Practical Advaita. Does Advaita Preclude Practices? Nonduality or advaita (which includes most of Madhyamika Buddhist and Hindu Tantra philosophy, too) holds that we are already completely, perfectly enlightened. Many traditional schools of nondualism stress, however, that we need to do some practice to reveal this true nature to ourselves. We have blinders on, and cannot see our own enlightenment, and a practice (which there are many types of) will remove the blinders and allow our inherent liberation to naturally shine forth. It’s like the practice blows the clouds away and suddenly we can see the sun and sky, which were already and always there. But, due to accidents of history, American nonduality, or what is called “neo-advaita,” took the more radical viewpoint that no practices are necessary to uncover our deepest wisdom. In this viewpoint, practices are actually counter-productive because they are emphasizing the untrue concept that the ego needs to do something to get enlightened. That practice is needed to find awakening. In the neo-advaita view, the more you struggle to be free, the more you ignore your own complete freedom that is already there. The more you fight, the more you emphasize the (unreal) existence of the fighter, thus causing you to become more lost. And that’s why neo-advaita is so inimical to any meditation technique at all, including mindfulness. Mindfulness practice, to a neo-advaitin, is just a lot of effort to convince yourself that you’re not already free. A big waste of time that leaves you worse off—even more mired in delusion—than you were before. The trouble with this viewpoint is that it’s more of a philosophy than a practical application. You can think you’re free and let go of all ideas of non-freedom all you want, but at the end of the day, you may still not feel very free. For people suffering from real world problems like stress, anxiety, depression, drug addiction, relationship breakup, and a thousand other human catastrophes, being told “not to hold on to those stories and just feel your inherent freedom” can feel like an impossibly cynical mindfuck. It can make you feel inadequate or stupid, and doesn’t really help. Just like the New Age catch-22 of telling cancer victims that it’s their own fault, and that they just need to believe they are healed in order to effect a real cure (thanks a lot!), neo-advaitin sometimes people in situations of extreme suffering that it’s all their own fault — and not infrequently this oh-so-helpful message is imparted with an air of superiority and smugness. On a deeper note, if you do begin to do the (non-practice) that neo-advaita prescribes, namely to realize that your thoughts and feelings are not your thoughts and feelings, it can lead to dissociation. Constantly denying your own body and mind has a cost, and some on the nondual path find themselves stuck in the trap of meaninglessness for many years, not realizing that they have been mired in identification with this self who “doesn’t care.” The advaita view, while philosophically powerful, was not traditionally taught with no practices to go with it. For example in Soto Zen—which like most Buddhism philosophically agrees about the inherent awakening in each person, called the Buddha Nature—people are encouraged to do a practice called “just sitting” (shikantaza). Just sitting is just sitting, a practice that is not a practice. Traditionally a monk or nun would do such a non-practice, however, for tens of thousands of hours in their lifetime. For a non-practice, that is an awful lot of practice, and it has a predictably powerful awakening effect. Even the grand master of advaita, Ramana Maharshi, gave his students practices. While talking about how we are already enlightened, he taught people to meditate, chant mantras, do breathwork, and other effortful practices. If you read the detailed histories of his top students (you can do so in the books by David Godman, a series called The Power of the Presence) who were very highly respected, realized persons, he gave all but one of them such practices to do. And they practiced them with all their hearts, sometimes for decades. Ramana, in other words, understood the difference between the philosophy of advaita and its practice. (Ironically, it was someone who met Ramana only once, named H. W. L. Poonja, who gave rise to the American school of radical non-practicing advaita. This was the one student he didn’t give any practices to.) Except in rare cases, it is necessary for a person to do meditation practices to remove their ignorance of their own awakening. Afterwards, from their enlightened perspective, they may see how ridiculous it all was, but they never would have seen that without having done these “ridiculous” practices. Mindfulness has a lot to offer a nondual practitioner. For one thing, the practice of self-inquiry is a kind of mindfulness practice. Investigating the nature of the Self, asking yourself, “Who am I” and looking for the answer to that question can all be considered a kind of “mindfulness of the Self.” Most mindfulness practice as it is taught in America focuses on body sensations, but there is no reason that a practitioner cannot use the same kind of focus on the sense of self and deconstructing that sense of self into its components. In more advanced mindfulness practice, this is exactly the point. Does Mindfulness Practice Actually BLOCK Awakening? But advaita also has something very useful to contribute to mindfulness, because the advaita critique of mindfulness is legitimate and important. Again, it’s the idea that mindfulness strengthens the sense of being somebody (you, the meditator) doing something (practicing meditation) – a sense which, in the long run, is still an ego. Because mindfulness teachers very often talk about the practice as “becoming a witness of experience,” they are actually creating a safe haven for the ego, which can keep the person from realizing their fundamental awakening. You only have to spend time around some of the more long-term mindfulness communities to see the result of this misstep in action. There are a large number of practitioners who have been diligently doing their mindfulness meditation for decades, and who seem to be stuck in a particular place. They have gotten an edge or a handle on life. They’re pretty good at coping with difficulties, and they are much less caught up in the madness of their egos than the average person on the street. All of which is excellent. But beyond this, they are in a cul-de-sac. Nothing has changed in their practice for years or even decades. They seem somewhat flat or depressed. They may even refuse to acknowledge that real awakening exists, and consider enlightenment to be a dirty word. (Talk about missing the point.) The diagnosis is clear: they have fallen into the “Observer Trap.” The prognosis is good, if they can learn how to meditate on the sense of self involved in doing the meditation itself and then deconstruct that. By turning the meditator itself into the object of meditation, they can experience the dissolution of the meditator ego, and touch real awakening. It’s really that simple, but you will find few mindfulness teachers who are aware of this solution, or even of the problem itself. Although I don’t like to promote steps-and-stages models of awakening (they’re always too reductive), I believe that mindfulness could be described as a two-step process. First, you become the witness of experience. Second, you realize that you are not that witness. Virtually all of mindfulness in America only teaches you step one. Again, even step one is a big improvement over having no steps at all. However, if you are stuck in your practice, and you want to experience some of the deeper levels of awakening, then taking the second step is crucial. There are several ways to take this step. The standard nondual method is to simply sit with no agenda. Notice that this is not “not meditating,” it’s meditating with no technique. (The difference is crucial.) Another advaita technique that is applicable is self-inquiry practice, in which you look for the person who is meditating. The method that fits best with mindfulness practice is slightly more effortful, however. It involves patiently deconstructing the sense of the meditating self. Noticing the thoughts of the meditator (“This is going well today.” “Am I doing this right?” etc.) and the feelings of the meditator (happy that it’s going well, frustrated that it’s not, etc.). You can read a more in-depth description of the practice here. Get Clear: Nonduality and Mindfulness Thus the outlook of mindfulness can contribute something useful to advaita, and the outlook of advaita can contribute something useful to mindfulness. In the end, all of these distinctions only matter if they help you to make progress in your practice to reveal your true awakening. Nondualist—ask yourself if you’re just kidding yourself about how much freedom you actually feel each day. There are ways to go deeper without getting trapped in grasping, striving, and comparison, and those ways involve dedicated practice. Mindfulness-folks—ask yourself whether you’ve been stuck in basically the same place in your practice for a long time. There are ways to go deeper which involve deconstructing your practice itself. In both cases it will probably include a lot of discomfort at pushing yourself out of a comfortable resting place you’ve found to camp out in. The peace, joy, and freedom you will find will be worth all the effort. Source: https://deconstructingyourself.com/nonduality-and-mindfulness.html

How do you know? Do you speak from personal experience? (sorry, heard that one somewhere before ). Or is it deduction from cases you think are enlightened and who still suffer? There is a path beyond Enlightenment to stabilize this freedom from suffering, but the tools to do that are given for the first time WITH Enlightenment (peak to plateau to permanent). And most "Enlighenments" are just Awakenings with remnants of separate-self hijacking the newfound Nonduality. And yet, the amount of bliss and release from the suffering of the self-contraction that resting in True Being (or Awakened infinite nondual timeless Awareness) brings, once it has become accessible, is astonishing. And that bliss and force of True Being has the potential to stabilize that in plateau to permanent. These statements of yours are in contradiction to roughly 2 millenia+ testaments of beings who have realized their True Being. Suffering is the "rubber band" that makes separate-selves return to their True Being. Hamster-wheels until the original condition is restored. Suffering is what guarantees that no being is lost in the illusion of separation forever. The longer one chases states/experiences/whatever, the longer the hamster-wheels spin. One could even say that the separate-self IS suffering/resistance/contraction (Adi Da called the ego self-contraction). Because one of its main essences IS the suffering/contraction/localization/resistance to what is. Suffering IS the ego IS the separation/separate-self. I can tell you from my own experience that it is felt exactly as that (self-contraction), which becomes obvious at some point on the path, as contractions in the head and body. When these contractions/solidities (mainly in the head at the end in my case) fully dissolve and drop, the boundless field of consciousness becomes infinite and truly nondual. It is such a relaxation of tension/contration/localization/constant-background-contraction/"baseline-suffering". It feels like vast-spaciousness, nondual, limitless, so free and open. Bliss itself. And honestly, every being not living from this obviously and inevitably suffers, is in the claws of the merciless self-contraction. This becomes then totally clear once one has experienced this dropping of the self-contraction, which then creates compassion. Which stabilizes (paradoxically) Awakening and Nonduality even further. That is the beginning of boundless vast Non-Duality (not yet Enlightenment), in which Awakened nondual Awareness ripens (Roger Thisdell stage 4 to stage 5) towards Enlightenment, or the full dropping of anything separate, truly becoming Infinite Being. Here the bliss starts flowing, and the path starts showing itself to itself. Fueled by the bliss of True Being, which already starts giving a powerful attractor point starting here. Selling the bliss of vast nondual limitless spaciousness at the River PS: And for the "trying" to dissolve suffering. Yes, trying doesn't work. The dissolving of suffering/self-contraction is the case once it happens. Until then, while trying, there is suffering.

The main course of Nonduality just ain’t as tasty without the appetizer of Duality. Not to mention the dessert of “no one did all that seeking to go absolutely nowhere.”

This shit had me DYING. For those of you who haven't seen it, you've got to watch it.

But kidding aside, this is the Zen version of the key stage from going what some call Nonduality/Buddhism/rodents to Enlightenment. Beginning Nonduality is still in the dream, a subtle self merged in unity with the visual field, exchanging the dual dream for the nondual dream. But still a dream. When this Unity-self gets thinner and thinner, more and more transcended (Thisdell stage 4 to Thisdell stage 5), then: Everything - "every vestige of self-awareness", or any subtle I-feeling/I-thought/duality (all subtle illusions) have to be seen through and transcended with automized high-speed awarenes (speed, because these illusions arise extremly fast towards the end) and familiarity (strength, because there are some very subtle "feelings" and other arisings that constitute the separate-self) with these subtle obscurations. Speed & Strength of Awareness (courtesy to Frank Yang). And that has to be done automatic, no doer/agent doing it anymore ("Nonmeditation Yoga"). And then at the end it can really break open, in a way that can't be anticipated: You will see the Buddhas of all the universes face-to-face and the Dharma Ancestors past and present. Literally. Their essence. Before that stages, afterwards nowhere to go... Infinite Being.

Very well said. Duality and nonduality are two sides of the same coin. Reject one side, and you inevitably reject the whole coin... and guess what, reality can and will not be rejected. The sooner you realize this, the better. 💯

I don't know why, but I started to understand Nonduality way before watching Leo's videos or any other videos about it, I didn't even know that term back then. But during my later teens to early 20s, I just started to see that you can't seem to put things into strict categories, but they are on a spectrum. Like in chemistry, Metal and nonmetal. I saw that there isn't a strict boundary, but instead the elements gradually go from metal to nonmetal from left to right. Or with mental illnesses, no one has either just Depression or not, or ADHD or not, or OCD or not, or Autism or not (not really a mental illness). I just started to see how everything bleeds into each other. Then at about 21 I started using drugs (not just psychedelics, so I'll keep it short), not for Nonduality, but just because I was curious. But I surprisingly got insights from them, stimulants often made me contemplate things, where at some point I came to the conclusion that wishing or imagining for something to be different makes no sense, because everything just is the was it is, and it can't be any other was. During my dissociative drug abuse I became completely aware that I have no free will as this ego, I'm (my ego self) is just a part of the whole universe, which happens in a continious flow. You can't blame anyone including yourself, it completely destroyed the boundary between what I'm responsible for and what others are responsible for. It went so far that I just became completely aware all language, distinctions, basically our whole systeme in which we operate is a complete illusion, it completely breaks down when you investigate it deep enough, I'm aware that the words I'm typing here are also just nonsense which can only work within dualities. But this just made me feel very helpless, since I knew our whole thought systemes and languages are complete illusions, but we still have to use them. I couldn't say anymore what is my fault and what are other peoples faults. Doing something "good" didn't make sense anymore because that's also an illusion. However, I had a lot of puzzle pieces already, and finding Leo's videos about Nonduality helped me piece many of them together, like that there is an Absolute. love + hate = Love, good + bad = Good, free will + determinism = Will. But some things I still don't understand, besides deconstructing my ego to persue enlightenment, what should I do with that? How should I do good when everything is ultimately Good? I don't wanna use nonduality as an excuse to do "evil" things, but no matter what I will do, even if I go on the streets and shoot up Heroin, it is ultimately Good, since it's gods Will for the purpose to maximize Love. So this still makes me confused, and I don't know what to do about that. Thank you for reading this, I'd love to hear your opinions or suggestions.

Reality/True Being has the potential of infinitel intelligence. So is is infinite intelligent. Our universe alone can sustain mathematics with which infinite dimensions can be calculated/simulated/described (4 dimensional worlds, 5, n, n+1, non-euclidian, hyperbolic, and what not). Anything that can be done in this universe has to be a potential in Infinite True Being (and much more). Same with life. True Being is not a dead Nothing. Every potential and intelligence we see must be inherent as potential in Infinity. "It" True You is that which is aware, and that which understands and creates all, maintains all, and it is THAT which does all understanding. What else could manifest the show? And be aware of it. Realize it, and you will have these facets all at once. Why do you create a duality between True Being, then Intelligence, then life, then infinite, the flow, and all the other stuff. Hasn't it been written many times True Being/Absolute is infinite (not finite), and has infinite potential? Infinity easily fits into True Being. All of the various infinities mathematics can describe. Buuut the path to realizing that Infinite True Being is first getting rid of anything finite, and limitations, and filters/dualities/lenses of perceptions... because these cloud the realization of "the" Infinite True Absolute Being. Neti Neti. Impersonal. No duality via filters/centers/contractions of the separate self. And then looking what remains, what is always there. "Bombing" oneself to boundlessness and nonduality, or whiteouts, (or what not) via psychedelics doesn't not dissolve these last filters/centers/contractions fully (at least I have never seen one case). Not enough time & clarity in these states. This dissolving of filters/centers/contractions has to be done with "on-board-means", not only external devices. It is the price the universe demands, transcendence of the little ego. Like, at least getting rid a little bit of the annoying bug as entry ticket to the Absolute, so to say...

@Leo Gura Does "alien" spirituality feels like a more synthetic or sci-fi in comparison to the organic ordinary nonduality?

On an Absolute Level, "it" or better True You is solipsistic. Alone and infinite. True You/Infinite Being is "alone" because "it" is infinite with nothing possibly outside of it. But that is True You/True Being. And someone who is not enlightened doesn't (by definition) know the difference between the current identity and True Being, or else he/she would be enlightened and no longer be asking these questions... So talking about Solipsism and God is just counterproductive when talking with beings who have not realized their True Nature. Because they will project their ego on the concept of God or Solipsism, no other chance. First become Nothing (no separate-self), then you will be everything (Infinite Being) - Thisdell stage 4, becoming Thisdell stage 5/Enlightenment. But better not project a little separate something (illusion-separate-self) on everything (Roger Thisdell stage 3 "Godmind"). Or: I am God imagining everything. That makes Thisdell stage 3 a cul-de-sac, no way forward to stabilize Awakening in daily life and ease the suffering. Which is exactly what we see here, with a few added ETs. Is Infinite Being not enough? Does it need to be called God? As I have written several times, I don't really like the pointer God, because it is normally loaded with other meaning on top. God = omnipresent, infinite, timeless/eternal/immortal, creating/manifesting/imagining the whole gig: Same for True Infinite Being. One without a second. But all the stuff projected on top of it when using the pointer God instead of Infinite Being, the one without a second, is often not for the faint of hearted. It anthropomorphizes Infinite True Being/Reality with properties and intentions that are just not there on the most fundamental level, and then proejcts it on the illusion-ego/illusion separate-self. "I am God". Only very few can truthfully say that, because most have not realized their True Being and can't tell the difference to ego/separate-self. And those who can say that truthfully and not fall for the illusion normally don't talk like that, because they know from their own practice it is not beneficial for beings with the ego/separate-self illusion not fully seen through. As soon as one talks like that to not enlightened beings, they almost always project the properties of True Being (or God) on themselves, their separate-identity, which they still have not seen through. Because else they would be enlightened. And these separate-self-identities-arisings/illusions are that which have to be cut down/transcended for Enlightenment to happen. And using the grandiose word "God" tends to blow these illusion-arising up to cosmic proportions: "I" imagine everything. No. "Your" True Being does. But what is that? What is the constant always here True Being? Here also in Deep Sleep? Before ones birth? And if one would fully know the difference between True Being and separate-self/ego, one wouldn't talk about these topics using pointers/concepts like God/Solipsism, because it would be all clear anyway... And one wouldn't need to state I am God and I imagine everything, because.... well... TO WHOM? Well, I guess you get the point. At the level of Infinite Being one is alone. But there is no one there to feel alone, because that would be an anthropomorphic illusion arising of a separate-self WITHIN True Being. It just is what it is. And always has been. And with an enlightened being talking like that it is not necessary. Makes no sense. One sees and knows the Awakened Nondual enlightened State the "other" is in (and nobody really home), and it is clear. Imagine a discussion like: I am God! No, I am God! No, you are not! We are God! That is all illusion, starting with the words "I" and "we". Lot of talk of God and Solipsism happens on Thisdells stage 3 "God-stage, God-mind". Infinite Nonduality with separate-self/remaining identity/ego not fully seen through". It is contradictory, not stable, with lots of illusions still going on. And that is presupposing its done from real nondual states. Most of the time, its done from not nondual states, just from the conceptual level. And from there, it is more insanity than anything else. The discussion then goes like: "No, small you is not God. Big You, True Being, is. But first find out what that is before talking about God & Solipsism". And because of all these contradictions that doing that move includes, there is so much discussion here about these topics. Because it is not clear, but contradictory. Sometimes I use the pointer God, but normally it is not a good pointing/teaching tool. Ever noticed that very few enlightened teachers that are public talk about how they are God and imagining everything, and they are all alone and Solipsism and so on? They do, if you listen between the lines or read/see enough stuff. Sometimes even explictily. Sometimes, even complete books like the Supreme Source have been written, that even got the approval by our host as God Realization. And these enlightened teachers normally don't talk about them being God/Solipsism. Not because they are too stupid to know what God is, and what Solipsism/Aloneness on the Absolute Level means. And they do know that all is an imagined illusion happening within "their" own Infinite Being/True Being by definition. If they wouldn't, they wouldn't be enlightened. But they don't throw that in public at a poor ego to blow it up to cosmic proportions, because that doesn't help their students going from Thisdell stage 3 to 4 to 5. It usually even prevents getting the ego stage 1 to witness stage 2 to nondual stage 3. Because to get there sobre and without psychedelics, one already has to kill/transcend the ego/separate-self quite a lot... Nothing kills sobre Awakened Nonduality better than saying to oneself: I AM GOD. A "normal" identification of I am a human so and so suffices to do that... And one more thing: If Nonduality (or Buddhism) gets bashed: Nonduality is NOT automatically Enlightenment, or realization of True Infinite Being/Reality. It is Thisdells stage 3 Godmind. A boundless nondual infinite field of Awareness, with a separate-self still well and alive hijacking that! And that most Buddhist are not enlightened should go without saying.. Stage 3 Godmind. That is where one gets with psychedelics. And maybe even stage 4 a bit. But I have never seen a mainly psychedelic aficionado get to stage 5, True No Self (also nondual, but without center/separate-self-illusion, truly being the Infinite Totality/Being). Stable Nondual realization of Infinite Being in daily life. Maybe somebody knows one, would be very interested. Can't rule out that one exists, or that one wakes up just by the impulse of a psychedelic. It is just, I have never seen one. I know quite a lot that have done that with transcending/meditation of the false illusion separate self. So basically "Nonduality" and "Buddhism" gets bashed, because one doesn't know that stage 3 "Godmind"/Nonduality is not yet True Being or Enlightenment. Of course merely Nondual Realisation doesn't bring "God-Realization", or understanding that True Being imagines/manifests all of it, and that ones True Self is that. That is stage 5, or the link (Supreme Source) above. Or True Enlightenment. Psychedelics get one to Nonduality, maybe in more sophisticated cases to realizing that it is all imagined/manifested to fool "oneself". But it doesn't get oneself conforming to the impersonal infinite nondual enlightened mindstream. And that is why this "realization" is not stable in daily life. Still suffering/resisting the content of ones own True Infinite Being. "Solution": add a few ETs from higher levels of Reality, and call that higher than realizing and being ones True Infinite Being. And be proud on ones own continuing suffering/resistance towards happens within ones True Infinite Nondual Being, and declare that as inevitable. Or something like that. Well, quite a show Maya is dishing "us" up this time, isn't it Selling God&Solipsism Water by the River The Koan still is: What is the True Being of the ET at the end, really? And that of any other ET, n+1?

Yes, you can't find it because True Self has no location, it is nonlocal, centerless, boundless and infinite. The whole infinite nondual field/vastness. What can be found are (bodily-) sensations/feelings like a center/solidity, imposed limitations, imagined boundaries of the visual field (imagination of boundary with somehow somatic sensation of boundary on top), and a lot of thoughts/feelings/concept of being human. Yet, all of that can be seen as an object, arising IN ones consciousness, floating in Infinite Being. But there is no short-cut. It needs practice and seeing into the nature of all thoughts (emptiness/consciousness, which makes them dissolve and cut off) and into all bodily solidities/centers has to be done again and again, since the Gestalt of the illusion reassembles itself very fast. Neti Neti, not this, not that. Or not only this or only that. It takes a long time to get to nondual states (Thisdell stage 3), where a felt fast spaciousness open up and nonduality (still with a murky self left) starts. Good news is: Beginning here bliss starts flowing when in these states just by being in them, and the path becomes truly wonderful. That is beginning freedom. Frank Yang described his Enlightenment when his two last items that didn't conform to the enlightened mindstream were realized (after a long time of removing pretty much everything before, Roger Thisdell stage 2&3&4): all bodily sensations parading as a center or solidity were gone and dissolved (head, chest,...). Just vast spaciousness without a center. the cluster of sensations/thoughts claiming to be the watching all meditation-process of shutting off each thought-arising were seen as also mere clusters of thoughts. Basically also for him the crossing over to Enlightenment, or understanding True Infinite Being/Reality/Consciousness happened when the mindstream conformed to the enlightened mindstream. Then Infinite Being/Reality awakens to its True Being in that perspective/being/mindstream. Good. That is the thorn with which to remove the thorn. But also notice that this thought ""self, I cannot find you, where are you" is again a thought (or a cluster of thoughts/sensations/feelings) claiming ownership/identity, which creates another illusion-identity. But it has to be done like that, until that is automized. Then one switches to automatic meditation (Nonmeditation-Yoga). Bon voyage Selling Water by the River

Ok, I try. But be aware this is extremely difficult to do it in a monological form via text, and hardly complete. Good news is: At that stage the path shows itself to itself if one just continues with the right meditation/awareness techniques. The illusion-mechanisms pop up one by one. If applying a good understanding of what will show up, the process can be fastened. It is like adding a blow-torch to the burning down of the illusion-building. So, here we go: Any thought implying I/me. "I-feeling" any understanding you have ("I" understand) any doubt ("I" doubt) all of it very subtle and fast forms of feeling separate. Or thinking that. Very fast & very subtle. Way faster than a thought elaborated over several second. Tenths/fractions of a second... Speed of awareness is crucial, that is being trained here And strength of awareness, to be able to also cut off core separate-self identities and suffering/resistance. Reckognizing that, not getting hypnotized by that, cutting it off by looking into its nature (empty consciousness). and since its very hard to tell the difference if a thought-arising is laced with individuality/separation/identity: Cutting off all of them, just for training. Yet, one can at other times also maintain ones awareness during practical daily life/thoughts. And memory of the past: It is being imagined right now, appears as complete "chunk" out of Infinite Consciousness/Being, and then gets elaborated in thought (which is very slow compared to how it emerges "fully" formed. That is truly a mindf*** when your awareness gets fast enough to spot for the first time how the complete past emerges immediately as "whole block" and then is slowly elaborated, fooling one to believe one is that "I" having this memory and thoughts. You see then how each any anything is just emerging to fool oneself. That is an aspect that Leo emphasizes with his concept of God-Realization. The past is radically imagined right now, there is no past. There is only an Infinite Formless eternal "Field" modulating itself to give the appearance of a past. Same for the "future". You don't have a past, You are an Infinite Vastness that is able to make up the past on the fly, and then have thoughts/feelings-arisings that "believe" that. Yet, that Infinite Vastness/Being CAN UNDERSTAND, and so it can understand that the past is imagined on the fly here and now. That is a major understanding/building block of Enlightenment, or seeing that separation from it all (separate self) is just an imagined arising within oneself. One is not a human, but the Infinite Vastness/Being (which is luckily also always here, aka immortal/eternal, can't go anywhere infinite Nothingness with nothing outside of it) imagining a human and all its elements moving/appearing within itself. So it is Duality gone (visual field nondual) -> Nondual boundless infinite (boundary of the field is gone) -> Infinite solidity of "external" visual field is gone, replacing solidity with mere groundless lucid appearance -> imagined illusion/lucidity/non-material, mere imagined empty hologram like appearance. time is gone (as described above, past imagined right now) -> always here, never not here Infinite Mind/Being. Eternal, immortal, absolutely fundamental, all is appearing and arising in it, always. space is gone (imagined IN the infinte vastness of True Being) -> space doesnt exist outside, space is imagined in oneself, the vastness of Infinity (which is not 3d space), and there is no 3D-space (or any space at all, non-euclidian, 4D, whatever) possibly existing outside of your Infinite Being. No outside. Infinite. All there is. Space is not self-existing outside of ones own nondual infinite being. It is imagined by it. What is behind your face? "beyond" the visual field. Not (3d-)space, but the Infinite (Being). -> spaceless, dimensionless, infinite. Containing all possible dimensions and realms, high and low. all of that is imagined/constructed/manifested right here right now in ones nondual True eternal Being, Infinite Consciousness/Being. -> A mirage/illusion appearing in ones Infinite Being, giving rise to the illusion of a human life within it. Another way to say that is: In Pointing out the Great Way, Brown is one statement: If everything (1) all appearance of the world/visual field is seen as mere appearance (empty) hovering lucid and hologram like in Infinite Vastness (that can still be stage 3&4 Thisdell with separate-self well and alive, and that is why that is accesible via psychedelics) AND (2) each and any thought/feeling arising/"internal" mindstream event (including everything one believed oneself to be, I-feeling, I-thoughts, the whole history, the whole asking what is Reality/True Being, ALL of it) is seen as empty arising in Infinite Being/Nothingness/Consciousness. which means that ones mindstream is then conforming to the enlighened mindstream, or close to how Infinite Reality really is. Then Enlightenment can happen. But it can't be forced, since that would be thoughts with a thinker identified with them, with I-feelings, wanting something. Infinite Being/Consciousness has to understand itself, with no artifical activity/separate self trying to force it. At that point, the properties of the mindstream above can be automized, and this automatic meditation/mindfulness can be protected ("mindfulness without [artificial activity]"), element (1) of Nonmeditation Yoga, see Pointing out the Great Way, Brown). One doesnt't focus on anything (which Daniel Brown calls particularizing). This picking out something specific with attention (particularizing, the fastest process of the mind, way faster than thinking) is what creates Duality, or better disrupts the original nonduality. Instead, one watches how particularization happens, and transcends that in a way that the boundless nondual unity with/of the visual field is not interrupted. Element (2) of Nonmeditation Yoga, "do not take to mind". and then maintains and waits in that state. Meditation and Mindfulness in these awakened nondual states does itself. Enlightenment can't be forced, because who would do the forcing? Instead, the Infinite Vastness/Being can understand/realize itself (or its True Nature) when conditions are exactly right. That is then Enlightenment. Bye bye illusion-human, hello Infinite Being/Reality "having" a human,. Making the mindstream conform to the enlightened mindstream so that Enlightenment can happen is very important, because that part can be done by intelligent and informed practice. And that is why an efficient system is way faster, more efficient for most than and way more pleasent than a brute force approach like sitting an staring at the wall (brute force method), concentration or Koan-style. more likely to work than betting on just by having the right Karma and enough of the mere-appearance-infinite-character of the visual field and thought/feeling space in place already (Ramana, Anamanda Ma), and then some contemplation based on the already very much conforming mindstream Only those who needed to walked the steps can tell about the steps. Those are on top can mainly tell about how the properties of the roof are/what Truth is, but its more difficult to talk about steps that didn't have to be taken/climbed because they were already in place. The low success rate of the Enlightenment-endeavours in my perspective is due to mostly using brute-force-methods (which need lots and lots of willpower and pushing through negative emotions on the pillow) with no clear map of the steps of the path and the lots of cul-de-sacs of the path, or prodigy-approaches of telling about nature of True Being, but not offering a method path for average-gifted persons (Ramana for example). So, conforming to the enlightened mindstream mainly is: (1) Visual Field nondual, mere appearance, "hovering" in Infinite Vasteness/Infinity, being manifested/imagined right now (2) every thought arising/feeling arising is seen as emerging out of True Being/consciousness, made out of it, moving in it. Especially all thoughts/feelings relating to I/me. Feels impersonal, no separate indiduality found in any of that. And based on that the separate self (what one thought oneself to be) can be realized as mere flow of colours/appearances/feelings/thoughts (which have a very coherent and well made structure/Gestalt, and therefor are extremly hypnotizing and seem believeable) appearing in Oneself (Infinite Being), including the whole past, and that one IS the always here Infinite Eternal Field of Being/Consciousness. And the former separate-self is like the tree-picture in this wikipedia-article (below): A representation for something that appears (the tree), but has no independend existence apart from True Being (which is the nondual infinite eternal vastness of Being right here and now, with the body and mindstream having no different priority or separation from all that is). A well made illusion. The picture of the tree concept doesn't point to a real tree outside of consciousness (an object), but to shapes/colours of an imagined trees within Infinite Consciousness, not to real trees that exist outside of Infinite Being, self-existing/indepdently existing outside of consciousness. There are no trees, just the concept of them, and some imagined colours/forms/sensations giving the Gestalt of an appearance of atree. Same way, there is no human/separate-self beyond the appearance-Gestalt, and the concept pointing to such an imagined self-existing entity. There is only Infinite Being, not the human (which only appears in Infinite Being). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept There always ever was, is and can be the Totality of (true) Being, self-aware, perceptions perceiving themselves. Either with reflective-self-consciousness arising (like normal human mind stream), or just mere awareness of the Totality without the self-consciousness part, perceptions perceiving themselves. Aware, but not separate. The non reflective-pure awareness of this vast field/being is more fundamental than the temporary appearing self-consciousness (with I-feelings I-thoughts). The Awareness is the Sun, the reflective (self-) consciousness (I-feeling, I-thoughts) is the reflected light of the Sun on the planets. Basically, its replacing ones old mistaken identity (imagined false illusion separate-self) with the correct identity, Infinite timeless/eternal (always here) Being. The flow of the human mindstream with its practical thoughts and so on happen within Ones True Being. One has a human, but is not only the human. Thoughts or feelings of separation are known to be illusion. When that shift happen, this realization is always available by just reaching out, or immediately always present. The visual field IS mere appearance and lucid/hologram/groundless, it IS infinite, eternal always here. Thoughts and feelings ARE just floating in it, made out of it, and "it" is onself, nondual. And that can be felt all the time or by just checking/moving attention there. It can never really be unseen. Reality/True Being understands itself. It is beyond doubt, unshakable, deathless/immortal always here. And that is the kicker: One/True Being is literally immortal and infinite. Not the ego, but True Being with its nature of Awareness. One can never die, and nothing outside one self can truly threaten one, because there is no outside of oneself. Seriousness and danger is replaced with laughter and security. Resting in True Being generates bliss, even when approaching it in Thisdells stage 4. Its a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop: Cutting off thoughts, field nondual, bliss flows. Literally. And that reinforces the stability of Nondual mere appearance visual field even more. Awakening enchances awakening. Suffering/resistance to what is no longer grips in any form since a long time. If it moves within ones being, is seen and let go. Would the inherent bliss of True Being ever be exchanged with grasping for being an ET seeing more of manifested reality, but suffers because its not enlightened? (more on that later). That is a "hard" shift, it is not just thinking differently. It is for sure not "I am God and imagine all reality", which is just cosplay. It is Reality understanding itself, Infinite Being waking up to itself. What can do the understanding of that? Reality/Being/Infinite Consciousness. Waking up to its True Nature. That last shift is knowing what one really is, and that understanding/realization runs over a short period of time. Waking up. Happens only once. And is final. Is beyond doubt (since these would only be more thoughts/arisings moving within Reality and subsiding into it). The shifts/Awakenings leading towards it go over a longer time, many years. And then of course there are infinite forms of manifestation, ET n+1, with vastly more understanding of the relative manifestations, basking in their understanding of the imagination process, different dimensions, higher realms, non-euclidian space, completely other alien manifestation realms. Humans look like ants compared to that for sure. These beings have been reported since millenia, in all cultures, all times. Reality-creating and maintaining Gods (Brahman, Shiva, Vishnu and endless other names for them). But it is the same True YOU, the only Being or Awareness in existence. The same being. There is nothing outside of it. No other (being, God, alien). And one can have an unenlightened ET, not having realized what Reality really is. Beings of higher realms are not necessarily enlightened. That tale is as old as the spiritual traditions. Although many of these beings of higher planes are enlightened. An unenlightened ET (which by definition has separate-self-elements not transcended/seen through in real time, which are by definition nothing other than the elements resisting the now, or suffering in other words) is a rather sad and suffering figure compared to a being who has realized its True Infinite Being. Calling the lower higher, and the higher lower. Whose modus operandi is that again? But lets not end too serious: It is all an illusion-game, "nobody" really gets lost forever, and Maya smiles lovingly on all not-really-(self)-existing-but-just-appearing children of Reality, humans and ETs alike. Although it can appear & feel very real & serious. Selling Water by the River

For me that was the most tricky stage. One has to install an automized mindfullness-process that cuts of anything separate/I-feeling/I-thought automatically and fast enough, but can't use willful artificial activity for it (because that is separate-self/ego/thought process) again, and that is way too slow and cuts off Nonduality/Awakening). Best description for that stage I found is Brown, Pointing out the Great Way, chapter Nonmeditation. I had to read it dozens of times over the years to get the nuances... Jhanas also work, but in my opinion Mahamudra/Nonmeditation is more sophisticated and efficient. Historically, it was developed in Tibet over a long time with many many practitioners, while Theravada/Jhana looks for me more like way earlier Buddhism. Although it of course also works, see Frank Yang, Daniel Ingram and Roger Thisdell. But all(!) say that at the last stages they needed to add something like Dzogchen/Mahamudra/Do-Nothing meditation and not only willful concentration (artificial activity).