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I have been self inquiring for a while and until now I've realized that the Body refers to a bunch of sensations and the sound and the sight of the body which give it the known form. I am not a Body, I sense and percieve the Body. Also i don't see a difference between the body and not body. Same, just this form has sensations, nothing more. Then I contemplated about Am I a Thought??? And I can't know that, except i can experience what is a Thought. I couldn't even describe it but i could find a few qualities of it and observed it as it is. Then I asked where are thoughts? A thought said in the mind! So what the hell is this mind? Unlike thoughts which i could fairly observe them and recognize them, I didnt find anything called the mind. I found out that is it just and idea, a concept. And what is one of the qualities of the thought? It has Content. The content has ideas/concepts. So the mind itself is a thought. Or is it? I finally realized that i dont need to define the things I'm inquiring about because I'm not gonna write a book or teach about it or something.. i just need to observe it and experience it as it is. So i thought defining doesnt do any good in this work. A dictionary can do a much better job. About the ego, i don't think ego exists either. Where is it? What is it? It's just an idea. The symbole "I" as an subjective quality is just a reference to the one who experiences it. But is that the ego? Whats the difference between me and the ego? Then nonduality comes in..false and the True one is the same??? You might say it IS me. But isnt there a Self and a self? A True One and the false one? If the ego is the mind so it is an idea i guess. But why the hell i act like i am someone inside my brain? Because everyone acts like that in the conceptual society. Everyone talks thinks (they "think"?) as if they are bodies/minds. This brain that controls the body, which is also not me, is programmed this way to act. Actually i find self inquiring very enjoyable and very confusing and frustrating. What do you think about it? Also i found out that any answer to a question like "what am I" cannot answer the question, it just delays the question.

He's actually been in several different talks with people like Tolle and such talking Kundalini, nonduality, no self, etc. Seems legit... which is crazy to me because it's fucking Jim Carrey lol More like appearing psychotic

Thank you so much for this episode, Leo. It resonates with and reactivates the knowing from the fresh 5-MEO experience that happened this past weekend. When a human takes a powerful entheogen, there's no control of what the experience of the trip will be. It's like I was repeatedly fucking myself, giving birth to myself, and killing myself, and exploding to a timeless moment of nothingness. Imagine if all omnipotent GOD takes an entheogen, that would be the most infinite holy fuck of all time and space, with experience that's unimaginable and ineffable, the feelings created can be the most soul crushingly beautiful and insane mind shatteringly fucking brutal. The first trip was more challenging and scary, because going into it with fear, the fear will bleed into the experience and that "perfectly" becomes the lesson of that trip. Self-forgiveness and acceptance was the main theme of that first experience, it also serves as a purging, clearing, and opening for future experience. There's no right or wrong way of navigating this reality, only the conditioned ego mind comes in, put values on any experience, and judge it as good or bad. That's a very powerful realization. Even though it was a fucking scaring first experience, it's all worth it because of the contrasting beautiful, love, peace, and knowledge on the other end. One cannot happen without the other, the both ends of the same stick, no matter how you try to cut one end, there's always 2 ends of 1 thing. If I listen to the bullshit of the reconstructed ego, I would not have done a second session the next morning. The feeling or knowing I got from the first experience told me I have more work to do, and I plunge myself into a second ceremony the next day. The second ceremony was even more intense, coming into it with the openness and rawness of the first one. YOU CANNOT DO SURRENDERING! Don't try to remember to surrender or give up, because "YOU" CAN NEVER DO IT! If you think you "surrender", you have not "surrender". Surrender and death happens simultaneously, and that's when you're home... home with nothingness, peaces beyond words, and acceptance of all thing, including the small self and the ego that the ego has practicing and trying so hard to surrender. No one can express oneness and nonduality, no one. There's no sense, perception, or tool a human being have to touch it. It's only when the human construct is not around then THAT IS, just IS. When coming down from peak, massive download of wisdom happened. I continue to experience reactivation and the understanding are still coming 2 days later... There's a lot of uncontrollable crying and intense laughing, it's both fucking hilarious and beautiful. All this BS words I've just shared, cannot be understood by the ego mind. I was on the other side, so I know I've tried. I've been there before the veil drops, so I know how strong, cunning, and aggressive the ego is, so arrogantly think I could figure this out on my own. Yeah, by the way, you can't figure this out, but you can't help it anyways, so just keep doing what you do for the time being, until you're ready to truly do the work and die. You cannot be there and experience God, the process has to annihilate you, then there is. There magnitude of God's hallucination or imagination will make you go insane. The human civilization can begin and end for billions and billions of years, and yet it's no time for God. It's scary when you imagine this human drama of pleasure and suffering can keep repeating for not millions of cycle, but billions and billions of cycle, and yet it's no time and nothing for God. I have to apologize for sharing all these BS words, because it "impossible" to put them into words, just like you try to explain the concept of nothing or infinity, both can never be explained by "something" that is also "finite". All these are just residue experience of the real thing in words. If I can only share one thing here in this reality or going into that reality, is TRUST and LOVE, and just let the process take over you, you HAVE NOT FUCKING CONTROL anyways... just trust and love, remind the ego self, trust and love. The ego cannot be gone in this realm of human interaction. You don't have to or need to make it pleasant for yourself or anyone, BUT, if you so inclined to, put in a virus or trojan horse into the ego, and infect everyone with Trust and Love. It would be like the come down phase of the 5-MEO, when you realize that you like to remind yourself and each other, it's all a game, everything before, now, and forever, is just God's ultimate trip. Love and Trust to you all, brothers and sisters, and you, that sneaky bastard who hides behind all these mask. LOL!

People these days seem to take very seriously the idea of the ego, the idea of consciousness, the idea of presence, the idea of nonduality, the idea of enlightenment, the idea that we are EVERYTHING and NOTHING at the same time. But really these are all just concepts. Has anyone else come to this conclusion? Like, 'spirituality' is just a word which doesn't mean anything. We might as well call it...i don't know, "salad" or "frog"... I sure as hell never cared about all this shit when I was a kid, and it would have struck me as bizarre and pretentious at the time, so why am I so focused on it at this point in my life? I like to think for myself, and throughout all my life I have never experienced myself as 'nothing' or 'everything' .... rather as "SOMETHING"... This is what I am - something. Those who experience themselves as 'everything' are narcissistic and solipsistic, and those who experience themselves as 'nothing' are nihilistic. Ever since I started thinking about how to get rid of my ego, I've just built it up over the years. But in reality there is no such thing as the ego. I think the whole idea of the ego is a result of overthinking. There never was any need to have this concept in my life. Like when Eckhart Tolle describes someone as egotistical for reacting angrily to a situation, it's just a concept of what he happens to believe is egotistical. Again, as with 'spirituality' it's just a word which doesn't mean anything. And as for presence, or being 'in the now', while this can be useful, it is not the be-all and end-all either - because regression and fantasy are both essential facets of being human. Regression (reliving the past) can help to heal trauma, for example, and fantasising is congruent with visualising a better future. Sorry for the rant, but I've just been thinking... And like I say, I like to think for myself...and although I have described myself in the past as 'spiritual', I would actually be embarrassed to say it in front of most people in real life because I wouldn't be being true to myself.

Well said. This is the rationale of awakened teachers that use this approach. I've found that relaxing my personality via yoga, exercise, meditation, journaling etc. allows for a better space for the dissolution of the personality and heightened awareness. I think the key is: when the personality is relaxed, are you working toward reinforcing it, or transcending it? I like how Lisa Cairns explains it. . . after her nondual awakenings became abiding, she tried to teach people to awaken in one big shot. She found that students became confused, rebellious, depressed and suffered. About 2 years ago, her strategy evolved. She now teaches about 50% personal healing/improvement and 50% nonduality. She says this is much more effective in helping people to wake up.

Nonduality and enlightenment are just fun to talk about...so why not be here?

@Mondsee There are tons of awakened women. Many teach small retreats and have youtube stations. For example, check out the science and nonduality list - lots of women. There was also an actualized thread on awakened women. It was enormous - I think well over 100 women.

@StardewValley Not disturbed, just misunderstanding. Someone realized nonduality, that they are All, God, and of course, they tell people about this realization. In this realization, someone realized they were not born, and will never die - so they “realized and escaped the mental masturbatory cycle of life & death.” They were never being born & dying, and they simply realized it. You are not stuck, you simply misunderstood. ?

Can’t talk about nonduality but duality can be disguised. Right dude?

That’s low bro lol ? No I’m not talking about nonduality. That would be kinda a waste. Just speaking about self deception and being able to recognize its many forms. Because you referred to self deception and being able to detect.

This is a confusion I have about nonduality. When I say multiple, I mean one consciousness living itself from different angles?

Hello! First, thank you Leo for sharing the work and insights, I find your content great and helpful. Today when i was in bathroom one idea came to my mind. A kind of an analogy. Somehow I came to realization that Leo's style of explaining many concepts, mental images etc. is a sort of mind training. Using the muscles make muscles stronger. Doing exercises. Trying different coordination techniques as dancing, some sport. It all makes a person more stronger and powerful physically. Their spectrum of body movement and physical possibilities would broaden. There is specialization(some olympic disciplines as trowing discs) and there are more general athletes - doing wide range of exercises for overall athletic abilities. It improves competence for doing physical stuff. If you just lie on a bed your muscles would become weaker, they would atrophy, and you would have more difficult life - which would result in neurotic conditions. I have a medical condition called spinal muscular atrophy - and i find it great that i have a chance of becoming more powerful by training my mind to use many concepts. Neurons in the brain are a sort of muscles too. Using more of them makes them stronger. And i guess the statement "knowledge is power" is about that. It broadens your possibilities. You manipulate a little bit more of the reality. You have similar benefits as you would be physically stronger. Ideally, of course is better to have both if neuroticism and weakness is considered bad. I am guessing people who look for self help have in some sense atrophied minds. Leo's sharing insights is broadening our minds. I see science as a tool to broaden concepts even further. We are limited to our senses. In science we can use some machine to collect some hidden information from reality. Result is more concepts. More power. More competence. A person with 20 concepts can outsmart, outplay, sell more to the person with 13 concepts. Chess is a good example. ... I could write about this till tomorrow. One question... many of us will become old and weak. Losing neurons too. Can we avoid neurotic behavior in that age, being mindfull etc? Reducing the suffering? ________________________________ Opening 3-4 topics today seems like spam. So i would type few more offtopic questions. If the reality is consciousness - does reality have an ego too? Philosophical view Idealism its pretty similar view btw. On duality - non duality... Einsteins theory of relativity reminded me of the concept spacetime . Could we potentially call nonduality and reality -> matterconsciousness or consciousnessmatter? I think about a sine wave curve , amplitudes give the illusion of duality, but there is just The line.

I’m not using the term as an “absolute” awakening. Rather that there are various genres of awakening experiences. The one I referred to above was in the “ego-death” genre of awakening. All ego, self, language, thoughts, concepts, ideas, meaning etc. were removed. The entire story of who I am dissolved and there was no “me”. There was still object perception, yet the relationship with the object was completely different. I could get all conceptual about nonduality, the illusory self, no-self and cut-and-paste pages of Buddhist text. All that stuff is great as a supportive framework for the direct experience. Yet, years of conceptualizing and a hundred books of theory can’t compare to the direct experience. It’s like direct experience “knowing” is in a container of conceptual “knowng”. A container of conceptual knowledge without direct expience is like an empty closed container. It lacks the substance of true direct experience substance. It lacks fullness and appears very shallow to me. As well, I’ve found that direct experience can shatter attachment to ideology and open a person up to wonder and curiosity to explore.

Well I think Leo and I are a lot alike. He seems to have consumed a hell of a lot more books then I have and tasted the depths of nonduality through dmt and personal practice. I've meditated for the past 15 years, been apart of a few spiritual communities and focused my attention on understanding truth. I've consumed little books but listened for hours to awakened teachers. Some mushroom experiences were also very helpful in waking up. Leo seems to be in a "unfiltered with a slight edge" phase of wanting the world to change and having a little frustration with the closeness of human minds. If used this energy is used correctly it can help people, but also turn off if not wielded right (so far I can see that his heart is still in the right place). This is not a critisism but just a little observation that could be full of shit haha as he puts it in his latest video.

@seeking_brilliance What I meant was that whatever emotions we feel are just experiences based on the metaphysical connection we realize with something else. That's what's going on behind the scenes. When you look at examples of true love, unconditional love... that phenomenon usually happens when you recognize deep sameness between yourself and something or someone else. Why does a parent (mother especially) feel unconditional love with their child? Because they realize that child IS them, in a certain sense. So in a way all love is self-love. Love breaks down the barriers that the ego created, and recognizes the deep sameness. The more I brought up examples and contemplated this, the more I realized that love in essence is the reconnection between mind (this is all mind-stuff after all). What you perceive as the feeling of love (and of course from a human's perspective, this is a complicated emotion that arises in so many ways), is really YOU (infinite being) breaking down barriers and reconnecting with yourself. Think of it like open communication with all parts of your being. That's an immensely pleasurable feeling. "The self cannot love" is a true statement and not contradictory. Making the distinction of "The self" fundamentally separates "you" from "other." That is what's usually called ego. I hope that makes more sense with my definition of love in the above paragraph. "All love is self-love" is a true statement, because there is nothing other than you. But we're seeing that language (symbols) breaks down when talking about nonduality. It's kind of a whacky strange loop. The first statement is from the perspective of separateness, the second statement is from the perspective of the universe. So in summary, love is MUCH more than just a feeling. The feelings are secondary, the primary process is metaphysical connection. And what is connection taken to its furthest point? The convergence of multiple parts into one... With this definition, you'll quickly see that a lot of what you once thought of as "love" is just hormones, and that true love becomes easier to spot. I think it's simple yet profound.

The various aspects of this "infinite playdoh" or void. That love, intelligence, and consciousness are fundamental. There's many facets to this, and each realization is separate from nonduality, almost like a subset.

I think lucid dreaming is like jail-breaking your mind. even tho its much more widespread than nonduality and LoA, probably because it is easier to achieve. its also as you called LoA, a 'low-grade' hack. I think non-duality is the ultimate jail-break tho, the hack that deletes the whole system lol (including the hacker)

No I get you. Brian’s content just doesn’t resonate with me and my personality. I personally resonate more with Leos content and focus on combining nonduality and personal development in a very explicit, non apologetic, bigger picture way. I had Brian’s app but didn’t like it. Glad it works for you! @Gabriel Antonio @Emerald Thanks. Yeah I feel you guys might be right. I’d need to move out of the San Francisco Bay Area which I both do and don’t want to do but I’ll figure out something I guess...

I’ve had enlightened experiences, but I am not enlightened. The enlightened state is transient and not maintained. However, it has altered my perspective in my unenlightened state. One becomes skeptical to the point everything gets deconstructed and you die. I recommend watching Leo’s recent blog video on skepticism and Nonduality, He explains the process better than I can. To my self, the process is at times beautiful, terrifying, liberating, loving, sad, lonely, connected. There came a point of no return. I can no longer say “Ya know what, I tried this spiritual thing for a while now and it’s just not working for me. I think I’ll try something else”. There was a time I could have turned away, yet I no longer can. I’ve tried several times and can’t. I guess I have to take this to the end. It’s both exciting and scary.

I wouldn’t want to do it alone. I would want to be at a Turquoise-level institution with awakened beings where we integrate science, metaphysics and nonduality. This area is just starting to emerge, yet is still considered fringe pseudo-science. If I evolve high enough, I may become a pioneer in this field - yet right now it looks unattainable and too risky to me. Personally, I would like to investigate if mutations are nonrandom and some paranormal phenomena. Yet, my institution wouldn’t be open to that. Yet, if I develop more confidence, I might try to pull it off. Yet stage Yelow stuff is lots of fun to and my institution is very supportive at that level. They just don’t like any whoo whoo stuff.

@Joseph Maynor The deeper level is seeing it’s all “bullshit”. All the religion, science, philosophy, buddhist theory, Maya, psychology etc. The problem of the human mind is it can’t see it’s own bullshit. All thought and concepts are bullshit - the problem is when a mind believes it’s true. I just watched a Shinzen Young video. Great insights, yet he has deeper levels to go. He seems to believe what he is saying. Believing in your thoughts and concepts is as psychotic as believing in an imaginaty friend. Our minds are writting creative stories. It can be a creative story about the planet Zarcon and how the jimlee beings interact within their space and how they interact with the camlin beings. We could creativly write about their social structures, experiences, emotions, diet - what is good and bad etc. Yet at the end of the day we could walk away from the writing, realize it is just fantasy and get back to our “real” life. It is *much* harder to realize that all of our own thoughts and concepts about “real” life is also just fantasy bullshit. All of it. I thought Leo’s blog video on skepticism and nonduality was brilliant. IMO, he can go to Alan Watts level depth, yet with his own unique expression/approach.

@sarapr Excellent questions. Th scientific method involves formulating a testable hypothesis, making predictions, gathering and interpreting data, modifying the original hypothesis. Beyond the method, the scientist would strive to place the data into a model, which in turn would be placed within a larger model. For example, placing data of protein interactons into a model of cell division regulation which is placed into a larger model of cancer. Each point above is filled with subjectivity and biases. Scientists admit this to an extent (for example using double blind studies). Yet they are unaware of how deep the subjetivity/bias runs. It’s difficult for scientists to study the greater truth because science is *within* the greater truth. If there is one everything and there is no-thing, how can a scientist step outside of everything to objectively study some thing? Science is a great tool to study the nature of reality. It is useful, yet limited. How can we make science better? I’d say by increasing our awareness of how science fits within a larger holistic view. To acknowledge that we scientists use metaphysics in our work. To acknowledge how little we understand about reality - and not just about the details of protein interactions in cancer cells - also fundamental aspects of reality. To give up the scientists’ obsession with controlling the narrative and to give up power as the arbitrator of truth. To be open minded about how intuition can increase our ability to conduct science. To see science as one tool to study the nature of reality and combine this tool with other constructive tools in psychology and philosophy. More importantly, we should combine constructive science tools with deconstructive tools found in nonduality, mysticism, metaphysics etc. *Disclaimer: I was a life-long scientist within the scientific paradigm before escaping the trap a couple years ago.

@LaraGreenbridge You are clear, understanding, knowing, what the word nonduality points to?

Context: I am 10 days away from a planned Bufo Alvarius session with Octavio Rettig in Spain. Since the retreat organisers strictly state: "no drugs a week before", I thought now might be a good time to trip existentially once so that I breakthrough successfully later Dosage: 400ug LSD Insights: I became aware of the Fact, that Being is Infinite, in all dimensions, everywhere It became glaringly obvious to me how consciousness is a 'shapeshifter' as Leo put it. It has no attributes whatsoever, so it can be everything The residue of my materialist, rationalist paradigm was completely shattered. I encountered this with my 24ug 5-MeO trip before, but there it was more of a shock and I didn't have time to grasp the repercussions of the insight. But now, on LSD, this insight was concretized gradually, such that I cannot deny it anymore. Consciousness is fundamental to reality and existence, not atoms and molecules. Holy fucking shit! Are you kidding me?! I'm an engineer, man! I became aware of the ego, and it is just so much bullshit! Infinite degree of self-deception. I feel that I cannot take anything literally anymore, because the Devil will misconstrue it, even if it is a teaching about enlightenment. Pure irreducible being is all that can be trusted. I feel that there is nowhere to hide anymore. And nowhere to go. What's even the point of lying and bullshitting?! (Of course, I will come up with reasons later) I became conscious of what Nonduality really means. Holy fucking shit! I cannot be jealous of, criticise or judge anything ever again (of course I will find a way) My entire life and being has been completely recontextualized. I understand why they call it 'emptiness' and why people say stuff like 'God is!, saying anything more is already misleading'. My fears: I had originally thought that I would try doing self-inquiry in the dark and face my fears, but the things mentioned above just blew all my plans away But after having all these insights, it became clear to me that what I feared truly wasn't some scary phenomenon or a crazy mindfuck, but the lack of a first person perspective! So I returned to the same position where I was at the end of my 5-MeO trip, knowing that I need to surrender this sense of self, getting close, but failing to do so. Again, so much bullshit here, I became aware of how I'm escaping doing the really important work and instead thinking if I can come up with more insights or something. It really felt like I'm fighting an invisible dragon, as Leo described, but it is just..tough What's next: The Bufo Alvarius ceremony, of course! I hope the drug is powerful, because this ego structure I have is a fucking beast. It will not die! Just wanted to share this. If there is anything I'm misconstruing or doing incorrectly, then please let me know. One obvious mistake I made was to trip on a Sunday evening. This gives me no time to sit and reflect upon my insights, but I had to study for an important test before (of course, it is not important at all, in a way)

If it does not allow you to question/be open to duality and nonduality (or other mind bending (un?)realities), then yeah, you've got a demon, alright.