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School/college has all the wrong focus. No attention paid to what really matters: practical psychology, nonduality, self-mastery, holistic understanding, love, consciousness.

Modern folks tend to re-invent the wheel a lot in ignorance when it comes to psychology or spirituality. It's ironic because psychology and spirituality have been fully understood by humans since over 5000 years ago. It's very simple and it's virtually unanimous. The core problem is simple: ego The core solution is also simple: realize that ego is an illusion God is what remains when ego is realized to be an illusion. There cannot be true freedom until this is realized. God is not a set of patterns or universal laws. God is not logic. God is indiscriminate and unbounded, whereas patterns and laws and logic are limitations, facets of Absolute Infinity. This technique they share may be helpful on a practical level, but remember, there are much deeper and more profound things to discover. If we're gonna boil down reality to one thing, it should be CONSCIOUSNESS, not logic. What this video is doing is sorta making a weak version of spirituality palatable to rational-minded people who normally dismiss spirituality and religion because of its packaging. But actually these people do not understand the deep core of all religious and mystical traditions and how practical and therapeutic it is. Modern culture needs things packaged in "logic" in order for people to swallow it. Which is actually a big part of the problem because logic is a tool of the ego. The problem with trying to rationalize nonduality/reality is that it will always ultimately fail, because rationalization is conceptual in nature, and reality is beyond concepts. What would really help people watching this video is to let go of their need for logic, concepts, thinking, rationality, science, and evolution. Now that would be a really counter-intuitive move, and lead to an amazing transformation!

Yes, nihilism is a good counter-point. Several problems may arise however: 1) Confusing nihilism with reality or the nondual point of view. Giving people the wrong impression and leading them to think that nonduality is a philosophical position. 2) Have you actually thought through the radical implications of nihilism? Really think it through. Try to actually embody it. 3) Many people are turned off by it, so it's not good from the perspective of marketing.

From the Orange stage, paranormal phenomena cannot exist. Orange is ego-driven, and paranormal phenomena are very subtle. So the ego cannot discern them, because it dismisses them as irrational, impossible, and "pseudo-scientific", and also paranormal phenomena are very difficult to employ towards materialistic needs or desires like money or sex, in the way that stage Orange envisions (although some rotten mystics still manage to do it). So you're not likely to use psychic powers to win the lottery. The reason Sadhguru -- or any other masterful teacher of nonduality -- do not openly discuss or encourage paranormal development -- is because they know that it can be a path of delusion and distraction. It's like shiny object the ego likes to chase and try to abuse. Also, people who have paranormal abilities do not go around talking about it with random strangers because they would just be dismissed as New Age kooks. But if you think back into your own life, you can actually probably remember meeting a person who told you something paranormal, but you dismissed it as naivete on their part. Well, you might have to re-examine that judgment. Maybe it was right under your nose the whole time, but you ignored it. I've personally met multiple highly conscious/spiritually developed people who have paranormal abilities. But they consider it totally normal. And they're very grounded and rational people. Peter Ralston, for example, used psychic abilities to help him in this martial arts to win the full-contact championship in Asia in the 70's. People got killed in those tournaments sometimes, Bloodsport-style. He told me he could "know" the intent of his attacker prior to the attacker himself knowing it! How can you lose if you know every move a second in advance? Well... he never lost, from what I hear You do not wanna mess with him! Some of his opponents would refuse to even enter the ring after watching him warming up! Lol He doesn't mention it much because he knows its a distraction for your ego. Now you want psychic powers to abuse. But it doesn't really work that way. Almost every highly advanced enlightened person I've met has reported some kind of paranormal abilities or phenomena to me. Not that I explicit try to drag it out of them. Usually it's pretty subtle stuff. And it just gets mentioned as casual aside. As in, "Oh, yeah... by the way, I can heal people." What?!!! In the Eastern traditions, Sorcerer Yogis are quite a common path. Some people devote their entire lives to it. In the West, we have various schools and long-running traditions of occultism. It all makes a hell of a lot of sense if you just study and research broadly enough, practice meditation, and have an enlightenment experience or two. Reality is not a classical Newtonian physical system. It's a mystical, infinite, conscious singularity that defies all logic. But don't believe me. Go discover for yourself what's true.

Yeah... This guy sure is doing a great job of NOT understanding nonduality. 1) Evil is a thought. It doesn't exist in the external world. Nothing is ever evil except in so far as it threatens a particular human ego. This is not a opinion, this is reality. And it's obvious to anyone with sufficient consciousness. Evil can only exist relative to an ego. 2) Solipsism is not nonduality. The guy in the video is committing the classic naive mistake of conflating nonduality with an ideology. It's not an ideology and never can be. To read a book about nonduality does not create any true knowing. 3) He claims that for solipsism (nonduality) there is no objective truth. This is false. There is ONLY Absolute Truth, which is Absolute Infinity. It's not merely subjective. It's utterly universal. So universal the human mind cannot even fathom it. 4) It is a fact that nothing can truly be known. We don't actually know what anything is. Everything is unknown. The mind only spins stories about it. 5) Evil stems from judgments and the kind of mindset this guy espouses. He doesn't understand unconditional love, nor does it seem he's ever experienced it because that requires high degrees of awareness which he doesn't seem to have. 6) This guy is ideological. 7) The woman was just being polite (and compassionate) with him not to flare up his obvious ego. 8) To a naive ego, nonduality appear egotistical, but actually the opposite is true. When I claim I am God, that's actually a very humble position. But the ego likes to attack that as arrogant. It's sad to see modern skeptics executing skepticism so poorly. He would be better off applying his own skepticism to himself. True skepticism means: suspension of all belief or judgment about truth, because it cannot be reliably ascertained through the mind. A real skeptic would be skeptical of judgments of evil. After all, how would he know a thing was truly evil? By what method? Moral judgments are the least agreed upon. 30 mg of 5-meo up his nose would solve his whole problem Nonduality can only be found directly through experience, not theorizing.

This thread is being locked. Here's why: No. There will be no spiritual warfare here. It's juvenile and unproductive. I have no interest in engaging in it, nor do I have any interest in moderating such debates. I have no problem with anyone who wants to constructively discuss nonduality, but not for purposes of debate or self-promotion. You can do that somewhere else. Please keep in mind that the ultimate form of nonduality doesn't nitpick and fight with duality or other methods of nonduality, but comfortably includes all and understands the diversity and challenges of any teaching that tries to get across something so challenging, nuanced, and ethereal. I encourage anyone who is a student of nonduality and really cares about truth, to not make this about anyone or anything but yourself. Turn inward and explore your own behaviors, your own consciousness, your own projections, your own ego. A huge trap in this work is making it about personalities, sects, philosophy, rivalry, taking sides, questioning other's motives, name-dropping, etc. Resist that urge and seek to understand the full picture of what's going on. I don't exclude myself from this advice. Stay open and do not make this journey ideological. There are MANY valid and diverse forms of nondual practice and theory. No one form is suitable for all people.

@Travis @Feeble Dave Hey guys. Correct, no real prior experience with any psychedelics. The only significant experience I have had before was drugs was weed (2-3 years regular smoking)... obviously this did in no way prepare me for this. Like I mention in my initial post, I am in this purely to supplement my meditation practice; I had never considered psychedelics a genuine aid to this practice (always associated psychedelics with hallucinations etc). Leo'a video changed this for me; as I started looking into it this was the first time I learned about the "void" etc. in literature... this was a bit of an "aha" moment for me... I actually had experienced this state in meditation in January 2016 (discussed in original post). For me personally, my strict meditation practice as well as contemplative nonduality reading was my only preparation. At this point in my practice, I know what it is to let go... all those reservations you have in your head about the drug are just that. I think if you were ready, you'd have a gut feel - if that makes sense. Having experienced the boundaries of my body fade in meditation, and my awareness expand, gave me a lot of confidence when reading the trip reports... i can't say I've experimented with higher doses yet (and probably won't be for a few weeks), nor can I say I've optimised my snorting technique (Leo's post above), but still what I experienced on 12mg was similar (as predicted) to that which I had experienced in meditation. One worry I did have though was that I'd slip into an unconscious where maybe I'd start shouting or screaming or something ridiculous like you read in the bad trip reports. To mitigate this worry, I did this in an empty detached house, in the middle of the night (I feel calmest around the ). In lieu of an experienced trip sitter, I did this alone. My advice; be patient - don't rush into doing it. Find somewhere where you can feel cosy, comfortable, warm, safe and secure. Put your mind to rest as best you can. Get an accurate set of mg scales. Start with a very small dose 1-2mg. Then 5mg. Then 10mg. Don't jump straight into the heavy weights just in case!! Once it's snorted be ready to say "fuck it, I've done it, let's go with whatever happens". Let whatever you experience happen. Have a sick bucket ready just in case... . Prepare, but at the same time don't stress yourself out about it. If you start off at the shallow end and go into this with some maturity, I'm sure you will be OK. A good and consistent meditation practice and donduality contemplative work is your best long-term prep in my opinion. In regard to the heart question, this simply wasn't a worry of mine, although maybe it should have been... I am very active (ran 10 half marathons this year), and follow a vegan diet... rapid heart beat in exercise is something I'm very used to... my diet also gives me confidence in my heart health. In my experience with the substance, the fast heart beat was noticeable, but nothing on what you might experience say running a steep gradient uphill... although if you're not used to it, i can see why this might freak some people out a lot - particularly if you're in a unusual "trip" state so to speak. I imagine that might feel most unnerving! Hope this helps, like I said before, I'm not an experienced psychonaut by any means... but I would consider myself psychologically stable & mature.

Regarding loneliness: this can be a common pitfall. If I were you, I would make sure to read up on some good litterature on nonduality, to make sure I don't fall into the common pifalls: nihilism etc. Here is a link that addresses the problem of utter loneliness: https://books.google.no/books?id=DBpDDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT131&lpg=PT131&dq=solipsism+and+the+question+of+others+after+awareness&source=bl&ots=2yln5gPsMf&sig=MhOJ2Iao0F6HRKMonpO8Gddpw70&hl=no&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCqIzd1u7PAhXLCCwKHd7RD_AQ6AEIJjAB#v=onepage&q=solipsism%20and%20the%20question%20of%20others%20after%20awareness&f=false

@jse There's no contradiction really. Most people will never become enlightened through 5-meo because they do not combine it properly with study and practice of nonduality. Like I said in the 5-meo video, a few trips on 5-meo will NOT make you enlightened. I have yet to meet a traditional non-dual teacher who has tried heavy doses of 5-meo. So the fact is, they do not know what 5-meo is capable of. Nor do you, unless you've tried it. So keep your mind open. Also, 5-meo should not be confused with psychedelics at large. It's a totally different beast. Lumping 5-meo together with "psychedelics" is like lumping together NASA's Saturn V rocket with toy rockets for kids you find in hobby shops. One is capable of breaking out of Earth's gravity consistently, the other is not. When I said that psychedelics will not produce enlightenment, that is generally true for most people. And my top concern was that people listening not get deluded off their self-inquiry paths. It's very hard to talk about all this stuff with you guys because almost no matter what I say, it will get abused by one group of people or another. Those who hate psychedelics will abuse it. Those who love psychedelics will abuse it. Because that's the hallmark of low quality consciousness. It doesn't listen with nuance. It seems very difficult for people do the following 2 things in combination: Self-inquiry High doses of 5-meo Instead what people wanna do is take sides and pick ideological fights. But I guarantee that if you did both, consistently, your life would transform in unimaginable ways very quickly.

@Key Elements I just don't see what spiral dynamics has to do with afterlife. Spiral dynamics is about THIS life. So is nonduality. It's about the NOW. Speculating about the afterlife isn't very practical or wise. You are still speaking from a position of duality. "There was blackness... I was pulled through a black hole... etc". That's all duality. That's all phenomena. This is the trap of spiritualism and powerful mystical experiences, they tend to create some sort of Cosmic Other, and then fantasies about it. What I would say it that if you delved deeper into exploring the NOW, deconstructing the ego and all phenomenal experience, you would stop talking about afterlives and all questions would be answered in a way that you cannot presently imagine. And this would seem far superior to you than all the speculations and illusions you subscribed to before.

@Key Elements Once you become conscious that everything is nondual, you can have all the phenomena and lives and deaths you want, and it doesn't matter because it's all you. You don't think of yourself as a body or soul or mind at that point. All of that is seen as illusion. Every single phenomena is seen through. You have to first experience that consciousness is Absolutely Infinite. Then you'll understand. Until then, you will not, and you will get attached to various phenomena, whether it be this life or a past life or some idea you have of a future life. These kinds of considerations only make sense in a dualistic model, which is utterly false. If Coral stage means anything, it should resemble something like the realization and embodiment of complete nonduality. Which means the end of all questioning and speculating about past or future lives. Nonduality is the ultimate end of the road. EVERYTHING BECOMES YOU! The completeness is TOTAL! ABSOLUTELY INFINITE! The significance of this realization cannot be overstated. Not only did you have past lives, and future lives, you LITERALLY ARE absolutely EVERYTHING that ever existed or could possibly exist, all of it SIMULTANEOUSLY. From every bacteria and virus to all the dinosaurs in history, to every creature and non-creature that will ever be born or imagined in all the fiction novels written by all the humans and non-humans until the heat-death of this universe, and all the universes that could ever exist. EVERYTHING IS YOU! And nothing is you. What else is there to know? It's everything you could have possibly wanted. It's infinity!

irrelevance implies that there is relevance. true emptiness (nonduality) doesn't imply either. it is your ego that is projecting this negative feeling of meaninglessness. meaninglessness only has value when there is the underlying assumption that other meaningful things also exist. if you take away the whole conceptual paradigm, life becomes very free.

The Vampire's Code You know how in the movies, vampires cannot enter into your house without first being invited inside? Be like a vampire when it comes to discussing nonduality. Avoid talking about this stuff with friends and family unless they specifically ask you about it. There are lots of sleepwalkers out there that are simply not ready to hear this stuff. It may cause them to lash out in a somnambulistic rage, or in a perverted way, make the "principles" of nonduality somehow fit in their own egoic belief system(s). If you do preach nonduality to friends and family, you may want to dig below the surface and experientially grasp why you do it. If you're honest, you may find that you yourself have twisted these teachings into your own belief system, and this is your new way of defining yourself as a separate self. There's nothing wrong with that, if that's the case. Just become aware of it. If you have the urge to talk about nonduality, that's what this forum is for. Practice the vampire's code starting today, and save yourself a lot of trouble.

It's the exact same perspective. This perspective is called nonduality/enlightenment. What's really life-changing to actually experience enlightenment, not to believe in it or to think about it. Actual enlightenment will totally blow your socks off. So work towards it. You cannot do what Tolle talks about without actually experiencing enlightenment.

@Silvester I've been reading Murakami for years, after starting meditation, I realized how he touches on solitude, meditation, self-inquiry/ meaninglessness of senses / nonduality in nearly every book he wrote. It's like he was instilling these subconsciously! But before realizing that I really enjoyed his novels too. So novels can both entertain you and help you break the boundaries, and achieve a higher state of consciousness. So if you like writing, don't stop! What you go through will find its way into your work for sure!

Study nonduality and study Islam. Have an enlightenment experience or two. It's obvious. The Sufi's have a great description of Enlightenment/Nothingness: fana al fana (the passing away of the passing away.) In the case of the Bible, it was written by followers who were clearly never enlightenment. Jesus did not write the Bible. The Bible is also contaminated by many political agendas. But even so, you can still find many references to enlightenment in the Bible if you understand what enlightenment is. Spiritual books are not written for modern scientific materialist rationalist minds. Your rationalist mindset is in many ways a modern disease. Modern humans have lost the ability to interpret symbols and metaphors, which is what all spiritual teachings are. They are not meant to be scientific because you CANNOT scientifically model Truth or God or any other deep spiritual insights. Be careful about imposing your own modern-era mindsets and biases onto cultures and peoples of 2000 years ago. They were in many ways far more advanced that we are. They were much more open to direct consciousness, whereas our heads are filled with "scientific" beliefs and models, none of which are absolutely true, and leave the mind closed to direct consciousness. Just because YOU want the Bible to say, "THIS IS ENLIGHTENMENT" doesn't mean it should. If a painting of Jesus with a halo around his head isn't glaringly obvious to you, then you really have a lot of research to do. The laws are actually not cruel but merciful, relative to the time of human history we are talking about. In those days, you could get you head chopped off on a whim. Religion actually established humane rules by which to structure civilization. Of course, in 2016, some of those laws look outdated.

Thank you. But why do people talk of "enlightenment experiences" and "nondual experiences?" Like how in your psychedelics video, you talked about how you could actually feel the nonduality. Is there a difference between enlightenment itself, and an enlightenment experience?

Oh, well, yeah. Of course you could. Look at Scientology Of course every religion is dogmatic and limited. It's a partial, incomplete understanding of nonduality. You gotta understand that 2000 years ago, given the state of humanity back then, this was a huge advance. Islam was a very peaceful and civilizing force back in the Middle East of 2000 years ago, when neighboring tribes were raping and pillaging each other left and right with no sense of decency, worshiping dozens of various deities. Today of course, it's very outdated, and there are MUCH better techniques and conceptual frameworks available for reaching enlightenment (God).

No, it is actually not possible. Because all thoughts are illusory and false. The mind cannot access Absolute Truth by definition. Any symbolic representation you make of the Truth will never be the Truth itself. So Truth is always hidden by language & beliefs. Science is no better. You can have a perfect description of the Truth in scientific terms but it will still be 100% untrue. So science is not any more accurate than religion when it comes to grasping Absolute Truth. There is no approach possible for Absolute Truth. Which is why so few people every grasp it. The only way is to step outside the mind. But that requires consciousness, which is lacking, which is the whole problem. Hehe, it's so obvious if you actually do self-inquiry and study nonduality. It's just so freaking obvious! There's nothing subjective about it at all. It seems subjective to you because you are operating on the level of the mind: beliefs & thoughts. None of which can get you access to Absolute Truth, which is what God is. What Islam is talking about is the only thing in the world that is NOT subjective. God is the only objective thing there is. That's what makes it God! It's infinite! There is nothing outside it. It covers everything!

@Baul Sorry, that was a typo. It takes you OUT of empiricism when you think of somethings has empirical or rational. That's rationalism. True empiricism is so empirical it has no name or category or opposite. You can also call it phenomenological. No, most modern everyday knowledge is HIGHLY empirical. Which is why it's useful. Science is effective because it is highly empirical and sticks close to the facts. Well... within the confines of the limited scientific paradigm. When it comes to nonduality, we are talking about ABSOLUTE TRUTH, not scientific everyday knowledge. ABSOLUTE means that you get to realize the very structure of existence. Which is infinite and impossible to grasp in any intellectual way whatsoever. You will NEVER grasp it with mind alone. This is a TOTALLY different endeavor than you've ever encountered. So throw all your ideas and beliefs out the window. You need to kill all notions of understanding or intellectualizing. They are all false (despite being useful for everyday life). Start questioning the foundations of everything you believe, including science, space, time, self, world, others, dreams, and life. All of it is NOT what you think. We are talking about RADICAL stuff here. Things like: there is no time, there is no space, there is no death, there is no big bang, there is no evolution, there is no Earth, you are not a human being, and existence and non-existence is an illusion. This is totally mind-breaking stuff. You cannot think it.

It's great that you guys are having mystical experiences, but also notice that nonduality is not just some ecstatic state. It's very ordinary. Look outside your window right now. Notice a tree. Notice that that tree is literally you. What else would it be? Your body isn't perceiving the tree. That is patently false. Your body and the tree are both perceptions. Perceptions do not perceive other perceptions. "You" and the tree are both being perceived by an unlocated infinite empty awareness -- the true you. This awareness is NOT inside you. You are inside it! Investigate this closely. It's super-obvious.

Name: Justin Song Age: 22 Gender: Male Location: Los Angeles, CA Occupation: Currently work part-time delivering disgusting food (Postmates). Personal Development Full Time Marital Status: Single Kids: No Hobbies: Personal Development, Enlightenment, Meditation, Spouting Seeds, Gardening, Nature, and Meeting Like Minded Folks, Plant Medicine, Raw Food Eating, I spent 4 years studying Civil Engineering at a Uni when one day I had a quarter life crisis realizing that this career had nothing to do with my life purpose but of my peers. I paused the program and dove full on into personal development and getting my own issues straight before starting out anything in my life. Had a past of horrible anxiety and panic attacks due to severe acne in highschool. I was assisted out of that hole with the assist of magic mushrooms (as it reminded me to love and accept myself fully and unconditionally), from there I have been some sort of self help addict and I'm quite in Love with Life. Being able to feel more free as I get more into enlightenment and nonduality is a feeling like no other. Fears of death, failure, and disappointing anybody on this planet is not an issue to even consider anymore (as there are no selves and never were). Personal challenges I've overcome: Reducing heavy social anxiety and awkwardness Juicing every morning Healthier diet (almost Raw and Vegetarian) More exercise Hesitating taking this path (Now full on and excited :D) Deeper connection with other individuals with ease To Live up to my values Meditating everyday for an hour To Be more and Do less What I'm working on now: Mastering awareness and more self inquiry Applying to a Life Coaching Program Learn more about business and entrepreneurship To Work Smarter and not Harder

We are like waves on the ocean, looking for the ocean, longing to be part of it? Yes. That’s a great metaphor. You are like a wave in the ocean experiencing itself as separate from the ocean. The wave asks, ‘When and where will I find the ocean? Who can give the ocean to me?’ But the wave was always the ocean, from the very beginning, even in its seeking! It’s the ocean looking for itself. Even within the ocean’s failure to find itself it is still the ocean; every wave is one hundred per cent water. As all the authentic spiritual teachers have been telling us for hundreds and thousands of years, you are what you seek. Although ‘non-duality’ is just a word, what it points to is the possibility that you are not who you think you are. It’s the possibility that what you are is not this seeker, broken or incomplete. What you are is simply this open space of awareness (consciousness, awakeness, Being) in which absolutely everything seems to come and go, and that space is already at rest; it’s already Home. - Jeff Foster http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/writings/what-is-nonduality/ The full read is in the link above^ Great introduction to anyone new to the word Non-Duality and what it points to. Also Paul Hedderman is great on explaining this topic on his FB page. https://www.facebook.com/tinkerzen?fref=ts Does anyone else know of any good lectures or spokesmen of this subject, as I know this topic can be quite tricky?

Hey guys! Researching for a while I found something an enlightened guy wrote a while ago. Check it out! http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/writings/the-birth-and-death-of-fundamentalism-in-nonduality-and-advaita-teachings/

I'm on my 6th day of this practice. I'm realizing slowly that continued meditation helps to SEE and FEEL nonduality, but being aware of the presence I am isn't always necessary. It definitely helps me to see more clearly the awareness that I am.(Or to see everything I'm not and pretending to be, or the things I am and pretending I'm not. Or rather I'm not any particular thing, I'm not this, or this, or this, I'm all of them.) I'll continue to meditate for 5+ hours a day but I sense that I won't need to do this for very long. I am creation or presence whether I'm feeling blissful or high on meditation or not. I want to practice integrating truth realization with everyday life. Whether I integrate it or not, whether I forget it, or feel it, I am and have always been pure presence. Like I said, I'll continue to feel this felt oneness with the universe but I don't feel it's necessary anymore. I know I'm not enlightened though. I don't need to make this any bigger than it really is. Anyways, I enjoy meditating so I'll continue. I'll probably look back at this post and realize how I was deceiving myself once I've peaked further (even though no one is home to do the peaking) With that said, I've clearly got unfinished business. On wards to more realization!