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@Shiva what do you do after 'locking' onto your awareness? Because in my experience nothing happens, you just stay ultra sober. But you don't bliss out like a buddha.

I listen to this song when working out. I love the lyrics. This song helps me get through tough times during deep work and deliberate practice This last song made me cry because of its pure beauty. Its a version of Flim by Aphex Twin but slowed down to 66% speed the way he originally intended it to be played. It reminds me of all of the happy moments I've had with people I love but that I'll probably never see again or have again. Its this mixture of pure peace and bliss and just the smallest hint of mourning.

Yup, I've found that the more free and capable I become, the more responsible I feel for the world around me. When you expand, your zone of responsibility also expands naturally creating a sense of generosity and care to go along with that abundance. You want everyone and everything around you to feel this health and freedom, this joy and you get this inexhaustible well of happiness that comes from sharing in the joy of others on that road to health and happiness. In a way you naturally grow into becoming a world yourself. A world that contains everyone inside you in the same way the outer world contains you and everyone else inside it. While still having a distinct, individual core or flavored pattern. Such a position then naturally galvanizes a person to actually go out and work to make things better. Sharing and enlarging that goldilocks zone of health, freedom, and happiness while also protecting and nurturing that zone from corruption. You don't just sit there in a cave all isolated from people, trying to protect your bliss, while lacking the resiliency to wade in and be touched by the stress and suffering of others. Fuck... I am more sensitive to that suffering than ever before. It feels like my heart is being ripped out because the pain of others hurts so much, but I love and appreciate that pain. I gladly drink as much from that cup as I can because it softens my heart and brings me closer to both the beauty and fragility of humanity. Awesome post man and great questions!!! For me it goes back to that nuanced goldilocks zone of balance and harmony. You differentiate comfort so you can have comfort when you rest, but not so much comfort that you let drop things that are precious into that numbness and over certainty. You adapt with tension so what was uncomfortable becomes effortless and comfortable, but still dynamic and close to that edge of higher intensity tension that you can willfully move into when your are working and expanding rather than resting. This differentiates stability so you can choose between static atrophy and dynamic, ever expanding, but smooth stability and multi-dimensionality. And also when you get on track and find a "truer" way of seeing the world, you don't let that perspective fall into absolutes, because you stay connected to the possibility for more additions and new information, that expands and changes your view, while still being congruent with the foundation you're building upon. It's like a magnet with a piece of metal. When their close you can feel them tugging on each other to attach and the close they are, the more intense that pull. But, when they attach that pull, that tension expression of magnetism ceases. Growth comes from always keeping a bit of tension alive and never fully or absolutely attaching to one's current view of reality. You handle the tension and stay open to more. The whole doubting thing is a very complex topic to be honest. It changes as we change and grow, because it's modulated by many different capabilities. I've got around 13 different dynamic elements that I use to track all that. But anyways, an example of how it's modulated is with our rapport with pride and humility. I wrote the below a year or so ago and it kind of shows an example of what I'm talking about. What's awesome is this small shift in harmony and health between these two facets [of pride and humility] not only enhances my rapport, but also creates a cascade through my other capabilities. I can trust my own feelings more and internalize them deeper because my pride doesn't shroud them and my humility doesn't doubt them in the improper contexts. I can feel both my authentic pleasure and pain longer, because my past imbalance is no longer there to cut them off "mid-breath" with some form of invalidation. Both of these then also contribute over time to building a better me, with higher quality feelings and experiences changing my story and enhancing my potential as well as my reflections on my past and the beliefs tied to them.

@Dodoster Your ego is bleeding and it deserves nothing but unconditional love. All is one. I am awareness. I am nobody. I don't exist. Cool points bruh. How have you been feeling lately? Got any of that eternal bliss yet? The real work is coming into emotional wholeness through letting go of your attachments and drowning your ego in so much love, because it deserves it. Ego is the light in it's most dormant form. (Unconsciousness is a better word for it). And it will not set you free, until you give it the love it wants. ` Why do you think you say things such as "I dont think I will ever be enlightened." It is because your innerchild, the wisdom within you, the guardian to your bliss fucking knows. And it knows that if you treat it, or if you treat yourself, the way you do, you will be caught up in a love-less viscious circle of judgement and denial. In the name of love, and in the name of you, you are love, so let the heaven descend onto your being.

The thing is if you get enlightened you would not care about your career that much, and working at Walmart would be top bliss for you

And brutal honesty with your present moment experience - holding the experiencer, the subject and not attaching to the forms - forms include sensations, thoughts, emotions etc. Anything in the realm of the changeful. As long as your attention is on any object, the false I is there. "Oh I am experiencing bliss, I must be enlightened etc etc" The mind will say "just being" as if it's something it can do. No, the truth is you always are that. There can be 10000 waves in your awareness that are always doing doing doing, but you are not any of them. If you isolate your current sense of subject, of self, it will slowly start to dissolve and open up the space for truth to shine through.

Savanna scatters and the seabird sings So why should we fear what travel brings? What were we hoping to get out of this? Some kind of momentary bliss? I waited for something, but something died So I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived It's our dearest ally, it's our closest friend It's our darkest blackout, it's our final end My dear sweet nothing, let's start anew From here on in, it's just me and you I waited for something, but something died So I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived Well I guess it's over, I guess it's begun It's a losers' table, but we've already won It's a funny battle, it's a constant game I guess I was busy, when nothing came I guess I was busy (when nothing arrived) I guess I was busy (when nothing arrived) I guess I was busy (when nothing arrived) I guess I was busy I waited for something, but something died So I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived I waited for something, but something died So I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived nothing arrived Great topic by the way! I heard this song before but recently I heard it again and it really clicked with me.

I don't know what exactly he said, but there are different facets and qualities that "awakenings" can take. A good teacher or certain practices can point you in a certain direction. Sat: "Mountain of peace", Beingness, more a physical quality, "enlightenment on the level of gut" Chit: "enlightnement on the level of mind", spacious, empty, consciousness, vastness Ananda: "enlightenment on the level of heart", love, bliss, intimacy These are the main qualities that an awakening beyond ego can take. It is on the "I am"-level. True enlightenment goes beyond that and includes all of it. So, a good teacher point you directly at certain of these qualities, you can get a taste even if you are not enlightened. And certain teachers / practises are concerned mainly with one quality.

That's what some people here will tell you, but I personally find that line of thought to be bullshit and the product of extremism. There are a lot of escapists here, people who don't want to deal with their responsibilities, their limitations, their flaws, their challenges, their opportunities for growth, their false sense of superiority, their false sense of inferiority, their vulnerabilities etc. They want to be gods, invulnerable, living in a state of permanent ease and bliss. They don't want to put in effort and be vulnerable and build things. The very clear reality is, each one of us is a self-contained environment, with self-contained issues that need to be handled and harmonized. This self-containment does not mean isolation or separation, no instead it means distinction and difference WHILE STILL BEING CONNECTED AND A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER. We are both those self-contained environments and part of the larger self-contained environment that is a family or group, and a larger one that is a country, and a larger one that is humanity, and a larger one that is the planet, and a larger one that is the universe, and the largest of them all that is Life. It's a nested principle. Each nest is connected to a larger one and each nest requires time and consideration. None should be demonized or discarded as fake. They all matter. Each one superimposed on top of each other. Why choose to care about only one, when you can care about it all? Of course people will disagree with this, but in order for them to do so, they would have to discard or relinquish their consideration and responsibility for one or more of those nests, which again is bullshit, escapist, lazy, and selfish. So many of these no-self people are egotistical as fuck, to be honest with you. Their like little kids who think the whole universe revolves around them and they create it... yet they can't create a single damn thing in the physical world and instead escape to the safest and most secluded places they can find while other people take on the responsibility of life. All the while proclaiming how loving and enlightened they are. If you just fucking sit there all day, your love doesn't have shit behind it. No effort, no meaning, no actions to actually make things better and more harmonious. You have to touch the world, involve yourself in it, to be a difference.

Why would one should aim for bliss?

@Annetta I felt awesome. For like an hour haha. Then the labour of coming into that state began. But it kicked so many doors right open... painfully so in the short term, but in those doors paths that lead directly to bliss.

Shaivism (Origin: India – Started: At least 2000 years BCE) Shaivism theology ranges from Shiva being the creator, preserver, destroyer to being the same as the Atman (self, soul) within oneself and every living being […] It is the Hindu tradition that most accepts ascetic life and emphasizes yoga, and like other Hindu traditions encourages an individual to discover and be one with Shiva within. God (Shiva) is within man, God is within every being, God is present everywhere in the world including all non-living beings, and there is no spiritual difference between life, matter, man and God. Zoroastrianism (Origin: India/Iran – Started : 2000 years BCE) There is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda is the beginning and the end, the creator of everything that can and cannot be seen, the Eternal, the Pure and the only Truth. Zoroastrianism's divinity covers both being and mind as immanent entities, it is better described as a belief in an immanent self-creating universe with consciousness as its special attribute. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to "be among those who renew the world...to make the world progress towards perfection". Its basic maxims include: Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean: Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds. There is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, and then all beneficial rewards will come to you also. Jainism (Origin: India – Started: At least to the 6th century BCE) Jain texts reject the idea of a creator or destroyer God and postulate an eternal universe. Jainism has been described as a transtheistic religion, as it does not teach the dependency on any supreme being for enlightenment. The tirthankara is a guide and teacher who points the way to enlightenment, but the struggle for enlightenment is one's own. Jain texts propound that the universe was never created, nor will it ever cease to exist. It is independent and self-sufficient, and does not require any superior power to govern it. According to Jain belief, souls, intrinsically pure, possess the qualities of infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite bliss, and infinite energy in their ideal state. In reality, however, these qualities are found to be obstructed due to the soul's association with karmic matter. The ultimate goal in Jainism is the realization of reality For Jains, non-absolutism means maintaining open-mindedness. This includes the recognition of all perspectives and a humble respect for differences in beliefs. Jainism encourages its adherents to consider the views and beliefs of their rivals and opposing parties, including other religions. Buddhism (Origin : India – Started : Between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE) Early Buddhist canonical texts and early biographies of Buddha state that Gautama studied under Vedic teachers [...] learning meditation and ancient philosophies, particularly the concept of "nothingness, emptiness" from the former, and "what is neither seen nor unseen" from the latter. According to Buddhism there ultimately is no such thing as a self in any being or any essence in any thing. The nirvana state has been described in Buddhist texts partly in a manner similar to other Indian religions, as the state of complete liberation, enlightenment, highest happiness, bliss, fearlessness, freedom, permanence, non-dependent origination, unfathomable, indescribable. It has also been described in part differently, as a state of spiritual release marked by "emptiness" and realization of non-Self. This insight in the Mahayana tradition, states Shōhei Ichimura, has been the "insight of non-duality or the absence of reality in all things". Nirvana In the Buddhist context, nirvana refers to realization of non-self and emptiness, marking the end of rebirth by stilling the fires that keep the process of rebirth going. Bodhi (Enlightenment) It is the mind's natural and pure state, where no distinction is being made between a perceiving subject and perceived objects. Taoism (Origin : Chinese – Started: At least to the 4th century BCE) The Tao is a fundamental idea in most Chinese philosophical schools; in Taoism, however, it denotes the principle that is both the source, pattern and substance of everything that exists. Tao literally means [...] "the One, which is natural, spontaneous, eternal, nameless, and indescribable. It is at once the beginning of all things and the way in which all things pursue their course." It has variously been denoted as the "flow of the universe" […] The Tao also is something that individuals can find immanent in themselves. Human beings are seen as a microcosm of the universe […] As a consequence, it is believed that deeper understanding of the universe can be achieved by understanding oneself. Taoism rejects the Confucianist emphasis on rituals, hierarchical social order, and conventional morality, and favors naturalness, spontaneity, and individualism instead. Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize wu wei (effortless action), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three Treasures: 慈 "compassion", 儉 "frugality", and 不敢為天下先 "humility" Neoplatonism (Origin: Athens – Started : 3rd century BCE) The work of Neoplatonic philosophy involved describing the derivation of the whole of reality from a single principle, "the One." Source, Absolute, or One is what all things spring from According to Plotinus, The One is not a conscious god with intent nor a godhead nor a conditioned existing entity of any kind, rather a requisite principle of totality which is also the source of ultimate wisdom. One must become "God" (henosis). This is reached through contemplation of the primeval Being, the One — in other words, through an ecstatic approach to it. Thought cannot attain to this, for thought reaches only to the nous, and it itself is a kind of motion. It is only in a state of perfect passivity and repose that the soul can recognise and touch the primaeval Being. Beginning with the contemplation of corporeal things in their multiplicity and harmony, it then retires upon itself and withdraws into the depths of its own being, rising thence to the nous, the world of ideas. But, even there, it does not find the Highest, the One; it still hears a voice saying, "not we have made ourselves". The last stage is reached when, in the highest tension and concentration, beholding in silence and utter forgetfulness of all things, it is able, as it were, to lose itself. Then it sees God, the foundation of life, the source of being, the origin of all good, the root of the soul. In that moment, it enjoys the highest indescribable bliss; it is, as it were, swallowed up by divinity, bathed in the light of eternity. Gnosticism (Origin : Jewish – Started : 1st century CE) In many Gnostic systems (and heresiologies), God is known as the Monad, the One. The Sethian hidden transcendent God is, by contrast, defined through negative theology: he is immovable, invisible, intangible, ineffable; commonly, "he" is seen as being hermaphroditic, a potent symbol for being, as it were, "all-containing". Christian Mysticism (Origin : Jewish – Started : 2nd century CE) Bernard McGinn defines Christian mysticism as: [T]hat part, or element, of Christian belief and practice that concerns the preparation for, the consciousness of, and the effect of [...] a direct and transformative presence of God. ...new ways of knowing and loving based on states of awareness in which God becomes present in our inner acts. Religion is based on a feeling of the infinite. Mysticism thus becomes seen as a personal matter of cultivating inner states of tranquility and equanimity "one of the immortal spirits waiting to introduce the reader to his own unique and intense experience of reality" The path of illumination, has to do with the activity of the Holy Spirit enlightening the mind, giving insights into truths not only explicit in scripture and the rest of the Christian tradition, but also those implicit in nature, not in the scientific sense, but rather in terms of an illumination of the "depth" aspects of reality and natural happenings, such that the working of God is perceived in all that one experiences. The awakening, the stage in which one begins to have some consciousness of absolute or divine reality. Dzogchen (Origin: Tibetan – Started: 8th century CE) Rigpa is a central concept in Dzogchen. It is "reflexively self-aware primordial wisdom,"which is self-reflexively aware of itself as unbounded wholeness. "In Gelug, the conscious experience is some level of blissful awareness of voidness." The Dzogchen meditation practices also include a series of exercises known as Semdzin (sems dzin), which literally means "to hold the mind" or "to fix mind." The practice of Trekchö […] In this practice one first identifies, and then sustains recognition of, one's own innately pure, empty awareness. Insight leads to nyamshag, "being present in the state of clarity and emptiness". Sufism (Origin : Islam – Started : 9th century CE) Haqiqa (which means « ultimate truth ») In Universal Sufism, Haqiqat is the "phase" in which the central ongoing question/concern of the seeker is subsistent (as opposed to transient) reality. The life of the seeker becomes a fathoming device in which what is timeless, formless, weightless etc, is recognized and valued above all. Entering into marifat in Universal Sufism, the seeker no longer asserts or defines anything […] Or better said, all conversation topics are of equal interest. The seeker's life is then, itself, revelation. Fakir In mystical usage, the word fakir refers to man's spiritual need for God, who alone is self-sufficient. "Faqir attains eternity by dissolving himself in oneness of Allah. He, when, eliminates his-self from other than Allah, his soul reaches to divinity." They were known as performers 'mad' in a worshiping trance of joy - transcending above both good and bad. [...] They believe the soul that lives in all human bodies is God. Kabbalah (Origin : Jewish – Started: 12th century CE) Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal, and mysterious Ein Sof (infinity) and the mortal and finite universe (God's creation). The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision two aspects to God: (a) God in essence, absolutely transcendent, unknowable, limitless Divine simplicity, and (b) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which he creates and sustains and relates to mankind. Kabbalists speak of the first as Ein/Ayn Sof (אין סוף "the infinite/endless", literally "that which has no limits"). God's existence is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world within his Divine reality in perfect unity, so that the Creation effected no change in him at all. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (Emunah), meaning to trust that God always supports compassionate actions even when God seems hidden. Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others. Sikhism (Origin : India – Started : 15th century CE) Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on Absolute Truth. Guru Nanak taught that living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is above the metaphysical truth In Sikhism, the concept of "God" is Vāhigurū—is shapeless, timeless, and invisible "God" is omnipresent and infinite with power over everything "There is but one all-pervading spirit, and truth is its name! It exists in all creation; it does not fear; it does not hate; it is timeless and universal and self-existent, You will come to know it through seeking knowledge and learning! (meditation and self-inquiry)" Once truth starts to shine in a person's heart, the essence of current and past holy books of all religions is understood by the person. The goal of man, taught the Sikh Gurus, is to end all dualities of "self and other, I and not-I", attain the "attendant balance of separation-fusion, self-other, action-inaction, attachment-detachment, in the course of daily life". Transcendantalism (Origin: USA – Started: Early 19th century CE) Transcendentalists also believe that all people possess a piece of the "Over-soul" (God). Because the Over-soul is one, this unites all people as one being. Neo-Advaita (Origin : USA – Started : Mid 20th century CE) The basic practice of neo-Advaita is self-inquiry, via the question "Who am I?", or simply the direct recognition of the non-existence of the "I" or "ego." This recognition is taken to be equal to the Advaita Vedanta recognition of the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the recognition of the "Formless Self." Christian Science (Origin: England – Started: 19th century CE) In particular, adherents subscribe to a radical form of philosophical idealism, believing that reality is purely spiritual and the material world an illusion. Eddy saw humanity as an "idea of Mind" that is "perfect, eternal, unlimited, and reflects the divine," according to Bryan Wilson; what she called "mortal man" is simply humanity's distorted view of itself. Eddy viewed God not as a person, but as "All-in-all." "for God is one, Time is one, Individuality is one, and may be one of a series, one of many, as an individual man, individual horse; whereas God is one, not one of a series, but one alone and without an equal." The Infinite Way (Origin : US – Started : 20th century) The Infinite Way reveals the nature of God to be one infinite power, intelligence, and love; the nature of the individual being to be one with God's qualities and character, expressed in infinite forms and variety; and the nature of the discords of this world to be a misconception of God's expression of Himself in His universe." "'The Infinite Way' is not a religion... but an experience in spiritual living. New Age (Origin: Western countries – Started: Late 20th century) This intentional vagueness as to the nature of divinity also reflects the New Age idea that divinity cannot be comprehended by the human mind or language. There are nevertheless a number of traits that are repeatedly associated with divinity in New Age literature, the first of which is the idea that it is holistic, thus frequently being described with such terms as an "Ocean of Oneness", "Infinite Spirit", "Primal Stream", "One Essence", and "Universal Principle".A second common trait is the characterisation of divinity as "Mind", "Consciousness", and "Intelligence", while a third is the description of divinity as a form of "energy". A fourth trait is the characterisation of divinity as a "life force", the essence of which is creativity, while a fifth is the concept that divinity consists of love. The New Age worldview emphasises holism and the idea that everything in existence is intricately connected as part of a single whole, in doing so rejecting both the dualism of Judeo-Christian thought and the reductionism of Cartesian science. "Higher Self" which is a part of the human but which connects with the divine essence of the universe, and which can advise the human mind through intuition. Actualized.org (Origin: But Leo ... - Started: HEYYYYYYYYYYY)

@Loreena, in my opinion it does to a certain degree. Before I started working in my profession I had just enough money to live my student life. Then, when I began working I got enough money to not care any more how much I spent on my groceries, whether I can go the bar with my friends this weekend, whether I can share a beautiful dinner with a woman and take her out. And this gives at least me some kind of freedom. It supports the life that I want to live, so it's a basis in a sense. However, it won't make you happy in the way you want to be happy. When you share a deep conversation with a friend, when you are in love, when you have a great meditation or an enlightenment experience you tap into a kind of bliss that is so beautiful and spontaneous that you'll instantly recognize that everything material you can possess cannot compete with that.

@Socrates If you find your life purpose, that will serve as the backbone for much of your education guidance. But also nonduality, etc is sure to come in handy no matter where you go. Just following your curiosity and bliss is also a good way to go. Study what you LOVE. Yes, more great books coming.

If you meditate, love will follow; if you love, meditation will follow. Meditation is easier, love is difficult. Meditation means living with oneself, forgetting the other completely – it is a less difficult dimension than love. Love and meditation are two aspects of the same coin; if you have gained control of the one aspect, the other follows. A glimpse of bliss, love, means you had come close. But glimpses are bound to be lost. Meditation can, at the most, give only a glimpse. But do not stop there; do not get stuck looking for that same glimpse again and again. Then one has to go ahead.

@Annetta @Toby We are born alone, we live alone, and we die alone. Aloneness is our very nature, but we are not aware of it. Because we are not aware of it, we remain strangers to ourselves, and instead of seeing our aloneness as a tremendous beauty and bliss, silence and peace, at-easeness with existence, we misunderstand it as loneliness. Loneliness is a misunderstood aloneness. Once you misunderstand your aloneness as loneliness, the whole context changes. Aloneness has a beauty and grandeur, a positivity; loneliness is poor, negative, dark, dismal. Everybody is running away from loneliness. It is like a wound; it hurts. To escape from it, the only way is to be in a crowd, to become part of a society, to have friends, to create a family, to have husbands and wives, to have children. In this crowd, the basic effort is that you will be able to forget your loneliness. But nobody has ever succeeded in forgetting it. That which is natural to you, you can try to ignore -- but you cannot forget it; it will assert again and again. And the problem becomes more complex because you have never seen it as it is; you have taken it for granted that you are born lonely. The dictionary meaning is the same; that shows the mind of the people who create dictionaries. They don't understand at all the vast difference between loneliness and aloneness. Loneliness is a gap. Something is missing, something is needed to fill it, and nothing can ever fill it because it is a misunderstanding in the first place. As you grow older, the gap also grows bigger. People are so afraid to be by themselves that they do any kind of stupid thing. I have seen people playing cards alone; the other party is not there. They have invented games in which the same person plays cards from both sides. Somehow one wants to remain engaged. That engagement may be with people, may be with work.... There are workaholics; they are afraid when the weekend comes close -- what are they going to do? And if they don't do anything, they are left to themselves, and that is the most painful experience. People are playing cards, chess; people are watching television for hours. People are listening to the radio... just to avoid themselves. For all these activities, the only reason is -- not to be left alone; it is very fearful. And this idea is taken from others. Those who have known aloneness say something absolutely different. They say there is nothing more beautiful, more peaceful, more joyful than being alone. But you listen to the crowd. Millions of people agree that to be left to oneself is the worst experience in life; it is hell. First basic thing is to know your aloneness absolutely. This escape from yourself you have learned from the crowd. Because everybody is escaping, you start escaping. Every child is born in a crowd and starts imitating people; what others are doing, he starts doing. He falls into the same miserable situations as others are in, and he starts thinking that this is what life is all about. And he has missed life completely.

@Dingus The trap is that many seekers use the "illusion" as a means of escape, with hope that they can rest in non-duality for the rest of their life and then pass away. 1. This will make enlightenment impossible. 2. If there iss suffering created within the illusion, then surely bliss can be created as well!

I've been thinking about this for quite awhile and it's been holding me back in my ability to find meaning and inspiration in life. I mean if reality is meaningless and there is no good or evil, then how can the so-called "positive" emotions like passion, bliss, joy etc. be actually positive, are they just an illusion? The same goes for negative emotions...

@username IN a way yeah. At the same time mindfulness is just a very very beginning stage of this. You gotta kinda notice the nervous system. But then it becomes redundant. What is really important is love! The quickest path to enlightenment (ok im not enlightened so this is a total pretense) is loving yourself relentlessly. Love yourself and watch every emotion transform into goodness. And soon enough, this goodness will start matching the bliss of existence. And as those 2 vibrations get aligned, you merge with your infinite nature.

@electroBeam Awareness is always there, it is you, its the presence. There is nothing behind YOU and IT because YOU are IT. Always have been. EGO = overstimulated nervous system You can imagine awareness being this vast sea of bliss and presence. At the same time there is this little "ball of emotions and thoughts and sensations" screaming HEEY YO LOOK AT ME! HERE! THERE'S LOADS OF SHIT GOING ON! HEY! ME! MMEEEE!! LALALAL DADADADADAD MEE MEE MEMEM MEE TOODLE DOODLE POOPY DOO So awareness is like. WOaaah. Look! There is so much interesting shit going on!!!!! Emotions, thoughts, sensations.... SO COOL! Let me identify with that so I can get to know it better! So you go and you calm down the nervous system. That is why I love shadow-work. Because until you do enough of clearing out your negative beliefs, and your emotions and recations calm down, you, as a body/mind complex will literally stop being that interesting to awareness, and you will in a sense explode into open space realizing that you have never been that interesting ball of attention seeking sensations!

Every seeker is in this situation: you don't know what you are seeking, you don't know what the goal is, you don't know where you are going, why you are going. But if he has not escaped, not turned his back and run about in the world, he will laugh and smile, because out of this night such a beautiful morning. We are too much attached to the body, it seems like death; because we think the body is our life, we think it is terrible. And this is one of the greatest preparations for death. One day death will come: before it comes, you will be ready, you will be ready to die! Out of this troubled state, out of this hell and fear and anguish , you will find absolute bliss.

You made me laugh out loud! I'm fascinated however, by the possibilities with mocro-dosing acid or mushrooms, etc. Need to do some research. I'm wondering as well if you can micro-dose for months and then go to a full dose and have full effect when desired. Likely, as by micro-dosing you haven't so radically depleted your fun brain chemicals. The thing is, I often forget how awesome and fascinating life is, and when I do get into altered states - I actually do feel the God-consiousness strongly when I go for it. It's that realization that brings the tears and exposes the love for all all all all. Also, when in an entheogenic altered state I am not inspired, I AM INSPIRATION EMBODIED, fueled by pure love and fascination and beingness. I could play guitar and keyboards all night while barely being able to wait to draw, paint, 3D model, and then I want to bask in music for hours and hours, lost and in love. Then I want 4 hours of slow intimacy with someone that wants the same. I feel a bit weak sometimes, when I realize that a substance will catalyze my love for life and all manifestations within, and I so easily and habitually draw down into a morass of self-doubt and mickey-mouse living when not all enhanced and altered. Splitting fine hairs here, I know - as it all points to a lesson to learn, and a realization that if I can rule my world like a majestic god of creation and pure life consiousness when tripping along, I have everything within me to achieve this bliss of creation and love for all 'isness' every day, regardless of tabs, blotters, and fun fun fungi. They sure are awesome pointers though eh? But, you know... people regularly dose their day with big-pharma commercial crap ssri's, for just that same reason; reduced self-sabotage and enhancing day to day functionality.

I think the mix of pain and sex is very interesting to look at if we want to get another perspective on this topic. The people who are into BDSM manage to use pain and suffering in a pleasurable way. I think it's a matter of opening your heart. If you truly believe and know that the pain and suffering in your life has amazing lessons to teach you, that they will lead you straight to new insights about yourself and the world you can experience these specific feelings in a new way. If you know that there's no distinction between pain and bliss, that they walk hand in hand, you could even be grateful when you're in pain because you know it will lead you to greater bliss. I already gave this example once but basically imagine this : if you knew you'd have to suffer intensely hard during 100 days, but after that you'd live forever in complete amazing bliss, you'd take the chance right away to suffer a 100 days. You'd have a hard time the first 10 days, but by day 50 you'd be counting down the days, looking forward to the end. You'd be in peace, because you know for sure that soon the pain will be gone. Peace in suffering and pain, is knowing that the suffering and pain is leading you to a greater place. It's not an obstacle, it's a stairway. To nurture this trust, to nurture this acceptance, is to nurture the inner fire that will you keep you warm and loved at all times, no matter what happens to you. when one closes their heart to pain and suffering, then it becomes very hard to live, any negative event that happens to you or someone else becomes torturous. If you open your heart and believe in the insights of negative events, if you believe in the positivity in the negativity, then it becomes easier to go through pain and suffering and to see others go through pain and suffering...easier and easier till you don't even notice when you're in ''pain and suffering'', because it has become a part of you, because even in ''pain and suffering'' you have this amazing joy in trusting the process, the growth, a joy that illuminates the pain and suffering and thus ''it'' disappears. And it appears that ''it'' was merely a negative definition of a part of your life.

Such tears, much bliss, wow LOVE http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/11/14/god-true-teachings-jesus/

So I´v been sitting on my 5-meo not using it for months now , one reason for that is that I have had enormous respect for this substance and that I don´t want to leave anything by chance when tripping, even though I knew deep inside that´s not possible with this substance. So finally this week I had my first trip, my plan was to move forward really slow and safe with this so I tried to weigh out 10mg on my scale, turned into 11mg, had a hot shower, half a cop of coffee, half a spoon of honey, got myself together and snorted it up. I was expecting a hell of a burn in the nose but it was not that bad at all, just a little sensation. I layed down on the bed in my hotel room opened up my body and did some conscious breathing - inhale on 1,2,3,4,5,6 then micropause and exhale on 1,2,3,4,5,6, through the nose the slowest and deepest I could, waiting for the kick in. After 5-7 min I felt things started to happen, my heart was beating faster and faster and I just continued counting 1,2,3... Then after 12-14 min I knew I had made it through the come up and the plateau was coming. Very, very nice, I became very peaceful, still and happy. I have been so afraid for this! I thought, ok it was only 11mg but still...now I know how to do it. I looked out through the window and I saw some green grass, threes, a dutch truck with som orange and green colours, and birds. Everything was telling me - come play with us, it´s a play. I felt joy and warmth in my heart. Everything looked so still, peaceful and in a flow, like in slowmotion. After 1 hour I was back to base, happier than before and with no side effects from the trip. A very mild and positive first trip. Second trip, this time I took 18 mg with the same set and setting but in the nighttime. The com up went good this time too, when the plateau came this time it was very different from the first time, my sense of time disappeared, I layed down in my bed with closed eyes and it felted like a vast hole opened up inside of me from very it pored out light and fire, very beautiful and hard to describe. I knew that I had touched something that I´ve never touched before inside of me. Third trip, because i wanted to play this safe when last time was very powerful and mysterious I,ll do 13mg this time I and work on with my technic, I thought. So I weight out 13mg and it hits me that the scale didn't respond to the first grains i was putting in and it did look a lot more than last time, but since I had just calibrated this new expensive scale I didn't give it a second thought. (the dot that indicate that the scale is straight was totally out of position, didn't even know that there was a dot for that on the scale, the amount I had weight up was approximately 30-40mg I realized later.) Now I snorted this like a walk in the park, layed down on the bed and counted 1,2,3...after 10 min this hits me so hard and I just know something must have been wrong on the scale. My heart was beating like never before and I felt I was going far away, oh fuck I'm breaking through was my last thought. Then very mysterious things happen and I was in total bliss, even though I vas feeling very sick most of the time and on the edge of throwing up. This state that I used to hate more than anything, when you´re about to throw up! Now I didn´t even want it to be different, because I knew - it can´t be different. After maybe 30 min I went to the toilet, looked at myself in the mirror and laughed. So you finally made it, you found me I said quiet, knowing that I had access to an enormous power that had nothing to do with this body. There is no-one home in this person that i´m looking at, just a shell, everything that is worth something is flowing through this shell. This shell is just something because of the one life that is flowing through it. Nothing comes from this shell. Now, this moment God have found itself through this shell that was nothing but an empty shell all the time, what a play! At this point I had no questions, nothing could be more beautiful than this, everything was answered because I didn't have a need to know anything. The day after - I´m a little bit confused now and I will now work to integrate this in my everyday life which will be quite a task. 5-Meo has shown me my true nature. Looking back, the thoughts and fears around this substance that I had was way worse than it was to actually take it.