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@Leo Gura see, that's why it doesn't make sense. You say it's the most "terrifying thing you can imagine", BUT then you say there's no you to be terrified in the first place. You don't even have recollection of what you should be afraid, because there's no you! You just become GOD/conscious/ love. So either there's fear only when you go back from that state, and try to remember it, which would be fear of concept or there's still some ego left which is afraid, therefore you don't fully disappear, and you have never fully awakened.

I am getting closer. I have had glimpses. What I was referring to is the feeling of being alone. That human emotion didn't exist for me in my most awakened states.

@Leo Gura Could you expand on this? In my most awakened states the concept of alone didn't exist for me.

Duality is a much-used word in spiritual circles. Everything begins with oneness. Then there is the very earliest level of separation called “individuation”. Deeper separation becomes “polarity”. The deepest separation is “duality”. This is a very simple explanation, though, and lacks detail. So please don't attach too much to this. The point is that duality is the deepest level of separation. So much so that deeply duality-conscious beings do not even know that they are in duality. They are too deep in the illusion to even think in such terms. They believe that all beings are separate. If they choose to be religious, then they believe in a God or gods who are also separate from themselves. God is "over there", somewhere else, doing things that they have no power to influence. Pure materialism – which is the theory that nothing but matter exists – is an example of a non-spiritual view from within the duality perspective. Those who ascribe to that view think that their own consciousness, mind, emotions, and being are all simply a function of their body and brain. They obviously also think that they are absolutely separate from all other beings. There are probably an infinite number of things that you could believe to be true whilst being of duality consciousness. Ironically, it is only once you begin to raise your consciousness out of duality and awaken to the realization that all is ONE, that you actually become aware of duality at all. It is only then that you might be likely to even use the word, "duality". You first become aware that there is oneness but you also feel as if you yourself are still separate from it. Such beings are sometimes called "awakened duality-conscious". Then, as you proceed with your awakening, you come to release your fears and limitations and know that you too are one with the oneness. And then, at last, you begin to awaken to unity consciousness and to God-realization. What really important to understand is that duality consciousness (which is the same thing as victim consciousness) is not wrong. It is, quite simply, a level of existence deep inside this separation reality. You can choose to visit there. It's just a choice. One possible set of experiences out of many. Greg

@CuriousityIsKey With strong commitment and discipline. Spiritual practice, psychedelics, find an awakened mentor. Is it worth it? In my experience, I would say yes. Will I still experience life through a human body POV? It depends how far you go. You don't need to let go of all biases to experience Nirvana.

@itachi uchiha um, the word Buddha means the awakened one as I heard so , ig the guy was using that meaning to refer to any enlightened person. as i've heard from theravada buddhist people, they say that a bodhisattva goes through countless rebirths in purification on his way to become a fully enlightened buddha to free people from samsara. so, that buddha is different ofc... and ur mom's cookies is not that bad right

The harsh Truth is. And many "awakened poeple" brush it off with their "immortality"...Life is fragile. And being happy with its fragility brings about peace.

@Mason Riggle It seems that is the case for everything in the dream. Is it the same for God itself, once awakened to itself? Or do you find no separation in these states?

What is overwhelming you in specific? I’d suggest starting by pinpointing the main causes for this. Then you can start to really ask yourself “do I need this?” in regard to each item. Beyond that, give yourself more time without obligations. Obligations almost always bring seriousness with them in a nearly unavoidable way in many cases. What do you like to do for fun? Don’t worry about distractions. The easiest way to remove distractions is to stop seeing things as distractions. Seeing distractions everywhere is for middle aged bald men who take even drugs seriously ? An awakened master was once asked what the point of life was. He said the point is to play. We know this as children innately when survival is taken care of for us, but we forget it over time as we must do more and more to sustain our own survival. Stop focusing so much on survival. It’s gonna happen either way. Focus on living. If you want an exercise, go run, but not as a physical exercise. Run like you’re a child on a playground. And laugh at yourself for how goofy it feels and why such a thing even needs to feel goofy.

What consistes of consciousness, as to say that a human is such, one would have to understand what consciousness is. NOTE: Most people walk around asleep, unaware. The Zen Master Buddha when asked what is he, if he is not an angel or a God, He said he was "Awake" There for one must be awakened to the true reality of the world befor one can say they are conscious. Our thoughts are only HOUSED in the neron, the Thought is not the neron, nor is the wine the bottle..see. The Thought is actually a 'spark' or electricity in the brain, it travels along nerons from Cell to Cell..The Neron is not a cell, but a multi celled structure that connects the brain cells together, they are the pathways which thought travels down.. NOTE: Under all the research done, there has never been found any 'person' or 'observer' in the brain. No one can find the person with in. Nerons like braincells are made of atoms you are right, and an atom is basicly a necules that is serounded by a cloud of photons, photons that pop in and out of existand. the bubble they form is empty, as are they, the Neclus they rotate around also is basicly hollow and pops in and out of existence..so as you see the thought is not there, because Electricity is not made up of atoms, it runs through them, they like the nerons are nothing but the pathway for the thought, which in turn is nothing, is not even there, like the non existance observer in the mind.

I'd be critical here since I think people, including many celebrities, can use spiritual language and descriptions but be totally unaware of their true meaning. Take Jim Carrey for instance. He had the whole sort of "meltdown" or "melt-up" where he acted all awakened n' stuff, saying things in interviews like "There is no Jim Carrey". I see this as just him playing with ideas rather than actually experiencing enlightenment. Though, again, sure, maybe he's had glimpses. But I doubt it's anything majorly significant. With the Beatles, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a few enlightenment experiences or two. But I doubt any of them are like perma-enlightened.

Only a person who has misunderstood the nature of consciousness would ask such a question. AI already can have more “awakened” or “spiritually substantive” conversations with you than many or possibly most humans. Only one who gives themselves the designation of being a conscious being would give that same designation to another amalgamation of form(s). I would ask yourself if you can have a soul, what a soul is, and how you can be sure of any of this.

You don't need to do self inquiry anymore once you have awakened to the facet of no self. But you will know when you have this awakening so you won't have to ask. If you are asking should I keep going then you should probably keep going. You may know conceptually that the entity behind the eyes you think you are is illusory but you need to know it at the level of Being..which will be your death.

Yes .. is everyone here willing to kill themselves (not physically of course), to get to the Truth? How can one kill themselves without physically dying? It is possible .. to figure it out would mean you have awakened . A burning desire is the only thing that will get you there .. not intellectualizing, not more concepts and not more gurus..

So I have been getting quite deep into ww2 and mostly the leading figures in it. And I mostly care about the psychology of it. And it has awakened thoughts about death, purpose, death of others etc. So I thought I´d write about it. So one thing I have been thinking about a lot is how a lot of people got killed during these times. And those who didn´t died from like the 50s to 2000s. And it kind of provokes a feeling of "why the fuck do anything?". You will die, no matter if you "escape" death in your early life, you will die. And it didn´t really evoke much melancholy, more of a feeling of "I have to do something" because I feel that I am taking my life for granted. And I feel that way because I am going to school not really liking what I am doing, and I hate that I am listening to these authorities. It´s like "you can follow our way of doing things if you´d like, it´s entirely voluntary. But if you don´t we will shame you and octrazise you to oblivion." That is what it feels like and I feel weak that I am following it because of this. Because I know that it is not that I like it. It is just that I am attached to following these rules. Really if I followed my feelings I would have done something entirely different, that is for sure. Because no matter what I would like to do I would not want to go to school, atleast not to my school as it is just so bad and wouldn´t match my ambitions, because whatever I do I always have high ambitions. But they leave you with that dilemma and I have now followed it for 1.5 years (for 1.5 years I have gone to school voluntarily although I don´t need to by law). I just feel like I need to do what comes to my mind and just DO and BE what I want to DO and BE. School is just such a bad environment where I am, everybody is so afraid and insecure and noone can really express themselves. Of course this has to do with the limitations I have puot on myself, but it has to do with my limits of handling the lashback of expressing myself. People will get after you verbally if you do that and they will freeze me out and stab me in the back. And it´s just such a lame life and "occupation" so to speak to have. I wish I could have ignored these feelings and peoples comments but the power of the many is too much for me I feel. I do not feel secure enough to be able to stand out from the crowd as MYSELF. And is this a good life???? no. Like I have one dude in my class which is actually interested in what we are doing, but he doesn´t seem to live really well either. He is just stuck in stupid "science paradigms". And he´s just a judgmental bitch doing homework although I think that he likes it quite a lot. But that is only one person in my whole class, everyone else is miserable just being in scool, myself included. And why the fuck do we collectively just follow the mainstream? well, because noone wants to be the one standing out, the one being special so to speak. And everyone is so fucking scared. I had a thought, how the fuck is this not the same as forcing people to do something???? Things are going downhill and people are starting to forget how to think, and it´s like of course you can choose what you want to do, but if you do you will suffer great consequenses. What the fuck man? But I feel that all of this is overwhelming me mainlky because I feel bad about not being able to move my body freely, and yes maybe I shouldn´t rely on an external event (my body getting healed) but fuck it!!!! I CAN NOT DO ANYTHING IN LIFE UNTIL MY BODY IS FUCKING HEALED! I don´t care if I am just trying to procrastinate etc but I have never felt more insecure and weak than now and that is just when my body is the most fucked it has ever been. Correlation, no? So, great fucking investment in my health and physical body, and I want to do more of this mental and emotional work aswell. But I feel that neither of these I am motivated by on a deep level, what is my why? what is my grandiose purpose? or atleast the meaningful meaning? I feel that I have not questioned myself and why I am ding stuff enough so here goes: You have no fucking obligation to do anything, that includes the physical training and recovery etc. aswell as the emotional and mental training youare doing. If you can not actually come up with something good and meaningful as to WHY you are doing these things, then maybe they are not th ethings I should be doing. Even thjoguh they may feel "liek the right things to do". So I am going to be completely honest and I am now open to let go of both of these aspects of my life if that is the case. So what do I feel is the meaning in my life? what is motivating me to do stuff and inspiring em to take action? My meaning in life right now feels like (this is the first thoght coming in my head) a striving for a good life. A striving for a life that in every way FEELS good. That is why I am doing what I am doing. But this is just a generla motivation, and soemthing which is quite inherent for everybody and doesn´t give that much motivation since it is so general and diffuse. What do I really want to do with my life? at first thought I feel like I have no idea. It feels kind of blank and I am looking for the "right" answer to this question, because this question seems a bit overwhelming and "too much" to be able to answer just like that, since it would influence every action I take onwards. Do I even know what there is to life? I don´t think so, as when I was a child and didn´t know much about the possibilities of life I probably have the same kind of ignorance now aswell. So if I do not know the possibilities of life should I then decide NOW what to do with my life from now on? Well, probably not right? Because then I would probably find out about a lot of new stuff and this would make it just weird and dumb to go about it this way. I think there should be a certain degree of context sensitivity, a sense of selectoin of what I want in the moment and at that time in my life. But still I need some kind of calrity going forward or I will just be doing like I am doing right now and just dreaming about a good life, and that just gives me some sense of purpose and meaning for a day or two until life hits me and shows me that I am looking for a needle in a haystack and everything is fucking dark aswell. But do I have some ideas or dreams about my future? even small ones. I have gotten these feeling of connectedness during mainly breathwork, to everything. And also feelings in everyday life of connectedness to people and to my craft. I want to have this connectedness as more of a natural and ongoing everyday thing. And this is in general e really good feeling. I want to be a man that people like and look up to like and idol. I want to develop every facet of my life to be the ultimate man so to speak and someone to draw inspiration from. I do not want to keep settling for being the person I have become through my childhood, I want to change that. I want to experience different kinds of lives, more isolated lifestyles, more outgoing and doing different stuff and being able to do these atuff and get good at them effortlessly. My ideal would be to feel good about myself and be myself no matter what. To have interests and doing meaningful things in my life. And I don´t know what to call these dreams and ideas other than the framework in which my life is going to be, and what I am filing the frame with is not really clear to me and need not be as I do not know what will happen in my life and therefore I cannot choose the course of action beforehand. But deciding a kind of framework would probably be of great importance and would provide some clarity and purpose and guidance to my actions. And I should now during this month continue and think about this framework and establish a quite comprehensive one with everything that I want to be included in my life in broad terms. So I know what I am going for. This is kind of the dream life, which is a ideal which I am going to strive for So note to self: make a dreamboard or whatever means neccesary to establish this framework which I want my life to be in. No must´s in the framework but it is just to give me some guidance and help me see what I am actually doing and going for as I am now not so attuned to neither what I want in the long term not what I want in the short term. I have also felt some feelings again for my parents, especially my father. I am scared shitless of him dying. I am just thinking about how I will react to it, how it will be and how empty it will feel etc. etc. And I think I know why I feel this: because I know I am not being a good human being, not in general and definitely not towards him. I pity him, because he is doing so much work and is very obedient and submissive almost at times. And I feel for him, because I. think that he doesn´t always feel so well about this and I know I am disappointing him and making him sad when I am being a dick and ruining stuff. And I pity him for doing so much of the bullshit tasks he has to do, like that he has to drive my sister in total 3 hours a day 5 days a week. That´s fucking 15 hours a week! And I just feel that I am stopping his life a lot by being this stupid, ignorant fucking bitch. And I sometimes miss the ol´days so to speak when we were doing more stuff together, we are still able to but still. I am very angry at my parents and quite unforgiving and lacking empathy adn it has always been like that, and maybe it is their fault and blame because of their parenting style, but it is definitely my responsibility to be the person I want to be. And if I possibly can accept the fact that yes maybe they weren´t the best at raising me and making me a good human being, but still no matter what they did "no matter what anyone says or does my duty is to be good" like marcus aurelius said. This is taking responsibility over my life and actually taking over the control of my mind and situation. But the quote before is not something which I am following myself, I think that is the way to go but doing that towards people I can´t. But this is definitely my ideal being able to do this, because that is why I am being a bitch to my parents, becasue I feel entitled to when they are being negative at me. But they are not even negative at me all the time because that is 99.99999% constructed by my mind, becasue I can feel the difference as night and day when I am in a good mood versus bad mood and how i respond, and moreso when I am depressed and when I am happy. It is two different worlds and if I can take control of my mind I take control over my environment automatically.But I don´t know if that´s is though. I am just concerned because my father is quite old and he maybe has 20 years left if he dies by natural causes and I am getting a resurfacing of fear of losing him. When I was like eleven yrs old I had a period where I would go to school, adn then lock myself in the toilet to cry because I was so afraid of losing my dad and I really didn´t want to lose him. Not the same now but still I feel worried and troubled by this. And I feel that I have not been taking care of the time I have had with him yet and I feel that if I can´t come over this worry about him and start to actually live life with him in it aswell then I will lose every chance of getting to be with him. I have good memories with him but I am still feeling bad because our relationship has gotten worse since I have been such an asshole and, well I don´t see us doing much in the future. But I think this is a reflection on how much I dislike the situation I am in and the person I have become. But I don´t feel this about my mother the same intensity atleast. This becasue she is 1.5 decades younger and also becasue I don´t like my mum as much unfortunately. I can´t seem to get along with her at all and neither could I when I was a kid (atleast not so much). Because she has always been quite fake in many aspects of life and being disingenous in life in general. And I haven´t been able to accept this about myself nor about her so that is why I don´t really like her ompany all the times, because she is fake and that I cannot accept that. When I am saying fake I mean that she is putting up a facade to other people and she is to different kinds of people, kind outwards and not always so kind inward but still sometimes kind inward. And I know this is because she is really insecure and stuff and that´s why she is doing this.

Hello everyone! My name's Hannah and I decided to make this post to hopefully encourage a bit of inspiration today. A few years back, having been practicing daily meditation and dedicating myself to spiritual/personal development work, I am blessed to share that I have discovered my life purpose! And so I thought it may be worth sharing a part of my story. For those who read, thank you, I very much appreciate it. ❤️ So having grown into a musical family; both musician parents who met in the local band they were in, I naturally gravitated towards music pretty much right away. Since before I could enunciate complete sentences, I was singing and uttering melodies, and by the time I was 11, I was writing songs, playing guitar, and performing in local coffeehouses and open mics, eventually turning it into my part-time job. I mean I was that kid who did NOT want to go to school and would rather be at home singing and playing the guitar instead. I was very quiet, distant, and in my own world and rather than playing sports, or being involved in social activities as a child, I much preferred staying at home in my room just studying and mastering the guitar for hours on end; with literally almost no breaks. So that is what I did. One may say most of my childhood was squandered because of that, (not interacting with other kids socially in "normal" ways and taking life almost quite seriously), but I shall not say that because I was simply just following my passion, committing to it, and immersing myself into it everyday. And because I found that it gave me great joy, fulfillment, relief, and understanding, I considered it to be some kind of calling at an early age, and something to focus on for the rest of my life. I can't express enough how much those long hours spent alone on just learning my instrument as a kid has awakened me, relieved me, and ultimately healed me from my own personal traumas, wounds, and suffering I was dealing with at that time. Some of my most beautiful, cherished, and deepest moments in life were spent in solitude, just sitting in the dark playing the guitar/piano, headphones on, and with my eyes closed, just demystifying the notes, and experimenting with different sounds and with the art of improvisation, and that that has brought me to elevated states of consciousness and a place of overall inner peace which I am beyond grateful for. Being in that active flow, almost trance-like state when playing/writing music became part of my spiritual practice, my spiritual healing journey, and most thankfully, my personal salvation. Once I discovered Music Therapy was a thing, I basically knew in my heart right away that THIS is what I want to do. And aside from music being my deepest passion since childhood, my second greatest passion was always Psychology, especially Jungian Psychology, so it really made perfect sense to me to pursue this path. In addition, because I have dealt with a great deal of trauma throughout my life, and discovered for myself the healing power of music and the incredible therapeutic affect it can have on us, I realized that I want to spread this truth; this remedy, and really, really help others, particularly the youth, with their own pain and adversity through the use of music. As a high school walk-out who resented school, I never ever thought I'd be going to college! But once I noticed my requirements to get into this field, I without hesitation, yet mindfully, decided to commence this journey. I believe that it is most likely worth it so long as you are certain or clear about your path and are passionate about the subject. Now, at 23, I am proud to say I am pursuing a double major in Music and Psychology, heading towards my degree in Music Therapy! I am very curious if there are any fellow music therapists or music therapy enthusiasts on this forum? It's been quite a long time since I've been on here but I would love to interact with other fellow musicians and Actualized.org fans who are involved in this field! Thanks again for reading and thank you so much @Leo Gura for creating such profound content and sharing such evolved wisdom with us. After watching you for years, and following your advice, and actively committing to it, it has greatly transformed and impacted my life in so many positive ways. You are deeply appreciated. ❤️

Sweet man. I'll check out more of his videos. I am actually a fan of loch kelly too, so what a coincidence that this guy was at Loch Kelly's retreat. Do you think this guy is as awake as Lahiri Mahaysa or are there different levels, even when people are awake? Or is everyone the same once awakened

@Ivan Dimi I feel that there is a natural drive of exploration and "forwardness" in reality that is the source of all this beauty we call existence. Probably it is the burning of that internal flame which is then filtered by an inaccurate view of reality (=ego), which creates all the trouble. But let's say we would collectively shift our focus unto the immediacy of experience (which I agree should be our focus now) and realize the ever present perfection of what we are - collective awakening - I think there would be a STRONG progressive movement coming from self-recognized Truth. That which is the ego's last barrier can be a healthy expression of embodied consciousness. Of course, this would look vastly different from what progress means today. It could mean technology merging with nature without any sort of selfish agenda behind it, other than celebrating unity of all existence. Imagine what would be possible... This is just a perspective to say: let's not demonize the general tendency of progressive movement, but be clear that the specific way in which it happens is a toxic and neurotic way of a confused collective consciousness which just wants to know itself. This takes away the guilt, shame and division and creates compassion for what is happening. It's just a thought, but I think even though this extreme focus on accomplishment and growth has been a great pain, it can certainly be of great use once we are awakened as a species (whenever that may be) - I think we would be able to co-create heaven on earth in no time

Plutonium confusion That was a term I heard Ken Wilber use in his Kosmic Consciousness interview with Tami Simon. It stuck with me because I felt I could closely relate with what K. Wilber was expressing. I experienced a flavor of this in the recent past but with the added quality, from my perspective anyway, of being divided against myself. Being divided against or within yourself is what guilt does. That’s one reason why it’s worse than useless. It’s actually more like a curse and a spell that perpetuates psychic entropy. In the New Testament Jesus said in Luke 14:26 - “If any man come to Me and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. This sums up the state of mind that must be cultivated for overcoming mainly the Superego in oneself. ( The internalized critic in one’s mind that is subtly disguised from its origins as usually one of our parents or caretakers telling us what we ought to do or how we should be. This is one of the ways this useless paralyzing phenomenon is instilled in us early in life and ironic and paradoxically blocks from us our own awakened conscience. When the Quoted scripture says - “ yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” - In my thinking that is the description of our life while under the influence of our childhood conditioning or cultivated conscience. The group-think of the collective ego,, Our inner barometer is not reading true with cultivated conscience but only after we have contacted that innermost place in us where awakened conscience comes from. Conscience not Consciousness. We are only awakened or have contacted higher consciousness when we see the uselessness of guilt and experience awakened conscience. Remorse of course ?is what should be there if you’re kind of a square or kind of a shmoo or kind of a shmoe or somewhat of a ho. Not a psychopath though who never feels guilt or feels remorse. That is of course a true lunatic who is like a cosmic dog tick sucking the lifeblood energy called chi out of everyone else. The archetypal egomaniac. I ended this rap not rhyming at all because it didn’t fit and so it might stick inside you’re head because you’re not dead or Zed or Sally or Hitler or Fred. You’re just a unique shmuck or maybe a shmoo or maybe a shmoe and kind of a ho. You are innocent you must see and not a chicken of the deep blue sea. But to not be a chicken, you must find the courage to truly think for yourself not like anyone else but paradoxically like everyone else when they have all awakened.

If you think of yourself as a Me, mine, ego-self, then consciousness is identified as a finite, individual with a karma and then rebirth will eventually happen to continue on with experience. If liberated, then consciousness doesn't identify with the body/mind finite self at death and has awakened and is no longer identified with the body/mind. It no longer needs to be reborn to experience and karma/vasanas for that individual dissolves.

Maybe this is a question for Leo or one of the mods or somebody who is awakened. But seeing as the guide was written 4 years ago I had some doubts that maybe the guide was outdated. Was wondering if this guide was still the quickest or most effective route?

Maybe? But then again! II) The Aggrandizement Bypass This is a type of self-delusion that some spiritual seekers use as a way of masking their perceived deficiencies and insecurities. The aggrandizement bypass is adopted by those who seek to feel enlightened, superior or having reached higher planes of existence. It is sometimes used by self-proclaimed masters, leaders, spiritually awakened souls, and gurus. Something you may want to consider! Just sharing a few thoughts, ideas and beliefs!

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I have cut and paste the following from Lonewolf.com, which in my opinion has one of the best examples of Spiritual Bypassing! LoneWolf.com The term ‘spiritual bypassing’ was originally coined by psychologist John Welwood in 1984. Spiritual bypassing is a term I coined to describe a process I saw happening in the Buddhist community I was in, and also in myself. Although most of us were sincerely trying to work on ourselves, I noticed a widespread tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks. https://lonerwolf.com/what-is-spiritual-bypassing/ To many people, spirituality becomes a sort of crutch used as a way of standing back up again in the face of life’s turmoil – and sometimes this is necessary. We all need support at some time or another in our lives. But the problem comes when spirituality is used as a drug for which we become dependent on in order to bypass the darker elements of our lives. When spirituality is used as a defense mechanism to ward off the gremlins and demons of our existence, it actually becomes our greatest hindrance, preventing us from developing true courage, authenticity, and wholeness; qualities that refine our souls. While the use of spirituality can provide us with a solid wall to hide behind, in doing so it traps us in an all-is-happy-and-perfect jail cell of illusions. The reality is that not everything in life is ‘love and light’ as is the slogan for many spiritual seekers. The truth is that there are many types of spiritual bypassing that we sometimes don’t recognize (or refuse to recognize) in life. I have listed ten of the most common types below: I) The Optimistic Bypass We’ve all come across people in life who love to laugh and smile, yet seem to be forcefully optimistic. “Focus on the positive!” “See the glass as half full!” “Don’t let a frown get you down!” are some of the catchcries of these people who tend to use optimism as a way of avoiding the more somber and troublesome realities of life. The optimistic bypass is often a side product of anger-phobia, or the inability to deal with negative emotions. II) The Aggrandizement Bypass This is a type of self-delusion that some spiritual seekers use as a way of masking their perceived deficiencies and insecurities. The aggrandizement bypass is adopted by those who seek to feel enlightened, superior or having reached higher planes of existence. It is sometimes used by self-proclaimed masters, leaders, spiritually awakened souls, and gurus. III) The Victim Bypass When one becomes a victim of their gifts, or of other people, this takes away the pressure of responsibility for shaping a satisfying life and taking responsibility for one’s happiness – such is the case with the Victim Bypass. This type of spiritual bypass is often used by spiritual seekers who believe they have extrasensory gifts of some kind, but due to their gifts they are unable to feel happy or healthy. Identifying as an Empath is sometimes a good example of this type of bypassing, as it can be interpreted as the fault of other people and their emotions for behaving in self-destructive and volatile ways. Other labels, like being a clairvoyant, indigo child, starseed, gifted healer, and so on, can often fall into the Victim Bypass trap. IV) The Psychonaut Bypass Many spiritual seekers explore the frontiers of the mind, the soul, and reality through the use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, DMT, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and other entheogens that expand the mind and perception of existence. While this is a fascinating way of exploring reality, entheogens, like any other drug, can sometimes be used as a way of escaping reality and avoiding committing to personal development and soulful refinement. V) The Horoscope Bypass When we frequently look outside of ourselves for help and guidance, as is with the case with Horoscopes and Psychics, we are failing to tap into our inner wellsprings of wisdom and strength and are allowing external predictions to control the outcome of our lives. The Horoscope Bypass is derived from fear and mistrust of ourselves, our inability to make decisions, and our inability to deal with anything tough that comes our way. VI) The Saint Bypass As children, we were conditioned to believe that a “spiritual person” is always kind, compassionate, and saintly. In adulthood, we continue to repeat this story to ourselves, and sadly, it can cause us tremendous suffering. The Saint Bypass is a reflection of extreme “black or white” thinking, promoting the underlying belief that spiritual people can’t have dark sides because that would make them “unspiritual.” This type of bypass is essentially avoidance of one’s Shadow Self (dark side) by overcompensating with the guise of a sweet, heavenly, exterior. Self-sacrifice is a major symptom of this type of bypassing. VII) The Spirit Guide Bypass In some spiritual traditions, it is a God who protects, in others an angel, an animal or an ascended being. No matter who the Spirit Guide is, the belief that they are there to “protect” us is pleasing to the mind but ultimately constricting to the soul. When we place our faith in another being’s power to ward off danger and keep us safe, we are committing a classic spiritual bypass: avoiding responsibility for ourselves and our lives and sidestepping the tough development of courage and resilience. We are not children, but when we think of ourselves as being so we mold our lives in such a way that we fail to develop strength of spiritual character. Spirit guides serve to teach us rather than to babysit us. VIII) The Prayer Bypass Similar to the Spirit Guide Bypass, the Prayer Bypass circumvents personal responsibility by putting faith in a higher being to solve all of our problems and issues. While praying can be a healthy practice, it can easily become limiting and misguided. IX) The Guru Bypass Often it is beneficial to follow a guru, shaman or spiritual teacher to learn and grow. However, becoming too attached to them can rapidly turn into another form of spiritual bypassing. The temptation to begin worshiping (knowingly or unknowingly) these teachers means that we eventually forget the purpose of listening to them: to integrate the essence of their teachings. By treating the words of a guru or master as the irrefutable truth and failing to think for ourselves, we are starved of true spiritual growth and transformation on our spiritual journeys. X) The Finger-Pointing Bypass On our spiritual quests, we begin to see through the lies, delusions, and crazy behaviors committed by our fellow human beings and this can make us angry, downhearted, and frustrated. However, when we get caught up in “everything that is wrong” with the outside world and other people, dedicating our lives to the self-righteous quest of finger-pointing, this can be another form of spiritual bypassing. Finger-pointing instills us with a false sense of righteousness, taking away our responsibility of looking inside and working on ourselves. At its roots, the Finger-Pointing bypass is sourced from fear and avoidance and is a powerful form of procrastination. Certainly, there are many other forms of spiritual bypassing, but here I present the most common ones that are easily observable in everyday life. Just to make myself clear, I cut and paste the above material from LoneWolf.com, the author is "Aletheia Luna". Just sharing a few thoughts, ideas and beliefs! Now "Do the WORK"

One useful way to frame spiritual bypassing is when conceptualization, beliefs, and unconscious mechanisms of the ego mind have co-opted deep, existential insights as new forms of self activity. This can commonly manifests as the dogmatic position in the whole "there is no one here and nothing to do! This is it!" type of attitude we see in the Neo Advaita movement. Other common forms are the new age belief systems around spirituality and "oneness." When the ego co-ops these positions, the outward manifestation of mind and body are not actually aligned with authentic realization, but instead, still caught in the dream, but a pernicious version because of how sneaky it is. We think we're being spiritual, but the ego has simply manipulated the insights to fit its new survival agenda, all the while what we actually are is still unconscious to itself. The biggest danger is never having actually aligned with our highest desire, which is to self-unity, become conscious of what we actually are. The danger is particularly bad in the examples I've listed because the ego truly believes it's "got it" but the truth remains hidden. The work is falsely seen to be done, or the ego thinks itself much more advanced than it actually is. Thinking one is awakened while not actually being awake is tragic, really. Usually it's only seen in hindsight, once one has had legitimate breakthroughs and can examine retroactively. Clarity clears ignorance. Consistent meditation - meditation is like a bullshit detector. If meditating for long periods of time causes suffering, that's an immediate indicator you have not unraveled the mystery of self. You want to have so much conviction in your insight, you can look death in the eyes and smile. Cannot emphasize enough how important and how simultaneously grounding and mind blowing rigorous meditation is, especially long term and especially for helping us avoid spiritual ego. Nothing like a good strong determination sit to humble the ego, but usually much less intensity is required. One of Leo's old vlogs talks about the importance of doing quarterly meditation retreats. I wouldn't say that frequently is necessary; quarterly is pretty extreme. However, doing at least one retreat per year is also really powerful and making sure our insights are grounded in experience, rather than belief. Understanding the mechanism and extent of self deception. Leo's video series on this is insanely powerful and underrated, imo. Adopting principles such as - Integrity, honesty, humility, persistence, gratitude, patience Values such as - truth, love, self-actualization, wisdom, harmony Be extremely weary of those who promote or demonize spiritual practice. There is certainly wisdom in the "This is it!" perspective, but in my experience, most of these individual's level of awakening is shallow. After a certain degree of awakening, one begins to see when someone is bullshitting, and when one is authentic. Kinda like how it's obvious who's a virgin and who's not... The presence of a truly awakened being is radically more powerful than, for example, the myriad of Neo Advaita or New Age YouTubers out there. However, detecting this subtle transmission is usually only available once one has had legitimate breakthroughs.

@Consilience Although I have done Mahamudra and Dzogchen retreats, my primary practice for more than a decade has been Sahaja Siddha Yoga, so I will restrict my comments to my experiences within that tradition. Forgive me if I use technical Yoga jargon, but it's the language I am comfortable with and that I use to communicate with my teachers and fellow students. I can clarify any terms if necessary. Also, forgive me for the length of this post :-) Before I talk more about my personal experiences, let me lay some ground work in Yoga theory. I would also like to make a distinction between the school I belong to and most other schools. This is not in any a way a judgement of which is better, only a critical point in how I practice. Typically, Yoga is taught as a series of willful techniques. The guru provides instructions, and the student follows to the best of their ability. As the sadhaka progresses, corrections are made, techniques are modified, and new teachings are given. In the tradition I belong to, the Guru awakens the prana shakti through a look, touch, or mantra (or a combination of them). Once the prana shakti is awakened, the sadhaka surrenders it to God in meditation. Everything that follows is spontaneous. All asanas, pranayamas, mudras, bandhas, etc happen without the willful effort of the sadhaka. Whatever is required for progress happens happens naturally, in the correct sequence, and to appropriate degree. Now on to the theory. Yoga is divided into 4 broad categories, Mantra, Laya, Hatha, and Raja. Mantra Yoga is the joining of Ham and Sa, or the in and out breaths. Once the breath is flowing equally through both nostrils, it is said that the sushumna, or central energy channel, has awakened. Hatha Yoga is the uniting of the Ha and Tha, or the sun and moon. This refers to the prana (sun) and apana (moon) that flows through the ida and pingala channels, which flank the sushumna on the left and right. Laya Yoga brings the bindu and nada together (mind and sound), and finally, in Raja Yoga the jivatman and Paratman become one. In the early stages of Yoga sadhana, as illustrated in my original post, the ida and pingala nadis are being purified. The prana and apana that flows through them cannot join together and enter the sushumna until that process has completed. You may wonder what is being cleared from the nadis. It is the sanchit karmas from previous lives. During this phase, sadhakas can experience many various kriyas (spontaneous actions). One will laugh and another will cry. Some roll their head around their shoulders, and others roll their bodies along the floor. Everyone experiences something different according to their past life karmas. This is all part of the purification process. Even though different people have different experiences initially, as they progress, the experiences become more common and systematic. At a certain stage, everyone passes through the same asanas, pranayamas, bandhas, mudras, etc, all in the same order. Ultimately, everyone passes beyond the external rites and enter the internal limbs of Yoga. On a side note, Yoga is not only a life long project, it is a LIVES long process, so some stages can seem to be skipped, but they may have been accomplished previously, in another life time. Now, I will share some of the experiences I have had beyond year one of my sadhana. I cannot provide a complete account, since I didn't recorded every incident, and much has been forgotten. There are also some kriyas that are considered "concealed" from non-practitioners, so I cannot reveal those. I will attempt to at least cover the broad strokes. Going into my second year, I began to enter a state that was not waking, dreaming or deep sleep. I would lose complete consciousness of the external world. There would be no dreams, but it wasn't a complete void either. There were some faint cognitions, but there was no sense that "I was thinking." All egoic consciousness was absent. Most every meditation session was the same, and I would fall into this state almost instantly. This actually went on for a number of years. It was a very difficult time; I felt like a complete failure. Where were the exciting kriyas that I had experienced before? I now believe this stage was an experience of tandra, but I'm not entirely sure. Eventually, physically kriyas began to return. At first there were mostly hand mudras or jerks of the head. Then I began to naturally sit in Siddhasana pose. Moolabandha Bandha became quite frequent at this stage. It was followed by Uddiyana Bandha, and then by Jalandhara Bandha. Finally, all three would be held together, along with breath retention. This was very intense, and it would be accompanied by a tremendous amount of energy flowing through my body. At times is seemed overwhelming. I relayed this to a teacher under my guru who pointed me to the Yoga scriptures. Everything was outlined there in perfect detail, all in the correct order. Shortly after this (maybe 3-6 months), I began to experience Kechari Mudra. This is where the tongue turns back and enters the nasopharynx. It didn't happen all at once, but it didn't take long either. Once the tongue was fully situated in the nasopharynx, I experienced complete thoughtlessness for the first time. I was totally aware of everything in my body and environment, but the mind was absolutely still. It is around this time that I began to experience "nada." This is a sound that originates internally, without any external cause. I hear it constantly, like a high pitched buzzing. This has been ongoing for over two years now. There have been other kriyas along the way, some are mental rather than physical, and some are even emotional. There have been changes in thinking, desiring, and lifestyle choices, all naturally and without volition. Some of the more recent experiences are still too "fresh" to speak about. I feel like I need to digest them more before sharing. There is no doubt that I have omitted things, mostly out of a lapse in memory, but I will gladly answer any questions that you may have.