Search the Community

Reduce the dose, don’t add in alcohol or weed. The wee prior to the trip, get grounded with things like meditation. Contemplate the questions and desires you would like to explore. Create a safe, peaceful setting for the trip. Afterwards, give your mind and body time and space to process, integrate and embody the realizations. This can be done in many ways: spending time in nature, contemplating, journaling, creating. . . It can also be helpful to communicate with experienced people that you resonate with. For example, my early trips revealed aspects of nonduality that I couldn’t make sense of. My mind was making up all sorts of stories to make sense of it. It felt unstable. One thing that helped was to watch nonduality speakers that had a lot of experience. As well, going in nature and just observing without all the figuring it out. Yet that’s just me. Someone else may have revelations about creativity during a trip and resonate with an experienced artist that explains how to unlock inner creativity. To me, it sounds like you have some intuition, feelings and a calling arising. I would get in touch with that and try not to get distracted by the background thinking noise. Thoughts can be insightful, yet they can also be noise of distraction.

Yep, that's nonduality. But I think that nonduality can also be experienced while being aware of everything. That's the eye of God that sees everything with no judgement and explores itself to infinity.

In this video nonduality teacher Wayne Liquorman explains that the sense of a personal self is fine and it's the hijacked sense of self by the belief in being independent and claiming authorship that is the false self. Both Wayne and Roger Castillo had Ramesh Balsekar as their teacher. I find that to be a great explanation. Because it allows for an integral transcend and include of the individual self. The trick is to "just" recognize that the personal self is the whole universe in action.

Why is Duality Lower than nonduality? Isn't that a duality between duality and nonduality? If reality is ONE how can there be higher and lower? Dual and nondual? Where is this oneness? Does it have a location? Is there someone who is controlling this process?

So nonduality is the new pick up ?

I know this is an animated children's TV show but don't underestimate it. It has a lot of higher consciousness teachings and lessons that everyone can learn from. I'll divide this post into different parts of the spiral so that it is more organized. Stage Green: The main premise of the show is that the protagonist needs to defeat the Fire Lord. The Fire Nation is a nation that developed quite quickly because of the nature of the element they bend fire, and as a result got pushed into their version of the Industrial Revolution (stage orange). However, the Fire Nation also has a lot of blue and red in it and wanted to "spread their prosperity to the other nations" by conquering and manipulating them with violent means. This resulted in the Hundred Year War, colonization of other lands, and ultimately the genocide of the air nomads. Taking all of this into consideration, the show takes a stage green approach to really articulate everything that is wrong with these things throughout the entire series. And the best part is, despite having many heavy themes, they are all portrayed in a kid friendly way while not sugar coating or diminishing the issues. I remember when I first watched this show as a child, I related to the characters and thought it was a really cool action series but when I revisited as an adult, I really understood the concepts much better On top of the main themes, other side stage green things the show touches on are animal rights (Season 2 Episode 16: "Appas Lost Days"), sexism (S1E1 "Boy in the Iceberg" S1E4"The Warriors of Kyoshi" S1E18 "The Waterbending Master"), disabilities (this wasn't one episode but was encompassed by entire characters such as Toph and Teo), cultural appropriation (S1 E17 "The Northern Air Temple") and mental health (dealing with loss, dealing with abusive family members, Azula's mental break down etc) just to name a few. As far as character development goes, all of the characters are well rounded and complex. The show especially excels at representation. The female characters all have their unique form of femininity whether it is Suki, Katara, Ty Lee, or Azula, regardless of whether they are protagonists or antagonists. On top of that each culture in Avatar the Last Airbender are modeled after a different culture in real life. The Fire Nation is based on Japan and it's colonial past. The Earth Kingdom is based on China. The Air Nomads are based on Tibetan Monks. The Water Tribe is based on the Native Americans. The Sun Warriors are based of Mayan Civilization. Those are just to name a few but the show has amazing representation for Asian and Native American cultures. But I believe that all of this was done in a excellent way for people in other spirals. The show does introduce stage green concepts without being overly preachy or controversial to the point where it triggers people who aren't green that are likely also watching the show. I believe they can be used to articulate larger conversations and help people understand the point of view of green. I wouldn't say that it would directly push people to green, but it will plant seeds if that makes any sense. Stage Yellow: The show does a good job at not demonizing the Fire Nation, despite them being the antagonists of the show. On an individual level, you see a lot of humanization whether it is from the beginning from Prince Zuko and Uncle Iroh and how their redemption arc flourished, or in the end of Princess Azula's mental break down in the final battle. On the collective level the show also brings into question the differentiation between soldier and civilian (S1E10 "Jet") as well as showing the propaganda that is in Fire Nation culture (all of season 3 but especially S3E2 "The Headband" and S3E17 "The Ember Island Player" because they directly deal with ideology and propaganda). Also S2 E10 "The Library" calls the audience to question who they're even rooting for. This episode is when the characters walk into Wan Shi Tongs Library, a library infinite knowledge (I think it was supposed to be based on the Library of Alexandria). When Sokka says something along the lines of "with this infinite knowledge, we can defeat the Fire Nation and end the Hundred Year War" the librarian, Wan Shi Tong, depicted by a really creepy owl that gave me nightmares as a kid, gets angry and asks the kids and the audience "do you think you're the first ones in this library who believed that their side of a war is justified?" Firstly this is important because even though the Fire Nation has created chaos for the other nations, it establishes the protagonists position as yet, just another perspective. Additionally, I think it also addresses the desire to use knowledge for our own egotistical desires such as war instead of a healthy system. The show also depicts the cycle of war and how victims can become perpetrators of further violence because of the bitterness that comes with loss. This is first introduced in S1 E10 "Jet" where a group of orphaned kids basically beat up innocent Fire Nation civillians as well as wipe out entire settlements because of the pain they felt because their villages were burned to the ground and their parents were killed by the Fire Nation. It is also delved into on S3 E16 "The Southern Raiders" where Katara tried to hunt down and kill the man who led the raid on her village and killed her mother. While Katara is kind and loving for much of series, this episode delves into other more painful parts of her character. The pain of the loss even caused her to use waterbending techniques that basically went against her regular moral compass. Another episode where this is discussed is in S3 E8 "The Puppet Master" where Hama manipulates (and in some cases tortures) Fire Nation civilians using her powers because of they way she was hunted and imprisoned earlier in the war as a young woman. I also think elements of stage yellow can also be seen by how the show articulates green concepts as I mentioned earlier in this post. It doesn't push anything on it's viewers and lets the audience draw their own conclusions. Because of that the show is seen as progress and if I recall correctly, has faced little to no controversy from anyone really. I also think its smart to depict stage green concepts in a fictional universe to people who aren't at green so there is some personal distance between their egos and the issues and as a result they can see the limitations of their stages in a more objective manner. Stage Turquoise: Finally, the show scratches the surface of stage turquoise. Because the world is based on Asian culture, there are concepts of Eastern philosophy that is scattered throughout the show. Some examples include death being an illusion, separation being an illusion, letting go of egoic and worldly desires, and aligning chakras. The best episode for this is S2 E19 "The Guru." I have seen previous posts on this website talking about it more in depth and I'd recommend people check those out. Its a great way to introduce people, especially children, to concepts regarding nonduality without over complicating anything while still getting the message across. But yeah, those are some of my thoughts on this show. I got a lot from it as a kid, especially from the timeless humor that people still make memes about 15 years later, but I got so much more from it as an adult when I got more serious about self-development which is why I wanted to share all of this on this forum. I believe this show is a gem in general, but especially for kids because of the amount of complexities that are depicted in a simplistic manner.

absolute love and unconditional love are not per say the same. they are so different as a black hole is different to space, nothingness is to everythingness, destruction is to creation, egoic-love is to self-love, duality is to nonduality, time is to timelessness, when absolute love happens unconditional love dies - that’s why even in non duality there is always a dual choice even if the absolute does not like that.

According to nondual philosophy, evil does not exist. Evil is something "other" than good. In nonduality, there is no such thing as "other"; therefore no such as thing as evil. The problem of evil is in the assumption that "evil exists".

Hey guys, it's been a while since i posted here... the forum has always intimidated me slightly, but I really have nowhere else to turn when it comes to these kinds of topics. Before I get into anything I do want to mention that I am on medication and seeing a therapist so I am seeking professional help for the tangible issues. That being said, there's a layer to this i feel like I need to address here on the forums. This is very off the cuff so I apologize if i stray from the point and ramble, there is just a lot behind this but hopefully I can sum it up cleanly. So Ive been following leo for a long time, on and off, I admit i havent been the most dedicated watcher, I skip videos sometimes. But if a title grabs my attention I can sit through a 2-3 hour video easy. I have experience with psychedelics in my past (admittedly mostly recreational use) but I also have a history with a mental hospital and that's the big thing I kind of want to mention. Over the course of 3-4 years ive been to the mental hospital a total of 3 times. This February was my last visit. I get a better handle on my episodes each time, but they're loosely tied to my existential questioning and spiritual journey. I loose touch with reality and it's hard to explain without getting too into it. (Im not here to detail my psychotic episodes to you all, you dont deserve it and it may be missing the point lol) I used to really be into the spiritual journey and nonduality (a lot of leo and alan watts will do that) but lately I feel like ive lost my focus and im almost damaged with my mental illness. I dont want to give up on the path, but i realize that it can no longer be the same for me. Ive gotten some good insights to myself but I feel like ive forgotten them and I feel so lost. I feel like I don't know myself anymore, who am I really, what do I really want, what im capable of anymore. Do I really want to be enlightened? What does enlightenment even mean to me? (I have no fucking clue lol) Am I capable of doing these practices after all that ive been through after ive questioned myself so much to the point where ive lost my grip on reality. I feel like ive broken myself down so much, but now I was hoping to get advice on how to build myself up again. I dont know how many of my old perspectives ive re-adopted (in terms of ideas about reality) I feel like im just in survival mode. Leo talks about letting love lead you nowadays and I feel like I need a redose of the fundamentals again. IS there any direction that someone can point me in? old videos of leos maybe? Is this even path even possible for me anymore? I dont want to be resigned to floating through life mindlessly and unaware... but i feel like I need to start all over again... so how do I do that? I hope this wasn't too long a read for you and I didn't ramble too much. Basically I just want to know where I go from here after all ive been through.. and what you all think. I can't appreciate you enough for your advice, even if it's just support, and I wish you all the best.

"But you cannot run away from yourself. However far you go, you come back to yourself and to the need of understanding this point, which is as nothing and yet the source of everything." -Nisargadatta Maharaj Lately I've been dealing with being lonely off and on. It's interesting that there's a lot of self judgement and embarrassment around this. I feel like I should have been able to have a busier more lively life, or live somewhere different or have a different partner, be more successful, have more friends, etc. A lot of the plans I make to distract myself aren't available because of the pandemic. I can go into all kinds or reasons and stories about this. Here's one, in the past, summer was an incredible but beautifully lonely time. My parents lived very secluded lives far away from civilization or the school I attended. Summer vacation was a time completely to myself. Trees, flowers, birds and my own fantasies were my only company. I've never really felt that again so strongly until now, because as an adult I have always been able to make plans to see people and do things. Particularity I'm really interested in why I feel shame about being lonely. A lot of the things I'm driven to do and want are simply out of this alone feeling. I think a lot of conflict between people just comes out of loneliness. I feel like we're so harsh on ourselves for being lonely, it's our fault or failure. So it feels just slightly better to blame other people for doing things that don't allow us to be with them or love them how we envision things should be. What does nonduality say about being lonely? There aren't two. There's no you to be lonely, no you to want someone else. But it's happening out of wholeness. So should I be even more ashamed? Or maybe the loneliness is love itself? Love I didn't want to feel because I was too busy upholding my sense of separation? Confession, I'm lonely. My loneliness is killing me (and I) I must confess I still believe (still believe)

June 15, 2020 I feel like I am slipping into autopilot without the dedication necessary to self actualize. I wasted a lot of time today, but I did find a few important things. There are one day tournaments I can play in every week. I could create a better life than what I currently have by becoming a yoga instructor even though this is not a huge passion but there are a few motives for it. This expands the quality of my consciousness which I think I lack. Outside of time wasting, I thought a lot about what my life purpose should be. One important note I make to myself to help seek truth is that I care about my survival more than I do truth. This is a paradox that avoids ideological stances about truth. I also tried learning about transpersonal psychology, but I did not yet find what college I would go to. I don't want to be discouraged by the fact that many beliefs about nonduality are created along the way. I also realize that forceful methods are doomed to failed so long as my survival is what I value more than truth. I considered going into politics again. I see politics as the greatest potential for increasing the well-being of all of mankind. The greatest good for the greatest number is a principle that resonates with me. Politics is meant to teach me to set my biases aside and see things as they are. My highest priority is constant self reflection to ensure that I do not become corrupt. The next most important things are anti corruption and various social problems in which to detect the greatest good for the greatest number. I am not clear on what precisely the means are, but if I believe that I can't get the money I will lock myself out entirely. Ideology is a major source of corruption and I think a mystical experience is necessary for me to nonduality as more than a belief so that I can actually be more loving and not just preaching whatever people on the internet told me. I could consider business for financial independence. It may not seem like a passion now, but it is serious potential to create the means. Means is one problem with going into politics where me being corruptable is the other problem. Money is the source of many of my limiting beliefs about travel, psychedelics, contribution, and maybe something else. I think truth may be important to understanding a life purpose. Most people don't know what is true, and if I do know them that may provide me with a significant advantage. This is not to be better than others, but simply to make me more capable of making a meaningful contribution. Right now I am attached to my survival, my addictions, my limiting beliefs, and more. I did do a little chess today. I won one game in which my opponent blundered a knight and resigned immediately. He was otherwise better. I finished some homework on mating patterns and will soon move onto double attack. I feel like I am losing focus and am not As focused on chess As I would like to be when training. Maybe my mind is too numbed by all the social media. I should test this out for one week with only one blog post a day and no YouTube. Just meditation and diet. This will make me more effective at my training. I will find your purpose. I don't want suicidal thoughts coming up suddenly when I see my life as insignificant and pointless. I want more than just talk. You have done some work and I would like to stop giving you the stick to motivate you. I don't love you. It is possible to raise this capacity for love. This may be a counter intuitive solution like with truth vs survival. The truth is that I do not understand love and I am not less because of it. This is love.

Leo. You. God. Nonduality....not-two. There is the direct experience, self-awareness, ‘right now’, of one (not two).

@Lenny this is a problem that comes up for me a lot on this site. It becomes hard not to create beliefs about what is true and I feel like it creates a delusional affect where really I don't know what is true. I think this can really interfere with my efforts to seeking truth. I don't want to create beliefs about nonduality that prevent me from knowing for sure if it is true or just a story the mind could spin. Maybe this is a cause for me to not spend too much time on this site. After my own contemplating I questioned how do I know inanimate objects don't have feelings. I can compare a curtain to cat and see a clear difference. The cat purrs and hisses while the curtain only changes shape when acted upon by a person folding it for example. It appears to have no judgement, but unless I am the curtain, I can't tell for sure if it has feelings or not. I assume it has no perspective because of the initial comparison between inanimate objects and animals. I want to be careful not to change my beliefs just because it seems wrong. As for thinking, an example of a body part being unable to think on its own would be a dead person. The body may still have living cells, but the body becomes like a curtain that just sits there until a creature moves it. I feel like there is a voice in my head, and I have a hard time hearing a voice in my feet or hands which suggests that thoughts come from my brain. My body is connected to my mind because I think of words to type and my fingers move accordingly. The movements of the body are learned because I practiced typing and I do not consciously think "I will move this finger to this letter then the space bar.". My mind might associate these words with letters which are associated with particular positions on the keyboard which then causes me to automatically move my fingers in this way. Maybe this is a simplified thinking process of my brain which I associate with these movements allowing my fingers to do this quickly just like tying my shoes. The voice in my head can be acted upon if I cause it to say "I am a rainbow butterfly with 17 wings who likes to tap dance on a pot of gold.". This suggests that the voice is the thoughts and beliefs but I am manipulating what they say. My thoughts are also habitual just like my finger movements. If I have the same thoughts all the time, then I am on auto pilot because my behavior never changes. In order to know what is doing the thinking, I would want to see what is prior to the thought. When I try my mind silences and I do nothing. I then find nothing prior to the thought. The thing which thinks my thoughts is that which causes this body and mind to do things when acted upon. I might be the brain doing all of this, but I would need to see my brain and perform surgery on myself while conscious in order to make sure I am the brain thinking. I did my best with my contemplation. I don't know how to define progress in the context of truth.

Yeah bro but you have memories and are self-aware. Isn't God your higher self-awareness? Do you think that God is something impersonal which is separate from you (identity) and that's why you say that you never become it? Because God can experience nonduality while existing as everything. Duality is nothing but a mind problem when the Creator feels separate from its creation. You are God brosky.

Thanks, it seems to be more clear now.. I was watching the latest video of Joseph maynor, and he pointed out a subtle difference between nonduality and spinocha. I think the human levels are based on the plurality of consciousness, while I was looking at from a single viewpoint. And yeah I can cease to have a perspective and can switch modes if I don't desire it, very true.

@An young being I had many “nondual experiences” before I knew anything about nondual theory. I knew that experiences were unique, yet I didn’t even know there was a word for it. Then a couple people in my life told me “Oh yea, that’s nonduality”. I was like “There’s a word for it? What’s this ‘nonduality’ thing?”. I then started watching nonduality speakers and was like “Omigosh! That’s it. They know what it’s like!”.

The question makes no sense to me Edit: to clarify why it makes no sense to me: Nonduality is simply being. Has anyone experienced being beforw they knew about it? Ofcourse?! Only Everyone ever. Even your dog

I am a big fan of ASMR, so this video naturally floated on top of my youtube recommendations. Once I started listening, My nonduality started tingling. I have gone full circle as my ASMR and nonduality addictions merged into One video. Enjoy this masterpiece Choose how to use it, it may help you fall asleep and wake you up at the same time

Pretty sure Jed McKenna is Nonfiction. Martin Ball has some awesome Sci-Fi Nonduality novels. Check out his website.

I write Nonduality based fiction short stories. Got about 18 so far. Want to compile them into a book of short stories with Nonduality as the connecting theme.

@krockerman You’re writing of nonduality with “logic”, and you don’t realize you’re doing it.

@assx95 Nonduality, implying “not two”. So, is there a ‘you’ working toward ‘something’? Is there a ‘you’ which ‘took on ideologies’? Aren’t they as they appear - your own ? How could an ‘us’ experience not two? Ultimately, who’s belief is this climbing up stairs concept?

We're getting into deep philosophical territory here, but in the grand scheme of things there is no inside or outside, deities are part of your existence, whether you acknowledge them or not. In drawings about yoga and tantra, they are usually depicted as living inside you, with each one responsible for a different energy centre, like a gatekeeper. At each centre, you must overcome the challenges given to you and satisfy the gatekeeper deity, that you are ready to move on to the next challlenge. The highest gate is at Sahasrara, which is guarded by Shiva, if I recall. It is at this point that Shakti can finally reunite with Shiva and nonduality is achieved. There is of course only the Self, which you may call God, but it has many aspects. You are one of those Aspects, but your separation from all the others, including deities, is entirely illusory.

Your comment is thoughtful. Sometimes I feel that people use the word "God" (with it's capital G) to mean "revere this thing" and I wonder if it hearkens back to a Christian upbringing in some cases even if they are using it in a Christian context. -Although in some Hinduism it is invoked. I have heard some people say Yogananda sort of package his teachinsg to appeal to a Christain raised audience. For instance: "The kingdom of God" is used. Here he says "his presence", "his" is invoked You can read some of these statements and somebody with a Christian might relate to it. Then there is the is other idea out there "you are God". I have another thread on this Interestingly nobody replied to it. If "you are God" is that different from saying "you are a person" ? Are people "God" ? But you don't hear that. Are dogs God ? Is an empty box of Cheerios God? Is everything God or only living things? If "God" is a word meaning everything then why would somebody say "you are God"? People don't say "you are everything" because it is assumed yes, pick anything you want and it's part of "everything" So why the term "God" I believe the intent is "revere this thing". Interesting I make a thread "You are God" and I also put in an interesting second post later of the sayings of Swami Vivekananda. Nobody replies. Yet when atheism is brought up some people come in and reply offended by the idea What about "the All" ? what about "oneness" ? what about nonduality? isn't this all "God" ? I would say the word "God" does not have to used to express that. When you are in a Western country "God" has a strong connotation of Judeo-Christianity even if untended. What about saying "you are everything" or "we are part of a universal consciousness" "be one with everything" "energy" etc ? - because agreeing with that is not so easy to determine. People acknowledge that if they are on a football team that are part of team, by extension we are part of the universe. Even an atheist could acknowledge parts and sum of parts. However when the word "God" is invoked there is an expectation, say "God" back or you are not part of the team, and I am expected to write it with a capital "G" Reverence for a word. Is doing that really nondual? Of course "nondualism" is another concept, another word. But it doesn't have the same sense of authority, that humble yourself quality

I understand lol. I didn't have tolerance from a recent trip. But in general, I need higher doses for similar effect compared to most people. Both my 5-MeO trips have looked like exorcisms to the observer. It just tends to hit me hard, even when plugged. But that was 18 months ago. I might want to test the waters again. LSD was much smoother. The bilateral symmetry tends to suggest that I was energetically and Nonduality-wise open, but no exorcism.