Leo Gura

@Afonso People are generally very closedminded and dogmatic. They stumble into one thing in spirituality and they cling to it just like they do with all their other beliefs and perspectives, and so they are ignorant of all the techniques and teachings available. Unless one has made a conscious effort to study this field very openmindedly and very carefully, investing years and thousands of hours, one will become dogmatic about techniques and teachings. This has been the case for over 5000 years. Every religion misunderstands every other religion, because they don't care to understand. They care to create an identity out of it. And mindfulness with labeling is not by any means required. There are a dozen other ways to raise mindfulness. Depending on your culture and personal preferences, you may or may not resonate with it. I recommend it because it's very straight-forward and was effective for me.

Unraveling the self is serious business. Then again, not unraveling the self is even more dangerous. How many people committed suicide this year because they DIDN'T go to a meditation retreat? All such things need to be understood in proper context.

@Afonso 1) Thousands of hours of questioning. 2) Thousands of hours of silent meditation. You awareness is just too low right now to see your way out of this pickle. If your mindfulness skill was higher, you'd be able to clearly see that a tension has nothing to do with you. Tensions are just feelings, which come and go. It's like you're a level 5 elf trying to win a battle with a level 100 dragon in an RPG. It's not gonna work. He's gonna one-shot you. You gotta go back to the newbie area (mindfulness with labeling) and level up your skills, son

Of course, that's what almost all schools will tell you: We are the best, ignore everyone else. Of course mixing practice is more challenging than blindly doing one practice. But the fact is, if you ask most people at a Vipassana retreat what enlightenment is, they won't even be able to tell you. And some of them have been doing Vipassana for 20 years! Vipassana is a great practice, but it is weak without self-inquiry.

Ya'll are just wasting time.

@Afonso No, that tension is a sensation/experience. But the True Self is beyond all that. Are you a tension? Is that what you're saying you are existentially? A tension?? So a tension has a body? A tension is thinking? A tension perceives life? A tension experiences emotions? A tension is reading this sentence right now? Cause that's what you're basically saying: I AM A TENSION. Rather silly, when you inquiry into it a bit, no? The point is not that the tension needs to disappear. The point is, why are you identifying with it? You might as well be identifying with a coffee table. Doesn't the coffee table in your living room need to disappear before you realize it isn't you?

I think we'll allow this topic because it is well-written and reasonably put. Hence we're unlocking it. But keep your discussion from veering off into character assassination or debate. Over all, James is a pretty good teacher, whatever issues you might have with him. Not all teachings will appeal to all folks. Yes, James likes to be critical/dismissive of some traditions/teachings which don't line up with his style of teaching. But that's true of most teachers. I've seen some of the most enlightened teachers being overly dismissive. This is a common issue. The best thing to do in these cases is to the listen to the overall thrust of the teaching, not getting caught up in nitpicking details. Because details can always be nitpicked, and end up distracting you from your own work. It's quite easy to criticize every single non-dual teacher in existence, from Buddha to Jesus to whoever.

@Revolutionary Think I supposed, if you really care to be alpha chimp

Modern court systems are God's justice. Because there is nothing which isn't God.

@nahtanoj Sure, studying at various schools can be very eye opening. They don't have to be perfect to be useful. Just don't get stuck there, is the point.

@Fidelio I don't really see myself as someone who teaches enlightenment. I share commentary on self-improvement, and it just so happened that enlightenment came up as a topic which I couldn't not talk about. I also spend a lot of time warning you guys about the dangers of dogma, or taking any one teaching too seriously, which most schools never do. If spirituality schools actively encouraged their followers to study other schools and perspectives, that would leave me very happy. Unfortunately that's a very rare thing.

It's scary to imagine how hairy his balls are

@kino You are delusional... now. The truth you glimpsed during LSD was the truth. Now you're back in the world of delusion along with all the other deluded chimps

Dogma will be a problem no matter what spiritual school you follow. That is why I strongly advise people to never study just one school. Even the best school will fill your head with dogma. It's too difficult not to. Such is the nature of the mind. And enlightened people are not immune to dogma. When evaluating a school it's always a good idea to ask yourself, "Okay, how many people here are ACTUALLY enlightened? And how deeply?" Often times, the answer will be 0 or 1.

Like I've told him before, his books should come stapled with a bag of mushrooms, cause it's the only way people will get it

Well it's true, reality is an illusion. Why are you taking it as a negative thing? It's great! That means reality has no limits. It can be any way it wants.

@Shanmugam He didn't go deep enough with them. Of course he's gonna have bad trips when he insists on being so rational. 5-meo would probably give him a heart attack because it would mean his whole career is based on bullshit. And of course his ego is not gonna like facing that truth. A dogmatic mind is a hell of thing to change. Especially when it thinks it's above dogma.

30mg of 5-meo up the nose. That's is the perfect antidote for all atheists and rationalists. That's as tangible and scientific as spirituality gets. Which is why I like it. Because anyone who rejects it, does so purely out of closemindedness. Any serious skeptic should be ready to take the 5-meo challenge. This deeper issue here is that Sam treats spirituality like degrees of tranquility of the mind. That is the case at the newbie stages. At the higher stages, it's not just deeper peace. It's deities, paranormal phenomena, God, Absolute Infinity, and realizing that all of reality is a dream. It's a whole order of magnitude difference. Tranquility of mind and no-self is easy for an atheist to accept. God, however, is not. It's beyond your wildest imagination.

@Silver Sounds like a Buddha in the making. Your intuitions are exactly right. But don't expect society to support you in that. The kind of joy you can experience by yourself is infinitely beyond anything the external world can offer you. With nothing but some food and basic shelter you can live like a king. That's why people become monks.

@spicy_pickles It's not easy. You gotta really have vision, and carry it out. I remember 5 years ago, when it was impossible for me to do 5 minutes. But I slowly kept at it. Try some binuaral beats program like Holosync if you're really stuck. Then you can wean yourself off it once you get used to sitting still. You need to also fix your media addictions. It does little good to meditate for 10 minutes and then spend 2 hours on Facebook and 4 hours play video games and 4 hours watching funny cat videos on YT.

Lol, by your logic, when you eat a walnut, you should eat the shell too, because, hey, it's there for a reason. Why would mother nature put walnuts in walnut shells unless she wanted you to eat them? It will soften up your body.

Hence you make a mushroom tea or alcohol extract. Don't eat the actual mushroom flesh. It contains toxins.

@The White Belt The mind always creates resistance when you try to make big positive changes to your life. This is normal. I always experience resistance when I start a big important self-help course. Just try as best you can to push through it and maintain consistency. Over time, the mind will quiet down. The trick is to not let the whining get you to quit a good thing. Remember, that you also don't need to be 100% perfect in doing the course. 80% is good enough. 80% is enough to change your life. Don't feel bad about finding your life purpose. It's really a necessary component of a conscious life. Even if you got enlightenment tomorrow, you would still want to develop a conscious way of making a living. So by doing this work now, you are helping yourself become conscious, and then in the future take the ultimate step to enlightenment. Don't feel guilty for walking a comprehensive spiritual path. Just make sure you don't get trapped in success to the point where you neglect enlightenment. Anything you can do to make your life more conscious is a great thing. Whether it's cleaning up your diet, relationships, career, friendships, or whatever. That is NOT wasted effort. That's all great stuff which is part of the comprehensive spiritual path. Sure, it's not directly related to enlightenment, but you gotta start with getting the basics in place or you will be unable to sustain enlightenment. Remember, that if you're still young -- like in your 20's -- you've got plenty of time to pace yourself and address many aspects of your life. Just don't take that as license to slack off and watch TV.

Suffering, suffering, suffering

I once dated Tony Robbin's copy writer. She wrote all of his sales copy and got paid very well for it. She knew him very well and many other self-help gurus for whom she also wrote most of their sales copy. She confided in me that she wished Tony Robbins would retire, because he's so over-worked all the time. He's addicted to success. I don't like to gossip, but when you learn of these kinds of behind-the-scenes stories, the illusion starts to unravel. You hit the nail on the head: if you were really unconditionally happy, would you care about success? And would you devote your life to getting other people to become successful, or unconditionally happy? Notice, that every human being who is truly capable of unconditional happiness, does not teach success, she teaches spirituality. Because success is a second-rate substitute for spirituality. Success is what you pursue when you are spiritually clueless.