Leo Gura

@Elahe Yes it's probably a phase, but you might also need to reach out and find some companions. Don't get so involved with self-improvement that you forget to reach out and make new friends (if you're into that sorta thing). Construct the kind of life you want. Be proactive. You don't have to live in a cave.

To be clear, there's nothing wrong with being logical or rational or thinking in terms of probabilities, as long as you're conscious of the limits of thought, and that there is much outside of those limits of thought which you will NEVER access through logic or thought. So it's all about being flexible enough. And thought, being mechanical as it is, is not conscious enough to resolve the really deep problems in your life. Which can only be resolved with consciousness.

Yeah, but this Aristotlean way of linear thinking (cause and effect) gets you into trouble. Reality is not linear or physical or causal. Even science is starting to acknowledge this boundary with quantum mechanics. You cannot isolate one part or reality from another. I recommend you check out David Bohm's work on this point. Even if we're not talking about enlightenment, its very important to your effective functioning to realize that what's happening here is you projecting stuff onto otters. Because I can guarantee you're not only projecting onto innocent otters, but many other facets of your life which create much suffering for you.

It certainly does NOT act logically. That's your projection on it. And for that matter, even 99% of YOUR thoughts and actions are not logical. Until someone fed this idea of "logic" into your mind, it didn't exist. You had to learn it. And before you could learn it, someone had to invent it from zero. Think back to what it was like when you were a baby. You had not notions of logic at all. And it was irrelevant. Your existence didn't depend on it. Only now, you tell yourself (in retrospect, as a story) that logic was important.

@Elahe Hence hippies like to congregate together. Go to some hippy gatherings like Burning Man or some Vipassana retreats and make new friends. Maybe even consider moving to a hippy city like Ashland Oregon or Austin Texas.

You're too flippant about that. Without language, you literally wouldn't have "man", "universe", "cause-effect", "patterns", "mind", "science", "thoughts", "big bang", "cells", "evolution", or even a distinction between "self" and "world". The consequences of realizing what language is cannot be over-emphasized. What you think of right now as given patterns of nature, are actually mostly constructs of language. But it requires some serious consciousness work to realize this. THERE IS NO SCIENCE OR LOGIC without language. Try it! Just 20,000 years ago, science and logic did not exist! Like... AT ALL! There is nothing universal about science or logic. It's highly human-biased. Useful, yes. But reality stretches way beyond that. The universe is no more mathematical or logical than it is the slap of a beaver's tail. To appreciate this, one has to become conscious of what a symbol is.

@Visionary Labeling is supposed to be like training wheels. Although even masters can still use labeling. After years of practice, it becomes so automatic that it doesn't get in your way. But of course, you can choose to drop labels if you want to. Just notice that you will be more prone to slipping back out of mindfulness. If you want to understand language, the ultimate solution is to contemplate: What is language? How did language arise in me? What is it's purpose? Who am I speaking to inside my head? There's A LOT to discover in contemplating that very deeply.

Hehe... Tell that to a sea otter. You're not conscious yet of what language is, that logic is language, and that YOU constructed it! It would be wise to become conscious of the mechanics of symbolism, before you go around idolizing it.

Remember to keep your discussions civil. Name-calling is against community guidelines. Anyone who devolves to name-calling another user will be banned. Learn how to disagree with people without making it personal, or attacking them.

@Key Elements That's right. We're free to play the game however we want. Understanding, of course, that we have no choice about anything Allah's will be done either way.

@joegarland Well, one thing's for sure: you've been playing too many NES games ;D Sounds a bit like an NDE actually. Not enlightenment. It's very easy to test for enlightenment. Just ask yourself, "What am I?" and either you know for sure, or you're lost.

@jakub_friso Don't think of selfishness or selflessness as baked into any specific action. They are not. Selfishness is found in the intent of the action. If you see a homeless man on the street and feel compassion for him and decide to give him a dollar -- just out of sheer compassion, not because of anything else -- then that was a selfless action. This isn't rocket science. Your intuition clearly knows when you're behaving selflessly. All you gotta do is sit down in silence and ask it, with honesty. It's also important not to judge yourself for behaving selfishly, cause that would only pour fuel on the fire. If you want a rock-solid way to ensure you're acting in accordance with good Karma, just approach every situation with the intent to radiate unconditional love. This about how drastically different that would be from the way you usually approach situations.

@username Might be dangerous to expect the same highs as from sheer hedonism. That suggests misguided motivation. If you're constantly comparing your spiritual pleasures to your old hedonistic pleasures... well, that's not a recipe for success. I would suggest you shift your values from pleasure and happiness to Truth-at-any-cost and radiating unconditional love towards others. This journey is not about what you GET, it's about what you GIVE. Learn to love to give, and you will get everything you want in return. But if you approach as a manipulation to GET, GET, GET, you'll be disappointed, because that's ego, not spirit. If I was truly honest, playing a video game -- for those 20 hours that I'm playing it -- is a lot more fun and interesting than meditation or whatever. But there are other considerations. Spiritual pleasure is a different kind of pleasure. Hence I sold my shiny 4k TV and PS4. Right now, some chimp-human is playing it, having fun, while I sit here straining to meditate and answering people's questions. And as far as experiencing God goes, there is no pleasure that compares. It's greater than all the video games and orgasms you've ever had put together. But again, don't turn that into an objective you lust after. It will come to you on this path if you're serious. Yes, you will be tempted by lust over and over again on this path. Sometimes you will fall astray, seduced by the devil Expect it to happen hundreds of times. After all, you're a very weak creature -- just a simple chimp -- hardly a match for the devil's clever ways

@username Yes. If you pay close attention, you should already feel better than you have before. But we just easily forget how much we suffered in the past. Hedonic adaptation at work. But also, make sure you take responsibility for how you feel. Feelings are not something that happen to you. YOU CREATE THEM! One of the most important spiritual purification practices is forcing yourself to enjoy your suffering. Really enjoy the shit out of it. Why not, right? When you really feel awful, that's the best time to stop and remember: "Oh, yeah, I'm creating this. So now let me enjoy it!" Easier said than done, but you gotta start doing it sometime, or you'll never arrive. And it does take the edge off.

There are many depths of enlightenment insight. The shallower ones don't explain it all. I don't remember what you experienced, but whatever it was, it's pretty safe to assume there's a lot more where that came from. Keep returning to drink from the fountain. One day you might discover that it's an infinite ocean. Paradox is mind-stuff. Without mind and ego, what paradox is left? Point to a paradox out in nature. There's only being out there. Mind cannot grasp being because it IS being. How can a hand grab hold of itself?

Good share. In Van Gogh's case, maybe it was both. There are plenty of examples from neuroscience case-studies that link various brain dysfunctions and abnormalities with heightened spiritual insights. The Prophet Mohammad is speculated to have had epilepsy or some kind of similar brain disorder, which gave him extraordinary channeling abilities and powerful visions. This isn't to reduce the significance of such insights, as some might object.

If you wanna make good work connections, go to industry expos and conventions and network the old-fashioned way. Far superior in my opinion. Just one convention -- well-worked -- could change your life. And there are expos for virtually any field.

@Key Elements Discover infinity for yourself, and then you tell me. And get a move on it! Life is ticking away

I'm just a dude on the internet, but thanks!

Excellent! Love to see people doing retreats I've been meaning to shoot a video to get more of ya'll going to them. Just wait till you discover what you are! Love

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@Mr Here and Now Few spiritual masters will directly tell you, "You have no free will." Cause it scares the shit out of people and makes them defensive. They'd rather you discover this for yourself, because by then, it's too late to run. Sorry, spoiler alert. And yes, of course you can make choices.

Those of ya'll that think that enlightenment means: No values No principles No passions No pursuit of mastery No goals No career No learning No training No education No hard work No planning No strategy No caring Have a very silly notion of enlightenment. If you do even a cursory review of all the greatest teachers and masters who've ever lived, from ancient to modern, you see they had: strong values, strong principles, strong purpose, fierce pursuit of mastery, clear and ambitious goals, careers, deeply learned, exceptionally well-trained, educated, and incredibly hard working. This isn't a projection. This is factually what their lives had. Can you even imagine being a monk in a Zen temple and then they ring the gong for you to wake up at 4am for meditation and you say, "Nah... bro... I'm good. You know... I'm so enlightened now that waking up on time... I realize now that's just an illusion. It doesn't matter. Bro, just chill out. Let's sleep in today. Why you being so egotical? Forcing me to wake up at 4am? Don't you see? That's all ego." You would get your ass beaten for such drivel. They would kick you out of bed and laugh you out of the temple. Or can you imagine, you're in a Zen temple and you throw a soda can in the rock garden? And then say, "Oh, it's all just an illusion. Who cares? Only egos care about being so anally orderly and clean. Stop being egotistical." You would get punched in the face. Shinzen Young told me how he got punched in the nose in the temple just from making sniffling noises during meditation when he had a cold. Sounds like you haven't actually interacted with a single highly enlightened human being face-to-face, otherwise this position you take would look ridiculous. You would be too ashamed to even mouth it in their presence. It would be like meeting Jesus and pissing on his shoes. When you're in the presence of a master, you instantly know it. He can stare through you like a tiger stares through a rabbit. I know a monk who worked with Sasaki Roshi. Sasaki was a 100 year-old Zen master. He became a monk when he was a teen. Meditated every day for 90 years! When he was 104, he was still teaching. He had the flu, the doctors said he should be dead, and what was he doing? Holding week-long Dai-seshins to the max, sitting there with all his students, pushing them to the max to reach enlightenment, holding over 30 one-on-one instruction sessions per day! The students thought he was going to die in the middle of the retreat. He lived for years to come and died at 107, still touring and teaching with fiery purpose and passion. Passion, values, principles, purpose, hard work, orderliness, cleanliness, hygiene, waking up on time, caring, compassion, morals -- they all fucking matter to a master. To a slob, maybe not. It's your life, you can live it however you want. If you want to be an enlightened slob who works at 7/11, up to you, but you ain't ever gonna be even close to the highest degrees of consciousness available, or a good human being. You're gonna be a half-enlightened Zen-devil who thinks he knows it all living in his mom's basement, jerking off in the dark. The only thing sadder than no enlightenment is a half-assed enlightenment masquerading as mastery.

@Mr Here and Now Two things to keep in mind: 1) Sometimes the exact opposite language can be used to convey the same thing. For example, I can say that there is no self. And that is true. I can also say, there is only the Self and nothing else. And that is true. Both point to exactly the same thing. But to a newbie, they may seem like two opposite positions. I can say there is no God. And that would be true. I can say there is ONLY God and nothing else. And that would be true. Both mean exactly the same thing. 2) Not all teachings are speaking at the same levels. Some teachings are more practical. Some teachings are more existential. Some teachings are aimed at newbies. Some teachings are aimed at those who've attained direct insight of the Absolute. If I was speaking to a regular person about how to improve his life, I would say, "Take full responsibility and make good choices. That's very important." If I was speaking to a more advanced self-help junkie who had a solid conceptual grasp on enlightenment and was doing the work to pursue it, I would say, "You have no control. Notice that all your choices are not being made by you. You can't even open your mouth of your own will." Both would be correct in their proper contexts. Since the ultimate Truth is not contained in language, any language can be used to describe it, even opposite language. And this can get people confused. Some teachers like to use opposite language to purposefully confused the student's mind and keep him from fixating on one position. This helps to break up the web of beliefs which is the chief obstacle to higher consciousness. And then of course, some teachers simply don't know about the highest truths, so they speak only about lower truths.

@Orange That's because you're still operating under the assumption of a "YOU". You think you exist inside that body. But actually you ARE the body, the cat, the tree, the table, the sky, etc. Notice that the cat is NOT occurring inside you! The cat is literally one "brick" in what you are. The fact that you're seeing the cat is equivalent to you "feeling" the cat. You're creating this imaginary scene where "you" are able to feel inside the cat's body. But that's A THOUGHT! Whatever exists of the cat is 100% already part of you. The problem is that it just doesn't match your expectations. You expect to feel inside the cat, but actually reality says, "Nope, you see the cat". That's how reality works. Now your job is to accept it. What you're doing now is telling reality, "Hey reality! You should work the way I want you to work. The way you're working right now doesn't appeal to me. Please change so MY model of reality makes sense." It helps to sit down and carefully investigate your visual field. Keep asking yourself, "Where is the cat located? Is the cat happening inside my body? If not, then WTF is this cat? Where is it occurring????" Here's an excellent exercise for you: sit down and carefully take your index figure and try to draw an imaginary straight line from the cat to you. Notice that it's not possible. Because the cat IS you! And there isn't even a cat. There is only a hollow surface of a cat which is in ever-flux. You are like a 360 degree projector, projecting an image onto the inside of a hollow sphere. This projection includes the cat, the tree, the car, and "your" body. And yet, all of that is still not essentially what you are. Because you're none of it. You are the void in which that phenomena takes place.