Leo Gura

And now you know how cults and religions happen.

To have a direct consciousness beyond mere intellectual understanding often takes 100s hours of concentration. Out of the 1000s of hours I've spent meditating and inquiring, I've only only 1 or 2 true direction consciousness experiences. The rest was just intellectual. Which is good, but nothing like direct consciousness. The fastest way to experience direction consciousness is through the right psychedelics. I experienced the absolute nature of reality within about 10 minutes there, which I hadn't been able to achieve (not even close) with over 1000 hours of meditation. But just grasping something like "you create your own suffering" doesn't require direction consciousness. Just observe your daily life.

I wouldn't worry about it. Meditate more, think less. Things will automatically take care of themselves. You are just creating self-interference. When you have something important to say, practice saying it directly, clearly, concisely.

@MrPeak Actually, that article talks about Kriya yoga. I have a book in my book list which details every secret Kriya yoga technique. A complete manual, full of dozens of techniques. In that book, you can find Yogananda's exact set of practices. They're super arcane and technical. But they should work if you do them long enough.

That requires direct experience. Start doing conscious work, rather than looking for logical answers. One thing you can be sure of is that consciousness doesn't work through logic. Cause it's the answer to all of life's questions and problems. No I'm working on a resource list. It's possible. I know many highly enlightened people who have a family and kids. Not ready to reveal all my teachers. Of course it's nice to see teachers face to face, but not necessary. It's not like they will really help you much. You gotta do all the heavy lifting yourself. No, just wiser and more grounded. Galaxy s7 Toyota Matrix Ooo... good question. I will just say that it's on my book list, in the consciousness section Not my thing. Some people seem to really dig it. Fighting anybody seems silly to me. Seems like a lot of people get into it because they have neurotic desires and insecurities. See the life purpose course, this is deep topic. There's good stuff there, but also still too much dogma & tradition which is irrelevant to Truth. About the book, see answer above. No, I'm a busy guy. I don't have time to train anyone. Nor is that necessary. I give you all the answers every week for free! Stop being lazy and just do it. Not exactly the same, but there seem to be similarities. 1) Exercise is a good idea, I'll be getting back into it. 2) As all-raw vegetarian as possible. No wheat or refined grains. No dairy. Low sugar. Organic. 3) I use less supplements these days because I've gotten tired of taking so much. But I still use them sometimes in various degrees. Save it. Long distance gf. Few hobbies. Various foods, but most of them I never have because they are unhealthy. Various movies. Every day is better than the last. I think I've answered that about habits earlier in this thread. Now you're just getting lazy. I don't feel a need to come clean to anyone. Sometimes Very few friends. I value my solitude and could live on a deserted island with no problem. Mostly yes, because I changed cultures when I was young and clearly saw that culture was arbitrary. But recently I've been become aware of how unhealthy Western "non-culture" culture is. It's just as damaging and limiting as traditional cultures. Even more so because people don't recognize it as culture. You're worried about the wrong thing. Focus on creating quality content that is true to yourself. Let the little stuff go. I have a big ego so I've always loved myself. Not sure why others don't, honestly. It's a rather stupid way to live. Do the exercise in The Power Of Self-Acceptance video. Read books on self-esteem.

@Extreme Z7 Which is why we try to work on the ego itself. Cause otherwise one abuse will just be replaced another. I see a lot of nofap guys whose minds are now filled with the ideology of: YOU SHOULDN'T DO PORN EVAR! I find porn preferable to wasting years chasing sex or getting into a relationship that wastes 1000s of hours of your life, just because you want to bust some nuts. If one can authentically outgrow the need for sexual release, that's great, but it has to be done through inner work, not merely through JUST SAY NO sort of tactics. The sex drive is way too powerful for that. It's not like kicking a drug, which you have no natural drive for. My only beef with nofap is that I think a lot of people might be doing it in a way that denies their sex drive. And then it goes into neurotic Catholic guilt-trip territory, where you have to forcefully deny yourself, and beat yourself up. Of course if you're watching porn x3 a day, then you'll want to stop that. But I don't see much problem with a couple days a week of porn/fap.

Demonizing porn has become popular. One can use porn responsibly, just like anything else.

@Heart of Space The potential for delusion and misuse of these substances is very great. You guys can do whatever you want. But I had to warn you.

If you want to have trips that scare the shit out of you, go right ahead. But then don't come crying. Those mushrooms are a powerful trickster-like god. He will punish you relentlessly for misusing them.

Very cool. Good share! It's really hard to get enlightened masters to map anything out. Like pulling teeth.

Of course old memories from the past can bubble up to the surface while you meditate. Smell memories can be quite strong in some people.

I would just suggest selecting your city consciously. Pick a city to live in that you enjoy. It's not mandatory, but why not live where you enjoy to live? It's kinda like watching a movie. Why watch a movie you don't want to watch?

In relationships that's quite easy to gauge. Simply look at the level of drama between you two. If there is drama or lots of manipulation or lack of honest communication, then your relationships aren't very evolved.

Changing family is the hardest. They're often too proud and superior to listen to "their child" lecturing them.

Those who believe the world is devolving should study some history. Study the ancient Romans. Study the Mongol invasions that razed cities and slaughtered people by the millions. Study the extermination of the Native and South Americans. Study the Spanish Inquisition. Study slavery. The barbarism of those times would make modern day dictators looks like saints.

Be more clear about your objectives. Are you seeking enlightenment? Or career/life success? Seems like what you need more of right now is some basic life success, not enlightenment. If you're gonna go for enlightenment using this kind of isolation and focus strategy, then ditch nonsense like games and internet. Those will screw everything up.

@Matthew Lamot Man... You got a lot to learn. Some humility would do you good.

Experience of course. And also emotionally reactive behaviors tend to mellow out with age. So people behave less rashly, less impulsively, and just generally chill the fuck out. So they do less stupid stuff.

The real difference is that kids don't yet have an elaborate ego structure, full of dogmas and thousands of concepts. So life is much simpler and freer. No one is saying being a kid was the perfect state and that you should return to being a kid. Being a kid is a phase of development, and you're NEVER going back there. As an adult, life will be different, even if you dismantle the ego and achieve full enlightenment. But there are some lessons you can glean from looking back at childhood.

@Matthew Lamot There is much more to this than mere enlightenment. Enlightenment is really the easy part. The hard part it then dissembling all the structures of the ego-mind to live in a liberated way. Becoming conscious of all the tricky ways in which the ego operates.

@How to be wise Good, keep hitting your head against that wall till it breaks. (Your head I mean. Cause the wall ain't going nowhere.)

@Names are labels Just be careful not to get seduced by the emotions & experiences. Expanded states of consciousness are temporary and are NOT enlightenment. Go for the TRUTH: What are you minus ALL experiences?

@Grue And then the time comes to kick the weed, cause you don't need it. If you want to explore consciousness, there are much better and less addictive substances than weed. The problem with weed is that it becomes a lifestyle for many people.

Consider the possibility that consciousness constructed the concepts of "brains", "chemicals", "unconsciousness", "electricity", "physical", and "matter".