Leo Gura

@Voyager There are many different ways to meditate. Focusing exclusively on the breath is just one way. That practice of focusing on the breath is a concentration-oriented technique, which is why it has to be done very strictly to avoid distraction. But more general mindfulness meditation doesn't require that narrow of a focus. There are many ways to skin the same cat.

@Wes Thoughts Sit down and contemplate what a decision actually is, in your direct experience. Drop all ideas you have about decisions, and actually observe a decision as it occurs in real time for you. It doesn't have to be a big decision like getting married. You make dozens of little decision each day from the moment you wake up. You decide when to eat, what to eat, when to crap, when to scratch an itch on your face, when to stop reading a book, what to do next, what to say, what to buy, how much to buy, etc. Become mindful of how these choices actually happen. Be careful not to project your beliefs and ideas on the raw experience. Be honest and objective. The funny thing is, you make all these decisions every day. Dozens and dozens of them. And you haven't ever even thought about it until now. Yet you're worried, "But how will I make decisions without thinking?!" Lol

Or so your ego believes. How convenient to place yourself at the top of the hierarchy of life which you yourself invented. Not at all. Aliens would not have mathematics. Math is based on very many beliefs. It's a human invention. Math is just one of an infinite number of ways of symbolizing reality. That's just people projecting their humanness onto the Absolute, which is not really mathematical at all. Mathematics is a projection.

@Wes Thoughts You're making a problem where none exists. When you want to eat, you just go eat. When you want to start a business, you just go start a business. When you want to get married, you go get married. You can think about all these things till you're face is blue, but in the end, your desire ends up making the decision for you. Notice that you actually have no awareness of how your decisions get made. In fact, you do not know how they get made. You just like to believe that you do because it sounds nice. P.S. If you don't believe in free will, as you claim, then how can making decisions be a problem for you? No free will entails that you've got no control over anything, including your thoughts and decisions. Notice how believing in no free will is pointless for you because it's just intellectual masturbation. In fact, you act as though you believe in free will. Which is why you posted this question in the first place. Notice that believing is one thing, being is another thing. Now would be a good time to start questioning and dropping all your cherished beliefs. Admitting you don't know is far preferable to believing.

@Nexeternity If you prioritize compassion over truth, you'll get into trouble, guaranteed. It's not an either/or choice, and practicing compassion can be good, but to put it above existential truth is to put the cart before the horse. Compassion and truth are not at the same level. Truth trumps all. Because it's... well... true. The most important cause of "evil" is lack of truth. Practicing compassion is good. Just make sure you got your priorities straight.

@Erlend K Yes, what you say has some truth to it. Then again, people just get lost in the whole "acting compassionate" game and never reach the true levels of compassion possible post-enlightenment. Either direction you walk, there are traps.

Ain't nothing "universal" about math. Not only it is not universal, it's not even global. Most of the creatures on this planet don't do math or care about it.

@How to be wise Take a moment to stop and just realize how ridiculous your position is. You don't know what you are. You might be kangaroo for all you know. And yet here you are trying to get stuff.

@username Of course. Although.... Without proper theory, you'll still get yourself lost. Even if you manage to sneak in an enlightenment or two. This stuff is just that tricky. There is a good reason why Zen students are also told to study the scriptures. It's not some quaint tradition. You're likely to get lost without guidance. Then again, you're likely to get lost with guidance. Either way, you're gonna get lost. Such is the nature of ignorance. It turns all guidance into further delusion.

Because people are too weak to become enlightened, they are taught compassion instead. It's much sweeter-sounding than facing the truth of absolute relativity. It's putting the cart before the horse. Become enlightened and then compassion will come naturally. Without enlightenment, all your efforts at compassion will be skin deep. The ego cannot truly be compassionate. Note: The Buddha himself never practiced compassion. He practiced yoga, self-inquiry, and mindfulness. His compassion was the fruit of self-annihilation. A lot of so-called "compassionate" people in the world who are actually Devils. George Bush was supposed to be a "compassionate conservative". How many people were killed in Iraq? Hundreds of thousands. That's what happens when ignorant people try to be "compassionate."

Cause otherwise you die.

5-MeO-DMT

A) Of course they are not mutually exclusive. Everything is made out of consciousness, including your neurotic, alcoholic girlfriend. B) Having a high consciousness girlfriend will not make you high consciousness. C) Good luck finding a high consciousness girlfriend. You've gotten better odds of getting spontaneously enlightened

@AlwaysBeNice The issue is one of control. If you believe you're in control, that's the problem. The practical consequence of the no free will debate is surrendering your need to control life. Most people don't realize how much of their suffering stems from trying to control and manipulate life.

The problem with talking about the notion of "no free will" is that people either believe you, or they don't. Either way, it's just a belief, so they go on acting exactly as before: as if they have free will. Breaking this tendency of acting as though one is in control, is really hard. It basically requires enlightenment. The ego's whole function is to act as if it's in control. You can't think your way out of it. It requires a deep experiential surrender to life. But yes, it's good to be mindful of it in your daily practices. Just notice you're not really in control. Your body and mind have a life of their own.

@ParanoidAndroid He's more of a mystic than a classic Western philosopher. So yeah, he's worthwhile.

I find it of little value reading philosophers original works. Read a summary of their key ideas. Most of their ideas are quite bad and deeply misguided. You could spend a decade or more sifting through that dung pile and not come out of it any more developed than when you started.

Yes, that's called letting your dick run your life It does tend to be a problem if what you're after is consciousness. Eventually you will realize girls cannot satisfy you. The only question is, how many years will it take?

Yes, for some people it can happen rather quickly. Depends on many factors (or your karma as the Hindu's like to say). But also keep in mind, there might be more to your true nature you haven't yet realized, and you won't know how significance that difference in depth can be until after you hit it. This rabbit hole tends to go much deeper than people realize, even "enlightened" ones.

As the Buddha said, once you cross the river, throw away the raft. (But not before! So make sure you've actually crossed )

@severedfred Go to a retreat and take a dip in the pool of emptiness

@AlwaysBeNice You might as well be waiting for lighting to strike your head. Maybe it will spark some enlightenment

@Nervewracking It comes from the same place all creativity and evolution comes from.

Definitely the insights. Baseline level of awareness is a trickier thing. It requires consistent tripping to raise in my experience. Of course meditation raises it, but takes a long time (years). I pulled them out of my ass. But once you have some deep breakthroughs, you easily recognize just how long it would have taken you to get there "naturally". It ends up being a horribly long time. The thought comes to mind: "Not in a million years!" My experiences lead me to believe that spiritual masters are no ordinary human beings. They have brains/minds which are chemically and genetically tuned for enlightenment insights. Imagine a spiritual master as someone who naturally has 5-meo coursing through his brain all the time. That gives you an idea why enlightenment is so rare. Natural selection puts a lot of pressure on brains to be pragmatic and low-consciousness, with only a few managing to escape the bell curve. So to me, psychedelics just even the playing field. It's like you're trying to play basketball against a guy who's 7 feet tall.

@DrMobius Good work. But it's certainly possible with meditation and self-inquiry as well. It just requires some super-human effort.