Leo Gura

Precisely for that reason. To really see that all is a projection of the mind, is a long self-actualization process. That's not something you can just grasp in one day, or even one year. It's too much for the mind to handle.

@Echoes That is because you're trying to force this using intellect. That cannot work. You must be CONSCIOUS that other is self. This requires enlightenment. There is no such thing as "inaccessible consciousness". Consciousness is Nothing, you are Nothing, other is Nothing. But believing it isn't helpful. Only enlightenment will do.

All enlightenment experiences turn into memories. Which is why it's important to let them go and work towards abiding nondual awareness in the present moment. Enlightenment cannot be held on to. You must be actively conscious RIGHT NOW, because RIGHT NOW is all there is. Psychedelics open the gateway, but that's just when the real work begins. A memory of high consciousness held while in low consciousness, is still low consciousness. It's like you've exited the Matrix, then fallen back into the Matrix, and now have a faint memory of what it's like outside the Matrix, but fundamentally you're still locked in the Matrix. The only solution is to work towards a permanent escape.

@Big Ajax Dosages vary be individual. Those are just ballparks. A breakthrough? You can only know it once you've crossed into it. Life as you've known it is over. Sounds like you had your first dose and it was just a such shocking experience you didn't know what to make of it and didn't accomplish much existential insight. That's why psychedelics must be done repeatedly, slowly raising your dose over weeks and months. Then you will be able to integrate.

@Gertsh Letting go is as simple as: I let go.

Lol That WAS the spiritual breakthrough experience!!! You just didn't surrender to it because you are still under the impression that you exist. YOU DO NOT EXIST!!! The mushrooms were trying to show you that, but you didn't want to hear it. You chose to cling to physical reality instead. "A clear single thought"? Spirituality is no-mind, no-thought. You cannot think about the Absolute. If you could, you wouldn't need the psychedelic in the first place. The point of the psychedelic is to open you up to a new way of accessing reality: direct consciousness. Direct consciousness involves no thinking. It's an infinite multi-parallel process. The solution is to drop all your expectations about spirituality and reality. Everything you believe is a lie. Trip more and REALLY surrender. That's the answer. Remember that Truth is an acquired taste. You ain't gonna like it at first. It's not easy to admit that what you call "sanity" is actually insanity, and what you call "insanity" is actually sanity.

@B Clear Definitely get used to it for the next 1000+ years.

@Simon Of course. That's the nature of mechanical self-survival.

Sounds like your meditation practice is starting to bear fruit. Good work. Stick with it now more than ever.

Sounds like you're making good gainz. Keep at it.

@DoubleYou A good first glimpse. But remember, it goes away deeper than that. Imagine something 1000x deeper.

Oh it will

@Afonso Well... we can split all sorts of hairs about how you define a "decision" if we want to get all philosophical about it. But just speaking from an everyday level, there do seem to be these sort of decisive moments in your day, when your mind selects between various options. For example, if you get an itch on your face, you can sit there and watch precisely when your mind will decide to finally scratch it, thereby causing the muscles in your arm to activate. You can even notice your muscles pre-activating before the decision is fully made. Of course you can view it all as just a smooth symphony of action, one flowing into the next.

@Wes Thoughts The problem is that it sounds like thinking, not actual direct consciousness. Be very careful with that. The more you intellectualize, the harder enlightenment will become for you. Every concept, every belief you have about enlightenment becomes an obstacle, because it isn't it. You have to really appreciate that and take it seriously. Rivet your attention on the present moment, the NOW. Rivet your attention on what is ACTUAL. Any chain of thinking which takes place across time, is delusion.

@Azrael It sounds like you're still "going places", which is more content within awareness. To me there is a difference between visiting other realities vs penetrating the essence underlying all realities. The trouble with psychedelics is precisely that they can alter the content of awareness so much that one gets distracted by the alien-ness of the new content, missing the Absolute. Next time you trip, I suggest really setting the intention to ignore all the content changes, focusing exclusively on the raw nature of the Absolute. That's probably hard to do on mushrooms, because they tend to be twisted. Interesting trip though.

@Wes Thoughts If you knew, you'd already be enlightened and wouldn't be here.

@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.