Elysian

How is this known? That the Absolute has no intention for this existence other than existence itself?

League is a really bad one. I spent countless hours getting better at it, even getting good enough to enter Diamond if I simply spent the necessary time playing to climb the ladder. But think about how useless that skill was, I literally got nothing out of it. Imagine what you could do with the thousands upon thousands of hours most gamers have spent playing games in their lifetime. Becoming a master of multiple fields of study you say? The bits about improving certain things like hand eye coordination is just addict explaining away addiction. The negative aspects of video games outweigh any possible positive side effects. When I was in the middle of my addiction to video games I used all of these same sorts of rationalisations to paint gaming in a better light, and to paint over the problem I had. Citing studies on possible health benefits while ignoring the mountain of evidence about the known negative side effects was one of my favorites. The comparison to cigarettes or drugs is not a strawman, if you think it is you just don't understand the reward brain pathways that are associated with addiction. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1920543/ They've found the same areas of the brain activated when an addict shoots up heroin are also activated in regular players of video games. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/radical-teaching/201110/neuroscience-insights-video-game-drug-addiction Most everyone has addictions, and most addicted tend to dismiss their addictions entirely, but dismissing it on a public forum is encouraging others to do the same. Just be careful about what kind of world you're encouraging when you do this sort of thing. Sure not everyone that plays video games becomes addicted to them, but the vast majority do, and to say otherwise is denial.

Even if there is some truth to what he is saying about you needing to cut back on books I would still remove him from your life immediately. Shin was spot on. Never supportive and only puts you down? Occasional tough love when needed is only tough love if the person actually loves you, and it being the only way he treats you to me sounds like an extremely negative person who will only bring you down. It's much better to spend time by yourself until you find new friends than to let someone spoonfeed you poison just because people like him or you don't want to feel lonely. People can like a sociopath, it doesn't mean you should admire them. A real friend will try to lift you up, encourage your effort, be more gentlehanded with criticism until a harsh reality check is actually needed. Reflect on the amount of books you're reading vs what you're actually applying. If you're not applying what you've learned, don't read anymore until you apply at least a few of the most important books/skills you've learned about. Apply them fully. You'd be amazed at how much applying one major change to your life can have an effect on your overall well-being.

I could choose not to, but to not even have the desire to in the first place? I can't even imagine.

That might be because of the communities created around games, especially MMO's. I would say games are worse than TV in general. The addiction that is likely to happen is just hitting so many more impulses in games than in TV.

Yes, assuming that another person in my perception is indeed conscious and not just a hallucination/simulation. But the point of view I call my Self, simply can never experience another point of view with this amount of awareness. Are you saying regardless of not being able to directly experience those other points of view that they are the same consciousness? Being a part of the same whole is different than saying they are exactly the same. This still wouldn't negate the possibility of multiple levels of subdivision of awareness I was originally talking about. Just like we've forgotten what we are, so too could a higher Self be separated in some way from the Absolute.

I wouldn't consider this evil, but a tragedy. And the tragedy of the rivers in India is far more severe.

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/hookahs/index.htm Non tobacco shisha isn't addictive because of the lack of nicotine, but even it has harmful chemicals and is toxic. They've also found the charcoals themselves have toxic chemicals that are inhaled when smoked. From any angle it's bad for you. Better off finding something else to do communally. Playing instruments in a circle is one good binder to bring people together to socialize. Also setting up the area in a way that promotes socializing. Like having seating facing each other, such as a circle.

This wasn't my experience when I went non-dual, the distinction between self and other disappeared, but perception only happened from one point in this experience, Not two. Recognizing two points of consciousness as one whole and experiencing two points of consciousness simultaneously are two different things (ie. From two points of view). I've only experienced two points of consciousness simultaneously in the Astral. I can tell you, this is extremely disorienting and difficult to process. I've heard more than two can be done but that's not something I've achieved yet.

Although it gets thrown around that you're everything, and at the highest level this can be the case, the awareness that is aware of your/that body and your/that mind is a point of consciousness. Even if you achieve self-realization and the distinction between self, other, and seen fades, it is all being perceived from a single point of consciousness. Perhaps when points of consciousness experience what seems to them like past lives, this might be them tapping into a larger point of consciousness that isn't the Totality, but a larger Self than the individualized consciousness currently experiencing right now. Think of it like a Russian nesting doll. You are the smallest point of consciousness, which broke off from a larger point of consciousness for whatever reason, and this continues on until you reach the Absolute. If this were the case, this overarching consciousness above you could be where the experience of your past lives goes. But if time is not linear, it would be more proper to say this is where your other lives go, even lives that would be considered future in linear time.

After doing more research into Spiral Dynamics I've realized I have some Yellow traits, but mostly Green, with even some Orange, and a few Turquoise traits. My circle is mostly burners (people who go to Burning Man/similar events), and they fall into Green with some Yellow. Several months ago I decided to be have a more positive impact in the community I needed to take time to work on my self and so I've been in seclusion since then. From before that time and since then I picked up some Yellow traits like: taking all sides into account before making a conclusion, not condemning individuals for systemic problems, not forcing my positions on to other people, noticing the demonizing and hypocrisy of Greens, studying different perspectives, etc. But I'm still working through Green. Like trying to unpack energetic blockages/emotional trauma, putting more effort into more environmentally friendly alternatives, being more selfless. I even still work for a major company, who at least on some level is doing environmental harm, so me still needing to try and create my own non-exploitative/environmentally friendly job is an Orange issue I still haven't sorted. But even though I'm still working through these lower stages, I've also had mystical experiences, astral project, "I've" experienced non-dual awareness. And because of these experiences I feel a natural pull towards self-realization, and have been systematically moving towards it. But Leo said in his Yellow video that one should try to embody yellow before making a move towards Turquoise. Well I'm certainly not fully Yellow, but isn't self-realization an aspect or something needed for Turquoise? Which would mean not to even bother pursuing it until fully Yellow? Everyone says self-realization could take several years, decades, possibly not even be achieved in this life. I figure if that's the case, no better time than the present, even if I've got other stuff to sort out. Am I misinterpreting/misusing SD? Should I continue moving towards self-realization?

By ending progressive movement, do you mean to simply sit in beingness? This is the way I interpret do-nothing meditation, although helpful ego didn't simply buckle and give way to Truth. Not in the time I've spent in such meditation anyway. Or are you saying to try and understand thought, which sounds counterintuitive.

I can see what you mean by delaying the necessary. I usually meditate a couple hours daily. By self inquiry do you mean Dhyana or the exercise list Leo posted, or are these one in the same?

In my experience, taking psychedelics is you giving something beyond ego, permission to teach you a lesson in whatever way it sees fit. That could be reliving a traumatic memory, noticing your hypocrisy, learning about higher aspects of reality, or that you shouldn't use psychedelics again to attempt to achieve spiritual growth. That could all play out as a bonding moment with friends, an extremely harsh tough love approach that most might consider a 'bad trip', or that could end up with you in the hospital falling off the edge of psychosis. That's why I think there is so much diversity in trip experiences, you're getting a hand tailored smack on the butt by something far more Intelligent than ego.

I had an experience some time ago with psychedelics, where some vastly more Intelligent being opened up several different circular images within my vision, they all looked like exact copies of the room that I was in. It then went on to explain that there were an infinite number of parallel realities, and shortly after I lost my concentration. Since then I contemplated the meaning of multiple realities where I'm simply one of many. My ego was pained by this, feeling worthless in this vast sea of infinite possibilities. I asked the most spiritual and intelligent person I know what they thought of this. They said that it must all be for some purpose, even if being separated as we currently are makes us too dumb to see the big picture. Some interesting possibilities is that maybe Source is searching for a way to create a perfect universe in it's eyes. It could be a way to stop a universe from inevitably destroying itself, a way to make a universe that required less suffering for expansion, to figure out it's own creation, who knows. We could just be one of countless simulations being ran for an original universe to figure out the correct paths to take, Simulation Theory. Regardless though, we should just remain humble and grateful we're getting a chance to experience this fascinating universe at all. Even if we're just an oversized fishbowl in a kid's bedroom.

I've just recently listened to Leo's video on Turquoise, which made me realize this person definitely falls into that category. I mean I'm grateful they love me, there's no one on this planet I love more than them. The only thing is, I'm not Turquoise. I think I'm at best a little orange, mostly green, some yellow, and a little Turquoise. Before I even heard of Spiral Dynamics, it was always very clear to me that this person was on a different level than anyone I've ever met. I never really understood why they loved me so much, they love me in a way I don't even know how to love yet/anymore. My question is why would a Turquoise love someone at a much lower stage if the chasm is really that big, and what if anything does it say about me? I asked this person before what it was they loved about me, and they said they couldn't really put it into words, maybe similarly to why I can't do the same. It's everything.

If you've ever experienced hellish landscapes in your dreams, then you'd realize we have it pretty good here. If you're going to worry about any reality, it's best to focus on the one right in front of you. Be thankful you're not in a more thought-responsive environment, because you probably would've wiped your self out a long time ago with that kind of thinking (think dreams where whatever you think immediately became reality). This happens to some degree here, but most of us are not ready to handle a true thought-scape.

Maybe just connect through watching videos of other self-realized beings. Sadhguru, Mooji, Eckhart, etc.

There's a lot of poly people in the circle I hang out in. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, it's just a different view point on sex/intimate relationships. It can become really complex, and there are some people who genuinely seem better off for it. Some just want something that maybe the partner they're with simply can't provide. But I think for most, including women, it's just about having sex with whoever they want without as big of a stigma. My circle is very green and so this is accepted among the group, but even still most don't identify as poly. Since he's trying to convince you with all these studies and books, he wants you to become something you're not, and that probably just means one of his friends with benefits. Sure some poly people maintain multiple relationships with the other aspects of intimate relationships, but lets be honest; how many serious relationships could one person really handle? The fact that you're unsure about it means that it's not for you right now. I think the most likely way poly relationships work is 2 poly people getting together and coming to some sort of arrangement, not 1 poly person converting a person who favors monogamy. If you do decide to follow through, get ready to face a lot of problems you haven't had to run into yet. Jealousy/insecurities coming up at a level you've never seen, not having him around all the times you want him to be there, possibly having to get along with the others, explaining it to family and friends, etc.

Would that locked post be Red or Orange?

People can use words to try describe phenomena in their experience to help others get a better idea of something they've never experienced or that they've also experienced and can relate to. Ego as a word for example, is a just a symbol for a phenomenon that most beings never recognize experientialy, but some have. They needed a word and descriptions to put around the phenomenon so they could lead others to discovering it themselves and to discuss it among a group that has also experienced it. If you ever truly recognized ego for what it is, and more importantly what it is not, you wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the value of the word. You don't even know who you are, which is known by knowing what you are not. You couldn't know how to be true to your Self, only true to your ego.

I was contemplating if there was a way I could improve my technique with meditation on the breath. Every time I'd try to let a thought pass by unimpeded as soon as I noticed it, it would stop. When all of a sudden, my level of concentration on the breath was adjusted to be less intense, and I felt a complete release of all resistance. So much so every muscle in my face even became more relaxed when it felt completely already. Then I felt my consciousness pull away slightly from body and mind. Not as much as my temporary enlightenment experience, but enough to catch my attention. Then the thoughts came flooding in, and were finishing completely as I maintained a more loosened attention on the breath. After some time I began to try to figure out how exactly I was going about this state, and then a voice said, "Don't try to understand how it's happening, just enjoy it while it is." So I just let go completely of the desires that were pulling me, and this sense of peace came over me. I heard a few more clear words of encouragement/advice over the next 30 minutes or so, and as soon as I walked in my front door it ended. About halfway through I started getting pain/pressure in between my eybrows/ajna. Since then the guidance went away, but I've been able to integrate it into my practice. It feels like I was concentrating so intensely on my breath before that I was suppressing thought without even intending too. I've always gotten benefit from meditating, but after maintaining this awareness of breath since then, it has brought me a peace I hadn't felt before. I've also been actively continuing the meditation without sitting with every task/nontask with much less effort than previously needed. I don't know what exactly this was, or who this was, but I'm grateful. Wasn't going to come back on here for a week or so, but it seemed significant enough to post. Any have similar experiences?

"Some people are overworked, they have ill health. Most people are underworked, and they have ill health. If you lived here on this planet 200 years ago, you would be doing 20 times more activity than what you're doing right now, physically. 100 times probably. Some of you 250 times. If some of you were doing that much activity I'd tell you to take a break, take some rest. Only when you use this body can you keep it well. The more you use it the better it gets." Sadhguru

The point on trying to fix someone is so true, like women who fall for the bad boy thinking they will be the one to change them. That situation can be really hard on both involved, and will cause much unneeded suffering.