Cocolove

Let's start a list of places and organizations and ways to do meditation retreats, so that the aspiring sage can scroll through his or her options. I'll go -Dhamma.org has wonderful vipassana meditation retreats all around the world, I intend to go to one this next summer now that I'm 18. That's one downside, they reject you if you're younger (at least in Wisconsin). These are donation based, and so always affordable. This is your standard 10 day vipassana retreat. -Sat yoga institute. This place, run by Shunyamurti, has retreats and is open to volunteers. I applied to volunteer. -Camping. Yes. National parks. Siberia. Whatever you like. -Renting a place. Many options. This thread is also designed to help answer my dilemma seen here

beautiful

Goddammit I am not playing spot the difference!

yea I'd bet my life on 19

I agree! this keeps me from getting the most of the forum, really connecting with anyone with similar interests. Some kind of video chat thing would be interesting! Maybe its like forums topics but you join a video call to discuss rather than chats. People in the call leave notes so people can read them like reading a forum, and decide to join. Leo get your programming skills together and get on this!

I got 19!

I GOT THE SAME FUCKING ANSWER. It doesn't matter which direction you go, but how you do it, and inner evolution.

It probably took you to a state of consciousness that was completely new to you, and so you won't be able to remember it. The more you get into that state of consciousness, the better you will be able to remember it. This idea I got from Christopher Bache in "LSD and the mind of the universie". If you lower your dose and move up gradually it won't be such a foreign state. At the same time, I reckon there are things that we could not possibly conjure up a memory of in our waking sober consciousness. The brain structure and the state of consciousness and in such a different configuration sober that you can't remember, because remembering is conjuring up an image of some sort in your mind.

This explains everything that's been seeming off for a few months. This is what I've implied but i see now.

me the other day. it's sad, he was the first personal development person I found.

I went into being very worried about my future, with this situation and the unpredictability. It wasn't terrifying but I was very actively thinking about it and worrying. Then I realized I was going down a stupid rabbit hole, and I started asking, why is this all here? Why is there anything? and after about 10 minutes I entered some very nice state of consciousness with absolutely no suffering where I just loved all phenomenon and had nothing to worry about regarding the covid19 thing.

Ken Wilber talked about exactly this on his youtube channel. In this case, someone could act like they are green, hold green values, but really be blue. They will enact green but be at blue cognitively. Also what Leo said. I don't think there's a contradiction.

@Ya know thanks so much for that link

great to do before a psychedelic session. I find these really hard, but very effective.

@Patrick_9931 Have you gone on a meditation retreat? I know you didn't mention becoming a monk but spending some time in a retreat is a great way to demolish all your fantasies about what will happen if you pursue enlightenment. I'm in a similar situation to you. Thanks for sharing! @Leo Gura Well put. Very helpful. Thanks

There are so many books to read! I'm in the same situation and a huge portion of my time goes to 1 books 2 walks/biking in nature. Great job doing the enlightenment work at your age! no need to be perfect at this time.

I remember one time Leo said something about if you think you're going to get enlightened working at McDonalds it won't work. You won't be able to once you raise your consciousness. I started working at doordash about a month ago, where I delivered food to people from restaurants. It was great, because I was making a solid $20 an hour, much more than previous $7 to $9 jobs, and could listen to whatever in my car, and learn. I became vegan two monthsish ago, and although I may not do this forever, I don't plan on going back to factory farmed or inhumanely raised animals. At first I justified Doordash because I am just the deliverer, not the preparer or eater of the food. At one point I had a dream that there was a vegan doordash, but alas, there is not. Today I was thinking about it, and I broke down crying for a while, and I realized I cannot do this. This is like someone against slavery getting a job working on a ship that transports slaves hundred of years ago. I am thinking about Uber, or maybe looking into some other creative way to make money. I just need to save up a decent amount so I can go on a good gap year before college starting next August. I was thinking about starting a thread asking, should I stop doing this when I'm questioning it? Now I know I am done and cannot do this, and I am wondering if I made the right decision, and if anyone could shine some light on what the hell is going on psychologically and spiritually, re: Leo's Mcdonalds idea.

But aren't there more conscious ways to do survival? I'm not talking about enlightenment v. survival., just conscious v. unconscious survival and what do you mean by the second part? what are the two plans, in what context?

I guess this is more just about specifically that I was contributing to factory farming, and I'm pretty sure my whole life purpose is the opposite, i.e. permaculture. so seek a better alternative? I'm thinking growing microgreens is a good idea.

This is a huge decision to make, and so I would really appreciate any help and advice I can get from like-minded people. Thanks I am 18 years old, and a high school senior in the US. I will be graduating in June. I have done everything right, really high grades, really high standardized test scores, good applications, and have applied to around 18 colleges. I have heard back from around half of them, and have gotten into all of them. Some were more selective, like Reed College and Soka University of America, but most of the elite ones I applied to, like Johns Hopkins and Stanford, don't release admission decisions until late March. I could enroll at a school this upcoming August, 2020, but at most schools, I could easily defer my enrollment and start August 2021. I've been doing this actualized.org type stuff for around 2 years, meditating, kriya yoga, a 10 day retreat, psychedelics, holotropic breathwork, personal development stuff, reading books, etc. etc. I think this has naturally brought me to hold a more integral view of the modern university system, and I'm sure you have great insights about it too. For a while I thought I wanted to do psychology, I figured that anything to do with meditation and psychedelics would fit within that department, and so from whenever to a year or so ago, I thought I would maybe become a researcher or professor. As time passed, I became disenchanted with this idea, and have now got to a point where I see no way this could be my life purpose, with the limiting structure of such jobs, and the whole academia thing lol. I have taken the Life Purpose course btw, and I came up with either this psychology idea, or another one, about permaculture, sustainable and healthy agriculture. Ultimately, I decided I need more life experience to determine a life purpose, or at least a small bet. So this permaculture and gap year thing come together. I am almost 100% certain I will take a gap year after high school. After reading books about health and the modern food system, researching these things, etc. I think my life purpose may be to help transition the earth to a higher consciousness food system. I am deeply inspired by ecovillages, permaculture farms, such as Joel Salatin, the ecovillage of Raw Healing Mastery on youtube. I am also inspired by a countless amount of other ecovillages that exist all around the world. I have researched these extensively, when thinking about a gap year. I have also applied or reached out to dozens of places in Latin and South America, such as Rancho Mastatal, the Sat Yoga institute, the Yoga Farm, among many others. So, to explain this gap year thing: I am pretty good at Spanish, I want to travel around Latin and South America, volunteering/ living in 2 to 3 different places, for a few months each. I imagine myself, with my 15 months, spending around 8 learning permaculture and experiencing it, this will be my 'Small Bet'. I will spend 1 to 3 months in meditation retreats, such as those run by Dhamma.org, the Sat Yoga institute in Costa Rica, I could also do some camping, which would save money and be flexible within my schedule. I would spend the rest of the time saving up money, or just chilling and self actualizing, treating the remaining months as a regular student would treat the summer between high school and college. This whole gap year could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000. I have around $4,000 saved up from working, and I plan to work more to save up more. My parents have also said they would be willing to help, which is great, so I think this could be very affordable. I believe this would be well worth the investment, as it would give me great experience and time to decide on whether or not I want to go to college. I hope that this whole broader context will make clear what the benefits and costs of college would be for me, but let me explicate. I got a huge scholarship at Soka University of America, $34,000 a year, and it would cost only $18,000 a year. This would be a little over half the cost of the state schools for Wisconsin and Minnesota, where I reside, and around a third the cost of many elite institutions like Reed College and Johns Hopkins. This is so affordable for my parents, that I would not even go into debt. No debt would eliminate one of the worst potential cons. A pro would be that I might simply have more opportunities, depending on what my life purpose ends up being. The biggest con of college would be that it could stifle my growth. I could learn and grow so much towards my life purpose in a gap year of a big small bet with permaculture, meditation retreats, and reading on my own. I worry that college would take such a great deal of my energy and time, although summers would allow me a few months for meditation retreats and other woke shit. I have noticed that I have put a lot of emphasis on making the 'right decision'. I think it may be a better mindset to emphasize that either way, I can do great things, work towards a great life purpose, and neither decision will ruin my life. So overall, I don't want an answer to some specific detail, but overall advice given all that I've said. On the other hand, here are some pointers: Should I go to college? A gap year may help me figure this out and buy time, but still, given what we know now, should I go? Is this gap year business a good idea? Cost? Time? Dangers? Do you have any recommendations for places to go? I have spend a lot of time researching this question, and have realized there are so many options. If anyone could point me to good ecovillages, farms, or places to meditate, I would greatly appreciate it. Latin and South America is the idea, but hey, if you know of a majestic place in Hawaii or India, maybe that's the move. I think I will start a thread in the High Consciousness resources for a list of ecovillages & of meditation retreats, if they don't already exist. Any kind of help would mean so much to me, and I so deeply appreciate you if you just read this whole thing

I got a full ride scholarship from Soka University of America, tuition, room and board, transportation, everything. I don't think it'll hurt to enroll. With really no downside I think I'll go. This feels right.

I read Ken Wilber talk about meta mid para mind over mind and super mind and I just get confused as to what the hell is going on. Will I have to get to or near those levels to be able to conceptually understand them?

at the psychedelic society of minnesota. I haven;t but it sounds very interesting

Your college courses will probably not be anything like Leo's videos in content, with academic psychology or philosophy. Can you look at the course materials?

@ZenBlue That was perfectly said. My intuition is definitely telling me not to go to college, at the least to put off making that decision for a year. Given that I don't want a career in academia or the corporate world, and I'm pretty sure of this, it just seems like educating myself, without college, like I will on this gap year, is so much more valuable. Thanks <3