electroBeam

@Scholar short answer: the reason why you can predict things is because you think you can. If you didn't think so, then no one wouldn't Asking why we can predict things is like asking why a certain painting is ugly. The answer is because you think so. Its purely subjective. This wont make sense until you ACTUALLY view it from the present moment.

dude! Don't you see that "I can predict" is merely illusion? What if the world was created by aliens 2 seconds ago, and your memories and brain was created 1 second ago by these aliens. Is that possible based on experience? I think it is. You have no empirical proof that, that didn't happen. If that happened isn't it clear to you that prediction might be merely an illusion, and question does matter? How does one show you the matrix is an illusion without going into it?

@Scholar yes I realize. You're asking, what is the connection between the map of reality, and reality itself. You're asking, how can "No Thought is going to explain the relationship between thought and reality" that explain something, and be useful in the real world, as in the actual real world, the present moment. And the answer is a very profound one. And it involves that mechanism that allows one to identify with thoughts There's something special to it, that you might be missing.

@Scholar it comes down to awareness. It comes down to that mechanism, which allows one to get sucked into movies and books and games, even if they aren't real. Its involves that mechanism that allows us to zoom in and out of identification which allows us to explain things and predict things in this way. This is when you shall take @Dingus advice, and contemplate. Because no thought is going to explain the relationship between thought and reality

@Scholar its that epistemic connection between a thought, and what it points to which is the real fascinating part about consistency and illusion, and its relation to god. But don't forget though, the mechanism of prediction only works in illusion. You cannot predict god. Yes you can predict that psychedelics are going to give you ego death. But psychedelic, and ego death is a concept. The actual experience is infinitely far away to what you have predicted. You have predicted a concept you call ego death, what actually happened cannot be spoken. Even happened is a concept. Really when you inquire and investigate, and you feel the experiential the lack of free will an ego has, you realize that prediction is just as illusory as free will. The prediction already happened before it was predicted in a sense. Its hard to communicate that fact without giving him a taste of non duality though.

You can't drown in shallow water.

@Lai Dangerous only to those who have danger in their minds.

@Hero in progress Is the audible based on a book?

@eskwire Do you still feel connected to the body mind in any way? Because love comes when no separations are present. When you become whole, that's when love is produced. With increased frustration etc, it sounds to me like an egoic reaction to a heightened state, which egoic reactions always come, but always go away after a while.

@BeginnerActualizer when your life gets more demanding, it will take a bit of practice of course, but try and always remind yourself to gently focus on the present (on things that are real) rather than things that are false (thoughts). And if you do have to intellectualize something, what we tend to do is that when we think about something, we get sucked into that thing like its the only thing that exists, like how we get sucked into a movie. This is fine, as long as we understand that thing to be what it is, an illusion. So for example, just say your boss is shouting at you, you will get sucked into the thought of how much of an a hole he is, without realizing its a thought. So try and remind yourself to focus on the present moment at all times, because then it becomes clear that its a thought rather than actual experience. You dont have to try and focus on all parts of the present moment though, that's just going to make you bad at your job and mentally tax you unecessarily, you just need to zoom out a bit from your thoughts. Thats what Rupert means about being at the heart of experience, its fine to be totally engrossed in a movie, just as long as you understand that its a movie. Its totally fine to not be aware of anything else other than the movie, as long as your aware that the movie you're watching are a bunch of pixels. Eventually this will become a habit and you'll be meditating 24/7 from it. To start off set a timer on your phone that goes off every 5 minutes saying something like AWARENESS if you feel you will forget.

@Shin to maintain a friendship requires 2 aspects that you specifically would need to work on; this is based on my experience. First aspect is building rapport. To do this, simply: - show the individual that you are a valuable person, and that you have something EMOTIONALLY to give to the other person. Like kindness, positive energy, emotional support, and plently of other airy fairy words you can think of. - compliment individuals and question their personality on a very deep level, while being playful. Ask them questions that cross the social boundary. I know you wont care, but make sure that you dont start giving a fuck about what others will think if you do this. Question their sexuality, religion, all the sensitive stuff. This is how you get close. Its like building intimacy with a woman. - show social status (i h8 these egoic parts, it makes me feel really unauthentic, but just bear it and go through with it) The second aspect is the ability to not feel emotionally drained after 2 fucking hours of talking haha: To be honest, i havent solved this problem myself, but whats wrong with the blind leading the blind: - keep your mind in the present moment. I.E. stay true to yourself, and keep within yourself, and dont get sucked into things that are smaller than yourself. This somehow has a charging effect. - pace yourself. Dont socialize too hard at the start. Treat socializing like a marathon. Take breaks and keep it slow, otherwise you're going to be drained within an hour or 2. Meditation while socializing is the key to not getting drained. It comes from a mental fatigue from your brain being too dynamic. Keep the flow of qi constant.

Last night, my parents came into my room and exclaimed "are you ok???" I looked at them puzzled ans said yeah of course why? "You were screaming a second ago, we thought you were going through pain" I remember last night, during the middle of my sleep, a surge of energy going up and down my body like a giant wave, for some weird reason hahaha. And just as that energy peaked, some sort of ball of energy started peircing through consciousness from the centre, and started slowly moving out, eradicating every belief in its path. The self disappeared and i was screaming really loudly, i wasnt in control of myself because i was asleep though, it was just happening. Has anyone else had this? Loool. Anyone who has tried drugs maybe too? Damn thinking about it, i should have used the surge of energy to try an astral projection, but oh well.

@Prabhaker they are considered an obstacle to people who use it for bad kamma, but for the ones who use it to serve humanity, most mystics I've talked to don't then see it as a problem or obstacle. Science brings us great power, just like psychic abilities, and science can be benevolent(like using it in a hospital) or it can be devious(like the nuclear bomb). Psychic abilities have been used for thousands of years by the taoists to heal people; chinese medicine, pranic healing was something Christ used to help people overcome diseases. Its not the content of awareness that's the problem, its the attitude of the individual. If one is in the hands of Satan, removing psychic abilities from the individual isn't going to purify him.

@cetus56 you know fuck all.

@jse you sound like my grandparents and my family. They hate people because people ruin the environment and hurt poor animals. Everytime my family brings up the topic I feel like telling 'em "you realize youre a person right?" Also I'm getting a little offended that you're only showing dogs lol. What about birds, cats, turtles, etc? They are poor conscious beings too! DISCRIMINATION

@Shin This is exactly what one experiences when doing mirror gazing meditation. I'm 99% sure this is what you call "the dark knight of the soul" sorry dude I'm not sure on how to solve it bcos im a pussy like you but I asked Leo on how to make the jump and this is what his reply was: <after asking him on how to eliminate the fear of losing you and your world>:

When you've realized your true nature, you realize that the body/mind is just as much a piece of this universe as the person next to you is. With that, you realize that serving the body/mind is only serving 1 tiny part of you, while not caring for the other parts of you(like the people around you). In order to serve the body/mind, you need to think dualistically, and that is just laughable in the state of being one. So can you serve the body/mind and be in competition with other people, while being your true self? For example, if you were on an island with 3 other people, and the only food on the island was 1 beef pie, would an enlightened being choose the body/mind to eat the pie other others, even though the others are him at the same time? Is there a preference to serve yourself over others in that frame of mind? Because in my xp, acting egotistically just sucks you back into an egoic way of thinking, it puts you back to sleep, where acting wholesome keeps you awake. But can you do both? Thanks!

@Shin If this is all bullshit, ask yourself, what's the alternative? Is it less bullshit than spirituality? You're trying to find truth with a capital T. Truth doesn't hide. You can rely on that fact. If its bullshit, where's the evidence? If its bullshit, and reality is(as an example) just what science tells us, is that what is shown in awareness?

@username eating food is still egoic though right? Enlightened people still do egoic things like having sex and a bunch of other stuff.

@ashashlov That's not true in my experience. Be careful with assuming that the reason why you didn't improve was purely because of your age. There are plenty of 40 year olds who aren't enlightened who have been trying since 20. In the book of mastery it says that growth is exponential, you'll get big improvements, then it'll slow down, then increase again like a stair case. Its not because of your age, its because the fruits you were looking for were ripening, and you didn't realize it. I started this journey around October last year(taking it seriously, knew about it since june last year) And I am so glad I started, because the state I was in, in october last year was hell, absolute hell compared to now. I had social anxiety, I hated going to parties, I had a negative attitude about the human race, so much shit was in my brain. Satan had me by the balls big time. And now I'm able to ask for girl's numbers off the streets with only little anxiety. The heightening of awareness I've experienced from practicing self inquiry 24/7 for last 3 months has produced benefits that are almost godly. Sometimes when I walk to university, and cross a natural landscape, it feels like I'm in the garden of eden. The planet is so bright, vibrant and shiny, when Satan disappears, and all there is, is the present moment, the love felt for all of reality is overwhelming. And I'm turning 20 in a month. The problem isn't necessarily the age(maybe for some) but more so its the unawareness that things are actually changing, changing in amazing ways, but you're unaware of it until it slaps you across the face. Things happened to you before you were 25, but you obviously didn't notice. @BeginnerActualizer you have 12 hours a day do you not? When you are doing your work, when you are having a shower, when you are talking to your spouse, those are times when you should be meditating the most: Enlightenment is a lifestyle dude, not something you do, but something you act by. Its a commitment to being yourself, your actual self. If you don't submit yourself to god (definition of a muslim) there's a good chance you will keep in the hands of Satan. Start meditating 24/7 now, before you're on your death bed, wondering why you didn't earlier.

@Loreena yeah because I yearn for the exact same thing haha.

@Loreena maybe that craving for affection is a sign from god? Have you noticed that no matter how much you snuggle up to someone, or no matter how close and intimate you be with someone, you can never quite get to the place you want to get? You can never quite get close enough? You can never quite expose yourself enough to get all that love and affection you want? You want infinite love right? You want to be really close to your bf and family? You want to keep going until you almost be one with that person, become those people? And its so frustrating, because the physical world is stopping you! Stopping you from being close to them. You yearn to love them and be with them so much, but they are so far away. ... if you would just let go of that boundary, of all boundaries, let yourself be infinitely close with them, stop being confined to your body, and be the people you want to be close with. Then that craving will be fulfilled, with tears coming down your eyes too... you don't need to hug them physically to get all that juicy love you want, all you need to do is hug them with awareness. @Shin it depends though, seeing a sexy woman down the street, that's not real love, thats experience/sensation seeking, like eating chocolate.

@jse while this video is posted by the typical tony robbins types, i think the poem is about enlightenment:

Do you guys believe this? Seems a little far fetched. Why so many practices? Why so many paths? I have a feeling that Leo would totally disagree with Rupert on this one.

@Malelekakis though don't go too far the other way dude, 99% of people aren't seeking enlightenment, and guess what? They aren't enlightened either. Focus on being in the present moment for pure satisfaction(or focus on loving and nourishing god as the Christians say) while trying not to get anything. Enlightenment is a lifestyle, not a project to be obtained.