the_end_of_me

@Lucas Lousada well, I'm sure it depends on the drug. For example, THC lowers inhibitions, lowers walls that ego has built, opens the heart and mind, etc. It shows you what a purer state would be like, but can become dangerous when you begin to rely on it for this purer state. Then drugs like DMT help you with enlightenment because of the total destruction of self which you experience during the trip. But again this is only showing you what an ego death looks and feels like, to give you some experience to go off of. It is the experience that these drugs give you which speeds up enlightenment, that is if you are careful not to let them hinder your progress by relying on them. It also seems that you are confusing feeling mindful during meditation with being enlightened. However I do feel your struggle on being very spiritual with marijuana and trying to accomplish this while sober. It is hard for me too.

@cetus56 Thanks:) I understand parabrahman, but google does not have a clue what yhani is. Is this referring to an enlightened being? well nevermind, I'm sure I answered my own question.

@Morten I don't get it

Technically, you can still be joyful.... joyful that you weren't killed, joyful that you were given a new perspective on life. It may hurt for a while but you don't HAVE to let it upset you.

A weary seeker went in desperation to his master. "I just want to find out what reality truly is!" he cried in desperation. "Which reality?" the master asked. "Where is it?" "This reality!" the seeker said through gritted teeth, trying his best to remain calm. He pointed to the ground on which he was sitting. He pointed to the sky and to the tree beside them. With every point, his finger expressed more and more exasperation. The master said, calmly- "Are you referring to the reality that was there when you decided to point at it? Or the one which resided at the end of your tantrum?" "The reality that is happening now," the seeker replied, much more calm and slightly embarrassed. "Right now!" "What is now?" the master replied. "Can you point to that as well?" And the young seeker's mind opened, just a bit.

@Freakrik I would investigate further into this. 1st chakra, aka root chakra.

Think of it like this: Last night you had a dream. Let's say you are a man who is named Charles. In your dream you are sitting at a cafe, drinking coffee with a woman named Michelle. Now, in our current understanding of dreams, Michelle seems like a completely separate entity, but in fact, she is you. You are Michelle, and Charles. And the chairs you are sitting in, and the coffee and so forth. It's your dream, and literally everything that is contained within is essentially you, made up of your "dream particles". So lets scale back, and consider when you are awake. It is essentially the same. This is God's dream. You are nothing but a dream character in God's dream, like Michelle was in yours. Everything in this dream is made up of God. You, your clothes, your bed you sleep in, your computer you used to post this question. It is all made up of God. We'll call them "God particles". In this way, lots of things seem like separate entities, but that is only because of lack of understanding. It is ALL the same. God is not some old man in the sky with a white beard. He (it) is here, and there, and everywhere. You don't become God because there is nothing more to become. You can only broaden your understanding. By the way, Michelle in your dream thinks she is a separate individual, which really fascinates me. If you were to ask her, she would tell you this. She would be offended if you were to suggest that she was not real, and that you made her up. Trust me, I have experience with this, and also lots of people report the same in dreaming forums and books that are written about dreaming. Its really interesting stuff.

@MM1988 would you put yourself into a never-ending virtual reality world with no backdoor? You might enjoy it for a while, but something inside would grow restless. *joking mostly*

@Arkandeus did it feel good to get that off your chest? Hey, if you're willing to share, I'm curious what you are defining as suffering. Is some really bad shit happening to you lately? Or are you depressed and can't part the dark clouds? I'm just curious.

I don't know if this is related, but I do sometimes see a small black or colored dot in the very center of my vision, usually if I smoke some Marijuana, which moves around with my eyes as if it's some kind of aiming reticle. Sometimes if I am getting visions, the dot turns into a tunnel or hallway with doors, which I seem to be flying through... Hmm I wonder if at that point I had pierced through it as the article says, without realizing it @Mikael89 in my case at least, eyes closed is hardly ever fully black. So when something is jet black, it's noticeable.

Think of it like this: Take twins for example. I find it fascinating that identical twins start out as literally the same person, all the way down to the dna. They are literally clones of each other. And yet, from the very second they are born, they begin to diverge into being separate persons, which is due to varying experiences, traumas, ect. However we are all born this way. Not with matching DNA, but with matching consciousness. Every single human that is born is an extension of the very same consciousness. And just like twins, we begin to diverge the very second we are born. Now we are mostly taught that everyone has a unique "soul". But this is not really the case. We all have the same exact soul - there is only one! (if you want to call it that) - yet we differ in how the consciousness was imprinted since birth.

you dont know what he promised though...

Thanks, that's a good one. Clears a lot of stuff up. I always thought of working on chakras as a self improvement program that is disguised as energy work. Or should I say intertwined with energy work. Although I find it interesting that being used for self improvement is a newer development.

This is the path he is on now. For better or worse. Don't try to save him, he doesn't need saving. Although ironically, people on this path tend to try and save everyone else....

First off, I'm into self improvement and becoming more aware of the self, whatever that is. Sometimes during journaling and daily reviews, I notice I tend to watch "myself" do irrational things but are either too lazy or weak to stop it. Who is doing the irrational things, and who is watching it? For example, I am in the midst of quitting smoking. Again. When I was still smoking cigarettes, I usually craved and enjoyed the first two or three of the day. For the last year, I had worked my way down to only 5-6 per day and only at work. After the first few of the day, the next 2 or 3 would get increasingly more disgusting. They would taste horrible, make my mouth feel gross, and make my throat feel like scorched sandpaper. I would scorn myself for not stopping at the first few of the day. For sometimes doing it out of complete boredom, not even so much the addiction anymore, outside of the first few of the day, of course. And yet I couldn't help "myself" from doing it. I was completely aware of what I was doing to the body and brain chemistry, and how disgusting it was and smelled, but it just kept happening. As if in auto mode. But that auto mode also seemed to have an opinion, and it wanted it. It didn't care if it was gross or killing the body. It wanted to smoke. Either out of being tricked by the addition that it needed a cigarette to feel ok, or out of complete boredom, to pass the time. I would literally be out there, cigarette in hand, telling myself that this is stupid as I go for another drag. Who was doing this? Opposing "my" wishes for health and survival? And who was the "me" who kept trying to stop it? Are they both just more sides of my dualistic ego? They both feel like me, at least when one or the other is in action....and both seem to agree on the fact that they are "Justin" (my name). And I realize that Justin is just a very small part of my whole. But even Justin seems to be hard to identify, as he seems to be a different person depending on the hands of the clock.

@Anna1 thank you, I had never heard of vasanas before, but seems easy to understand. Mine was definitely stronger to smoke than health for too long, and a half used box of patches finally started getting used again on Thursday last week and I don't plan on stopping. @Faceless you're right, I guess I should have said I would soon become someone else, as a new set of memories would start forming immediately. But I can see that at the beginning I world not identify as anyone or anything.

No, I would be somebody else. The old me would be dead, but the only thing we would have in common is that we have shared the same body. Although neither "me's" existed in the first place, I understand that. But someone or something still wants to be relevant, and I tend to pity the thing by trying to make it happy.

@Faceless hmm... Im not sure I understand what movement of thought means... Could you rephrase it in another way?

@Nahm hmm... I guess I don't know. It seems unanswerable.

Hey... I want to know what one clap handing sounds like!

@Arkandeus that was great I see you are working on opening your heart... I am doing the same. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for loving yourself.

@cetus56 @zoey101 here is a great website that looks at the bible from an enlightenment frame of mind, and breaks down the allegories that are found within--- http://www.spiritofthescripture.com/blog you can of course click on archives to get an easier view of each blog post.

@B_Naz yes, when lucid you know it's not "real". There's an aha moment. Sometimes for me it's like, "oh ok, duh..." Even in the low levels of lucidity with limited ego memory, you know it's a dream, otherwise you are just dreaming of being lucid (yes that's unfortunately possible!) It is like playing a virtual reality game with perfect graphics but a ton of bugs lol.... And yes, it's a great (free) example that teaches one that reality is tangible.

What is also fascinating is the levels of lucidity you can achieve, with the lower levels having limited access to waking memory, still can get false memories, make weird choices that you may not have if your waking ego were in charge.... you are "you", but not the complete you, and once you wake up, you completely realize it. At what do you become "you"? (whoever that is) Of course not everyone experiences low levels of lucidity like that, as it may depend on experience, talent, brain power, etc.