TheAvatarState

Simon Sinek, author of The Infinite Game, is changing the way businesses think about their business. These ideas and models Simon has made seem very stage Yellow to me... This is the future of business, so be at the forefront!

39,773 gun deaths in 2017 in the US. 33,654 fatal car crashes in 2018. 88,000 approx alcohol-related deaths. 47,173 suicides in 2017. No one bats an eye. Why? Because it's normalized. That's the key. Anything outside the norm is always met with a reactionary and fear-based response. But there's another wrinkle to this. Shark attacks are extremely rare, but a LOT of people deeply fear sharks and may not even swim in the ocean because of it. I believe this is because of media and movies. Jaws was such a big hit that the term "blockbuster" was coined because of the movie theater lines "around the block" to see it. You hear about shark attacks on the news because it gets views, clicks, and engagement. It turns out that fear is the news' business model. The entire coronavirus panic can be attributed to the news. Anything outside the norm that's scary is blasted on the news 24/7. I think society's only defense against global panic, misinformation, and lack of perspective is to unplug from the day-to-day news. It's coming, slowly.

Forum. n. a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged. There are many types of forums on pretty much every subject available. They can be helpful... you may even make "friends" or learn a lot about a particular subject. But the subject matter of nearly every forum is relative, and I don't necessarily mean grounded in physicality. You can have philosophy forums about IDEAS. But the common thread of a forum is that it's centered around a construct of the human mind, whether it be cars, psychedelics, cooking, or abstract concepts. This sub-Forum, however, has a subject matter of an entirely new quality. This is a rare forum that is centered around consciousness, enlightenment, and nonduality, and these happen to be the absolute. THE nature of existence! METAphysics! Strange loops! So why is this important? Well, I have noticed some things by participating in the forum for a couple years or so. I've noticed that everything this forum claims to be about is not being served by the forum itself. It is NOT an aid to your development in these topics; in fact, it's a trap that only a few of you can see. This is not a fault of the people on the forum, but rather a fault of the forum system itself. A forum is limited by the dualistic medium of the English language, which cannot in any shape or form grasp the absolute. The purpose of a forum is to share information and help others to learn, but it's just a fact that you can't learn the absolute. The vehicle of "words" only communicates with respect to your body of experience. You can't communicate the color blue to a blind man any more than you can communicate consciousness and nonduality to a seeker. So what ends up happening is that many non-awake people get lost in the words on this forum, and create vortexes of meaning (traps) for other seekers. The delusion swirls around. The idea of coming to a forum to debate consciousness is absurd! And yet here we are, thinking we are growing by essentially mentally masturbating. You're talking with yourself, thinking you are "helping others see the light." You and I come here because we are like-minded, and maybe we don't have anyone else in our lives to talk about this stuff with. I get it. I honestly think the rest of the forum is pretty great. However, when it comes to nonduality itself, anything that can be said about it is already stepping in the wrong direction. Truly, that is the case. You know what would happen if a bunch of enlightened masters had a forum only for discussing the absolute? They would shut it down, knowing that all answers can only be found within. If the only thing to be said about consciousness and nonduality is to NOT get lost in thoughts, words, and concepts, then what the fuck is this sub-Forum here for? Trip reports? Again, more mental masturbation about something that can't be explained. Did anyone here gain a deeper understanding of their trip from someone else on this forum? I didn't think so. In this field, language can only be used as far as a tool to circle around on itself, and make the logical brain submit to the actual uselessness of language and thought in pursuing awakening. In a moment of implicit understanding, the "aha!," you will understand that this entire endeavor was a distraction. You wasted so much time on this forum, time you could have spent doing the work or finding real-life, like-minded friends and mystical experiences. The goal of this particular forum should be to render the forum useless. Of course this brings into question why it exists in the first place. Does anyone need this roundabout path? What if this sub-Forum was changed to a few pages of recourses instead, with a description of why an interactive forum on these topics only creates more delusion? What if we stopped debating consciousness and saved others and ourselves from further distraction? What if the forum evolved? For the record, I think the forums on life purpose, relationships, government, spiral Dynamics, etc. are great, as these are relative topics. This site must continue to be a high consciousness beacon of hope. But I think it's time to reconsider how we treat certain topics that transcend logic, reason, and even words themselves. If anyone can log in and be the pointer, then what message is that sending to newcomers and seekers?

I really like this idea. A place to share insights directly related to a personal growth you had. There is some of that scattered around, but this would sure make a powerful subforum.

If everything else was right, doesn't make him a weak leader? Leaders love. Leaders Unite. The type of leaders to start political revolutions and only push one direction are not strong leaders. He has a big "us vs. them" mentality. How the hell is he going to accomplish anything when he openly demonizes "the rich" (who by the way have most congresspeople bought and paid for...)? His whole campaign is built on division, and thus it breeds toxicity. MLK was a strong leader because he was inclusive and loving. The Bernie equivalent would have been, "My brothers and sisters (only referring to blacks), we must go after the white folk! They are a disgrace on the nation!" And you know what, he wouldn't have accomplished a damn thing and we wouldn't be celebrating his birthday today. Andrew Yang is a strong leader. He is inclusive and loving. He talks about the systems underneath, and galvanizes energy around fixing the problems. He doesn't demonize groups of people. That's leadership.

Ah. Instead of volleying this negative energy back and forth, I choose to leave you with a helpful tip. Not to point fingers at all, but I say this with love because it was an insight I had from studying myself and others. The first person to call another "selfish," "arrogant," or any other negative term like that in conversation, is exactly that himself. A self-less person does not need to point out the selfishness in others, for he knows that that selfish person would project that label right back onto him. It's not helpful and isn't true to himself and the light he sees in others. See, I noticed that when called another selfish, that came from a place of selfishness and arrogance. It's up to you whether you want to reflect or project. Peace ✌️

He could do a few executive orders, but that's about it. In order to get any laws passed it has to pass through the House of Representatives (400ish people) and the Senate (100 people). So he likely wouldn't get much passed at all, he's a politically divisive person and not a strong leader.

@SOUL What I'm saying is that your "what is" is not separate from universal truth. That is all there is. You have to imagine a universe separate from you to make this distinction. As long as you picture yourself as a being within a universe, you'll be stuck. Yes. But I don't own truth nor am I an arbiter of truth. There's no "me" here. I'm just acknowledging that my "what is" simply IS that which is the case. Our content is different, but the structure is the same. All distinctions collapse. "Personal" and "universal" collapse. Like I said, if you get caught up in my words you'll be mislead and judge what you think my perception is. But this is only a judgment of yourself. I'm not playing word games. To say any more would be a word game. This is infinite Mind. God. I am you and what I see is me. It may seem like I'm contradicting myself from your viewpoint... but that is exactly the nature of what we're dealing with. Remember that you're just reading a dualistic translation on a screen. Stop trying. "I" am just a collection of words and images in your mind. The Mind. You're imagining me. You're playing with an idea that you conceptualize as a separate "human being." Intuit that. But of course you're going to say, "But what now? That doesn't make any sense, isn't that all just a word game?" EXACTLY! Marinate in that. This was sure fun but it had to come to an end at some point To conceptualize this shit any further is a distraction. That's my only message to you.

Hmmmm. Tell me, what's this distinction between "personal" and "universal" you're creating? If you are indeed the universe, then what use is this distinction? I agree with you that "universal truth" is but another delusion. The Absolute is..........................................................

I'm with you. There's no benefit at all. That's really the essence of this thread I started. Yes. You are the Truth. There's no other authority to turn to, for you are it. What I've come to realize is that the Absolute cannot be pointed to or expressed. It transcends anything "you" can do or say about it. It's a meta-truth of sorts. You shouldn't get caught up in the words I'm saying, for they are NOT it, and these words really only make sense to me because of my body of experience. Any words can easily be misinterpreted. Picked apart. Judged. I believe we are on the same page, but a lot gets lost in translation.

I have researched it, it doesn't work. Warren is deluded on this just because it sounds "just" or "righteous." Perhaps you should get your information from real world data on countries that have already enacted a wealth tax and repealed it, not Warren's mouth. The people who own the wealth are too smart for a wealth tax. You don't go after them, you go after the value generated in the economy, which is simple and impossible to evade if you want to do business in a particular country. There's a reason why every other industrialized country has a VAT. The US is the wealthiest country on earth because they lied, stole, manipulated, enslaved, bombed, and genocided their way to the top. Really contemplate the history of the US and the unprecedented opportunity they had in a new "uncharted" world. It was a matter of circumstance, not intelligence or foresight. We don't learn from our mistakes, or from other countries' mistakes, and it's falling apart before your very eyes. It should be obvious that our lawmakers are completely corrupted by monied interests, and are inept at dealing with the problems of the 21st century.

No, the US is dumb and doesn't learn from other countries. Moving wealth to other countries cannnot be enforced. The wealth tax fails across the board because it is expensive to enforce and because it doesn't capture enough wealth. Consider a VAT, a value added tax that is already in use in nearly every industrialized country on the planet.

If it was that easy, then why has nearly every European country repealed their wealth tax?

@SOUL The same "realization" can take a million different forms in one's direct experience. This is because the "realization" is of an infinity quality.

Yes. AND the opposite is also true: all perspective is perfect clarity because it is that which is the case. We live in a strange loop, so how could it be any other way? Just because you shed a layer of thought does not mean you are any more "truthful" in respect to the infinite onion. The duality of "truth" and "falsehood" also must collapse at some point. All becomes "truth," and the "varrying degrees of truth-ness" which you used to believe in becomes completely meaningless. That doesn't mean pursing Truth no longer becomes practical to your raising of consciousness or survival... of course it does! No matter what we perceive, no matter how much mental baggage we've shed or how many layers we've transcended... it's just a perspective. We can have a taste of infinity and intuit that what we are is infinity, BUT, it is not the whole of infinity. It can't be. You've never become conscious of the fire ant 500 miles away, or the alien 500 light years away. It's nothing more than a peek/peak. I believe that Leo is wrong here. Truth is subjective. Leo's Truth of 30+ facets of awakening is much broader and deeper than nearly anyone else's. But has he realized yet that he can expand that to 1 million facets if he had a long enough life? His Truth is different from everyone else's, just like you said. Truth cannot be explicated. It's all pointing to the same realization(s), but everyone has a slightly different expression and breadth of understanding. If you understand infinity to the quadrillionth decimal place, you're no closer to understanding it than if you stopped at the hundredth decimal. Truth being subjective does not mean that awakening or spirituality is bullshit. It's highly practical and it'll transform your life. There seems to be a set way that this specific "reality" operates. It's fucking difficult! Let's be real, if I could have made it any other way I would have! However, I'm done fooling myself into thinking that I "know it all." This reality is one of an infinite number, all with different laws of physics, truths, metaphysics, beings, etc. BTW I'm open to being wrong on everything I just said. It just feels right to say at my current understanding. It would be wrong not to publish it.

I actually kind of like this. The language is a little too religious for me, but it's right in that we have to literally "surrender ourselves" (give up the lower-case self) to open our hearts. Love can only enter in the absence of fear and self-identification, so your identity must be expanded greatly. Chris is also right that any written phrase can only be rightly interpreted by gaining the proper body of experience, or in this case a raise in consciousness. The core of every major religion *at conception* is mysticism and nonduality, and I think it's fascinating that there are still high-consciousness remnants in all major texts despite millennia of distortions.

Much Love!

No. Did that satisfy you, or does that spawn another question?

Hmmm. The more I think about it, we definitely shouldn't censor questions about these things. But maybe we link them to a (new, updated) FAQ or video, and try to be mindful of not debating consciousness or leading them down the conceptualizing path. Make it abundantly clear that answers about the Absolute can only be found through direct experience. I don't know what that could look like in practice, but I feel there could be more done. I told people "the way it was" for the longest time, but now I'm beginning to see the wisdom in answering a newbie's questions with a question. Get them to explore, not impose a certain idea. It sounds hypocritical, but I'm changing all the time and I'm not perfect.

You have no idea how funny this is to me Well I know I come off as abrasive (and probably delusional) sometimes... I just want you to know that no one is more aware of my shortcomings and limitations than myself. I know that any attempt to take a hard stance on anything opens oneself up to delusion. I know there was no "point" to this thread. But I guess it was kind of interesting and exciting, and it made me contemplate these topics deeper. I went from feeling like we should shut down the subforum, to just making the trap clearer to newbies and updating the resources. I feel like Leo would be on board with that. I wish everyone the best of luck on their journeys! And if this thread made you think a little deeper about what this forum actually is and how much it's helping/not helping you, then that alone made it worth it. I'll probably stick around for a few days, but it's definitely time for me to move on. Oh, and never underestimate the practical benefit of contemplating the limitations of language. So many things become clear if you do. Maybe Leo should do an episode on it sometime, just as a reminder if nothing else.

I don't have any more questions for you all, at least any that I can't just ask myself. This thread is my parting gift/present to/from the forum. I see what this all is now. I won't be needing it anymore; it's just a distraction. That's not what I'm saying at all. This is a classic case of muddying the waters. The difference between actuality and concept is conceptual, as it must be because all differences and samenesses are imagined... everything is one. This duality collapses into Actuality, where you see that even the experience of being lost in concept is actual. But you can only understand this when you have previously separated the two, to make you free and conscious of the chains and limitations of concept. But notice that seeing the difference between the two was a conceptual activity. In the end, the conceptual framework to get to the collapse of this duality was a delusion. Perhaps I never needed it... maybe there's a more direct path. Why keep building conceptual bridges only to burn them down later? Let's take Leo's recommended practice of looking at your hand. Once you "get it," that the hand is being imagined and all labels melt away and you're just left with raw data/experience of *something* in front of you... you no longer have to find a difference between actuality and concept. It was all imaginary. Everything and nothing is actual. Actual = that which is the case. The idea of concept melts away, and you realize that a concept only exists as a concept, a further distinction you created within consciousness. You create more layers between you and Truth, and yet those layers ARE Truth as well! Truth is the entire onion, and each layer of the onion. An unpeeled onion is "truth" and the core of the onion is "truth." A "difference" only exists because you believe it does. I'm deep enough in the onion to see that it doesn't matter, it's all Good. It's a really hard pill for me to swallow right now (maybe I didn't explain it well, for the exact reasons I stated above), but I'm convinced it's true. My identity is tied to finding and understanding truth, and now I realize there's no end and no beginning. THIS RIGHT HERE IS IT. TA-DA! Terrifying, I know. Truth found, but that doesn't mean my work is not done. It just means I'm done bullshitting with myself on the forum. Truth is a meta-truth. Well... it's kinda complicated lol. My head hurts and I despise using English, despite that being the only language I know. Any individual's experience is Truth ("valid"), however, they become deluded when they believe the concepts, labels, and metaphysical framework they overlay on reality to be true. In essence, they don't understand what they're seeing; it's like only seeing a mirage or an outline. The experience itself is valid.

Are you ready to take this leap? You may not want to hear this. His videos did not provide a base framework. The forum did not provide a base framework. Really contemplate what you mean by "base framework." It's a concept, or web of concepts. That you created. The words Leo and others said to you were interpreted by you, and you created a complex series of images and stories to make sense of it. And you think your experience is built on that? Do you think anything in your life is enriched by having a base framework? If that's the base framework, it's time to throw it out the fucking window. Any conceptual framework is delusion, nothing fundamental or "base" about it. There's nothing more true about your base framework compared to a stage Blue religious fundamentalist's framework. I mean, I'm having trouble swallowing that pill... Leo's work is nothing more than a crude pointer that points toward that which is beyond words or labels or images or symbols. Beyond framework. Groundless ground, mate.

Thanks for this great example. @SOUL Notice that while this is a potent explanation of the Absolute, and it can't be said much clearer than this, even still it is utterly meaningless and confusing to you or to anyone who hasn't experienced it. Any explanation can only reflect on your own direct experience, so, we can deduce that this explanation cannot bring any seeker closer to It. If you're awake: "cool story bro." If you're a genuine seeker: "huh that sounds interesting what the fuck?" You're trying to use duality to... Cut duality? Can a knife cut itself? You're seeped in the very thing you're trying to rid yourself of. Leo understands this deeply, and yet leaves open lines of debate and inquiry into the Absolute, and he seriously answers them. My question is... Why? Let me give an example. "What is nonduality?" My answer: "I can tell you what it is not. It is not anything that you can imagine, write, speak, watch, smell, feel, or think about." "Ok... So what is it?" "....silence*" "I'm serious, what is it?" "...Now you see our little predicament." Even to say, "nonduality means that everything is one and all distinctions are imaginary." Is already painting a dualistic picture and not getting you any closer to it. The number "one" will be interpreted as an integer, distinct from zero or two. It will most likely be visualized as a sphere. Are you getting the picture? Everything that is said about nonduality on this forum daily is a fruitless fucking game. Now, go back and re-read this thread. Thank you for your time and understanding. ?

Let me ask you this: can I answer this question an infinite number of ways? We are not interpreting the meaning of Shakespeare's plays. Your arguments hold up when concerning relative, ambiguous works like poetry, but the beauty (and downfall) of this sub-Forum is that we try to grapple with the Absolute. What THAT is cannot be communicated in any way. What language CAN do is serve as a pointer, and pointers have relative levels of accuracy in pointing to an object. "Hate is the metaphysical root of reality, so we should further Nazi ideas" would be removed from the forum because it's a pointer in the opposite direction of Truth. Truth is metaphorically the object towards which we want to point. Of course Truth isn't an object. A pointer is relative, limited, and has no substance. Notice that an expression of language does not contain meaning within itself, rather, it produces images and ideas within you that you then relate to create webs of meaning. These images are based on your own body of experience. So, You cannot communicate a novel experience or idea. You cannot communicate a higher level of consciousness. So if you're not already awake, all pointers towards Truth, no matter how "accurate," will not get you closer to It. This is because IT is something outside your body of experience... It is a novel experience way beyond words. In this way, all interpretations of enlightenment, nonduality, and the Absolute are by definition misleading. *An interpretation through language brings up images in your mind, all of which are finite, 2-D or 3-D. ANYTHING you can say or think about it is NOT THAT.* Truth cannot be taught. Leo's videos on these subjects can be helpful, but only because I awakened already. Ultimately it's just more story that separates you from truth. In essence, a pointer only becomes visible when you have the necessary body of experience. And because each word reflects on your own unique experience, any one interpretation will have a slightly different meaning to each person that reads it, but the general direction is there. Language is such a crude tool. Infinity of experience, not of expression through language.

1. You will not find infinite variety of expression here. It's already quite limited. 2. ANY interpretation is delusion, that's my point. I'm not saying that one true selection of words is the way, I'm saying it's all bullshit. The no-interpretation, or the riddle/koan gets you closer to the realization. Everything you find here about consciousness, enlightenment, and nonduality is in fact misleading. It may or may not be coming from a deluded place, but the act of poor translation through language to another, less experienced reader is the delusion. That being said, I have no problem with people bullshitting, but I feel like we need to let newbies know that they must experience it first before they mentally masturbate about it. We kinda do that already, but as it stands now I wouldn't recommend this forum to a seeker. If I'm not mistaken, that's the purpose of the forum.