TheAvatarState

Try to understand. It's the perspective that can't be "perspectived." Because it's by definition the cumulation of all, including the one your thinking right now. The mind can conceptualize it as a perspective, but that is an aping. Nonduality is not a perspective. If it was, who or what would be perceiving it? And a perspective, by definition, is a singular point of view! Also notice that the mind can only hold one perspective at a time.

@Rilles HA! Well thank you, sometimes I feel like I blabbing monkey spewing nonsense (which could be the case), but then I look back at the work and experiences I've had so far... And then I get a peaceful feeling. Because that stuff actually happened, and there can be no doubt about it. Well, I constantly doubt what I already take as knowledge, as every actualizer should, but every time I go back it's immediately obvious that this is at least closer the way it is; that the paradigm I used to subscribe to has such obvious flaws. I hardly know anything, but I AM starting to get a clearer big-picture scope of reality. This work will lead you there. And like Leo has said, that's the most important part to get right. I've had a few awakening experiences so far, but I have yet to have a complete nondual experience. I have plans of taking 5-meo next summer as a tool to help me with that

@Yousef sort of. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think nonduality is the infinity perspective, containing all other perspectives. But the word perspective kind of breaks down here, because a perspective requires something to perceive it. All perspectives are fundamentally partial. But nonduality is itself, it can't go outside itself to view itself. It created itself. So it's not so much a perspective as it is all of reality. That's why you need a direct experience of nonduality, because it can't be grasped only from the mind.

@Rilles that's in the dream, at least, because you're the only thing conscious in the dream. Think of minecraft, as you move through the world it gets rendered, and the next village over doesn't exist until it's a certain number of chunks away. Now what if the very fabric of waking reality is consciousness? If everything was directly rendered and aware of itself, even deep space? If we're in a giant, connected mind? Think of your dream, but make a huge recontextualization, that you could simultaneously inhabit several perspectives, but the ultimate viewpoint is nonduality.

@Rilles is the limit not your field of awareness? Do you really think a child is objectively bouncing a ball in the next town over, and if only you were able to fly over, you'd see it? You render the experience.

@Space Enjoy

@andyjohnsonman true. But it's not an ideology for me.

That's quite an ego backlash... You're trying to put words in my mouth, say I'm part of a cult, and then think you know how I think! Is that not a beautiful self deception you created? Let's take a step back. I am not part of a cult, any more than a physics student belongs in a cult when he does tests to confirm F=MA. Let me explain an aspect of the law of attraction from an evolutionary standpoint. No "woo woo" here. Before we had language, we needed to communicate feelings throughout a group with nonverbals. Our ancestors did this so well that they were bordering on psychic. We had to develop this ability in order to survive. Whether you're conscious of it or not, your thoughts and emotions directly effect people around you, because we as a species evolved to sense this for survival. And just like you egoic mechanisms, this "second language" is also still active. Not all your thoughts and feelings are "yours." You picked them up unconsciously from the group. I still work in customer service, and since I really started becoming conscious and observant of these mechanisms, I haven't had a single problem customer or major asshole. It has been over a year. All my coworkers get them on a daily basis. This is simply not possible! But it is. This is not a belief system because I understand this through direct experience. I don't subscribe to any ideologies. You have not explored this field nearly enough, so please stop holding ideologies about it.

@Rilles infinitely far. Infinitely up, infinitely down. What do you think quarks are made of? Are they impenetrable building blocks of all matter? That's as far as they go? How does it not make any sense to not zoom further? And up into the cosmos? A literal infinite universe. If what scientists say is true, and there was a big bang and it's been expanding for 14 billion years, then that's not infinite, is it? It's still trapped in the illusion of spacetime. What happens if you go beyond the "bubble" that scientists seem to believe in? Infinite nothingness? Or a quark in another universe?

@Zigzag Idiot That is a valid point. However, given my current situation, I feel the need to completely reboot my system. There are thousands of accounts of men in my same position who found great results from doing this. Remember, this is only 90 days, not a lifetime. This isn't about sexual repression at all; this is about sexual empowerment and awakening. I'm confident I'll achieve that. @Shin HA! Thank you for the support. Feels good to be here! Day 3: Energy: 4 Awareness: 4 Sexual thoughts/urges: 2 Self-esteem: 3 Social confidence: n/a Today was my off day, and I didn't do much besides stay at home, read, watch a couple videos, and generally laze around. LOL! I didn't accomplish what I wanted to, but at this point, it's still a major win for me. My day is also defined by what I didn't do! Just a few scattered sexual thoughts, but I was able to let go of them easily. My energy levels were definitely down from what they were yesterday. I felt slightly sluggish and tired for most of the day. Of course that could be due to many other factors, but I'm sure that it had something to do with technically being on day 6 without fapping. Every other time I've made it to this point, I get a weird dip in energy. BRING IT ON!!!

"Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god." - Aristotle What a powerful quote, I love it! If you can't be happy by yourself, then you'll never be happy. There is no happiness without enlightenment, that is to say, complete acceptance and presence in the present moment, along with the realization that you are God. There is no suffering to be found there. Once you understand that through direct experience like I have, there's no turning back. The reason why this quote is so profound is because only a person who has found his true nature AS GOD can be delighted in solitude! I'll leave you with these two complimentary quotes: The mind is no more in the body than music is in the instrument. -Robert Anton Wilson The self is no more in the mind than the wind in the trees. - Swami Anandakapila Saraswati

This series is extremely important, especially for actualizers with young children. I just want it to be seen by more people.

@WindInTheLeaf not feeding the wheel of thought is precisely the way. Don't believe me, experience it for yourself

@WindInTheLeaf No offense, but it didn't look wise . I was struggling to figure out what you meant. Unless you want to be misunderstood, strive for simplicity.

@LastThursday Yes, you can prove to yourself that reality is fundamentally a strange loop. All the evidence is right in your direct experience. However, that doesn't answer the question, "Why is there awareness?" Which fundamentally is OP's question. Just because you can think logically and arrive at an inconsistency, doesn't mean the mind can fully understand or grasp what's going on. Perhaps I'm missing something here?

@LastThursday Yes, I like this. There wouldn't be anything unless there was awareness to perceive it. All we have of reality are first person perceptions. There's not logical reason for awareness to exist, you're not going to get to the answer of such a question through the mind.

@Alfox

@WindInTheLeaf I am not trying to talk down to you and tell you you're wrong. If you read my comment, all I suggested you do is observe. Observe that nothing and something are concepts of your mind, bound to reasoning and logic. If you want to find the answer to your question, you must be open to seeing another perspective, one that is trans-rational. One that cannot be grasped by the mind. Yes, I'm aware that the ego mind is a harmonic oscillator, just like Leo described in his "Understanding Ego Backlash" video. There's nothing easy about this, if it were, we'd all have a nondual perspective. All perspectives are valid, all have slivers of Truth, but not all perspectives are equal. There IS something higher. The only requirement is an radically open mind.

@Dodo not sure how you can have 3k posts on this forum and still subscribe to "luck" or "happenstance." It's a real thing and I'm conscious of it every day. Perhaps you have some ideologies you need to sort out...

@Cortex you're thinking of the universe as a physical plane of existence. That's an illusion. This isn't something the mind can really grasp (sort of), but it's always going to be an ideology until you have direct nondual experience.

@WindInTheLeaf "nothing" and "something" are concepts. Do they actually exist? "But what is true nothing?" Why don't you have a look around

What I present here are Leo's original 65 core principles (plus 2 of my own), compiled and organized into an extremely helpful list to help orient you through life. I call it "The Compass." For this is a man-made tool to help guide you through the turbulent oceans and wild mountains of everyday life. This compass POINTS to Truth, but is itself just a collection of symbols. I have found this guide to be extremely accurate and useful in my own life so far. If you haven't already, please watch The 65 Core Principles Of Living The Good Life as Leo goes into much more juicy detail on each principle. All credit for this post goes to @Leo Gura. The first 4 principles are the purposes of life. Orient your life to embody these: Raise your consciousness. Raise your capacity to love. Take in the beauty of life. To feel alive! To not have a single day where you're just going through the motions. The key to this is to bring consciousness into every task, even the most mundane. Practice present conscious awareness and acceptance. There is no suffering to be found here. (This is my own principle I added) Ego is the root of all human problems and suffering. Self-deception. Self-bias. All fear, all judgment, all evil, all anger, and all suffering are delusion and falsehood. Do not demonize anyone. No ideology or dogma of any kind. Be radically open-minded. Recognize that you enter this world not knowing anything. You must explore all facets of reality without any pre-judgments, for you truly do not know a thing unless you've experienced it. Being close-minded cuts you off from direct experience. Also recognize that many of the deepest truths are counter-intuitive and will appear silly or crazy on the surface. Question everything. Especially the most "obvious" things, as those are often the most misunderstood. Question the outside world as well as your inside one. Literally. Everything. Direct experience is King. In order to cut through the bullshit of society and your own mind, ground yourself in your present direct experience. Do not judge things which you have not personally experienced. If someone talks to you about something you've never explored, keep your mouth shut and your ears open. Self-experimentation is the only way to truly find what works. This requires radical open-mindedness. Prioritize big picture thinking over technical knowledge. Care about philosophical and metaphysical matters. Genuinely care about the Truth no matter the cost. Love Truth for Truth's sake. The Vow; my blood. Genuinely intend to understand every point of view. Appreciate that the world is nothing but different perspectives. Integral thinking. Spiral dynamics stage yellow. From studying multiple perspectives, gain a meta-perspective at the intersections of all. What does that tell us about life? Every point of view is fundamentally partial; there is a sliver of Truth to be found in every perspective. Pull from hundreds of diverse sources. When you do this, the Truth gets triangulated and the big picture emerges. Lifelong learning and self-education. Cultivate a thirst for knowledge and wisdom. This process should never end. Do not be cheap with your self-education. Develop a system for taking notes and organizing the information, such as a commonplace book. Observation. The essence of learning is observation. It is through observation that insights come. Build your metaphysical connection to reality. This is what spirituality is. You are not an object that exists in the universe, you are existence itself; you ARE the universe. Do the opposite of what everyone else is doing (of course don't be dogmatic about it, be conscious of how you apply this). Reality is deeply counter-intuitive. Expect that reality will work the exact opposite of how you think it will, until you get experience with it. Absolute Truth exists, but it cannot be thought, imagined, communicated, spoken, written, proven, or argued. Nonduality is the ultimate Truth. Reality is perfect. Reality is infinite and God is a real thing. The word God points to infinity. You are God. Remove ego from this realization. You created yourself, you are everything. Only when you realize you are God will you take full responsibility for your life. Reality is not material. It is a giant mind. It is all imaginings within a mindscape, and mindscape is all that there ever is. All one. Life is a dream. And like a dream, it is possible to awaken from it. That is, to become lucid and stop taking it so seriously. 99.9+% of people are deluded and asleep, and they don't know about any of these deeper principles. Which means you can't look to others for guidance on this path. When it comes to your own well-being, you are essentially alone. This doesn't mean you can't find help in a specific avenue where someone has complete mastery of, like a doctor or therapist or counselor. However, very, very few people could ever provide you with proper guidance in big picture thinking, and the only true guidance is to look within yourself. It's all there. I understand that these principles serve as a compass to help orient me, not a Holy Book itself. Question everything, but do the work. All of these principles make sense to me now but wouldn't have just a couple years ago. This is only because of my direct experience. Society is still in the Dark Ages. We are still in adolescence as a species. Very pathological and dysfunctional. God is the devil. This is a distinction that collapses. When you understand, you'll stop seeing evil in the world, and that all the "bad" things do in fact have a higher purpose and intelligence behind them. All identity is relative and fluid. The goal is to dis-identify with your egoic constructions and to start aligning with one-ness and Truth. This is the trick to overcoming death. Or put another way, it is the trick to realizing you're already "dead," to overcome that fear. Out of this nothingness, you can truly start living. Everything is relative. A thing is only known in relation to something else. Prioritize context over facts. Recontextualization is an extremely helpful tool. Everything boils down to inner game. Your psychology. Everything you think is "external" is actually a reflection of you. Authenticity. In every facet of your life. Develop a life purpose. Figure out who you are and what you want out of life. Without this, you get the default--mediocrity. Be a strategic motherfucker. The 7 pillars of strategic thinking are: 1. Strategic Intent, 2. Strategic Analysis, 3. Strategic Preparation, 4. Concentration of Force, 5. Detailed Execution, 6. Adaptability, 7. Study of Principles. Watch Leo's video with the same title. Take 100% responsibility. Anything less is suffering. Be a leader. Be proactive. Be decisive. Take risks. Be a creator. Tap into the joy of creativity. Provide massive value to mankind. Become a master at something. This should directly be tied to your life purpose. Reason and rationality cannot be trusted. All the highest insights are trans-rational. Embrace confusion, paradox, and not knowing. Develop emotional mastery. It is emotion that dominates the reasoning process. Integrate the masculine and the feminine. Do not lie. (my own rule, but one worth saying. Of course, follow this consciously. This should be 99%+ true, not necessarily 100%. Be aware that in many cases you feel like you should lie, there's a way to structure the truth in a way that's more acceptable. You should never tell a bold-faced lie. By lying, you actually poison yourself and stray from authenticity.) Do not manipulate. Satisfy your base needs so that you stop craving. Using Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs to self actualize video. Master your basic survival and livelihood. Learn business. Learn how money works. Keep your life simple and spartan. Practice minimalism. When your life frees up, the ego mind will seek to fill it with various obligations, commitments, and distractions. Use that time instead for personal development. Be a systems thinker. Develop an awareness for the ecological interconnectedness of things. Leo's Intro to systems thinking video. Think ecologically. How are you impacting the world? Be conscious. Happiness is only possible with enlightenment. No material possessions will ever make you happy. This is more certain than the laws of physics. Learn to be happy all by yourself. If you can't be happy sitting on your couch doing nothing, then you can't truly be happy. "Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god." -Aristotle Development AND Awakening; not one or the other, not one above the other. Without practice, exercises, and techniques, there will be no results. Theory alone, while important, will not produce much results. Here are the most important and powerful practices for personal growth: psychedelics, meditation, meditative yoga, journaling, contemplation, self-inquiry, visualization, and solo retreats. Plan to meditate for one hour every day for the rest of your life. Do not turn Actualized.org into an ideology.

@Arkandeus Don't buy into the dogma. That's obviously the wrong way to look at the law of attraction, but the truth is that there's a deeper, underlying force at work here. In fact it's so profound that it's literally magic if used correctly and with the right context and expectations. Are you aware that visualization is such a strong tool? Are you aware of how many synchronicities you experience on a daily basis, and how that's actually not "possible?" You can deny the power of the mind to attract what it wants, but all the evidence is right in front of you. Just observe. So what's the deeper mechanism at play? Well we're obviously not in a physical universe. This is all a mindscape. That should give you some clues. The law of attraction is very real, but it's often blown way out of proportion by lower consciousness people only interested in material goods. Don't buy into it, actually start to see it for what it is.

I had an enlightenment experience last night! WOOO! Even though... it's not "woo"... holy shit words are so fucking silly, aren't they? Let me instead describe a scene from my favorite TV series of all time, and hopefully that will illuminate what the experience was like. I can't think of a better representation. ************* On a journey to find the Source of firebending, Avatar Aang and Prince Zuko (the two main characters) meet two ancient dragons long thought to be extinct, Ran and Shaw. Colored red and blue respectively, the dragons symbolize the harmony of duality, the Yin-Yang. They are so wise and mystical that they can read your entire ancestry and mental fortitude on the spot, and will deem whether you are worthy or not to be gifted the secret of the Source. Heavy stuff for a children's cartoon! Well, after much build-up and dancing (don't ask, you'd have to watch the series), the dragons deem them worthy, then proceed to breath majestic rainbow flames in a spiral around them. It's awe inspiring to watch, but the most important part is that it's implied that Zuko and Aang were shown (beyond the mind, intuitively) MUCH more than we as the outside viewer were shown. It's perfectly ambiguous, and all that Zuko can say, with the most awe-struck look on his face, is simply, "I understand." Out of harmonious duality comes the complete oneness of peace and understanding of awareness. Or, I should say that awareness comes prior to duality, this example is like traveling back to the Source and seeing it was all illusion. That's what my experience kind of was like. It's a no-mind state (as it must be), with a complete awareness of being aware. Unlike my example, there were no rainbow flames, no mythical dragons, no sense of "I." It's just... being. Understanding on a level that cannot be communicated. I completely understand now why it can't be grasped by the mind! There's no "event" really, which is why I think the chase for enlightenment is such a big obstacle for people. It's really simple. Too simple. All I said after the experience was, "That was IT!" "I understand!" Followed by much hearty laughter ************* I'm really thankful that I got this so early in my journey! It pains me to see others search for enlightenment their whole lives, never really understanding what it is. "Oh, if I keep doing my practices, it'll just be over that hill! Keep on plodding!" they say to themselves. It pains me so. I have very little practice under my belt, just a few months of researching enlightenment, watching various spiritual teachers, some psychedelics, about a year of consciously studying my ego, and a radically open mind. Of course I'm not enlightened, in fact, I'm not sure if there's a definite boundary to be drawn in the sand to make any such claim. It's not a title. I think that's extremely misleading, and nothing more than a ego headtrip. Even though I had this enlightenment experience and I understand what it means IN ACTUALITY, I have a long way to go to integrate this into every day life. To be in that state 24/7 would sure be something else though... That's where I'm headed... To infinity and beyond.

@Vitamine Water @Wisebaxter Thank you! I really appreciate it. I've been thinking of a rating system that myself and others may find useful. I even had a vision of graphing the data, to show my rise and falls of various feelings over time. I think that might be a really interesting experiment! What would the most relevant perceptions be? I'm thinking energy level, alertness/awareness, sexual thoughts or cravings, confidence personally (self-esteem) as well as in social situations. Of course there are many other factors at play, but this might be really helpful to map out this journey of mine. So to break this down: All these stats will be rated 1-10 every day. I know I said I was trying to get away from the 1-10 scale, but that's what I'm familiar with and I'm using it consciously for good here. Energy Level will be the average level of the day. Awareness (this is important because I get a foggy mind after fapping) will be the average level. Sexual thoughts will be the peak difficulty I encountered that day. Self-esteem is an average. Social comfort and easiness will be a perceived average level, but I'll say that I don't get a lot of social interaction currently. Sometimes on my off days I won't see another person, but this is an important metric to me nonetheless. Day 2: Energy: 5 Awareness: 6 Sexual thoughts/urges: 2 Self-esteem: 3 Social confidence: 4