TheAvatarState

@Tistepiste Yeah, that's basically how I see it. You have to appreciate the amazingly complex social structures (societies, governments) that had to be created in order for people like us to survive after dropping ego. Don't take any of this stuff for granted. Not just the structures, but the freedom of speech, millions of people had to die for us to have the freedom to do this work and not get persecuted or hanged. Of course we still have a ways to go (legalization of psychs, etc.) but in most first world countries, you can do this work from the comfort of your home, without worrying too much about base survival needs. I said we're starting an era where the average person can do this stuff, not that all of society is READY to do this. We're still far from it. So much of the world is still at stage red/blue/orange! I'm just saying that transcending the ego is our main goal, but the ego was needed in order to create the vast and intricate social systems necessary for this to work. We are at the precipice of a vast, global awakening, just watch.

@AceTrainerGreen your paradigm is backwards. You're operating under the ASSUMPTION that we're biological robots who evolved over millions of years by random, darwinian processes. You take this as fact. "Well of course, it couldn't be any other way." Have you ever really explored if this is true or not? Have you ever wondered if there might be something more to this human experience? The first step is to fully recognize that this concept of yours was spoon-fed to you by society, and that it is nothing more than an assumption, to distract you from the truly and utterly inescapable fact that nature is irreducibly mystical...

@Tistepiste it seems everyone else is giving abstract answers, which don't really answer you're question... Let's look a little more practically. In the universe's infinite intelligence, why would a thing as "ugly" as an ego need to be created? Is it not the source of all suffering in the world? Yes. But let's start to appreciate what it actually did: All scientific progress, all national competition, all striving and dominating, has accelerated the human race (technologically) to what it is today. The ego is the driver, and it simply wouldn't have been possible without it. The illusion of you having a separate experience, that's ego, and very necessary for survival. And yet, society is still in the dark ages psychologically, because we're still dominated by egoic desires. Start to see ego as what was necessary to become what we are today, and we're just now getting to a point where rapid increases in consciousness are possible without hindering our survival. We're entering an age of global transcendence of the ego, to really reach our full potential.

@Michael569 a Yellow person can do this because he realizes life is a strange loop. Be open to paradox, confusion, and not knowing. These two positions are merely surface- level contradictions. Logically contradicting. But the deepest insights are trans-rational, and this will require nuance to deconstruct and really find out what it means.

Love him to death. That's your repressed side, and I guarantee that there's kernels of truth in what you're feeling. Become the watcher, and observe what it may be trying to tell you. Don't fight it, because it IS part of you.

@AceTrainerGreen I'm sorry but your paradigm is backwards. If you're looking for what the future will look like with AI, don't be afraid. It'll basically move us into spiral dynamics stage green, because all the jobs an AI can't do are ones that deal with people. Not customer service obviously, but real, intimate jobs that require human empathy and connection. I'd recommend that you watch the interview I linked, it's pretty good. From your paradigm, a robot will eventually be able to do EVERYTHING a human can do. If that's the case, then are we robots? And are you comfortable with the idea of the human race becoming extinct because we're no longer needed? Is that what you really intuit, that we won't be necessary at all in the future?

@Mikael89 lmao have you ever tried psychedelics? I'm not just talking about a one time experience, actually extensively texted them for person growth?

@Inliytened1 Uh, so much to say... Answer me this: Would it be possible for you to go back asleep and forget this ever happened? If you somehow denied yourself spiritual work for the rest of your life, how much regret, anxiety, and sadness would plague you until the day you died? Going back to a materialist paradigm, knowing it's all illusion, would literally make you sick. You took the red pill and there's simply no turning back. Mankind as a whole cannot handle the truth TODAY. That's a fact. We're still very much stuck in a materialist paradigm, and that will take many generations to slowly get over. But mankind has the ability in the FUTURE (just like you have now) to be interested in existential and metaphysical matters, and to stomach it. Things are exactly how they're meant to be. People, like you and me, who want to know the truth can find the truth. People who don't, well, let's say it's not shoved down their throats by any means. What do you mean that in Leo's latest videos, he's starting to realize the "realness?" I think he's very aware of the unrealness! And that makes life so much more beautiful. Good luck on your journey my friend! I'm kind of with @Nahm here. Be grateful that you're living in this time. If you were born just a hundred years ago (not even a blink of an eye in time), this wouldn't be possible, and you could have found yourself fighting in WW1. Really start to appreciate the magnitude of this opportunity. Also, ask yourself, did you really CHOOSE to go down this path? Or did this path inexplicably choose you?

AI is a sophisticated tool that will replace a large portion of mindless jobs in the near future. It will definitely shift us into Spiral Dynamics Stage Green. It's already happening, and in 20 years at most, we'll be in the thick of it. We'll have to drastically rethink what we value as a society. Here's a great interview with a leading scientist and investor in AI technologies, and he kind of lays out the path that we'll naturally take as AI develops. As someone who has studied spiral dynamics, it's beautiful and gives me a lot of hope: Now talking on if AI will ever fully replicate a human? Literally not in a million years. Not ever. And I'm 100% certain of this. Why? Because a robot fundamentally lacks consciousness, love, and intuition. These are irreducible aspects of our human experience as a sliver of this giant, connected mind. AI is not consciousness, and it will never be it.

Consider, for a moment, that something=nothing. Of course, that couldn't make sense to a rational mind, but reality is irreducibly mystical.

@Tony 845 Enlightenment has nothing to do with becoming a vegetarian. No correlation whatsoever. Becoming vegetarian/vegan depends on your ecological level of awareness and love for the world. There are many stage green people who become vegan because they expand their heart and identification with all living creatures. And yet they are nowhere near enlightenment. It's such a simple answer that I'm surprised you didn't come up with it yourself. Or maybe you're just wanting attention? If you look closely, you have been answered dozens of times already, it just wasn't what you wanted to see.

@Hugo Ferraro Thank you for sharing your journey and insights! I'm also in my early journey myself, but I'd like to share my thoughts. First of all, nonduality is not a belief/paradigm. Of course the ego can treat it as one, so watch out for that. But that's only your projection of what you think nonduality is at this stage in your life. A paradigm is a limiting belief system because it takes certain aspects of reality for granted, and usually makes a distinction between "subjective" and "objective." That is not nonduality. Nonduality is the ultimate Truth because it recognizes, cooked deep into the core, that all perspectives are partial. It's not a belief because you can become directly conscious and aware of this truth through a mystical experience. All spirituality points to this. And of course, the Truth cannot be written, spoken, or proven. It cannot be grasped with the human mind, it can only be experienced. And why would you expect anything less from the Absolute? Language, in essence, is made up of symbols that only mean something in relation to each other. Language breaks down at nonduality because it cannot point to itself. It is itself. Try to grasp the significance of this. You're completely right that there's a strong faith component when starting out. It's necessary with any type of experimentation, scientific or spiritual, because you simply don't know unless you do the tests. There's no such thing as faith-free. However, you need to distinguish blind faith from pragmatic faith and finding the answers yourself. Notice that fundamentalist religion is blind faith, and true spirituality (what we're doing here) is pragmatic faith, where faith is a stepping stone to Truth. Also, I don't like to refer to my journey as one towards enlightenment. My journey doesn't end when I reach enlightenment. And more so than that, enlightenment is not a destination. It's right before your eyes, you're just not conscious of it yet. I'm aware that seeking enlightenment is a dangerous trap for the ego, because "seeking" entails an "I don't want to be here" component, or an escape, or a longing. THAT is ego. Be open to the possibility that your drive for enlightenment could be coming from the ego. Because if you truly understood enlightenment, you'd understand that it's right here. All spirituality is, is to work on becoming conscious of what's already here. Enlightenment itself is the end of suffering and longing; complete contentment and peace with what's here. So why do you think you need to search for it? Now I'm not saying this is the case for you, just warning you of a common trap. Good luck!

Kind of a revelation I had today: suffering ceases to exist when you become presently conscious and aware of what is happening. Of course we've all heard this before, from the likes of Ekhart Tolle and other various spiritual teachers. But today was different. I went from conceptually knowing and understanding to bringing it in my present experience. For example, I've recently started practicing Wim Hof's method of taking cold showers and doing a breathing technique. Up until now, I didn't really look forward to the showers because I could only anticipate the pain associated with it, and because of that, I found it really hard to actually do it. But today when I took the shower, I focused on being completely present and not resisting any pain that may come. I treated it like a meditation. So guess what? I STOPPED SUFFERING. I DIDN"T EVEN PERCEIVE IT AS "COLD," I ACTUALLY FUCKING ENJOYED IT!!! This was such a big revelation that I started laughing my ass off. Look around you. Where's the suffering? Point to it. Can you? No! It doesn't fucking exist guys, it's a mental construction where you remove yourself from the present moment to dwell on the change in state. That's what it boils down to. If you bring in the light of consciousness and full awareness, the suffering ceases to exist. Stop viewing pain as negative, that's bullshit. Make pain something to look forward to (because that's where the real change occurs), and you will stop experiencing pain negatively. You will actually feel more alive from it. More alive than you ever thought possible. I also watched some interviews from Impact Theory (great YouTube channel, check them out), and that's what really got me thinking about viewing pain differently. The man who was being interviewed, David Goggins, described how he used pain to flip his life on its head. It was THROUGH the pain of improving himself that he found his enjoyment. It was through the experience of running 120 miles through the desert that he found himself. His true self. His relationship with pain was so counter to mine that it simply blew me away. And of course, that's exactly why he's accomplished so many great things in his life. Pain stops becoming negative when you embrace it and bring awareness to your body in these moments. It's so counter-intuitive to grasp for the ego, because you think pain is inherently negative and you should be scared of it, and no matter how you view it it's still painful. The ego doesn't like to make the distinction between pain and suffering, and will try to disguise these as the same thing. But let me tell you, this may be one of the most important distinctions you could ever make. As I start adding more self-improvement practices, I'll be working to integrate this in my own life. It's an active skill that must be developed and formed into habit. I have no illusions about how difficult this will be... So bring on the ego backlashes! "Can't Hurt Me!"

HIGHLY unlikely a tab has that much, that would be really rare. That sounds like a dealer boasting unless he laid it himself. However, you don't know for sure, so you should try half a tab. 300ug is too much for a first time. If it's underwhelming, then do a full tab a couple weeks later. Your body builds an immediate tolerance, so you should wait the full 2 weeks. DO NOT add on more if you're not feeling anything after an hour. That will get you in deep trouble. Please DO NOT do that. If it's a light experience, accept that and enjoy and ride it out Things to do on acid? Music (for suggestions check out Leo's tripping music thread in the meditation/consciousness subforum). Safely going for a walk outside. Anything that fills you with wonder and excitement. Also bring up some deep existential questions and explore them. If you already practice yoga and meditation, try it here. Have healthy snacks ready. I swear, eating orange cuties is a spiritual experience. AVOID meat and cheese. Go plant-based. Good luck!

@Quantum_fluctuations What is suffering? Get to the root.

@Beeflamb Lol. Have you watched any of his recent videos? He literally tells you to not believe a fucking word he says and to derive it yourself in your direct experience. That's the opposite of a cult. It's self-impowering information because that's the message behind every video. The reasons why a low-consciousness person would demonize Leo should be very obvious to you. If not, then you need more work to do.

@Tony 845 Expand your understanding to take this seriously. At the precise moment you reach a full enlightenment, ie a non-dual state, you'll realize you created every "neuron" in your brain using infinite intelligence to keep the illusion, and that there is no difference or distinction between your brain and your meditation cushion. You see, your physical neurons rewiring doesn't cause the perception changes. Your consciousness elevates and you'll rewire your neurons whenever a neuroscientist brain scans you, just to fit the bill. Did your neurons actually rewire unless you directly perceived it? Think of how radical that is. Our bodies are direct projections of our consciousness. Not the other way around...

Correct. We were just using different definitions for "enlightenment." I was thinking more along the lines of your first "enlightenment experience," which is almost never fully-realized. The point I was trying to make is that you cannot stop identifying with the mind FULLY without first having an enlightenment/awakening experience, which involved complete ego death/dissociation and surrender to the present moment. The early path to enlightenment is ego-driven, as it must. Only after you awaken can you understand how to let go and why that's important. I'm using terms loosely, but I think we mostly agree

No, you're not getting it. "Letting go of human thinking and attachments to life as a human being" is quite a process, and actually lies FARTHER down the path than a Samadhi or enlightenment experience. What you're describing as the beginning is the embodiment of years of work and many enlightenment experiences. If this is still unclear, I recommend watching Leo's recent video on the 10 Ox-herding pictures.

@Dodo you're comparing apples to oranges. War and peace are active states, one dissonant, one harmonious, and confusing the two will lead to disfunction. Ignorance (unconsciousness) and strength, while admittedly not the best examples, would lead to dysfunction if confused for eachother. The pauper and the prince are illusions, identities, masks that hide the Truth that we are all one consciousness. You can't make the same argument for war and peace, because in a non-dual state, the duality collapses and all you're left with is peace. Non duality is harmonious. The concepts that are dissonant are complete illusions. The prince and the pauper both disappear into one in the non-dual. Both are illusions. Do you see the difference?

@Tony 845 brains do not exist.

@Amanaki Answer me this: why would a normal person (ego-centered) be interested in enlightenment? Because the loss of self arises OUT OF enlightenment, is enlightenment, what would be the motivation to get there in the first place?

??? Jesus Christ! Please die so I don't have to suffer anymore. /s On a serious note, I've also had a similar experience on acid. It's all ego my friend. Because ultimately, if there is no self, WHO is the one feeling responsible? It's closer to Truth in the sense that you ARE those suffering people, as it serves to expand identity and therefore empathy for others. But the notion of "responsibility" and the ensuing fear--that's delusion. Definitely a shocking experience to be sure.

@Charlotte oh yes, I made sure to do it in the most iconic and other- worldly natural location I could find. Nature trips are sublime.

@Charlotte @Nahm You guys trolling me? ??