Consilience

The Neo Advaita kryptonite ? Nah that’s just getting who you are. Until you know what you are, that isn’t it. “Mu” - ?

The ox is still eating that special Nibbāna sweet grass ?

I would guess OP is pretty exceptional given he’s interested in actualized.org, psychedelics, understanding reality, etc ?

Well this could be true. It would all depend on how hard the second guy hits meditation. If the second guy was going on 2-3 meditation retreats per year with a good teacher, practicing 1-2 hours per day as his own, making a focus out of "life practice" (being mindful while walking in nature, cooking, cleaning, while talking with people, etc.) then I would argue the second guy would be much better off. If, though, the second guy is only doing < 1 hour per day of practice, never going on retreats, not bothering to learn about different techniques and finding what works for him, then yes I agree. It literally all depends on how hard you go. This is where I think people get hung up on meditation. Results can very ENORMOUSLY. Why? Because to see results with meditation usually takes an enormous front end investment, learning of different techniques and systems, and finding what resonates. Most don't have the vision or discipline to do all of this. What most people don't understand about meditation is how quickly results start to take off once they start to take off. It's really a shame. But yeah I mean if you aren't willing to invest the time and energy into serious meditation practice, a couple years of serious psychedelic useage plus other practices will serve you better. But in terms of permanently elevating one's consciousness, ie experiencing God while bopping around through life, meditation all the way. Very true.

That's true. I've had similar experiences healing traumas with psychedelics. They seem much more powerful at facilitating healing than meditation. I consider this a form of meditation yes. You're applying mindfulness so in that sense... It is reinforcing those pathways in the mind. There is something particularly potent about a formal, seated practice. The stillness, silence, and being with whatever arises with equanimity, but certainly other activities are opportunities to "meditate" in the sense that you're mindfully engaging with life and therefore developing "mindfulness muscles." Not sure how you're making that conclusion here. In this dichotomy, it's psychedelics or meditation right? Perhaps for you you'd prefer psychedelics. Okay that's fine. But I can only speak from experience, from talking to many experienced meditators (many of whom who have used psychedelics), and working with multiple enlightened masters, I'd choose meditation over psychedelics any day if I was forced to choose. However, I thankfully do not have to choose. And I currently practice both with reverence, as you said. And I agree, using psychedelics with reverence plus intentionality is an absurdly powerful tool. Doing both practices is a rare opportunity on this planet, to have the neurological genetics to be open to these practices, plus the life circumstances to lead both tools into your life is truly a precious opportunity.

Yes I imagine the sesshins will provide a whole depth of insight, appreciate, and understanding of the role of meditation on the "spiritual path." There is something profoundly powerful about the silence, stillness, boredom, and rigor of a meditation retreat setting. It molds the mind at such a deceptively deep way, especially if followed up with serious daily practice. Doshin seems woke as fuck based on YouTube videos I've watched... His emphasis on shadow works seems particularly powerful as well. That's really awesome as well about getting the opportunity for monastic life. What do you mean about the fear of being pigeonholed? Like you somehow wouldn't be able to leave once you've committed? Honestly he seems to hide it. There are times where it's very obvious shits being transmitted... Or it kind of slips through without him intentionally doing anything. But I think he's extremely conscientious about NOT transmitting anything because he doesn't want his community to fall into needing him. For the second two retreats, the morning meditations began 3:30am PST time and I'm not sure I could have made it through them without him leading the sits... Having his presence there really helped, but again, he does seem to hold back for the most part. However, based on some private exchanges I've had with him in one on one interviews, all I can say is his baseline state of consciousness is wildly higher than what he "gives off." But again I believe this holding back is intentional. Regardless, it does start to slip through, especially as the retreats progressed and momentum with the practice starts to build and especially during his evening talks. The mind starts to become more porous and sensitive to subtler "frequencies" of energy. Sorry I don't have more grounded language to use to describe that.

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Psychedelics and intensive meditation practice are unfortunately not equivalent. 15-30 minutes per day is nowhere near enough practice to understand what intensive meditation provides. What's interesting is that as you bump up your practice time, there tends to be a non-linear increase with the results you receive. What are you basing this conclusion on? I have not met a single person who practices meditation seriously who has found it to be anything less than profound and life changing. @Leo Gura You've really got to clean up your messaging man. This is wildly inaccurate and goes against not only what the average, serious meditator's experience is, but it goes against what every major sage from every major contemplative tradition has to say about meditation, or equivalent contemplative practice. This type of rhetoric completely misguides noobies into a false sense of understanding how to expand one's consciousness, wisdom and understanding in life. @Adam101 psychedelics alone will do very little for profoundly altering your baseline state of consciousness. Meditation will. It's that simple. The idea that meditation can't give you psychedelic like states is false, it most certainly can and it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of how serious about the practice you are. Sure 15-30 minutes, missing a few days here and there isn't going to be very effective. But 2+ hours per day, going on yearly retreats or more, doing background practice in daily life, that's a whole different story. You will grow tired of having to constantly use a foreign substance to be in these higher consciousness states. Psychedelics absolutely are a profound, powerful, meaningful tool on the path, but if you could only use 1, meditation or psychedelics, meditation would be better every time. It's impossible to understand why or how until you've done serious practice. Of course Leo has a different opinion, but I would encourage you to commit to rigorously practicing meditation, we're talking 1, 2, maybe even 3 hours per day for multiple years, before coming to any definite conclusion. Leo has not done this type of intensive meditation so really isn't a real authority on the matter. Serious monks and yogis are doing 4+ hours a day with regular retreats multiple times per year. What we do in the west is not "intensive" practice. Welcome man. I would actually say it's a pretty meaty question

It's called Monastic Academy Center for Mindful Learning. That would be great. As I understand it, you'd also get to participate free of charge. If you have the time why not? Nah just normal retreat schedule but all on zoom. It was honestly awesome getting to go so hard at practice while being in my personal space. It felt like it helped with the integration compared to when I went to Texas, for example. The home practice program does seem great though. I really appreciate how engaged he is with his community. My experience learning from Shinzen has been phenomenal. He is a serious, grounded, embodied meditation master and it shows with the way he gives talks, answers questions, and just his presence. Before going on the first retreat, I was honestly very confused about how to integrate many of the ideas presented in The Mind Illuminated, The Book of Not Knowing... Shamatha, jhanas, self inquiry, do nothing, vipassana, and then all of the Neo Advaita messages about stop seeking. Like wtf man so many competing messages But after coming out of that first retreat everything just clicked and in no small part because of Shinzen. His noting/labeling technique is extremely intelligent and effective. For me at least. My goal is a couple per year too, but at minimum 1. What about you man? How was the 3 day and intensive?

Samurai Champloo is an extremely spiritual anime, although subtlety so until the end. The ending is just a masterpiece on the meaning of life, in my view. Plus the fight scenes are beautifully choreographed and just badass in general. Music is on another level as well.

Total for me: 4 Retreat #1 Sept/Oct 2018: 14 days consciousness workshops facilitated by Brendan Lea Retreat #2 Sept/Oct 2020: 9 day online vipassana retreat lead by Shinzen Young Retreat #3 Dec/Jan 2020/2021: 11 day online vipassana retreat lead by Shinzen Young Retreat #4 April 2021: 8 day online vipassana retreat lead by Shinzen Young. Upcoming Retreat #5 Oct: 2021: 14 day Contemplation Intensive facilitated by Brendan Lea. Also trying to join a residential monastery program from Nov 2021 - April 2022 where I can still work my remote job while living in a more relaxed but still strict monastery setting. It would have retreats thrown in. Still attempting to work those details out. After all of these retreats Ive realized trying to do manual practice without ever attending retreats is severely lacking. The back to back meditation retreats were absurdly powerful. I remember Leo saying in one of his old blog videos (one on YouTube not actualized.org) that we should be doing these type of retreats quarterly and if that our life circumstances wouldn’t allow for that, to figure it out so we could. Still “figuring it out” haha but damn he was spot on. 2020 was one of the most healing, “consciousness expanding” years of my life because of those retreats.

Pointless? Yes. Never leads anywhere? Nope.

Hard to say because psychedelic states are weird in general, but it just seemed like the climate crisis was some kind of massive issue we know is an issue, but are refusing to address. Idk how to describe it other than it was like the sum total of human consciousness knows in the depths how bad things can get but is actively ignoring it. So there’s this collective dread/fear shaping in the background of our species-mind, if such a mind could be said to exist. One of the qualities of the mind Ive learned from meditation and psychedelics is that A LOT is going on underneath the surface level of our awareness. It felt like the mushrooms dropped this veil and let more of the “background” into the surface view and what I saw was this dread. There’s still time but we are quickly running out and somewhere, our deeper intelligence knows this. Well, it felt that way. It’s important not to take these types of states too literally.

PNW, Oregon USA here. Ended up eating mushrooms and basking in the heat today on my back porch (shaded). Felt like I tapped into an existential dread hiding in the collective unconscious. Kinda like when a student is procrastinating studying for finals by playing video games. Even as they’re gaming, the background dread of the final lingers, and the longer they dont start studying, the worse the dread gets and the more they ignore it. A negative feedback loop... It felt like that was what our collective consciousness was going through. The majority of us are in utter denial about the severity of the situation, the potential for calamity looming right around the corner.

Absolutely. Daily consistency matters more than time of day. I'd recommend at least 10 mins per day as a daily minimum; your sense of well being will thank you.

Lmafo

It is an egoic projection to see these events as anything other than love. To truly have insight into how these events are love requires a heart wrenchingly powerful awakening into the nature of reality. Notice how the universe has zero problems with these events taking place. The universe is in a state of complete harmony and equanimity with these events merely by the fact of their existence. The equanimity of the universe, of wholeness, is a tautology of wholeness. Wholeness is exactly what it is because of it being what it is; this is infinitely direct. Once we realize we are not a "thing" within this wholeness, but are in fact this very wholeness, we see that there was never anything other than a radical, unconditional self-acceptance of the world's atrocities. And when the mindfuck integrates with the heart, all that's left is love and compassion for all beings. Reality is love; love is a brutal thing. Reality being love is hearsay until it's not.

Happy you're happy brother. Your own soul is the path home. This entire Universe is interconnected, interpenetrating wholeness where no two parts can be separate. This is not dogma, new age, actualized.org, Christianity, or any other school of mysticism; this is a fact of your direct experience. You may feel Christ is the answer, but that is only a projection of your essence onto an externalized manifestation. Christ is literally within what you are at your existential core, your very nature. May the holy spirit within you bring the clarity and wisdom to see that you and Christ are inextricably and irreducibly one Being; you are Christ, Christ is you. May the holy spirit within you bring about a reintegration back into this wholeness such that you see Christ not only within yourself, but within the Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed, Leo, all sentient Beings. May you see the deep unity that is absolute. Amen. With love. - You

Ill bite and answer in a relative sense. Please note it’s all ultimately false, as nothing is dying. Reality is already dying and being reborn moment after moment. Look into Shinzen Young’s expansion and contraction model on YouTube. Expansion = birth, contraction = death. This process is happening at infinite scales at infinite resolutions right. Your present moment experience this very moment is a birth death cycle. Literally. But it’s all empty. Anyways. Ive had multiple past life regression experiences, archetypical “soul-awakenings” on psychedelics to give the impression that one’s work in one incarnation does carry momentum into subsequent lifetimes. However, best I can tell if this is a valid model of relative reality, is that it’s not a linear process. One life you may be a simple monk getting woke as fuck, the next you may be a CEO pursuing money, next you may be living life in society who finds spirituality at the end of life, and the next you are a yogi even more woke than your monk lifetime due to working through karma in the two incarnations in between. Again, no clue literally at all if this mechanism is “valid;” these are based on very mystical, altered states via psychedelics. I suspect there is some truth to it. I don’t think it would be too much of a stretch for karmic patterns and momentum, including the overarching process of full enlightenment, would build pressure and momentum over incarnations. Life is already absurdly cyclical, rhythmic, and process oriented. Why would life and death not follow some sort of trans-intelligent flow? However, all of this is completely speculative, ultimately. Time is better spent doing the work to awaken now. At least in my relative opinion ha.

Buddha's Zen - Buddha said: "I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be the illusion of magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons.” From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones This passage will transform in its meaning, and significance as the path is walked. Don’t be so sure you understand.

Such an important pointer... all the states, all the chasing, all the realizations and breakthroughs only to end up exactly where you always where. There is nowhere to go but right where you are. ??

Mods?

Must have had pretty horrible meditation instructions to meditate for 25 years straight and not understand what the self, or reality is. This is why conceptual understanding, learning from many traditions and masters is so important, not to mention contemplation as an important tool for enlightenment. Meditation in a vacuum seems to have a horrible "success rate." When one can seek without seeking, meditate without meditating, contemplate without contemplating, be a self without being a self, this is when true awakening will awaken to the fact that it was never not awake at all, and so now can truly and finally Awaken.

Mystical experiences aren’t needed to see through materialism. I actually discovered materialism was bullshit before finding actualized.org. The only reason I found actualized.org was because I was trying to find ANY mainstream philosophy on materialism vs. idealism; I was so shocked at how my philosophy of mind professor and science teachers in University were just completely ignoring the hard problem of consciousness. Accidentally found the “brains don’t exist” video... Understanding why materialism is bullshit requires you to realize it’s a belief. Then this requires you to understand that the nature of all beliefs is that they are false. ALWAYS. This requires an extremely high level understanding of epistemology and metaphysics. You have to see that it’s impossible for logic and reason to justify the belief in an external, physical world. Again mystical experiences aren’t needed. Not only are they not needed, they wont do the deconstructing for you. Contemplate either while sober or while in the middle of a mystical experience. Deeply study the philosophy of this stuff via Leo’s videos while grounded and sober. Recognize materialism is not inherent to experience, but is an existential assumption about the nature of experience.