Consilience

Why do you think this?

@DocWatts Gotcha. No neither of those apply to me. I just read that these payments were not going to be direct payments, but mailed. Maybe that's why.

Should we be concerned if we haven't received the second, $600 stimulus check?

There's a lot of possible self-deception and projections going on with this man. You should be mindful of the fact that the conclusions you're drawing and assumptions you're making are a reflection of YOU, not Leo. If you want Leo's work to be more mainstream, how about you help it flower through your own purpose and path, independent of Leo? There's nearly 8 billion people on this planet, Leo's reached a fraction. Perhaps you should step up your game instead of projecting that responsibility on Leo? No disrespect meant by this man. Just seems like your analysis is highly self-bias without realizing it. Of course perhaps that's MY bias.

I think a lot of teachers don't recommend psychedelics because the end goal of meditation is not the end goal of psychedelics. Mystical experiences are transient and can create bigger egos, clinging, craving, and even attachment to the idea that truth or freedom resides in some altered state of oneness. Meditation teaches us how to let go and find freedom within ‘this’; a freedom that transcends all states of consciousness. The unfortunate part is that when psychedelics can be used holistically with a watchful eye on an attachment forming around experiences, they provide the seeds of insights which can further blossom in manual practice. Many meditation teachers just dont have the experience or wisdom on this subject due to lack of experience, yet their warnings and concerns are valid. Just observe how many people on this forum attribute spirituality to nihilism to see what “unearned,” unprocessed, and unintegrated mystical experiences and knowledge lead. Make no mistake though, trying to shamatha or vipassana your way to god is very unlikely. Maybe self inquiry alone would be enough, but having the irrefutable direct experiences of god on psychedelics is hugely advantageous assuming we know how to set them aside for again, a freedom, a truth that transcends all states of consciousness.

His under-emphasis of meditation and over-emphasis of psychedelics. This last year of rigorous meditation practice has been paradigm shattering. Manual practices take us much further than what his *general* opinion on the forum suggests. But this is taking it beyond the mere 1 hour he recommends in the 65+ Core Principles video. This is nit picking though. His content and contributions to humanity are incredible. I would not be who or where I am today without him ❤️

Truth transcends gender. There are feminine and masculine facets to God though.

I would say an apartment is your higher priority. The inner work you could do living alone or with a roommate who's also into this work outweighs a single 5-MeO retreat imo. In the context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, your immediate environment comes before self transcendence/realization, which is what 5 MeO is all about. Think about how much work you'd be able to do on a daily basis, for months on end, living alone, creating and environment that's a reflection of your highest ideals and that's conducive towards consciousness work. By the time you do take 5 MeO, your foundation will be that much stronger. If you have the intention to explore this psychedelic, trust that the intention will guide your actions and the external circumstances of your life to facilitate that experience. Investing in a proper foundation is what I would do, personally.

Conversely, notice how the future is deeply interdependent on the past, and present. That is to say, notice how there is an infinite casual link connecting "the future" to "the past" through a nexus of "now." Now is a direct reflection of the past, and sole creator of future. Want to see into the future? Look at the present. Want to understand your past? Look at the present. The more deeply we can abide in this present, the more this infinite chain of causeless causality reveals itself. We start to see how our actions in the present shape and mold our future; we start to experience how our pasts echo into this present moment.

@peanutspathtotruth is saying to try no fap for a significant amount of time before drawing conclusions. After my 30 day experiment I became straight manic with my work ethic at the expense of sleep. It actually started hurting me more than helping, the mind’s drive was so intense I started becoming less focused, less present, and was fixating on life purpose work in an unhealthy neurotic, unsustainable way. Perhaps this was because I havent been trained how to properly handle such a spike in energy. On the other hand, I “feel” optimal retaining 3-5 days before release. Good balance of drive with the release of tension. When considering the nature of semen retention energy, it is literally the creative energy of the universe, it holds the power to create consciousness and life itself. It’s no wonder retaining and transmuting this energy seems to have a powerful effect. So in terms of mechanics, I believe contemplating from the context of “this is the energy of creating consciousness from scratch” is important.

This is the mistake. Just let it go for a bit. In the future, rather than reaching out so quickly, give her time to sit and process the date. After 3 or 4 days if you haven't heard from her, reach out to setup a date, if she reaches out first, set up a date. One of my favorite dating coaches relates the after date time period like baking a cake. The cake needs time in the oven to bake; if we open up the oven too quickly to get the cake out, it wasn't done baking and isn't ready, if we keep opening up the oven it lets all the heat out and disrupts the baking process. In this case, the cake is her interest, reaching out and texting is like opening up the oven. You have to make sure the timing is right. Also, phone is for logistics only! Attraction is built in person, not a phone. Don't fight against 2 billion years of evolution tbh.

??

So if he's not actually ignoring you, but has a legitimately busy schedule you'd just next him? You wouldn't take the initiative of engaging? Interesting. That seems a bit harsh. In this example, if the woman moved on then she wasn't attracted enough in the first place, so it actually works even better for the guy. A woman whose attraction was high enough from the first date, who had a great enough time wouldn't just forget about someone she was really into. So if you waited 4 days and were ghosted, you have your answer. If you waited 4 days and she's happy to hear from you, great! That's chemistry the guy can work with. If she reaches out first, even better! There's nothing specially about waiting until that 4th day to reach out, it's just that OP seems to be coming across as needy and needs to tone his enthusiasm down if he wants to keep women.

I would challenge your belief that you cannot thrive without socializing. One of the biggest lessons the COVID situation has taught me personally is that there is such a thing as true inner peace, true happiness independent of condition, suffering need not be. In fact, this is the entire path of Buddhism. Yes socializing is beautiful. Relationships are beautiful. But if your inner peace is so vulnerable that permanent solitude would prevent your ability to thrive, is that truth, is that genuine happiness? I wonder. If the world took this away tomorrow, would you just forever hold on to the attachment that you'll never truly thrive alone? Call me stubborn, but I wouldn't accept that. Instead, I would work towards accepting what reality has given with full openness. Opening up, and turning into the solitude rather than tensing up, and turning away. In fact there is no choice but to openly accept whatever condition reality has presented, or suffering. Yet, I understand where you're coming from. For 99.9% of people, even people on their Awakening journeys, socializing is a need which if ignored *can* and will *most likely* create a shadow. But thinking in terms of binary absolutes is not really what I consider "The Path" to be about. Perhaps it's because my current social needs are not being met as this pandemic drags on, but I've legitimately begun to find peace with the extended amount of solitude, lack of friendship interactions, lack of physical and emotional intimacy. There's a powerful interconnection we may feel in the depths of experience to the outside world, if we start to open up to the depths of consciousness and mind with meditation. Merely by being with the world, we can experientially feel the deep webs of life and all circumstance we may find ourselves within. In this case, the suffering I felt at the beginning of the pandemic has been worked with, and is now being seen through despite external isolation only increasing. Just my 0.02. There is such a thing as Absolute Perfection, Acceptance, and Happiness. At least, that's where my belief is, however limiting it may seem to you or whomever else is reading.

For females it's a different dynamic and polarity. Playing hard(ish) to get as a guy is typically an appropriate strategy. Girls have dude's throwing themselves at them left and right, especially on dating apps. If you're just another dude who's trying too hard, it immediately puts you in the friendzone. OP next time you go on a date, and have a successful kiss or makeout session at the end (always go for the kiss), wait 4 days before reaching back out. Make her wonder why she hasn't heard from you. If she reaches out first, cool, set a date up. Otherwise, just wait. Hell, you may even realize you don't want to see her again and friendzone her, not the other way around. Waiting like this, especially in the beginning, helps build the polarity. In a sense it is manipulative, but in another sense, it's just the art of charging the tension between the masculine and feminine energy. Plus, you should be so busy with your self actualization work (life purpose, finances, meditation, reading, exercise, nutrition, contemplation, journaling, taking courses, etc.) that your time is legitimately valuable and your legitimately unavailable to be always texting or trying to hangout. If you're noticing a repeated pattern, the issue is most certainly something you're doing. And just based on my own past experiences and from what I've started noticing with men, you're probably too eager, too ready, too needy. Neediness is the biggest attraction killer and women have a cunning intuition about picking it up.

The importance is relative yes. Clarity of the piercing nature of this illusion can flow up and down in intensity much like the sun rises, peaks, sets, and disappears into darkness. So too can the self's total baselessness shine through more or less. Ego death on psychedelics and sobriety don't change the Truth, but clarity, experience, and insight differ between states. These practices are only important for the seeker yes. It's like tricking the trick into killing itself. But dying into truth and love so it's all good. Once the self is seen through, it starts falling away on its own. The "practice" of meditation starts to become spontaneous; meditation is life itself. Yet the energy of survival may still move Being into what we could call "formal meditation practice" which may inadvertently reinforce the intensity of this insight into the illusory nature of self. This is why in Zen they adopt the belief in practice as Enlightenment while simultaneously declaring Enlightenment to be when the distinction between Enlightenment and Non-Enlightenment fades away. At least, that's one way I've heard a true "Zen Master" describe Enlightenment.

Yes. And this recognition tends to unfold at deeper and deeper levels overtime. You start to see new ways attachment, craving, aversion, feelings of separation, (all of these are the constituents of identification with a "self") are operating, reasserting and constructing themselves. This is why practicing meditation, contemplation, silent reflection is so important. Keep noticing this illusion, this false identification, what constructs it, how it starts to manifest the mirage of "self." Keep peering into the emptiness of this self though. That's the only way to catch the ox, is through patient observation of the actuality of being, moment by moment, in THE moment.

In what context? In what way? I just completed a 10 day meditation retreat and walked away feeling that it was much more *transformative* than psychedelics. Psychedelics take me higher no doubt, but the states and insights don’t have a great time sticking around unless Im doing series meditation.

All of the chaos is a direct reflection of the state of our collective human psyche. Go within yourself, feel your own suffering and unrest with being, and you will find why there is so much chaos.

Namaste. Many blessings on your journey ??

Another point to spirituality would be to find true happiness and peace from within, independent of external condition.

"The Mind Illuminated" by John Yates. It's a systematic approach towards samatha practice, a practice which cultivates the ability for the mind to concentrate, which is the #1 issue new and long term meditators have. Samatha is essentially a state of mind that is unified, harmonized, stable, tranquil, and at peace with itself AND it is incredibly conducive towards the cultivation and integration of insights of all kinds. All forms of meditation if done rigorously enough will lead to some kind of samatha, but you can have more or less efficient paths. Until you can focus you attention like a laser bean, forget about awakening. One of the most powerful ego defense mechanisms is the scattering of attention and the conceptual mirage such scattering supports. This system counteracts this while also providing beautiful, supportive, and even healing states of mind.

+1

Trying to force the mind into concentration is a very ineffective strategy. @The Don If you want to learn how to concentrate, The Mind Illuminated is what you need. I meditate 2 hours per day atm. Yeah sometimes sessions feel like you're extremely euphoric and mildly tripping. Couldn't imagine what 62,000 accumulated hours of practice are like...

This.