Chilli

I think I have a good sense of what I really am. I conceptually know that I am not an experience. That I am not a noun, but in fact a verb. There is no experience that experiences all other experiences, there is only experiencing itself. The problem is that I feel there is a need for a quantum leap in perspective, since perceiving is still being drawn in by body and mind. I can't shake this attachment to experience, and would like to know what I should be doing at this stage. Should I focus on simply letting go through meditation? Is there something I am missing?

@allislove Thanks for the help.

@allislove I've watched all Leo's videos and apply all concepts and practices, like open-mindedness, forgiveness, self inquiry etc. What I think I'll do is try to get more out of my self inquiry sessions. Maybe that will help.

@Justin Evans This is very useful. I had this very powerful spiritual experience once where I unidentified with all experience from losing at chess. I have a deep passion for the game and losing so badly one time affected my ego to the point where I completely broke out of any identification. It's this kind on spiritual experience you mean, right?

Ok so I just moved to a new city here in Brazil, which has a significantly higher altitude, less air humidity and rain only at certain times of the year. Do you guys have any tips to adapt faster to these conditions?

You still haven't grasped the fundamental sameness of Love and Truth. To speak of Truth is to speak of Love and to speak of Love is to speak of Truth. There is no duality, no difference. You are only imagining they are distinct, sepparate things.

@lmfao In my conception, autopilot shouldn't be something want to put an end to. Some things need to be on autopilot because of the overwhelming responsability. Can you imagine having to consciously beathe every breath, beat every beat of your heart? Not just that, but to say that you want to be fully conscious also implies being conscious in every state. Could you consciously beat your heart while fast asleep? Imagine you were in a life threatening situation where you had to make a split decision. What can be done is , slowly but surely, become increasingly more conscious of when you are on autopilot. Also, what Jonac said: practice your mindfulness as frequently as you can remember. If you have the urge to stop all activities, go meta on the stop. Is the urge to stop also coming from autopilot? What if you were mindful of the urge to stop?

@ttm Read Adyashanti's take on Love. He explains how Love and Truth are fused together because they are ultimately the same thing. I have personally experienced this through mystical experiences. From this point of view, a teacher that doesn't speak of Love, in a way, does not speak of Truth. Even if Leo were to be coming from an egotistical place, it does not matter. Because from what I observed, the message "if teacher doesn’t talk about love, his teachings are incomplete" is pure. Why worry about Leo's enlightenment? The only enlightenment you should worry about is your own. I hope this is helpful to you.

Earlier this month I had my second mystical experience. I was watching Leo's guided Neti Neti meditation, and right when he says "you are this infinite nothing", I became this nothingness and realized that the self is an illusion. Although I was nothing, I was everywhere. This was very shocking to me, so it only lasted a few seconds, but in these few seconds I was bombarded with insights, understandings like "ooooooh so this is what teachers meant by nothing and everything; this is why it's incommunicable". But like in the 3rd Ox-Herding picture, I'm not sure if what I had was an enlightenment experience. Although I was this infinite nothing, I didn't identify with all of experience, but simply knew I was the observer and creator of experience. My thoughts are that I experienced a separation between experience and pure consciousness, but I'm not sure if this can be called an enlightenment experience or if it's just an ego death. Is an enlightenment experience and ego death the same thing? Did I see the ox? Did I not? I'm asking myself these questions and would like to hear some opinions that could aid my understanding.

I practice self-inquiry for 1h everyday, usually at 18pm. I don't use a jornal, although I think I should. I inquire sitting down on a regular chair in my bedroom, sometimes with the lights turned of but usually with the light on. I wouldn't call them conclusions, but insights. My biggest (and most important in my opinion) is the insight of not truly knowing what I am metaphysically. This means that our conceptual understanding of ourself is merely an illusion. I like to picture this as that meme where a guy slaps a band-aid over a leaking tank of water ???, the tank being our existencial crisis of not knowing who we are and the band-aid being the "fake self"

Yessss! Any interpretation is not that which is being interpreted, the map is never the territory!

Major insight and I got it! I'm in awe now, from realizing how sneaky the ego is

Hey guys, just wanted to share with you a cool book I picked up, called “Being Aware of Being Aware”. I’m not sure if it’s on Leo’s book list, so sorry about that if it is. The book is extremely precise about the nature of awareness, and also clarified letting go of ideas about enlightenment by showing why the most common ideas are false.

@How to be wise Yessss! It must be dropped, and in the book this is also mentioned. The reason I think this book is so great is that the author is the use of “being aware” instead of “awareness”. The purpose being exactly to not make awareness a concept or object to get attached to.

@Freakyboo Sure is

I thought this was a topic on astral projection. Not trying to be rude but you guys should start a new thread, so that this one can remain purely on the intended purpose.

Hey Leo! The more I progress in this work, the more I gather both a sense of not knowing, and paradoxically, a sense of being grounded, and I would love to see you shoot a video talking about this topic. This is something I am realizing for myself but I’m not sure how many people grasp this. I think this could be a really interesting subject, since there is so much fear involved in this work, that orbits the bitter suffering of losing your sense of psychological stability, since you are taking everything you thought was true and turning it upside down. This video ideia might help people to cope with this process, if they manage to grasp being grounded in the groundless. Peter Ralston recently talked about this topic briefly, on a YouTube video called fantasy vs. reality, if I’m not mistaken. But I love the angle your explanations come at, which is why I’m hoping you get the chance to discuss this.

If God is omniscient, then how can God (us as manifestations) not be aware of itself to begin with? And if this, God being unaware of itself, is the case, wouldn't that mean that God isn't omniscient?

I've been meditating for more than a year now daily (although with a few exceptions on weekends due to restricting outer circumstances), and at the beginning meditation was awesome. Every session brought a deep sense of inner peace, joy, and union to a certain degree. Now, I can't meditate without having a panic attack. Has anyone gone, or is going through the same thing??

@winterknight I am very happy for you if this is true, I hope to join you some day by realizing the truth for myself

@Leo Gura Profound... But this will take me a good week or two to fully grasp the significance of this frase. (Much love from Brazil)

So I have been practicing self-inquiry for more than a year now, but I feel like I haven't made any progress on this path. Before self-inquiry became my main spiritual practice, I was following Buddhism and frequently had amazing experiences, which brought a sense of progress. I don't know if these experiences mean I'm making progress, and I would like to have some opinions on this. I have recently considered switching practices, but I'm not sure if this is just a trick of the mind or not. Any thoughts? (Sorry for my English, I'm from Brazil)

Are good Hatha Yoga practices easy to find on the internet? I am underage and don't have the economical independence to travel to any school/teacher.

@PsiloPutty I agree that meditation brings is very beneficial. My main doubt is whether or not I should continue with self-inquiry.

@PsiloPutty Thanks hahaha. Yes, I have, and it was during the period where meditation was my main practice that I had these tiny no-self experiences. Although I've been on this path for a year I still consider myself a newbie, so any information is helpful.