nistake

Not trying to be condescending, but the fact that you've been triggered that much by this video should tell you something. And fun fact: Albeit not too much, but he does have experience with psychedelics. Source: https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/384/who-hears-this-sound

What a cool hairstyle + beard man! I'll check out the video soon.

@Raptorsin7 As for releasing body tensions and blocks, I'm a huge fan of the shadow work meditation by Carolyn Elliott. She calls it 'existential kink' and this name may be off-putting, but it helped me tremendously. This method is also really practical and when I worked with it, I actually felt really intense bodily sensations and I could let go of a huge deal of shadow material from my psyche. You can check it out here: http://carolyngraceelliott.com/philosophy

Maybe check out Loch Kelly's work. He has a very down to earth style and emphasizes the practical approach of nonduality instead of endlessly theorizing it.

Michael Taft brilliantly summarized this whole radical neo-advaita vs effortful approach situation in this article: https://deconstructingyourself.com/nonduality-and-mindfulness.html

Great stuff man! Your trip report reminds me of one of my favorite mantras: Everything is exactly as it's supposed to be.

Funny thing is, even if you're vaccinated, you can still catch the virus and furthermore, you can carry and spread the virus as well. That just means if you're vaccinated, you're less likely to get hospitalized if you happen to catch it. That's it. It's only for your survival. Therefore, the whole 'blame the anti-vaxxers' perspective makes literally no sense. It's astonishing that people actually believe that we can stop spreading of the virus by vaccinating everybody.

Effortless effort is what you're looking for. Have a vision and get clear on what you'd like to achieve/manifest. Visualize it. Feel into it as if you've already achieved your goals. Then get on with your day and take the necessary actions. You don't need to think much about this, it should come naturally. Of course a stable daily routine helps a lot. You know, the usual stuff. Meditation, exercise, journaling, etc.

What baffles me is that if you have a slightly different opinion on this subject, you're pretty much instantly demonized and get labelled as "anti-vaxxer". There are many-many different narratives out there that highly dispute the effectiveness and necessity of the vaccines and the authenticity of the mainstream media/narrative. And no, I'm not talking about random conspiracy theories from reddit. Some of these narratives are from actual doctors and scientific people. Obviously you won't find these sources on youtube or any other mainstream platform. Wonder why. Anyway, I just don't understand Leo's and some other people's opinion in this thread given this is a "high consciousness" forum where people should be able to think for themselves and study this issue from different viewpoints.

Yeah man, you're doing fine. Keep it up!

After awakening:

@Kamo Well, it's a bit tricky to explain. Enlightenment/awakening is not a binary and static process like "okay, here I am, I need to meditate for X years, I'll get enlightened and that's it, I can sit back". Adyashanti said something along the lines of spirituality is living in a constant sate of discovery. That's how I like to think about it. I don't seek anything to feel better or to get better at anything anymore. It has become an exciting adventure where Reality discovers itself more and more. The reason why I still engage in formal meditation practise is that I sometimes still tend to get caught up in my daily activities. So, one session in the morning and another session in the evening are enough for me to ground myself. I just sit in silence and abide in awareness. Then, I got up and go on with my day while "maintaining" the peaceful silence.

@Shaul Pretty much every single part of yourself that you've repressed unconsciously so far in your life. This can include emotions and traumas, just like you said, but also various desires that are not acceptable by society/your family/your social circle. Psychedelics can show you your shadow self and after that you can work on healing and integrating. So it is definitely helpful, but the work must be done be you. Popping psychedelics alone won't get you far. And there's one more thing that is important to keep in mind: the denser your shadow, the more it can traumatize you.

@diamondpenguin Guess what. Spirituality and 3D modeling go together and they complement each other. Speaking from direct experience Anyway, Leo has already stressed many times that ideally you should have the basic survival needs handled before you engage in 'advanced' spiritual territories (psychedelics, God, Love, etc). No matter where you're at, you can always find balance. You don't need to listen to lots of theory about God and Love when you're struggling in your career. Maybe establish a daily meditation practise and improve your 3D skills at the same time. Meditation which is creativity, calmness, silence actually improve your ability to create awesome 3D stuff.

Spot on

@Gesundheit2 You may have misunderstood me. I wasn't really talking about visualizing imaginary scenarios and watching gruesome stuff deliberately. (This is mostly mental masturbation as you put it). I was talking about your actual direct experience. Your waking state if you will. Let's think of a scenario which can (and does) happen at any time. You're at work and you make a mistake which costs a lot of money to the company you work for. Your boss is clearly angry with you and he's demanding a solution as soon as possible. Can you remain calm and peaceful in this situation while you're taking action? Another one: Your family member/coworker makes a rude remark about you. You cleary don't like it. Do you start engaging in imaginary conversations? Do you start thinking about what you should've/shouldn't have said? Or do you just accept the fact that he/she made that remark and move on/take the proper action without making a huge drama out of it? About your spiritual practises: Do you have a seeker identity? Do you engage in them to change anything? To feel better or to get in an altered state of consciousness maybe? You know, these seemingly ordinary events where 'your spirituality' shines. Peak states are great and necessary, but you can't be in a peak state 24/7. You have to come down to Earth eventually.

I completely agree with this guy and he summarizes this whole situation perfectly in my opinion. At 1:46:35.

@Kamo That distinct feeling of separation has gone (along with the tremendous amount of unnecessary suffering) and well, it's hard to describe, but it's like a light switch for me. I can switch between the relative and Absolute almost instantly. Anyway, that's not to say I float in nondual awareness 24/7 That's the reason I still meditate and doing other practises. I don't do them to seek anything or to get anywhere, but I do them to deepen my baseline level of consciousness.

My 2 cents: This issue of manipulating and playing games comes from your shadow. You haven't integrated it, therefore it keeps popping up. It's gonna keep returning until you deal with it. The root cause is maybe low self-confidence and/or low self-esteem. Not sure, just aguess.

Yup, direct experience is your best 'clue'. When shit happens, can you stay peaceful and calm? Can you sit in silence comfortably for an hour (or even more)? Do you enjoy just being without needing anything? How are your relationships? How well can you deal with 'not-so-conscious' people? How often do you get lost in monkey-mind?

That's a pretty nice glimpse! If you have some spiritual practises established, keep at it.

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@Swarnim 'I' 'like' 'that'.

Be selfish to a certain degree and love your selfishness, but do it in a conscious way. It's quite a nuanced area in personal development, but here's a whole book that tackles this very issue: Not Nice I learned a ton from it and I can highly recommend it.