MuddyBoots

There is a cycle which starts with actual contemplation of our lives, which leads to abstract philosophical theories, then back to contemplation again. The distinction is between theory and practice. If we're doing it right, the contemplation gradually gets deeper and the philosophy improves too (but there's no guarantees). This cycle has been going on for as long as humans have existed. Nick.

Seems to me this debate could boil down to a personality thing; Leo comes across as a masculine character which I suspect hasn't changed much since his awakenings. And it feels like most people in the forum are males too: that's no problem at all but we need to shop around till we find a good place to be. And who says Leo is the only teacher here, I'm getting just as much help in the forum, but man it's hard to keep up it's so busy! Nick.

I don't agree with Nikola Tesla on this one, you never find energy without also matter. Don't forget the Buddhist idea of dependent arising. Vibrations are also particles - light waves are photons which have mass as well as frequency. We've either got the duality or the non-duality, but I never found one side of the duality on its own. It's all still beautiful though Nick.

Best wishes FoxFoxFox wherever life takes you. There's always a measure of traffic in the spiritual/religious world, especially where there's religious freedom (huge respect to those who change paths when they are persecuted for it). Not that actualised.org is just for 'seekers' - I'm not a seeker myself either, the truth is simply the here-and-now. Mind you, I've got mixed feelings about belonging to a non-democratic organisation like this (Leo is the boss take it or leave it), but then I belong to other communities which are democratic, so it's ok. There's a different style here which I don't find elsewhere.

If consciousness is everything, when the duality collapses it's just as logical to say that physical matter is everything, and consciousness is a product of matter. But I find it easier to think that both consciousness and matter are only ideas, they don't really exist. Similarly with time and space. These are all the map not the territory (that sounds like such a cliché).

A fascinating insight, this is something which exercises me too, SoonHei. Awareness of mental objects. Is this one 'thing' or two? The awareness, and the thought/feeling/sound/sight etc. As far as I can tell, my mind has two modes of operation: 1. The sense of me, the subject, being aware of all this activity going on at a distance, the objects. This is my usual mode. 2. I fall away and the subject / object split collapses. Sights and sounds are awareness/consciousness and physical objects simultaneously. This is my 'meditation' mode. My mind flips between these two modes spontaneously (not just during sitting meditation), but whether this has anything to do with 'Ultimate Reality' or not is hard to say, it could just be different brain processes. On the other hand, I think that materialistic science is closer to (2) than (1) because, like the Buddha, it doesn't really believe in a self or me separate from the physical workings of the brain (the ghost in the machine). So, if you go down the materialistic road of saying that everything is objective and there is no actual subjectivity (it's an illusion), that's only a step of intuition away from realising that objectivity has also collapsed. Doesn't this also mean that physical matter and consciousness are the same thing? Nick.

@tatsumaru "When's the last time anyone of our civilization uncovered something of the magnitude of chakras and changed the world?" Chakras may be a special idea for some people and have changed the world for them, but they're no big deal for me; they're not proven scientifically and I've never felt them subjectively. Instead I have used modern methods like counselling successfully, also theories like quantum mechanics are innovations which have changed the world too. No disrespect to believers in chakras, but isn't it a personal choice as to what are the important historical discoveries?

The ancients had plenty of time to create these perspectives, and don't forget we are creating new ones at the moment too. The New Age movement, for instance, comes up with new ideas (as well as rehashing old ones) - our present culture is keen on novelty over tradition so why not?

Maybe it's worth experimenting with different techniques, especially at night to find one which helps you to get back the mental clarity. I tend to meditate formally late at night, just before sleep, due to having a busy life and fitting meditation into the remaining available time slots. Usually a variant on the do-nothing / choiceless awareness technique; It helps me to sleep at the expense of having a drowsy sitting. Nick.

Another objection. Nondualist spirituality says that dualities are seen (when we are enlightened) to collapse. If so, then why do many people appear to 'take sides' by saying that Consciousness, Energy, Subjectivity etc are the nature of Absolute Reality? Surely you can equally say that Physical Matter or Objectivity are the basis of Reality. Yes, yes, I know about the Uppercase vs lowercase thing but why are so many "spiritual" people verbally biased to one side of the coin, when the duality is collapsed? In fact, we could say that the distinction between spirituality and worldliness has also collapsed just as much as the others, so to talk of spirituality at all is a risk of becoming lopsided unless we also develop our worldly side too. We still need distinctions to be able to live life, beyond the enlightened state, however we should remember that both sides of the coin are equal. Aren't we better using a more neutral term, even if we have to invent one; God is a possibility but has a lot of baggage. We need a word without an opposite if we can find one. Or if we can't, then a multi-word which encapsulates both the yin and yang, their disappearance into the emptiness, and re-appearance as necessary. Nick.

Hi Leo, all My problem is essentially, how do we (newbies) know our spirituality leads to absolute truth, rather than just another relative version of the truth? I have tried a number of paths: Christian, TM, Zen, Theravada. They all have their own group-think, practices, ideas and experiences - this forum is no exception. The newcomer listens to Leo's talks, reads the forum and is effectively indoctrinated into this philosophy (otherwise they leave) and this learning conditions the experiences they have. Most people are more conformist than they like to admit, we have a need to 'fit in'. It's no good saying, 'just try it for a few months, then you will understand': they all say that. After a few months my mind might be conditioned. Extract from Wikipedia article on Mysticism: "In contrast, for the past decades most scholars have favored a constructionist approach, which states that mystical experiences are fully constructed by the ideas, symbols and practices that mystics are familiar with.[7] Critics of the term "religious experience" note that the notion of "religious experience" or "mystical experience" as marking insight into religious truth is a modern development,[136] and contemporary researchers of mysticism note that mystical experiences are shaped by the concepts "which the mystic brings to, and which shape, his experience".[137] What is being experienced is being determined by the expectations and the conceptual background of the mystic.[138]" Blessings, Nick.

As a follower of the Jesus Seminar (Westar Institute), I'm aware that our understanding of Jesus is very complex - a little bit of relatively accurate historical information, plus a lot of mythology created by his followers after his death. However, in a general sense the combination of service to others and enlightenment (usually taken as an individual pursuit) is a good point - most paths stress one more than the other, and not many people succeed in both. But I see no reason why total selfless service shouldn't be a route to enlightenment, as it challenges the boundaries between ourselves and others. Sorry not to have a list of names for you though Nick.

I know many people in my own village who are devoted to helping others ... but giving away all your money too, gosh that's a challenging one! Perhaps there's Buddhist monks out there who have no money AND are more into helping others to enlightenment than themselves. Actually that's a thought, is enlightenment a separate individual thing, or more like a universal transpersonal process? REALLY helping ourselves (rather than just indulging our ego) is maybe not separate from helping others. Nick.

You seem to have a double problem here. You don't like how you really look compared to your ideal image. Also you don't like that you identify with images, compared with your spiritual ideal of not identifying with anything. Can you see this is really the same problem, just transferred onto a spiritual level rather than a materialistic one? But it's the same ego dissatisfaction going on. Which, by the way, we all have so don't worry about it. Instead of trying to change anything, how about simply observing the whole process in your mind, the seeing of your face, the arising of desire and dissatisfaction. The impermanence of these states. These are like waves on the ocean. Let them be, let them go. Then one day you may notice the deeper satisfaction and peace beneath the waves of change, impermanence, identification and opposition. Abiding in that peace, the struggle falls away. At first just temporarily, maybe permanently too, but I'm not there yet We are all human, perfect in our imperfections. The trees in the forest are all different shapes and sizes, they do not compare and judge, the beauty of the forest is that they are all just themselves. Above all have compassion for yourself, this is not really 'your' problem but one which we all share (a bit like original sin perhaps?). Nick.

Because we don't have a choice, language is dualistic, even language about non-dualism. It's just pointing to the actual reality beyond words. It's the analogy of the map and territory.

That's a powerful experience, are you doing a particular practice or just letting go and listening? I guess that's a meditation in itself. I do find there's a spontaneity to spiritual experiences, it's way beyond ego control. Thanks for sharing yours. Nick.

Hi there I've heard of thoughtforms, it seems Tulpa is another name for it. I thought they were to do with magic & the occult, but sounds like this is a new expression via the Internet - it's a developing thing. On a pagan forum I also learned about Egregores which are like a group collective mind created by the community. Like a personified meme? Nick.

Greetings all The raw sensory data our bodies receive (a tiny proportion of the total reality) is an undifferentiated soup, or boiling cauldron of energy (sometimes called emptiness), from which our minds create 'things'. We differentiate and fragment, for practical purposes of survival and building up the ego, then realise we are lonely, conflicted and alienated so we spend ages trying to re-connect. We humans are poised at the tipping-point between division and unity, our spiritual quest is to reconcile these two apparent opposites. Not that one is better than the other, but that we are looking for the harmony beneath the paradox. Happy Vesak to all Buddhists in the forum! Nick.

Hi My parents were ok but I went to a school where chapel was compulsory. You don't say how old you are, but usually in a family the parents are in charge and make the rules in the home. What type of church is it, open-minded or closed? If you have to attend, then simply attend but you don't have to believe if it's not in your heart. You can read up about other religions and non-religious philosophies to put your parent's church into context; also read alternative and mystical versions of religions (most scriptures were written by other people well after the founders lived, including the Bible, Koran and Buddhist sutras). Take your time and gradually decide what is right for you, you can do your own practice outside of church in your own time. Good luck and I hope you don't fall out with your folks. Nick. ----------------------------------- We are all connected. However, connections are only necessary if you see life as fragmented to begin with. Is a wave connected to its neighbour? Well, only if the 'connection' is the whole deep ocean which all waves are made of in the first place! ------------------------------------

You can define the word 'God' however you like, there are so many versions already, then decide which if any you want to believe. What also does 'believe' mean - it can mean believing that something exists, or is true, or is a good idea etc. I believe in quantum physics is a different meaning from saying I believe in the welfare state. How about God is Love :. I believe in Love. Not to mention who is the I who believes. A small question which opens a big can of worms. Nick.

The 'here and now' includes your memories, emotional and mental states, so if you've had an argument or something which is unresolved, then there's still an ongoing mental process (some people might call it karma). You can use meditation to bring your inner feelings into view, not suppress them, and then when the time is right to talk things over and sort them out. Christians might call it forgiveness. But surely being friends again is better than having some creeping resentment rolling on and on (in the present moment) ... I agree that meditation & mindfulness is not about procrastination but facing up to things. Nick.

@moon777light yes loving-kindness is a technique, or rather there's a variety of techniques depending on the teacher. Loving-kindness (metta in the Pali language) belongs to a group of 4 meditations called Brahma Vihara (divine or sublime abodes), the other 3 are compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmavihara I learned them from the Theravada Buddhists, but I have just read in the Wikipedia page above that they pre-date Buddhism and also occur in Hinduism. Brahma Vihara isn't my main practice, but I find it useful for a change, and to remind me that religion isn't just about me working on myself and forgetting about others, but I'm connected to everyone else. As regards techniques, I have read some guidelines and follow my own intuition. It's up to you really, if you prefer to be given exact instructions or just an outline and take it from there. Nick. _/|\_

I was 17 when I learned Transcendental Meditation; (this was a long time ago, it was a lot cheaper being under 18!). I knew nothing of non-dualism, didn't really know what Transcending was or Enlightenment but I got glimpses of 'something' after a few months, then went through various other phases: Rinzai Zen, Theravada, Krishnamurti. Now I just do my own thing, mainly mindfulness, mindfulness of breathing, passive awareness / letting go) and loving kindness (no drugs). But that's just a list of meditation techniques and what you call a nondual glimpse can happen anytime not just with sitting meditation. I prefer to have multiple names for the mystical state (transcend, non-dual, jhana, samadhi, holy spirit etc etc), to remind me that this is beyond all words and thoughts, and getting attached to a particular theology or philosophy will likely pull me back to dualism (aka sin, worldliness, samsara). But increasingly I think that trying to achieve particular states different to this one is unnecessary. Enlightenment is about shining the light of awareness onto every unfolding moment. I haven't tried self-inquiry, perhaps that's one to explore too. Huge respect to you for doing 3-4 hours practice per day! My main challenge is carving out a regular routine for daily meditation, in all these years I never managed more than 30-60 mins per day, except when on a retreat. But then there's another type of gentle bliss I get from regular life too, being a husband, having a home, family and a job etc. Nick.

Greetings all I'm a newcomer to Actualized.org and have just watched the series on Spiral Dynamics. I can see it as a useful model, but I don't see how it is a spiral. It sounds more like a linear progression along a series of stages which happen to be named after colours. Well, maybe not a progression through stages, but perhaps levels which build up on top of each other as you learn the lessons of life and move on. Spiralling on the other hand suggests circling round as you move along, have I missed something in Leo's videos? Blessings, Nick.

Hi Dimitri, how about space-time, I don't think that has an opposite within the regular universe. Unless you fall into a black hole or something! Blessings, Nick.