Stakres

@Spaceofawareness Question the possibility that this human primate and "ego" are your true nature and "pure awareness" is just a temporary state. Question all the teachings you have heard and everything you have read here. Find your own truth.

Critical thinking. This is probably the most valuable skill, in my opinion. Critically analyse every teaching, including Leo's teachings. Questions all the models and concepts. Question the notions of "enlightenment", "spirituality", "awakening", " high/low consciousness", "god", etc. Question all of that. Everything you have heard or read about spirituality might be wrong. Find your own truth through your own experience. Don't just blindly follow someone else's teachings, like Leo's.

Awaken and find out. Are you awake? If you are could you please share what comes after awakening?

Ok What is after you experience it? What comes after? How do you continue after that experience?

So there is only one correct interpretation of the Absolute? Ie when there is no confusion about the Absolute?

Ok. So Truth is personal to everyone and it can be different for everyone?

What if I work hard and find another conclusion, which feels just as correct and right?

@Consilience What is that "something" that you suggest I go out looking for?

@Leo Gura , what if I do the work and come to a different conclusion? What if I don't come to the conclusion that everything is God and Consciousness? I would have found my Absolute Truth which is not the same as yours. Is it still valid?

@fridjonk I wonder why do you want to meditate for 3-4 hours per day? What "higher level" do you think it will bring you to?

@thetrut11 You are right. You are thinking critically for yourself. It's obvious that men and women have differences. Don't let others delude you. Some people use a model of reality with man = woman. Does this model work and help? In certain situations yes, in many others no. You are thinking critically for yourself, that's great. Don't just follow what others are saying. The simple model is often the truth. Facts are facts as you said. Reality is obvious to people like you, who haven't been deluded yet. Don't let others delude you. You are on a right path. Men and women are different in many ways and similar in other ways.

@SBB4746 You can do whatever you want to, now and later. It doesn't have to be "higher consciousness jobs". Do whatever feels right to you. Before "enlightenment" chop wood carry water, after "enlightenment" chop worry carry water. A lot of people get stuck in the middle: on "enlightenment".

@DreamScape Dreams originate from the human organism. They are not "real" in the outside world. Dreams are produced by the organism of a human primate.

@OBEler Maybe she went "deep" exactly because she didn't have any concepts or teachings she was identified with. She wasn't deluded by spiritual beliefs or similar. She was just living through her experience of the body reaction to a chemical.

Your organism. The dreams are produced by your organism. The dream is occurring inside your organism. You can experience over people in your dreams. For example you can see your close family in your dreams or other people who had significant influence on you. These people "live inside your inner world" (not literally).

Exactly. That was my understanding too. I agree. However so far there is very little evidence for some "spiritual ether". But if there will be research in the future backing that up, I will be all over it too. Exactly. We are being lived. All these influences shaped us and we had very little to no control over it, although it might seem that we chose it all. But in fact everything just happened.

@RevoCulture As I understood it, it's his ideal. It would be great if more people would not hate, forgive and accept others as they are. It feels like we have a choice (I can lift my right hand or I can think of an elephant), but ultimately those are determined by what happened me and which environment I'm in. However it doesn't mean that I can go around doing stupid things. In a way, it is a choice to not hate, forgive and accept others. I can try to be more accepting and work on it over time. On the other hand, it's hard, and it's not an easy choice. Just like quitting an addiction, it's really hard to actually implement

@Chumbimba Great findings! Check out this video by a top Stanford neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky on Free will. He is one of the leading researchers in neuroscience. He says that there is no free will and that society has to be restructured to account for the fact that killing just happens and people don't have control. He doesn't know how to solve that issue. In our current society it's unimaginable. Another paraphrased quote I like: There is no free will, but it doesn't mean that you can go out there and do anything you want.

@d0ornokey Ask for permission first. "May I ... ?" If the person doesn't want your advice, then they don't need it. Don't push it don't their throats. And yes I agree that just sitting with someone and listening is oftentimes much better than giving your advice.

Using your logic, you can never be 100% about consciousness being 'always on' either. However you know what differentiates a precise model vs some random statement? Scientific method. We can construct experiments as you mentioned above, and verify over and over again that you were indeed asleep and a human primate. Please setup an experiment to verify that consciousness is "always on". If we can replicate the results of your experiment, we will have verified to the best of our knowledge that indeed consciousness is "always on". I would love to see that and change my opinion. Until then, I'll stick to models which have been verified and have more evidence.

Boom! I totally agree.

You can look into the actual studies and the primary sources. They will have the definition of "show signs of improvement". There are different scientific models with which you can measure the severity of depression, for example Beck Depression Inventory, with which you can measure the severity of symptoms. After the clinical intervention the symptoms have improved, ie the patient was feeling better Again, there are different studies. Some studies take all severities of depression into account, others only severe depressions. From the top of my head, medicine helps the most with most with the most severe depression. I agree. There are many people you have had success with this. It would be great to see peer-reviewed research on the success of this work. I agree, the treatments aren't ideal, are monetized and could be improved. I'm not sure if you have done therapy, but "working at the root and finding a cure" is exactly what therapy helps patients with. Either with the life situation or deep rooted childhood issues like trauma. I would suggest you read about medicine in that area. I assume you are under-informed how far medicine goes. Most practices talked about here can be found in peer-reviewed science

@purerogue Addiction is very closely related to depression. What I got from Reils' post was that in his view, medicine isn't very effective in treating mental health conditions. My point was: it's important to get professional health if you are addicted and you can do whatever you want to on the side. We have different views, but no need to debate. Addicted people could try different approaches and see what works for them.

Exactly. Afterwards you became aware that you had no awareness. Yes you are not aware at that moment. But afterwards you recognize that you were not aware. Yes during sleep you are not aware of "you". I and 10 of your friends can most likely stand next to your bed while you sleep and verify for you that while you were not aware, you still remained a human primate and haven't turned into a squid with tentacles. Question everything you believe. Why is being a human who lost consciousness a wrong experience? I would really love you to go deep on this one. Why is it wrong experience to be human?

What do you based your assessment on that "professional setting doesn't treat addiction desirably"? There are statistics and verified peer reviewed science which backs up the effectiveness of addiction. https://www.dbsalliance.org/education/depression/statistics/ Acupuncturist, or a reiki healer can be helpful to some. That is possible. However if you are depressed, the first step should be to seek professional medical help. You can do everything else on the side. Which conclusions have you come to? I would love to chat about that over PM, because it's out of scope of this thread.