Microscoops are the best.

They are the substance of reality, and all distinctions are imaginary and boil down to nothing.
Reality is an absolute illusion made of nothing.

I didn't start meditation for pickup. I was into personal development and got into pickup and meditation at around the same time, and I was motivated to do meditation more by Owen Cook who was big into meditation to improve his game. But I never meditated to improve my game. I meditated because I wanted a clearer mind and because I was interested in Zen at the time.
It just so happened that a lot of the guys who were into RSD at the time were also into self-improvement of all sorts. Owen is really into that which is why I liked Owen's work. Moreso for the personal dev than the pickup. Although the pickup theory was good too.

Good, welcome.
But to awaken what you need is to change your state of consciousness. Nothing else will work.
If your state doesn't radically change, there is no awakening. So be careful fooling yourself with saintly behavior. That's nice but not awakening.

Don't kid yourself, it's never gonna be entertaining. Make time for rest, fun, and off-time.
Recreation must be taken seriously. Or you will burn out.

True. Effort does make a difference. Although the question remains how awake they really are.
And there is always the question of, how predisposed were they for that way to work?
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FYI, I had an enlightenment from 8 days of vipassana meditation, and it wore off. So it is possible. But none of that is Infinite Consciousness or God-realization.

I'm back from my retreat and I think I had either a very impure substance or a chemical analogue.
I'd appreciate your opinion, guys.
General information:
The spoon I used holds 10mg (±2mg) of 5meo, I calibrated it again after returning home. Plugging method: Dissolved in 0.6-0.9ml fresh water, inserted 3-5cm (trip 1-3 on all fours, trip 4 standing), pressed the plunger slowly (~5s). I positively tested the substance with the Mecke and Hoffmann reagents a month ago. I have not conducted any other analyses like testing for the presence of common cutting agents or similar (wouldn't know which those could be). Brief trip reports:
26/07 4pm: Plugged ~5mg, 30min later ~10mg. Nothing happened. 27/07 9am: Plugged ~20mg. Felt like the threshold dose. Heaviness, light stomach pain, light tryptamine-like visuals. Effects were gone (90%+) at t+20min. 27/07 3pm: Plugged ~30mg. Felt like the light dose. More heaviness. No discomfort. Effects were gone at t+40-50min. 28/07 11am: Plugged ~45mg (see picture). Effects as before, just more intense and rather uncomfortable than interesting and definitely not facilitative for contemplation or "increasing general consciousness". I just waited for it to pass, which it did at t+50-60min. The discomfort felt more physical than psychological. The overall effect intensity was definitely lower than 10g of mushrooms or 350mcg LSD or Changa; I could still move and think and talk (I was alone).  
The possibilities I see: Either it wasn't 5meo or at least quite an impure one, or a chemical analogue that has the same duration of effect, or the dose was still too low, or I have huge psychological blockages (bit unlikely after 10 days of a great solo-retreat), or I have a rare metabolic abnormality.
I might let a friend try plugging 20-30mg (my "light dose"). If he experiences "better" effects, I'll try snorting it myself. If he experiences the same effects, I'll try to get another batch from another research chemical website (again, I hope I'm allowed to say that). I might also send this one into a drug testing lab, if I find one that does a 5meo analysis.
What do you think? Am I missing something or interpreting something erroneously?

This is factually false. You guys are creating myths of these people.
Ramana spent entire days, weeks, and months in intense meditation before his enlightenment, and afterward.
But anyhow, you are dreaming up Ramana so it's a moot point.
You cannot even get your own dreams straight.

When you are my age you will look back at this thread and laugh. Your life has just begun.

I’m 20 years old and I’m a bit behind on my education by one year. I’m just wondering if I should retake me SAT (American college entrance exam).
I am so fucking sick of this exam, I hate it, but everyone around me seems to have a higher score. I have a 960, which is considered really bad.
Serious @Leo Gura, am I stupid? Am I less intelligent? What does my score mean and say about me?
The last time I re took the test, I was in such distress that I literally tore my testing material in half and broke down in the hallway crying. I fucking hate this test so much, but I technically need it to get into a prestigious University. 
This education system is such blatant abuse.I don’t understand why can’t I do it, everyone else has scores in the thousands, and here I am after 3-4 times of retaking this fucking exam. I am so angry, and his this test and myself.

No it isn't. You will be in some weak-ass state that you call enlightenment which is actually 1% of full awakening.
I support both, obviously. I only debate those people who:
1) Claim that psychedelics do not generate legit awakening. Or claim that psychedelics are a waste of time. Or who claim that they have reached levels of consciousness beyond psychedelics.
2) Claim that there are no degrees/levels of awakening.
- - - - -
 

There is a baseline of attraction which is wired much deeper into our genetics than culture can change.
A normal healthy female body is never not gonna be hot to the average guy.
Culture is a strong force, but genetics is stronger.

Yes, it's present with 5-MeO.
5-MeO-MALT and 5-MeO-MIPT are the most "sexy" for me.
5-MeO-MIPT makes you hyper conscious of tactile sensations and your whole body in an ecstatic way.
5-MeO-MALT is more heady than MIPT. But it's my fave.

Level 5: I imagined my abuser and abuse 

Reminds me of…
 

Scrubs go to bars. In Vegas you gotta hit the clubs. That's where all the honies be at.

Women can be fickle creatures. They run on moods and sometimes when the mood is right but you don't close the deal, she will feel weird about it the next day and lose her mood and change her mind about you.
In general you gotta strike when the iron is hot. One of the principles is: don't get a girl turned on unless your logistics are good enough to close the deal. Otherwise she is likely to feel slutty the next day and have a change of heart.
It's not necessarily that you did anything wrong. Sometimes you just can't close for practical reasons and you lose her. That is common. Sounds like you took plenty of action, which is great. You just didn't consider the logistics well enough. That's probably your only place for improvement. Failure to account for logistics is a killer.
Or, if you plan on dating her over multiple dates then don't escalate so hot and heavy. Be more subtle about it. So either go harder and close quickly or go slower and subtler. If you do it half-way it can feel awkward for her.
One thing you should learn from this experience is asking about her work schedule and plans early on, so you can factor that into your plans. Don't go into a late night date clueless about her work situation tomorrow. You should also not set your dates too late into the night. These little details add up. And the only way to learn them is to fail a lot.
Then again, if this girl truly liked you, she should have agreed to more future dates. Maybe you just sorta pressured her to go along with you in the moment but you didn't catch that she wasn't really that into you. If a girl is really into you, she should want more dates. There needs to be certain chemistry there. If the chemistry isn't clicking then that's the problem. And sometimes you just won't have the right chemistry with a girl. It's never guaranteed.
In the end, she has to want you. There is no trick around that other than rape. If you sense that she doesn't want you, you have to be willing to let her go. And then frame it to yourself as, "Oh well, she lost a great guy. She couldn't appreciate what I was offering therefore she didn't really deserve what I was offering." This whole thing doesn't really work unless she respects you as a man and values what you're offering. Many girls are clueless and will just overlook a great man. Or maybe you're not such a great man, in which case raise your value.
The bottom line is this: when she is with you, she has to say to herself, "OMG! This guy is awesome! I will never find one like him in 20 years." Build yourself into that kind of guy.

What he means is they don't increase consciousness in a permanent way. It's clear from the next sentence.
They take you to higher states by affecting your neurochemistry, whereas spiritual practice takes you there by clearing the gunk that's in the way.
Having a pump at the gym is useless if your muscles don't grow bigger and stronger as a result of it.

1) Baseline is not the same as "don't increase consciousness". Baseline is important but it is not the only factor in this work. To boil everything down to baseline and poo-poo all peaks is wrong.
2) Trips affect your mind in powerful ways that stays with you for the rest of your life.
I am not high 24/7, but after all my trips I can look at my body and recognize it as God. And many other insights. Too many to list.

Actually I do.
If Shinzen Young cannot do it after 40 years of professional practice, your chances are basically zero.
Stop giving people bullshit ideas. You are not going to reach 5-MeO-DMT levels of consciousness via meditation. This is a joke. It's like telling a dwarf that he can play in the NBA.

State is everything.
Now the work begins to raise your baseline state. LSD showed you what's possible with serious spiritual work. It didn't do the work for you.

I've got myself 1g of 5-MeO-DMT Freebase. I don't fancy vaping it, so I'll convert it to salt and plug it. I've read so much and watched so many videos related to 5-MeO-DMT (But still have questions). I guess my main questions are related to dosage and a rough idea of what to expect at each dosage ramp up. I believe it's very powerful stuff, so I want to take this nice and slowly. Am I best starting at 10mg (or less, maybe 5mg?) and ramping up in + 2mg amounts? I'd like to start with a little tastier (if that is possible), rather than getting blasted to infinity from the get-go. 
I'm sure it's a difficult question to answer but what can I roughly expect at 10mg? e.g. body load, I generally get a very heavy body on psychedelics and feel nauseous. Even on 2g of mushrooms (lemon tek), I can't move a great deal. What about headspace? and then the same when I ramp it up. From what I've read there can be great differences between very small amounts. e.g. 10mg - 15mg.
I've had mushrooms / nn DMT / LSD (although a long time ago), so I'm not new to psychedelics. But again I'm sure 5-MeO is a different animal altogether. 
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Nothing but love actually exists. God is Love and you are God. Integrate and reflect, find love in the subtle things, Meditation for sure. Psychedelics are awesome and lead to as you say, peak bliss experiences. But all states are equally awesome. Psychedelics should be improving your quality of sober, mundane life and if they aren't, why are you doing them?
It sounds like you're stuck in negative thought loops. Meditation. Walking. Driving. Working out. Find joy in the little things and go from there(I was once where you were at).

That's not awakening. That's speculation and thought.
Awakening requires a 100% absolute consciousness that your consciousness is all there could ever be.
You don't understand yet that nothing can exist outside of you. Once you get it, it's so fucking obvious. More obvious than 1 = 1.

Now you're just making excuses. It's creepy because you think it's creepy and because you probably are creepy.
Every girl is approachable. I have gotten dates and lays from girls on headphones and even in the middle of phone calls. First time I ever got laid was from stopping a girl walking in the mall talking to her mom on the phone. She was 25, fyi. I once approached a girl at the gym who was running on a treadmill with headphones on. It resulted in a date.
Street approaching is no harder than any other kind. It's a very common approach style in cities like NY, London, and Vegas. I got wings who pull girls walking outside on the Vegas Strip on a weekly basis. Like 60 min pulls from street to sex.
Stop making excuses and train yourself to approach.
Of course you can approach in a library. Although who the hell uses libraries these days??