Markus

Totally normal. I've done 100 hours of self-inquiry over the last 1.5 months and same thing is happening.

I happened to come across this myself a few days ago. Same hairstyle, same shirt, same background, somewhat similar intro, similar target audience. I don't wanna say anything bad but I don't know...it seems not original enough. Then again, if he has good information (idk), it's not that important, is it?

So I was telling one girl about enlightenment. It seemed at the time like she had asked what I do, which led to me talking about contemplation, her asking what the hell it is, why I do it, and to the question of what enlightenment is. So I briefly thought which unsuccessful explanation I'll go with this time, pointed my finger to my skull and said "There's no one in there." Right as I said that there was a sudden shift in my awareness, and the "me" inside the head as if expanded out, accompanied by an oncoming terror. In my mind I was going like "Holy shit! That's what it is! There's no one in there! That's what the point is! Duh! Not 'becoming enlightened'! How could I miss this!? Shit! How absurd that this supposed thing inside the head keeps asking "Who am I?" like a retard!" And then I woke back up on my couch, in an unusually equanimity-filled state, but not enlightened lol . Looking back at it it's like it hit me in the face that I'm not going to become enlightened, I'm not going to become some superhuman zen-as-fuck motherfucker who's so goddamn detached and badass. Enlightenment isn't an attainment I can add to my trophy shelf to feel good about myself. It's the annihilation of me. It's not like I didn't know that, right? Well, it seems like I really didn't, and still don't. It's all ego! All these fantasies about enlightenment! Fuck! All of it! But I got a bucket of cold water thrown in my face, and it stung for a few seconds. Just thought I'd share this, back in my cozy illusion.

@Jhonny try do nothing

@Capethaz Ralston has a blog

Alright If anyone's worth following or reading though, it's Ralston - he has a mind-blowing level of consciousness, judging by the insights he shares.

I see intellect as a capacity (like muscle strength) and wisdom as a skill (like martial arts). Intellect is useless without wisdom.

Start sleeping and night and being awake during the day At least that's how I solved it each September when school restarted On a no more serious note (since I'm already being serious), there's no magic to it. Force yourself to stay awake in the hours you want to stay awake. Perhaps aim for less sleep in the beginning, since if you sleep enough one night you won't be tired the next due to your body being used to a different rhythm.

If I remember correctly, Leo is doing a documentary on enlightenment, that includes interviews with several masters. I know Ralston's one of them (he's released two clips on Vimeo), didn't know about Spira though.

It's neither. Spira never talks about psychedelic use in his teaching. I'm 99% it's a 'regular person' we've never heard of.

Totally different things. I did the course and decided to do enlightenment first.

If you're able to function then what's the problem? From various descriptions, experiences more intense than you're used to are common on the spiritual bath. path.

Do nothing is dropping all voluntary control of mind and awareness. Concentration meditation is concentrating on a phenomena. Mindfulness meditation is making distinctions in phenomena.

It's the frustration of not getting an answer. Ego hates uncertainty. Thomas Edison may have failed 1,000 times in creating a light bulb, after which the vast majority of people would've given up, well, you are going to fail magnitudes more in asking "What am I?" Think about how many times you'd fail if it took you 1,000 hours to have an enlightenment experience. Then you'll also not get so discouraged, realizing that for a hundred thousand times, you look and nothing happens.

If there's no ego, who is being vulnerable?

I think Leo considers posture pretty irrelevant, in the sense that any posture you can do the technique in is fine. Personally, I haven't a clue. It seems like upright (without back support) and even standing keeps me more alert, but that may be because I'm somewhat sleep deprived. I suspect there's something more to it though, as the experience of "do nothing" while laying in bed is way more pleasant than "do nothing" sitting on the couch. I've read somewhere it has something to do with the activation of the RAS (reticular activating system), that's just hearsay. Likely, the people in the East were on to something, why else did they always sit in certain postures? To sum up, I don't think it's such a big concern. If you can comfortably sit in a lotus or stand up, then by all means do so - it's probably healthier for the body than slouching on the couch, plus your mind might be more alert. The primary concern should however be doing the technique you're doing, don't be turning the inability to comfortably sit in some posture as an excuse not to meditate.

I watched 90 seconds of his video and I like the open-mindedness of this human bean.

It seems to me there are two things people mean by self-inquiry. One is what Ramana Maharshi and Rupert Spira advocate(d), which is asking "Who am I?" (or "Am I aware?" in Spira's case). The point of that is basically resting as awareness, as the question leads to awareness of awareness. The other is focusing on the best estimate of your sense of self and deeply wondering what the fuck that is. That's what Leo's "How to become enlightened" video teaches, and he probably got that from Peter Ralston. That's also the technique done at enlightenment intensives, with some additional elements. I personally am doing the latter, as with the former I find it hard to notice whether I'm actually doing the technique or have focused my awareness back on an object. Any input on whether others agree there are these two separate techniques is welcomed.

Is it easier? I have no idea since I've never lived in those countries or even visited them. However, don't play a victim with your time. The only (probably) inevitable activities are sleeping, eating, using the bathroom, and doing work that earns you a living / studying. These bare essentials are required in the east too, aren't they? Everything else in Western culture is voluntary. You don't have to watch TV, go out, etc. That's all your responsibility.

Broadly speaking, being more aware will build your baseline awareness and being less aware will shrink it. Weed makes you less aware. If you're serious about enlightenment, why would you do something that's not necessary for your survival and is counterproductive to your pursuit, unless you're not that serious about it? And logistically speaking, even those who do think they're serious about it will most likely fail. If you're deliberately doing things you know will make the the highly unlikely even more unlikely, you might as well give up.

Are limits inside awareness or is awareness inside limits? If it's the latter, how do you know it's inside limits if you're not aware of those limits?

When you feel like it. So you've been doing breath counting...try breath following for a month, or do nothing for a month, and see which you like. I see do nothing as a kind of a fallback technique because it's effortless, so you could do that when you don't have the motivation that particular day. Do nothing is out of the 3 best for enlightenment, I'm quite sure.

I imagine "do nothing" is one of the most effective techniques for enlightenment, besides self-inquiry. So I guess the question boils down to whether you want to get high or get enlightened.

"If the ego really is an illusion but egos are happy with the ego because the ego serves the ego /.../ then what would motivate egos to find out the ego is an illusion? Surely egos would prefer to live within the ego if egos have everything egos think egos want."

I do think it's just your ego. I don't quite understand what you're saying.