r0ckyreed

For those of you who want a simple solution to YouTube’s algorithm madness, just turn off your search history on your YouTube account. It will always turn off recommendations regardless of whatever device you are on. You don’t need to install these extensions. Just turn off your search history and if you really like a video and want to see it again, hit the like button and it will save to your likes folder or save it to a playlist. When I open up YouTube, I don’t get any recommendations which is nice. Hope this resolves this discussion for you.

I remember making a similar post about how decriminalization of drugs wasn’t a good idea based off of what I personally experienced in Portland. I do think they should have the ability to use medicinally but it should be controlled by a medical expert.

@Breakingthewall Thanks for your response. But the insights from my mushroom trip make me think otherwise. I realized that my nightly dreams vs this waking reality are no different from each other. What would you call that if reality and dreaming are identical? Our dreams are hallucinations and I had a recent insight that our thoughts, memories, and this perception are also hallucinations as well. You assume I am parroting a video. The video pointed me to something I directly realized for myself.

Thanks guys! Yes, I am looking for something portable. I appreciate the links and will do my research on it. I am thinking about getting a portable filter that I don’t have to hook up to a sink.

I wanted to come up with my own proofs of God given what I have realized so far about God. This is a rough draft. I have spent the past month reflecting on my insights into God and the past 2 weeks trying to come up with my own “proofs” of God. Here’s my rough draft: 10 Proofs For The Existence of God Proof 1: Existence Itself 1. Existence exists. 2. Existence cannot not exist. 3. Existence has no external cause or source because that cause/source itself would have to have Existence. In essence, Existence is more fundamental than proof and causation because proof and causation require Existence in the first place. 4. Existence transcends all conceptualizations, models, and theories. 5. Thus, Existence is fundamental. 6. God refers to that which is most fundamental. 7. Therefore, God exists as the most fundamental aspect of Existence. Proof 2: Consciousness 1. Consciousness exists. 2. Consciousness is capable of having insights into the nature of consciousness. 3. What we call reality or existence is really just consciousness. 4. Any object within consciousness is by nature contingent upon consciousness. 5. God is not an object or person that can be found within consciousness. 6. God refers to the necessity of consciousness itself. 7. Therefore, God exists. Proof 3: Mystical Experience 1. Mystical experiences exist. 2. Mystical experiences are a valid form of epistemology. 3. Some of the most commonly reported insights from mystical experiences are about oneness, time, God, etc. 4. The scientific method may be limited in the ability to study mystical experiences due to the fact that mystical experiences must be experienced first-hand for them to be considered a mystical experience. 5. To realize and know what God is requires one to have a mystical experience. 6. To reduce all mystical experiences to hallucinations is a very unscientific assumption (especially if you have never yourself had a mystical experience). 7. Therefore, God can be discovered through mystical experience. Proof 4: Reality as Hallucination 1. Hallucinations exist. 2. A hallucination is no less real than ordinary, conventional experience. 3. If every human being is hallucinating, then that hallucination becomes reality. 4. If reality is a hallucination, then that would mean that reality is nothing more than consciousness. 5. There is nothing more than consciousness. 6. There is no objective difference between reality and hallucination. 7. God refers to an infinite hallucination. 8. Everything that exists is a hallucination—a figment of consciousness. 9. Therefore, God exists as an infinite hallucination. Proof 5: The Field of Consciousness 1. Consciousness exists. 2. There is nothing that exists outside of consciousness. 3. If something did exist outside of consciousness, then that would be an idea within consciousness. 4. When we say something exists, we are referring to something that we can be conscious of. 5. God is not a specific object within consciousness that you can be conscious of. 6. God represents the entire field of consciousness. 7. Therefore, God exists as the entire field of consciousness. Proof 6: Solipsism 1. The only thing that exists or can be known to exist is consciousness. 2. If consciousness is the only certainty and necessity, then that would mean solipsism is true. 3. God refers to Absolute Solipsism. 4. Therefore, there is only one consciousness that exists, and that is God. Proof 7: The Present Moment 1. The present moment is all that exists. 2. Anything you imagine outside of the present moment is your imagination in the present moment. 3. God is not some event of the past but is happening in the now. 4. Therefore, God exists as the present moment. Proof 8: Absolute Truth 1. Absolute Truth exists and cannot not exist. 2. The Absolute Truth represents what is most fundamental about reality. 3. Any reference to God is a reference to Absolute Truth. 4. God is Absolute Truth. 5. Therefore, God exists. Proof 9: The Universe as Oneness 1. The universe exists. 2. Everything in the universe is deeply connected; otherwise known as oneness. 3. God is oneness due to omnipresence being an attribute of God. 4. Therefore, God is synonymous with the universe. Proof 10: Necessity of Existence 1. God represents the necessity of existence. 2. If existence is necessary, then God exists. 3. Existence is necessary. Existence is not an accident given the vast complexities required for anything to exist. 4. Therefore, God exists as the necessity of existence. These are all my original ideas based off of my contemplations. Any feedback is welcomed. Please let me know if you have a favorite. Thanks! 😊

If you’re not gonna respond intelligently, then might us well do us both a favor and don’t respond. You may respond with: “well then don’t ask stupid questions.” But the thing is that I will continue to ask stupid questions if that means I will learn something and develop intelligent answers.

Want to know if y’all recommend this water filter? https://a.co/d/24H0yn4 I don’t think it’s good idea to drink straight out of the sink. What do you think?

I have been meditating more seriously the last week. I used to think that contemplation is far superior method and meditation is an inferior method. I know I have been a critic of meditation, but I can’t help but admit when I am wrong. I have to be true of my experience. I had an insight while meditating today that meditation is actually more connected to the first-order than contemplation. Meditation is observing consciousness itself whereas contemplation is conceptualization about consciousness. This is so obvious but was easily overlooked. Contemplation by nature is second-order because it requires thinking deeply about consciousness itself. However, I still can apply the nuance that contemplation is still a good method for deriving insight. The second-order is connected to the first-order. There are some insights that contemplation will give me at the second-order that I may never get with meditation at the first-order. You can be amazing at meditation and not have the intelligence to know how to read a book or engage in critical thought, for example. Both methods are essential. I still can see the value of meditation while also seeing the biases against contemplation in Buddhism and other nondual schools of thought. Intelligence in the way that is commonly viewed is in the second-order. Just focusing on the first-order will not lead to the highest intelligence. But you will be deeply connected to Absolute Truth. Awakening doesn’t guarantee intelligence. Meditation doesn’t guarantee intelligence and complete understanding of reality. But meditation does connect you most directly to the present moment. I’m still trying to process what this all means. Insights can be first order or second order. You can have a direct insight without words that cannot be explained and you can have a conceptual insight. What do you think? Edit: My biggest hang up is thinking that contemplation and meditation are two different things. In a way, they are. One uses the mind to discern truth and the other shuts off the mind to connect to truth. I find that my meditation practice incorporates both stillness and critical thought. I have a bias towards using my mind. But both compliment each other. How can you contemplate effectively if you aren’t connected to the now. Contemplation requires some level of meditativeness to exist. If I can’t focus, be present in the now, then contemplation cannot happen. Contemplation uses skills from meditation but meditation doesn’t necessarily use the skills from contemplation. That’s the main difference I have noticed.

Most people actually meditate to feel good, not for Truth. This is why I’m such a critic of meditation. Truth-Realization is not about feeling good, meditating and counting your breaths. It’s about sharpening your blade and killing all of your false beliefs and egoic attachments until you ultimately kill the ego itself. I don’t see how you can do that work with just focusing on your breath. You need to sharpen your thoughts to cut through delusion since your delusion is created out of thought itself. When you strip away all delusion, you are left with Absolute Truth. Meditation becomes another egoic attachment/identity. Another illusion. Another identity. All the spiritual books you read become the ego going deeper into the dream. Awakening requires deconstructing everything, even the idea of meditation itself. So to be nuanced here, “proper meditation” is about stripping away falsehoods and deriving the truth of a thing. Anything else is just another dream in the Dream. Watching hours of spiritual videos becomes a dream within the Dream. I hope this makes sense. It just seems to me that meditation can become its own dream. I feel like contemplation fills in the gaps that meditation cannot fill. You can meditate for 2000 hours and still not know how to use your mind. There are many ways to meditate, but not all meditations lead up to the same mountain. Counting your breaths and loving-kindness will only get you so far in comparison to deep contemplation and psychedelics. What am I missing here?? I will probably do another long meditation session just to experiment and see where I could be wrong.

I think Leo’s point is that 20 minutes daily won’t change your state enough to have the deepest meditative insights. Sure, 20 minutes daily won’t hurt you and may improve your mood and reduce anxiety. But 20 minutes is not enough time to access the deepest insights. Even the Buddha had to meditate for crazy long periods before he attained awakening. You ain’t gonna be truth-realized with just 20 minutes. I personally like Jed McKenna’s take on meditation. He basically says that becoming a Buddhist monk is part of the dream and is not truth-realization. He says that your practice needs to strip away all falsehoods and identity — including the identity of being a monk. Maya’s palace of delusion has many meditators in it who all seek to cope with the dream rather than awakening from it. From Jed’s perspective, meditation is a way to cope with being on the Titanic rather than as a way to get off of it altogether. Meditation is another room in Maya’s palace.

My meditation techniques that I like is Analytical Meditation, self-inquiry, and memento mori, or what I refer to as contemplation. I like meditations that are contemplative and analytical. The less intellectual meditations I do is anapanasati - breath awareness meditation.

Thanks. I will try it. My biggest excuse is that it would be a complete waste of time and won’t lead me any closer to truth than existential contemplation or psychedelics. I’ve seen the power of psychedelic mushrooms, and I’ve seen how meditation seems so inferior compared to it. It kinda discourages me from meditation. But I gotta reframe it differently to see meditation as worthwhile.

With my ADHD/Autistic brain, I don’t see that happening for me. My greatest strengths are my openmindedness and curiosity — my desire for Truth. My deepest insights and consciousness have mostly come from contemplation. I believe that I would get more insight from 200 hours of contemplation than I ever would from shutting off my mind. But I will try it someday and let you know my results.

My point is that for me, I can get deep into meditation in the first 5-10 minutes. I see less of a need to meditate past 30 minutes. By meditate I mean sitting down and shutting off the mind. It’s not about the time you spend meditating, it’s about the quality and how deep you go into this moment. I am aware of God right now and can see the infinite intelligence and beauty of consciousness. Time is an illusion, so I don’t see the need to chase a certain time when I’m meditating — That defeats the whole purpose. Watching the clock isn’t God/Truth-Realization. God/Truth are the present moment. I assess what my consciousness needs to connect me deeper to life. For me, my “meditation” is deeply curious, contemplation. Instead of returning back to the breath, I let my mind wander and wonder on a specific question. My curiosity becomes my point of focus, my anchor to the present moment. The traditional ways of meditation that I have tried are not suited for my curious mind. If your meditation isn’t connecting you to deep curiosity, then what is the point? I’m after Truth and not to just feel good. The point of meditation for many people is to feel good — To eliminate suffering. Meditation alone will not get you to Truth. You can meditate for 200 hours and still be the deluded ape that you are. Truth requires using your mind for deep questioning, which is something meditation (as traditionally taught) discourages you to do. Many nondual philosophies, like Buddhism, think thoughts are the enemy, which is only a half-truth.

If that’s the case, then why would you sit in a room for 20 hours vs adventuring/hiking out in nature for 20 hours? Sitting meditation seems like a good excuse to be sedentary and to not think deeply about life.