r0ckyreed

Thank you so much @Consilience! I think the main reason why I find contemplation more fun and natural is because I am Westerner, and that paradigm emphasizes the importance of contemplation as a way of finding answers such as Socrates, Descartes, Hume, Kant, etc. Whereas Easterners place more emphasis on surrendering one’s self and desire for answers, to clear one’s mind which allows that no-mind to discover the answers. It’s like seeing one’s reflection in a clear pond vs. one that is noisy by thoughts. I personally agree to a good extent with both paradigms. I do side more with Westerner’s paradigm, but I think both paradigms are correct to a good point. My concern with Eastern thought is the stigma I have seen against thinking. Meditation can help gain more awareness and clarity in thinking, but if contemplation is neglected, then a world other world of understanding thought, mind, and reality is neglected. I think it’s important to know how to think in a way that helps live an examined life. So in a way, I think the best practice is when contemplation and meditation merge as one. Thank you for book recommendations!

@Consilience What is your go-to meditation practice? I usually combine meditation and contemplation by looking at my hands and trying to look for my head. I do a contemplative practice just to contemplate life purpose and stuff. But I do satisfaction meditation every day along with productive meditation or contemplation. I have read Mind Illuminated about halfway. I need to reread it again because I forgot a lot of it. I prefer contemplation over meditation. I do like 10 minute meditation and an hour of contemplation a day. I am a natural contemplator. In my experience, I have experienced greater insights and understanding through contemplation, but I also noticed that meditation has made me more peaceful and present. I use to be future-oriented, but meditation taught me that Now is what matters. Future and past are hallucinations. What books on meditation do you recommend? What is your go-to practice? Thanks. Nice video btw!

Wonderful post! I totally agree! Psychedelics are a cop out for grooving fully with the present moment. Psychedelics is this forums new hamster wheel where they are a rat in a maze chasing cheese after cheese. Chasing trip after trip after trip, while ignorantly failing to realize that the real psychedelic experience is right here and now. You don’t need a chemical to connect with God. If you aren’t high on life, and you need a drug to be high, then something is wrong. You gotta meditate and contemplate why you want drugs. It’s another cheese you are chasing the same way Trump chases women and money.

A lot has been said about free will and its illusory nature. But the flip side of determinism has been neglected severely. In fact, the illusion of determinism I would argue is so prevailing that most people take determinism for reality without ever questioning the assumptions of the claim and determinism itself. I want you to notice how free will is always talked about, and I wonder if there is some reason that determinism isn't? Is it because the ego-mind is too afraid to frame to look under the rug of determinism and free will is more comforting, or is there some deeper metaphysical assumptions of determinism and physics that ground our reality? If time is conceptual, illusory, and relative, then what does that say about the nature of determinism? What are your thoughts about determinism and why it isn't questioned? My guess is because determinism is the essential theory that constructs our materialistic reality. Determinism is the theory that grounds all of our understanding because we assume that cause and effect, past and future, are real things. Let's unpack the myth of determinism for we cannot really understand free will without it. Determinism is what makes "free will" possible.

I like it. Even destiny though needs to be deconstructed. It’s still another layer in the illusion.

Not as nearly as much as free will. People deconstruct free will but very few deconstruct determinism.

After reading about human development, object permanence, and contemplating external reality, actuality, and imagination, I am unconvinced that external reality is just imagination. Sure, it is imaginary from my perspective, but there are other perceptual bubbles even beyond my imagination. I mean, it is egotistical, solipsistic, and stupid to say that other people on this forum don't exist. They are imaginary from my point of view, but that does not mean that they don't exist. That's like a child who has not learned object permanence to say that their mother ceases to exist when she closes her eyes. I mean from a certain point of view, all we have of reality is our sensations which includes thoughts and imagination. But without a world for these sensations, then what are we sensing? My trouble is where does my bubble end and your bubble begin? I can look at other objects and their bubbles are imaginary. Other humans appear as objects from my point of view, and I appear to be the headless space from which they are being held in consciousness. But there is more to reality than just my bubble. If this is true, then how can my bubble be absolutely true if there is a world that occurs beyond my bubble? I mean right now, COVID exists, people are being molested, and some people are having sex right now. Of course, I am imagining it all right now, but that does not mean that it does not exist beyond my imagination. I mean there are actual perceptual bubbles in this universe that believe that COVID is not real and that racism and police brutality don't exist. I mean I could even stop imagining racism right now, but that does not stop it from existing. There are other bubbles who are also imagining crap up and I am also imagining them up, but the issue I am having is that I realize that the Universe includes all of the perceptual bubbles, but where are all of these bubbles occurring? I am imagining them right now in this moment, but that is just my finite point of view. From your perspective, I am imaginary and you are imaginary to me, but the question is, where is this shared dream and world occurring? What is this shared world that we are experiencing together? Now, from God's or the Universe's point of view, reality could be all a mental construction or dream, but from the human point of view, the Dream Universe is the same as physical external reality. What I am talking about is not some abstract God point of view, I am talking about this moment right here and now. We all have self-deceptions, and how do we know that we are not deceiving ourselves when we say that external reality doesn't exist. It exists as imagination, but external reality is the world in which we share that exists apart from our perceptions of it. What would we be perceiving if there was not a world to perceive? How could we trip on a psychedelic if a psychedelic doesn't exist? You see the problem? Psychedelics are imaginary right now from my point of view, but that does not mean that they don't exist somewhere out in the external world that I am imagining. Hence, there is more to reality than my imagination. My imagination and perceptions are limited, and the same is true for a Trump supporter or for an ant. Based off of that point: How can an island of perception become conscious of the entire perceptual ocean? How can a sponge bubble become conscious of the entire sponge? The problem is that if you are incarnated as an island or if you are incarnated as a human being, you cannot really say that other islands, oceans, or humans don't have any bubble apart from your own. I mean all other islands are you because all islands are one with the ocean. The island of you is one with the Ocean, which makes you the entire ocean. Now, from this analogy, as God or as the Ocean, there are no other oceans only the ones we imagine such as the pacific, atlantic, etc. They are all one Ocean, and there are many islands that are all part of the same Ocean. The same is true for us in that Consciousness or Reality is the Ocean that created all of the different perspectives of the islands, which are like different parts or pieces of the Absolute. No part has the whole reality. You can grasp that you are the Universe or the entire Ocean in this case from the point of view of being a human or island, but your knowledge of the Ocean and of Consciousness cannot leave your island until your island dies. Ohh!! Shit!! I think I may have realized my error above! If we are all islands, but we are all one with the Ocean, then the way we realize we are all one is by dissolving our islands! Oh!! So that means that when our island dissolves and becomes one with Ocean, we realize that from the Oceans point of view, there are no others because you are everything and all islands from this point of view are no different from the Ocean. I think I got that now! So basically Consciousness or the Ocean is the External Reality that exists for all islands to experience it. Part of what makes reality a reality is by mistaking ourselves from who we are! We mistake ourselves for being an island, when in fact we are the Ocean. All other people on this forum and even Leo has a consciousness of their own, but it is no different from my own perceptual bubble from the Oceans point of view. I think I got it now. I just think Leo makes it confusing when he does not specify that other perceptual bubbles exist from the ego point of view, but not from the point of view from God. I also think Leo makes it confusing when he says that our island bubble of perception is the Absolute Truth. But our island perceptual bubble is relative. The Absolute Truth is the Ocean that allows for islands of relativity to exist. All we have of the Ocean is our direct experiences of it. Experiences are relative and the Ocean is the Absolute. Please give me feedback on this explorative contemplation I did. I think I answered my own question!

Where is experience located? Whenever I look at a rock for instance, I assume there is no experience for a rock, but when I look at a human (notice the distinction), then I assume that the object human I am looking at experiences and thinks. It is interesting how the mind makes these distinctions that moving objects like ants, snakes, dogs, and humans have experiences but non-moving objects like rocks and plants don’t. Where does “my” awareness end and “your” awareness begin? When I look at a human, where is there experience occurring? Most people would assume that the seat of their experience is behind their eyes and in their head/brain. When I look at a human, I honestly think there experience of me is behind their skull, which is my appearance of them. When I look for my head, all I see is the world. This makes me wonder how we each perceive reality differently. For instance, someone else can spot something that I overlooked. Does that mean that it didn’t exist and that I imagined another person who I imagine saw what I didn’t imagine? What about the apparent differences in qualia? Two people can experience colors differently and other people can have extra sensory experiences. How do we explain this?

@GreenWoods Thank you so much man! I sincerely appreciate it!

Looking for any resources on how to have consistent lucid dreams and becoming a psychic and enhancing psychic gifts. Thanks.

It’s a damn good dream. I dreamed up external reality therefore it exists in the dream. I feel like though that if I did, then the life will still go on, but where would it be going on if all my sensations are gone? What the Universe is to me is based off my sensations, thoughts, stories, and experiences. Absent of these, the Universe dies from my point of view, but from other egos, it doesn’t. I feel like there is nothing for God to do other than experience itself through us, limited partial perspectives. The process of death seems like the process of sleep and waking up is like being born again each day, and our dreams are the afterlife. What is the Universe while we are asleep? Nothing, and when we wake up, it is as if sleep never happens, and when we sleep it’s as if waking up never happened. It’s a big paradoxical mess lol.

What about the one writing? Writer and reader is a duality that collapses and is one way God communicates to itself.

So it’s like the whole Ocean creating the islands of experience. Like distributed solipsism? Right. I also feel like it is clouded by ego that thinks it’s on an island when really it is the entire Ocean. All I have ever experienced is this present moment of my island bubble and so have you. I have not accessed your island, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. But from God point of view is when we dissolve the separateness of the islands and realize we are Ocean right? I still think there are other islands besides my egoic own. But as God, it is all the islands, animals, sharks, waves, icebergs which are all contained within the Ocean and nothing is outside the Ocean from this analogy. My point of view from R0ckyreed is not all that exists. It is a limited perspective within God’s Ocean right?

I mean I don’t know. But I also don’t know that my island of perception is the only one. I am Chuck Noland on an island thinking I am separate from the ocean. Other islands may exist while I am on the island because that is part of this Dream or Reality. I am not the only island as a human ego. But I am alone as God or the Ocean. It’s like what Leo said on Curt interview with distributed solipsism. We are all on our own islands playing out on God’s stage. God is all the characters and the stage, and God is experiencing them all at a time. But as we dissolve our egoic islands, we realize that we are all alone because we are all so together. The same “person” behind my eyes is the same behind yours. You all aren’t just NPCs or philosophical zombies. I mean sure I can’t know that, but what is stopping reality from experiencing itself through all perspectives simultaneously at once? But even my island of perception is an illusion because an island implies separateness from an ocean. You get it? I-land, island? But the ultimately I-land is the Ocean to put that in an analogous form. The island is just as apart of the ocean as anything. Without an island, without an ego, reality cannot experience itself. All experience requires degrees of relativity. The same person experiencing your bubble is the same in mine. We are all God alone. Right? I am really trying to grasp all of this through meditation and contemplation. I refuse to take psychedelics because I want to have the insight without any external, extrinsic source. I want it all intrinsic. I also don’t feel safe using them. Right now, I have been doing satisfaction meditation, being aware of my breath, body, and mind, as well as deep thinking about life. I am open to any suggestions. Thank you!

Yes! All you can do is Love and be in alignment with Infinite Love. Realize that death is Love. Death is deemed as evil in our culture, but our culture is wrong. Without death, life couldn’t exist. Death is what gives life meaning. Death is the end of our suffering, of our incarnation. Death isn’t the end of life, it is the beginning. Realize that and you will find strength. Realize that your nan is you and your Love can never die. Enjoy every moment. Life is finite and that is what makes it so damn perfect.

Wow! Thank you for this wonderful post! Great work! I am gonna try to work on this this week.

That’s true. What’s the issue?

Yeah this is how I deluded myself. We pay taxes to have libraries and libraries treat the authors. This Z-library does not. I think it’s a lesson for me on integrity that if I wanna share my love with the universe, supporting others work would be a good place to start. The ego can rationalize this saying “well isn’t Zlib the same as borrowing a book?” I don’t think so. Love doesn’t come out of a place of “should” it comes from passion and acceptance of yourself. One way that helped me improve self-esteem by not caring what others think of me. Let go of your attachments and fall in love with yourself and reality. You can’t separate yourself from reality. I mean we all do it by surviving, but we aren’t separate from it. There is no solution to paradoxes. They are part of life just like mosquitos are part of life. Embrace it and love it! We are in charge of our peace and suffering.

I’ll add that to my list of things to contemplate. How am I full of shit and how am I out of line with integrity. How can I be more integrous, etc.

Thank you. Yeah that’s my cognitive dissonance right there. On the one hand, I want access to a lot of books for free, but on the other hand, I feel a little guilty if I’m not supporting the author. A lot of the books I download from there are ones I have already purchased in hard copy form. I just prefer to have both versions of the book so I don’t have to carry a big book bag everywhere lol. Wow! Thanks! The most valuable thing for me to do right now is to study, get my homework done, and invest in myself through education, health, spirituality, adventure, and in my life purpose. The most loving is to do that and share myself to the world, which I haven’t figured out that part yet. Maybe writing a book that is based off the most important things I have discovered about life and personal dev? Thank you! I agree! It is a paradox and dissonance that I wanna save money on school textbooks and stuff cause the bookstore and Amazon overcharges, but it does feel out of line with integrity for sure. I am gonna keep contemplating this and integrity lol. I am so glad I brought this up here.

Wow. Thanks for sharing. Yeah I agree with your analysis. My main criticism is that if you take the red pill (e.g., psychedelics) but you cannot integrate the profound insights into daily life then it seems like that could leas to a disaster of chasing psychedelics to access God Consciousness. I personally like Frank Yang’s perspective on this whole issue of psychedelics and meditation. I think psychedelics can help people get started on the spiritual path, but kind of like what I said earlier, I would rather be high on life than on the psychedelics. Both can be used along with serious contemplation. But having a psychedelic awakening is still not complete without meditation and being able to contemplate through self-deceptions. Meditation and deep contemplation/introspection are the cures to self-deception. To live is to be an ego. The ego can awaken with psychedelics, but what happens after the trip? I would prefer to invest time if it means that I have the experience with me for a lifetime. But I do understand and appreciate your point of view. I personally am in no rush to awaken. I want to experience life as an ego fully and meditate/contemplate as well to have that full contrast. I’m afraid if people awaken too early, they won’t really know what it means to fully be an ego if you get what I mean. Live and experience life. We only get one. It is kind of paradoxical because we want the Truth, but awakening is not something that any ego could really desire for. I think The best psychedelic trip will be the trip we have when we die. But life is the ultimate psychedelic trip. You as God took a psychedelic to experience life as a human. We all will go back to Truth regardless if we die before die or not. When your human trip is done, you will merge back into One. So I guess the main answer is not one approach over the other. Do what suits you and integrate them all.

My whole thing is that meditation is the art of getting high on life itself. Who cares about how long it takes to get enlightened. If I could get enlightened tomorrow from shooting up a drug, I would not do it. I would rather do it naturally through discipline and work ethic even if it takes my whole life. Short-circuiting this process through drugs seems to take the magic out of this process. It is not about what happens or what you realize on the trip, but it is more about who you are after the trip. Sure, a trip can change your life, but it is not guaranteed. Meditation is the art of connecting with reality without the need of any external source, realizing reality for what it is as it is. Enlightenment is not something to be attained, which is why I don't agree with the psychedelic approach, but I do respect others view on it, but it isn't for me. To tie it in with Leos episode on Value of Things, enlightenment through meditation seems to be more worthwhile than psychedelics. Heres an analogy that I experienced in my life to help explain my point of view: In my life, I wanted to get to lvl 99 on Call of Duty Black Ops Nazi Zombies. I would play that game many times, and I failed to do it. Then, my friend got mods one day, and he immediately got us to lvl 99. After that, I felt completely empty and felt defeated because I reached my goal without ever going through all the steps. It's like getting all A's or cheat codes to a video game. It defeats the purpose and fun of discipline, investment, progress, etc. This is the issue with psychedelics. Normies who take psychedelics may have enlightenment experiences that change their lives, but they may still not be able to sit in an empty room and feel that same Love as they did on the trip. If trips cannot be integrated into all states of consciousness, particularly the "sober" state, then what is the point? It is like me doing cheat codes to get somewhere without ever actually going anywhere. You become God through virtues. Psychedelics can help with this and can be a great tool, but at the end of the day, if we cannot experience ourselves as God "naturally" right now in all places, then what is the point? Thank you!

Life is a mental masturbation. You may not see it, but thinking deeply about reality does all sorts of change. If you are thinking deeply about reality, then what are you doing? How can you wake up without an interest to contemplate? What you should really contemplate is the biases that free will is mental masturbation. Everything you do in life starts from that “reality.” Anyways that’s my 2 dollars on that.

After contemplating free will and responsibility, this is what I came up with. Yes, free will is an illusion and so is your ego. If free will is horseshit, then so is your life. Free will is based on the illusion of control, with the illusion of self as the controller of your hands and bodily functions. We don't say that we are the controller of the earth rotation or the entire universe, only our bodily functions, which is based on the illusion of separation. With this stated, responsibility is also an illusion. But you see, reality is illusion. To survive in this world, we have to have the concept of ego, free will, morality, politics, culture, race, gender and responsibility. Even though these are all horseshit and illusions, there can be no awakening without illusion. There can be no reality without illusion. Free will exists, the self exists, and so does responsibility, but the nature in which they exist is illusory. Take responsibility or don't for your life. Choices will happen whether you believe in free will or not. It is all about your perception.

I have Asperger’s. It is the greatest gift God gave me. Use it well.