Demeter

@Breakingthewall , thank you.

@ItsNick I think Max Richter and Greg Haines are more inspirational and beautiful. Try this, for example: Also this:

@Vladimir , does your awakened state also lend you clairvoyance or esp? Can you sense the energy of the person asking questions here, for example? If so, what can you say about me?

@Danioover9000 Could you please ask a question for me? I am conducting a research project in a developing country to investigate how to empower women farmers. The data and investigations are vast - they touch on many aspects of their lives in addition to farming methods. Could you please ask if I am on the right track and are there any insights that I should be paying more attention to?

@Jed Haldir , it is remarkable that you feel guilty about not having a spiritual practice. I think you are being too hard on yourself. I had aspired for enlightenment till a few years ago. I was absolutely certain that I would achieve it in this lifetime. Anything else was unthinkable. And here I am now content with the notion that it is not going to be my lot. I might in fact have to be born again to renew my efforts. And that is okay. I think what brought about that change were experiences with psychedelics in which I gained 'enlightenment' of one kind. I realised that my aspirations for enlightenment and all the pain, distress and effort that went into it was pretty much pointless. I matter nought, and where I go spiritually is equally inconsequential. I remain a part of the great consciousness but my journeys of evolvement or the lack thereof are of no consequence. I wonder if anybody else feels this way.

@Julian gabriel I find that Music becomes a means of communication. It is a language that both your mind and soul understands. Messages come through the story for which music is the backdrop. In one instance, the message that was being conveyed to me was that I was part of a great something - I was not 'nothing" - the music was a forest drumming type of thing and I saw the forest tribe as being of great munificence and dignity and I was embraced by them. In another instance, the cords which rose and fell seemed to represent the amazing variety and beauty of life - life was cords of music interweaving with exquisite sounds and colours. Listening to lullabies brings a feeling of warmth, immense care and love. I use the playlists suggested by a study of how psilocybin eases depression: https://mapsofthemind.com/2019/10/30/6-music-playlists-psilocybin-journeys/

@Dumuzzi , do you have any advice or messages from Inanna about the various people on You Tube who offer shaktipat transmissions or kundalini raising long distance? There are various channels that profess to do this - they usually ask for a donation or charge a fee. The ones that have been mentioned and discussed in this forum are RASA, Jan Esmann, Kai Shanti and Advaitashram and a few more. Would very much like to hear what you think.

@Preety_India , there are many wonderful things in Hinduism as there are awful things too. It is often divisive, casteist, elitist, sexist and racist. I abhor how Hinduism is being used in India at present as superior to Christianity and Islam for political reasons. Self-styled vigilantes turn onto lynch mobs in the name of Hinduism. I hate how the Brahmins consider themselves as a superior caste, deny women the right to officiate ceremonies and discriminate against women and other castes in the name of religion. This has become integral to Hinduism - and it is nothing to be proud of.

@Dumuzzi , thank you. A lovely post. How can one tap most effectively into the creative force to help one's own insights? I am, for example, involved with development research in a low-income country. My research has the potential to define policies that will affect marginal women farmers. I pray to the universe or the mother goddess for support, and of course, set good intentions every day. I'm hopeless at meditation. Is there anything you could recommend?

The awakening of the kundalini and its movement up the spine to various chakras is related to enlightenment and the gaining of spiritual insights. The kundalini and the activation of the chakras form the physiological basis (psychically) of self-realisation. These accompany meditation practices. Full realisation is said to occur once the kundalini reaches the crown chakra. If realisation can also take place through psychedelics, what part does the kundalini play in those instances? Do psychedelics activate the kundalini as well, or smoothen its path through the chakras? Does anyone sensed this or has seen it occur in others? I am sure there are people on this forum who have experienced a kundalini awakening either through meditation or spontaneously who may be able to cast some light on this.

This is so beautiful. Thank you, Dumuzi. Please ask Inanna how we, ordinary people, could see her and experience her grace.

How do you know that nothing can be known? That claim is very egotistical. Leave people to believe their own experiences. Yours are obviously different.

Sure! And that may be the case with the people here, Leo included. They may be souls who have experienced 1000s of lifetimes working towards self-realisation. That would explain their natural tendencies to be attracted to spirituality, their spontaneous kundalini awakenings or experiences of higher realms with comparative ease through meditation or drugs. This is very well understood in the Hindu religion. They may not be forcing the experiences at all, even if that were possible, which I don't think it is. One doesn't have to be a recognised guru or ascended master to be in a state of readiness. I personally experienced vast states of emptiness which seemed to be beyond the states of oneness, love and joy. And there may be more levels beyond. You don't know what lies next. I am utterly certain that I was able to have this realisation because of all the endeavours of my past lives and this one too.

@Dumuzzi , that is a fascinating account. How fortunate you are to be able to see and experience these higher beings and realms. According to kundalini yoga, one is able to access higher planes of existence as the kundalini ascends through each chakra and gain full realisation as it ascends to the crown chakra. Each chakra may also confer abilities and psychic powers such as clairvoyance, telepathy or the power to manifest. Have you acquired any such abilities? And since you attained very high states of consciousness, also described as a state of samadhi, savikalpa or nirvikalpa samadhi (these have been described in 'Autobiography of a Yogi'), did you then develop psychic or healing abilities as a result? Could you please say how these experiences have changed you in everyday life?

Pretty words but you speak from a dualistic and hierarchical viewpoint. I don't think God wants to teach us anything. What would be the point of that? After all, if she generated us (prefer not to use the word create) from herself, she would be teaching herself would she not? And this thing about infinite grace - I have experienced the eternal void - it is stark, awesome and devoid of grace. Grace is not always present. Ask the Palestinians or the indigenous people of Myanmar if they feel the grace of God.

It is always inspiring to read about Lsd (or similar) experiences. But what is even more useful are the insights that one gains - these admittedly are relevant and targetted for the person and their particular stage of development, but, nonetheless, the insights are worth sharing. I was looking bac on my brief report of 2 trips and wanted to share the insights I had received. 1) First session - 200 mcg The first thing that occurred as I got immersed in the music and let go was that I began to feel the pain in the world and felt that my life too was an expression of it. It was heart-rending. Previously felt fears emerged - that my life meant nothing and was worthless, and that perhaps there was no conscious being in the universe. I was then shown several things; - pain was not as I perceived it. It did not matter - it was part of the universal wave-form. Waves of lines interwove into a continuous movement constantly changing and moving. - at one point the waveforms changed to harmonics. Each wave pattern represented a sound and the entire universe was a moving and weaving kaleidoscope of sound. Each sound expressed the range, beauty and perfection of all that was present. I heard these sounds and they were the purest, most exquisite pieces of music. - I saw a grand spirit someone majestic and dark-skinned who said "You are part of us. You are not nothing". There was an immense richness and fullness to his aspect and surroundings which represented a forest or a tribe. I think the music helped create that sense. He raised me up, figuratively speaking, and I was gathered into their richness, so to speak. The sense was one of great perfection. - this changed into the formless 'us'. The word that comes closest to describe it is 'magnificence'. Again it was communicated - Look at us, we are not 'nothing'. The Us included all - me, the universe, all life. The waves became fulsome and coloured, including all colours, moving, dipping, interweaving, changing forms. The magnificence was vast. There was an immensity, greatness and resplendence with a solemn calm as it bore witness to the universe and at the same time the universe was in it. These insights emerged: - to be part of this great "us" was enough - I saw an image of me sitting by the shore of an ocean with the waters gently lapping, sending a few grains of sand in my direction, If those grains of sand was all I could gain in my existence, it was enough - what is right and good is that which honours the great 'us', respects it and allows it to unfold in its beauty and immensity - a deity has its uses. It is symbolic of or represents vast amounts of information about the universe. 2) 2nd session about 3 months later - 300mcg This was harder and more challenging, so to speak. It was a muddled session in some respects. Fear of and questions about the great void interspersed with witnessing the beauty of the universe. I sensed or saw the great void. This has been referred to the primal void which underlies all reality. Buddhism refers to this as Sunyata, a state of emptiness. It was so vast that the universe was a mere blip, a giggle, in the great expanse. I could not sense a conscious being - who was there taking note? The vastness was so immense that nothing we are or do matters in comparison. That may be the case but that raises the question "Who cares what I do or who I am or we are?". Then it dawned on me - the experience of enlightenment and the beauty one sees are part of the illusion too. Other insights So how do we live if the ultimate reality is a void - It is fine to just be and revel in that feeling, to appreciate being alive, or someone who rests (without the cares of the world, anxieties and demands one places on oneself). It is a state which is fully in tune with the beauty theme – a feeling of deep calm and fulsome enjoyment. This seemed to cohere with mindfulness meditation of being in the moment. In contrast (this is a way to distinguish between what is right and wrong), anything that prevents us from witnessing and appreciating the beauty of the universe, e.g, hunger, war, desperation for care, is not ok.

@VeganAwake, @BipolarGrowth thank you! Good to hear I was traversing known territory. Before the sessions I set the intention to be taken as far as I could go in terms of understanding :). @Inliytened1 , logically though, the void to have the quality of love doesn't make sense as then it would not be nothingness. To experience the void and omniscience as one seems contradictory - amazing that you had such an experience.

How do you make it?

So, the 2nd session seemed to say that underlying the experience of oneness is great emptiness - the void. Our experiences of perfection and beauty may just be a layer of illusion. Would appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.

I still think the most amazing and liberating accounts of LSD use are by Dr Chris Bache in his book 'Diamonds from Heaven;. He explored ever deeper states of consciousness through high dose Lsd sessions over many years and, fascinatingly, was taken on a journey through many worlds and levels of consciousness. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44321378-lsd-and-the-mind-of-the-universe

@fish . you are a person of high intelligence to be so interested in this stuff and taking it on. This reminds me, I too read my first book on spirituality in my teens :). The practice is the hardest part. Reading and thinking is easy but trying to translate that into actual work will be the grand test. If you can do that consistently, you'll see change and expansion in both your understanding and personality. If you can't be disciplined and consistent (however small the effort), the outlook won't be good. You'll stay put in this place, feeling more frustrated as you go on. So, find a practice that you like and stick to it long enough (a few weeks at least, some would say a year) to see if it helps you before switching to something else.

@Peter124 , very interesting!! To help us lot on our paths. would you please describe how you got to this place? What practices did you do, what's the history :).

@traveler , that is a novel way of looking at it - 'What is often shown in such an experience is that nothing can be held onto'. Thank you. But, I've often read the void is an experience of ego-death, a challenge that one must undergo to experience an expanded state of consciousness or that all is love. Perhaps, the void is the reality beyond that. I don't know if both exist in tandem or are experienced in a progressive way.

Thank you.

@Dunnel , the loneliness must have been excruciating. Hence, creation!