Someone here

From the Buddhist perspective, which is where this is coming from, I think it's important that one understands what is meant by "no-self". There is clearly a person typing this message out, and you are clearly reading it. And these individuals (me and you) and distinct and different entities, with different feelings, experiences, and emotions. These of course manifest in different personalities. But, there is a tendency to assume that this conception an individual has about their self, "who they are" "what they stand for", etc. is a permenant, fixed, unchanging entitity. We often hear expressions in our common speech, "No matter what happens I will always be this kind of person" and so on. So, there is the idea that is developed which essentially implies that this self is an entity, and it is an entity which exists beyond the confines of the physical body, almost. It is this self that the aforementioned philospohers are claiming as non-existent. Try this thought experiment: imagine yourself at the earliest age possible, 5, 6, 7.. however, young you can recall some sense of self with any capacity. Imagine what your favorite experiences were, your hopes, what you wanted to be as an adult, your favorite show, food, color, etc. Now, I'm sure nearly all of those things are no longer true, correct? What happened to that self? Where did it go? It changed. As you changed physically, and as you experienced more, you altered. But how? And why? And what part of that child is still with the adult? If we could locate that one thread on similarity between your earliest self and today could we say that that is the permemenat self? Surely not. Too many things in your life would be deemed too important by the current incarnation of the self to state that the only existent true self was whatever thread connected to infancy. But the corollary is important to pay attention to as well: what aspects of your present incarnation of self that are curcial to your understanding of your unique individuality will become unimportant and trivial in twenty years from now? Will you have to reduce the self to just the thread that exists from to day to twenty years from now and infancy? No. Because there is no self. This idea of some permement you that exists through space and time is just an illusion. So I get that part ..but then you go on and say : Didn't we just agreed that the self Is an illusion? Then how could an illusion suffer or fear death ? How could something which doesn't even exist suffer any kind of emotion ? One question : a metaphor for what? Second question: do you distinguish between ego death and physical death , Third question: do you think physical death is an illusion ? If so..why ? If not..the what happens after it ?

So which one is it ? An illusion ?or already the case ? I'm still confused. You can't say death =Awakening =God =Love =Truth ..and at the same time say that death is imaginary or that death is already the case ...these three are not the same thing. Not sure how does Leo equate them . @Breakingthewall Death and life are real in this dimension as much as a dream seems real when we are in it. There is however a much greater reality we know after death, that makes our physical passing look very much like an illusion. Our human lives are really an experience of moving our awareness through an infinite field of loving energy that has no beginning and end. Our brains filter this energy and give us the perception of a solid reality. Even our science admits that that are ranges of energy beyond sight and hearing, and now in quantum phsyics there is acknowledgement that at the subatomic level, where we observe something it appears as matter whereas moments before it was only a “probability wave.” So in the end I think it depends on what infinity decides to dream in the next lifetime .If it decides to dream of being a dog or a cat or an ant or a human..or of nothing at all (with the Literal meaning of the word nothing)..then nobody can stop infinity from dreaming whatsoever the fuck it wants .

@Inliytened1 what's the difference/relationship between death (physical death) and awakening? Are they the same thing? Because sometimes Leo equates death with awakening and sometimes he says death is imaginary..so does that follow that awakening is imaginary? What am I missing here?

Nope. You really and truly die. And the self is an illusion . the idea that you are this separate and unique “poor little old me,” disconnected from the rest of the universe. Every single atom that makes you up, is an atom that was made in a star. Every bit of you is the universe itself, that has come alive for a few moments in time, and has become aware of itself. You are the universe itself, becoming conscious of itself for a bit, and then you die. But every single conscious being in the world, is also the same universe. So the thing is, while death is not an illusion, it’s impossible to experience death, since we experience consciousness with our brains. And since our brains doesn’t survive death, death is the lack of experience. So even if you die, and there isn’t another conscious being that is born for trillions of years in the universe, you would be that being, since you are the universe. But the thing is, you would experience it as if no time at all had passed since your death, and trillions of years later when the new being was born. It’s like a video recorder. You record a home video of yourself when you’re 13 years old. and then you don’t turn the video recorder on for 5 years. But when you play back your movie on the tv, you’d see yourself at 13, and then it would jump to you at 18, as if no time at all had passed in between them. thats what it will be like when you die. You’re next moment of life might be trillions of years from now, but it will be like no time at all had passed since you died.

Yes the solipsism thing .and the death thing .I think Leo himself is confused about these two topics . About solipsism he released a video saying that definitively solipsism is true. And then he took it down and published another video called "infinity of gods " rambling about how there can be other conscious being besides oneself. So it's a clear contradiction from his part . Also, he seems very confused when it comes to death .he sometimes say death is infinite love .sometimes he say death is melting into infinity and be formless forever. Sometimes he say you will simply just change your forms and reincarnate as a new different form .and sometimes he says death is imaginary and it will never even happen . So which one is it ?? I guess you should pick the one that resonates with you mostly . I think that sometimes Leo doesn't want his guru image to be challenged or proven to be false. Some people have a massive ego. They believe they are superior to everyone else. Therefore when hit with a scenario where they are in the wrong their ego won't let them addmit it. Because it would contradict their superiority.

even though I do agree with what you're saying. The thing is, a lot of times, people are convinced that their side is the right one. We are all the 'heroes' of our own stories until we find out we're not. A lot of times people don't even know they are wrong. Sometimes it is an ego thing, but sometimes it's just a complete misunderstanding. People processes information differently, and some things are obvious to some people but not to others. You may think the other is wrong and assume they don't know but don't want to admit, but you might actually be wrong instead. It could always be the other way around if things were never clearly communicated. You really never know sometimes. And because society has a stigma towards being wrong, people will continually justify their own actions whether they are 'wrong' or 'right'. We gain appreciation in the eyes of most people, when we admit we are wrong. But only if we really are wrong. What if you aren’t sure? Then it is not wise to do that. What if you are a politician? Then your competitors will jump on you and make sure your admission is widely disseminated. Is that bad? Most politicians think it is. And most people in general.

I get that. But why are you placing more importance on first order truth than second order truth ? For example..hunger is a second truth. It's first order is mere sensations in the stomach. But if you don't plan to feed yourself for more than two weeks ..you will most likely fall dead .so second order truths are no less important than first order truth . Similarly, death is defined as an absence of properties that are considered definitive of life. Quite simply, absences have no existence. Again, by definition. If I show you an empty hand and say ‘there is an absence of gold here’ then does that constitute the existence of an absence of gold? No. It doesn’t. Because it also constitutes an absence of silver and an absence of Diet Coke. That absence is an absence of everything and it thereby constitutes nothing. So are you saying, since death is the absence of life it does not exist ?It is a state of contrast .an alternative state of being where what we consider being has evidently ceased to be? Ironically, death is an absolutely certain uncertainty.

Death Is not something my ego wants to be real .its an objective fact . I think It is passing from one world to the other. I have a lot of proof it exists . It also has NOTHING to do with religion or scary beliefs. Religion is man made and trying to get people to fear God is also man made to control them . Noone knows or can know because we cease to be living. Do you believe we have a spirit or a soul, or do you believe that we just die and that's it? There is no right or wrong here. My personal belief is that we are Spiritual Beings just moving around in this “earth suit” if you will. Only the body dies. A spirit or soul cannot die. I do not believe in a Supreme Being that would cast us into a hell or judge as good enough to get into heaven. Judgement is for humans. A truly Supreme Being would be ABOVE any human concepts such as Judgement. I believe in Reincarnation. Atheists and Christians alike disagree with me on this. And that's ok!! I don't ask anyone to believe as I do. You are welcome to of course but it's not going to hurt my feelings if you don't. Only you can decide what you believe, what makes the most sense to you, and you don't have to explain yourself to anyone. To me. Reincarnation makes more sense than a perfect deity being imperfect enough to use judgement. It also makes more sense to me that instead of having a spirit that we are perfectly divine spirits. Many think this way. Others reject it. With the violence, hatred, animosity we have in the world, it doesn't make sense. Buf if everyone were to believe this, and truly live like this, all that violence, animosity, and hatred would dissipate. It's how I choose to live. Others do as well. Many won't. And that's ok!!

@Breakingthewall I think some people (expecially spiritual teachers and really anyone that people look up to as an intellectual authority) are afraid of being wrong. in their minds, being wrong is bad and no one will like them. I know that sounds both extreme and an oversimplification, and it may be. But it’s still true. It’s not about arrogance, it’s about fear. Many people have so little self-confidence that being wrong just makes it harder for them to believe in themselves. They think people judge them for it. Now, you and I know that’s not how it works. You don’t dismiss someone as worthless just because they were wrong about something. We all know that admitting a mistake actually elevates you in the minds of most people. But if your self-image is that low, making a mistake is just one more thing that’s wrong with you. And people in that situation cannot handle something else being wrong with them. And if there’s all that wrong with you, no one will like you. I'm not suggesting that Leo is falling into the same trap..but sometimes he really dances around the question and it looks like he doesn't really know but doesn't wanna admit it to not look like he has no clue in front of his "students "

How is that an answer to my question ?? I agree with OP. You never make yourself clear about the issue of death .you always half-quote people and leave a couple of unnecessary lines like this one and leave it at that. Could it be possible that you simply still have no clue about the subject of death ? It seems all your line of reasoning is that death is in the future and since the future is imaginary then death is imaginary too ..but this imaginary future is constantly being pulled into the present .so death will come not as a future but as a present event. I hope you can clarify things for me

Got it . So even though we can both call blue "blue" ..there is no way to verify that my blue is your blue. We just assume its the same. You can't jump between different bodies and experience what it's like to be your mom. So that leaves the question open. And solipsism doesn't allow space for expanding perspective or acknowledge these limitations that I just mentioned. Solipsism is the belief that external reality is your mental projection.It’s only you, surrounded by zombies. We can easily see the error by thinking about dreams.Dreams are projections, but your dream self isn’t surrounded by zombies. Your dream self is a projection too, like the other dream characters.Your consciousness isn’t in your dream body.Every dream character has an equal claim on it.Non-duality maintains the Self is the only reality.Nothing else has independent existence. At most, it’s an internal reflection, like a dream.“You” are a character in your own dream. Because there’s only one Self, you must be in your own dream. And I'm on my own dream .so we are both figments of each other's imagination AND simultaneously independently real .

Let's cut the shit ... Do you agree that I'm a conscious person just like you ? Yes or no ?

@justfortoday Everyone is just actors, you got that right. But! You have a blind spot: yourself. What makes you real? The error is in thinking that you are the center of everything. That is the most common error .so common it's taken to be absolute truth. Others are not real, you're right. They're impersonating people, playing roles. But so are you. I know that can be scary, because the whole thing is empty. It means there's no one here. Just Shakespeare’s stage and ‘us’ as actors on it. But we're also the audience. Funny enough it's a show with no one for no one revolving around no one. No one is the hero, but no one is the villain either. Just roles playing out, directed by the process of life life-ing. About the whole VR thing...yeah yeah yeah..You live in the Matrix, so of course reality is all an illusion. Just don’t walk in front of a moving car, because your illusion will hurt.

@Mannyb thanks. Will check it out ?

@Razard86 you are just speculating . no matter how you capitalize words . I don't buy this solipsism BS anymore. We all are conscious. If you truly were a solipsist and you want to be consistent with your worldview then you simply should stop blabbering your mouth everyday on this forum and just rejoice in your solipsistic bubble instead . But since you are in a forum talking to a group of "other people " then you are not a solipsist.

Lol Nobody told you that those first few sips of tea in the morning with some fine Marlboro Gold makes for a perfect combo? I usually smoke while drinking tea . They are wired together in my brain. Afraid that I need to drop tea as well

@Carl-Richard ? or ? It's my choice .

Those whom you thought cared about you and loved you, run from you because to them you’ve become some strange alien. You find yourself in a place where you’re completely alone and left to deal with your souls karmic obligations and evolutionary processes. The wool is removed from your eyes and you’re able to see this earth shit for what it truly is. You’re no longer afraid of what life could possibly hand you. You tend to focus more on knowing and understanding your purpose for being here and moving and acting accordingly. You now understand that it’s time to put on your grown folks shoes, strut through the earth being exactly who you are and doing exactly what you’ve come to do. You really arrive at a place where you realize you have no more fucks to give about the things you once thought were very important.

@Leo Gura leo, please, let's be clear and precise as possible. Tell me ..if right now I shoot my head with a gun.. What exactly is going to happen? I need a visual description. And an auditory description. A Complete phenomenological description that gets me a real image of what death is like. Thanks.

Absolutely nothing man ? It's not so much stopping that's difficult. Believe it or not ,I can put down smoking cigarettes right now if i wanted to . It's the withdrawal I cannot bear. I've noticed I've become very short tempered and my overall anxiety increases when i don't have nicotine. I tried to quit for two weeks and those two weeks were full of stress .I could not sleep .I had no energy .and my mood was awful . I regret that cursed fucking day when I put the first damn cigarette in my mouth . I need help man .

Then what the heck is THIS?!

@justfortoday so I'm the only conscious observer right now in the entire universe? But there will come a time in a hypothetical future (timeline) that I will live through your POV? But then what's the difference between that and our conventional perspective? You can only verify your own consciousness but you cannot absolutely cannot in a million years jump behind my eyes and see the world from my pov and conclude that I'm just a figment of your mind like in a nightly dream and have no independent existence. It's a game of probability really. Since certainty around this issue is unreachable. You can only speculate. But the problem arises when you take your speculations so seriously and get stuck on them and not being able to jump between different paradigms . I accept both the idealist and the realist paradigms simultaneously. While you only accept the idealist paradigm. Which means you need to expand your perspective more .

I smoked again today . Fuck this shit is more difficult than I thought . I wish I never started smoking.

I will start first. I eat usually 3 eggs sandwich for breakfast with some coffee .sometimes I eat cheese but mostly boiled eggs . I eat rice and meat (chicken or red meat or fish etc) with cooked vegetables for lunch and dinner . I may have a snack here and there between the meals ..usually a piece of chocolate or fruits.