Flyboy

This fantasy of "states of consciousness" is one of Leo's fundamental errors in his model of reality, and is a conceptual justification for not doing the real work. This is NOT what enlightenment is, and no number of trips will shortcut you out of doing the actual difficult work on the path. ALL HOLDING ON MUST BE LET GO. All of it. Holding on to understanding, to "god realization", to being fucking Yoda, to time and space, to omniscience, the whole thing. Leo is on a dangerous road, and I'll keep saying it. There's no depth to this thing. It's beyond the mind entirely.

I just finished a 10 day Goenka retreat, and I will say that when you DEEPLY connect to the breath amazing things start happening. By day 7 or so my whole body felt luminous, and it was like all my impurities and blockages were on fire, just burning away with each deep inhale and exhale. This takes a certain momentum that is hard to do outside of retreat, but it is certainly possible and incredibly healing. But you gotta go for it 100%, no distractions.

Oh trust me, I haven't been "following" him for quite some time. I am following my own path and my own heart. On another note, this whole "alien" descriptor is EXACTLY how McGilchrist describes the experience of schizophrenics. That is one of the defining characteristics of it. From the standpoint of nonduality, schizophrenia is actually quite interesting. Much of it actually resembles enlightenment, but at the same time the subjects are terrified and anxious and ungrounded. To me, it seems that the sense of self exists in both halves of the brain, with the left being more gross and conceptual and the right being much more subtle (time, space, context, etc.). Schizophrenics essentially LOSE the subtle sense of self while retaining the gross sense (because it is a disorder of extreme left-brain dominance); this results in a half-enlightened terror state for most. Leo isn't so terrified because of his experience with spirituality, but nonetheless he seems to be going deeper and deeper into this fantasy realm of pure abstract conceptualization, devoid of embodied presence and relationship, devoid of aliveness and inseperable connection to the source experiences which ground and inform abstraction to begin with... Alien. Genuine enlightenment typically involves unraveling the gross sense of self first (via inquiry, vipassana, etc), and THEN as insight clarifies, concentration deepens, and equanimity is attained, gradually unraveling the extremely subtle sense of self (right hemisphere identity, essentially). When both are complete, Reality simply shines as itself. So, healthy progression arrives at Thusness in a way that is "big to small", grounded, and supportive of psychological health.

You know, if you carefully look at the way Leo talks, the way he lives almost exclusively within abstractions (even if they are ABOUT spirituality), his stubborn arrogance about "being right" with no ability to introspect, and the way he has descended into a kind of endlessly one-upping narcissism, it's really quite reminiscent of schizophrenia / left-brain hyperactivity. It's starting to get scary though, given how many people he influences. I really worry about where this will go given this clear trend over the last couple years. It's not even worth arguing with him anymore. He needs an intervention.

Read this out loud to yourself, 10 times. I hope you get some psychiatric help, bro. It's starting to get REALLY obvious, even to your most die-hard sycophants. This train wreck has been sad to watch. Wish you the best.

Salvia and schizophrenia (which is hyper-activation of the left hemisphere and suppression of the right, essentially) actually have a lot in common... which makes me think Salvia may block/erase the right hemisphere aspects of self (time, spatial grounding, continuity, context), while preserving the left hemisphere aspects. This very awkward combination of "half-enlightenment" is the scary, rapey, objectified experience that results. While both hemispheres contribute to the self-sense, I think the typical Path erodes the left hemisphere sense first, and the much more subtle and profound self-sense of the right hemisphere is the work done to finish the job prior to realization of Anatta. Once again, see the work of Iain McGilchrist for a ton of "enlightening" perspective on how each hemisphere of the brain constructs various aspects of the self-sense and our view of reality.

I'll start by saying I did read GEB, cover to cover. It was interesting and sometimes insightful, but woefully stuck in the materialist paradigm and not as profound as Hofstadter himself thinks it is. And, as I've come to see, it was totally stuck (in an unaware way) in left-brain thinking. Read "The Master and his Emissary" All I can say is WOW, this book was a golden find. It contains some of the deepest and most profound thinking I have found in an intellectual book, and goes far beyond the basic premise of describing brain hemisphere differences. It connects deeply researched neuroscience with philosophy, music, art, culture, science, emotion, epistemology, and in many ways the nature of reality itself. The book examines how the hemisphere "personality" differences color both our perception of the world and our construction of the world, and in a feat of intellectual superpower, it does this very analysis through both left and right-brained lenses, and integrates the two. This is not easy reading, but it so well written that the challenge lies entirely in your ability to understand the ideas, rather than struggle with convoluted language or the author's ego. @Leo Gura You need to read this book and add it to your book list. This lense is as powerful as Spiral Dynamics, and even enriches it too as many of the stage alterations are seen to actually be integrations of brain hemispheres in increasingly sophisticated ways. And even more importantly, I think it will alert you to the abstractions present in your own work that are perhaps more grounded in left-brain thinking than you realize. The integration this book ultimately describes is the true definition of Turquoise, I think, and represents an incredible sophistication rarely seen in any human. Enjoy! As a side note, I'm also reading Wilbur's Religion of Tomorrow, and find that work to be vacuous and uninspired to say the least. Wilbur has one idea for every 30 pages, while Iain McGilchrist has 30 real ideas per page. The difference is gargantuan.

If that's the case, why is your content so cleanly abstracted, self-congruent, and simultaneously unaware of its own abstraction and assumptions? (A great example is your "levels of consciousness" model, which is absolutely an abstraction and quite incorrect, in my opinion; another example is the way you talk about imagination [notice: abstract concept], and use it as a magic bullet to avoid any kind of felt relationship or interaction with externalities.) You even talk about abstraction and intuition as if those are both right-brained things, seemingly failing to realize they are polar opposites (!). I've experienced integrated ways of thinking on psychedelics that are indeed profound, so I don't doubt such experiences. What most concerns me is the narcissism that is becoming so evident on this channel. Just look at this whole thread. Your responses are so aloof and arrogant and closed-minded in such a meta way (yeah you're the MOST open-minded and enlightened person in the whole world--no one could possibly teach you anything )... if you can't see the irony your right brain isn't so good after all. It's like you want to be THE BEST at being loving and conscious, as long as everyone knows you're the BEST at it. UGH. Let. Fucking. Go. Said with the best of intentions.

The purpose of vipassana is to develop sensory clarity and to reduce clinging. As clinging to various sensations is ground down (which can be done at deeper and deeper levels as clarity increases), the "speed" with which sensations are noticed in awareness may increase dramatically. It's like reality gets lubed. Clinging is let go by noticing the 3 characteristics - impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and no-self. Put simply, self and resistance/clinging (and suffering!) are dependently originated, meaning one arises in response to the other. Vipassana deconstructs the resistance side of this (while self-inquiry and do nothing both deconstruct the "self" side). They are mutually supportive. Either can be taken all the way, but I personally think meeting in the middle is the best path. As equanimity deepens, self (and thus suffering) decreases. Awakening becomes likely as space is created between awareness and its contents, but this initial awakening will need to deepen substantially to reach the major milestone of true Anatta (no-self in ALL sensory perception, including time, space, distance, etc., EVEN awareness itself). The deconstruction to reach anatta is subtle and deep, and will take years of careful practice for most. Anatta is a massive achievement, but there are subtle aspects of enlightenment that deepen this realization. These essentially include emptiness and luminosity--on the one hand truly dropping the "thingness/inherent existence" of all things, and on the other the shining forth of love, interconnection, and vivid aliveness in every moment of experience, with no boundaries or borders to be found anywhere. It all becomes one ineffable unspeakable Thisness. As far as suffering goes, Anatta is basically the end of that. Descriptions in words fail very early on in this process, so realize this is not a conceptual dogma but really just a general pointing map for the path. Seeing That Frees is a wonderful guide to much of this, but really understanding how all the practices relate to each other is a larger work of integration, and you'll need to branch out to many teachers and methods to put it together yourself.

I think you're just scared dude. Scared of intaking ideas which might threaten to destabilize the extensive knowledge web which you've created with your "work". Despite how much you like to say words like "holism" and "intuition", the way you actually talk about your ideas is extremely left-brained, and lives primarily in the realm of abstraction. You probably think that's a good thing (I did too, before deeply studying McGilchrist). He demonstrates what a true right-brained communication is like to take in. It's a completely different experience. This book will teach you what art really is, and how to understand it. It will teach you metaphor, music, poetry, and about the real nature of relationship. The degree to which this could deepen your thinking is tremendous--I have moved past many of your ideas as I have come to understand them as relatively surface-level abstractions that miss a deeper reality. Don't get me wrong, my left-brain LOVES your work, it is so clear within the abstraction playground--I just now realize how much more this actually misses. Leave your comfort zone, even if you think that comfort zone is "infinite intelligence". In the end all grounds must drop anyway, including the Self that you project onto God/This.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with Gadolinium, especially regarding chelation or detox. I unfortunately consented to an MRI using this contrast, and immediately experienced the dreaded side effects (burning, buzzing in the extremities), which still persist daily months later. I've mostly read that doctor-administrated chelation is ineffective, but was wondering if a slower method like the Andy Cutler chelation might also be effective for reducing these symptoms. My sympathy to anyone else that is suffering from this, it sucks. Western medicine is so unconscious sometimes.

What is the deeper issue? The Matter With Things is next on my list. For the record, I don't always agree with McGilchrist. Like Hofstadter, he circles around the reflections in life that point toward the infinite. Too close to the singularity and he starts to miss the mark, especially regarding the nature of self and the final collapsing of duality. A great example is his disdain for schizophrenia (as a left-brain dominated condition), even though in many ways schizophrenia borders on enlightenment from "the other side". He doesn't connect that the whole picture loops back on itself if taken far enough in either direction. But that's where I come in, and his understanding is always in service to my own, not a replacement for it. And really, the value here is in appreciating the magnificence of this relative experience, in its great depth and complexity. Enlightenment goes beyond this, but does not in any way negate the value of this understanding, but is instead enriched and mutually supported by it (even if such support is not ultimately needed). This is just an exceptional work within intellectualism of the currents of the relative world that lead to the absolute.

There is some wild stuff going on during sleep. I've woken up from deep sleep with this crazy, primal, pure sex desire a number of times. A while ago, my gf and I both woke up to it simultaneously, as if we had been connected in the same "place", and until my brain fully woke up the lust was maddening (we were both totally sober, btw). I have a newfound appreciation for the depth and power of the sex drive, and also for possibilities contained within states of consciousness normally considered "unaware".

I didn't want to bring this up, but YES $142 later, it is the most expensive book on my shelves, and holy moly is it a monster (1500 pages in 2 parts). Given how difficult TMAHE has been, I'm daunted. But this has been the most worthwhile reading "on the relative" that I have ever done, so I will take on this epic challenge once I've processed this first one a bit. I have a lot of internal work to do find the sneaky ways in which my left brain tells my right brain to shut up, and further to let my right brain really flourish and figure out how to get them to cooperate healthily (which is probably a lifelong endeavor). Suit yourself brother. We're on different paths, but I hope we end up in the same place eventually. I personally intend to be very careful about closing myself off to learning from others, no matter how deep I think I am. But I also understand that some things don't have the "signal to noise ratio" as you put it (The Book of Minds comes to mind... ugh). I'm just suggesting McGilchrist's signal ratio is pretty fucking worthwhile, imo, and that his ideas are not easily summarized, so actually reading the book will have a different effect than reading "about" them. Cheers.

@Leo Gura You won't know that until you read it. For me, it has caused a deep reexamination of the way my mind works and the way I think. Like other lenses, it brings clarity to processes that were "blurry", and then allows contemplation to reintegrate that clarity into the whole. It does this profoundly. The mind (and heart) of a Turquoise polymath is nothing to be sneered at--I often spend an hour on 5 pages. Yes it's based on neuroscience and philosophy, AND it isn't. It's left AND right. It's experience AND concept. It's beauty AND logic. It cuts to the heart of holism and its relationship with integration and separation, and does so using the tools of both analytical thinking and metaphorical and lyrical and even poetic shades of understanding, and then integrates them. Not many on this forum can challenge you intellectually, but I can. And I'm telling you this book would help your work and help you contemplate more deeply, as you DO have blind spots (as do we all). Just because you enjoy contemplating "ultimate" reality, it's important to also remember there is (and isn't) a distinction between the absolute and relative. Enlightenment and beyond points towards "truth", but the relative is also part of (and the whole of) that truth. Paradox collapses both, and it is precisely that collapsing that this book brings much-needed light to. I actually don't think McGilchrist is enlightened, but it doesn't matter because he's so close within the relative that there are exceptionally few points of confusion, and that's where you need to bring your own experience to the table anyway. This is worth the time and investment, and any argument that "you don't need it" is just self-deception and fear of introducing ungrounding elements into your "view." Live where you fear to live. - Rumi

I think you're well aware this reply is quite distasteful. That aside, this book is what Turquoise is really about. It takes conceptuality right to the edge of its breaking point at the boundary between the mind and perception, which is rarified territory that I have not seen any other author successfully address. There are plenty of books on enlightenment, which are ultimately just pointings and aimed at the non-conceptual... but this book leads right up to that event horizon where concepts break and fall apart. This is intellectually fascinating and VERY challenging, even for someone smart. Your own work would benefit from this perspective greatly, as I recognize a lot of these left-brain biases in your teachings. If you "waste time" on spiral dynamics or cook-greuter, you should "waste time" on this. You still live in the world brah, and this lense is powerful.

If you're below his level, I'm sure it is. Not for me, it was mostly a step backwards and an exercise in untwisting his ideas. Tiresome and not as rewarding as I'd hoped (much like reading something from Ray Dalio, for example). McGilchrist, on the other hand, is a polymath genius and his ideas are profound, though also not 100% accurate when he gets too close to "self" and "consciousness". But he gets much much closer than GEB does.

But DO NOT use them with 5-Meo-DMT. Not the same.

Try learning meditation. Kriya amounts to an attempt to squish concentration, insight, and energy work into a single practice, while doing none of them well. I think you're much better off with any of the Buddhist traditions. Kundalini will rise when it is ready. Forcing it is a terrible idea.

Deep Simplicity (chaos theory) and Infinity and the Mind (infinity in many varieties) GEB is great for understanding fundamental pure math ideas about the limits of logic, and it's certainly a Yellow book, but it is rigidly materialistic and misses the very heart of nonduality despite bumping its head into over and over. He even has chapters on Zen and just can't grasp consciousness to save his life and tirelessly confuses it with mind. I wasn't as impressed by this book as Leo, it was mostly cute cleverness and a whole lot of work.

The Neverending Story is a deep enlightenment metaphor if you know what you're looking for. Also the Alchemist.

I'd say curiosity and open-mindedness are key. Both nature and context are important for these, especially being in environments than allow continued growth and integration. That said, those of you "born into Green" are likely less Green than you realize, as you probably have a bunch of holes in the Red/Blue/Orange stages, and may even "believe" Green as an ideology rather than truly integrate it, which is really Blue! (e.g. you're Blue about Green values) I had the (mis)fortune of being born into Blue, grew myself into Orange, got plunged by my work environment into Purple/Red (fighter pilot), and then finally had a bunch of smart Green people pull me along. I've arrived at a Yellow that is uncommonly experienced with the lower stages, and hard-fought. Without this kind of experience though, it'd be more like intellectual bypassing. Even then, it's worth acknowledging we all have holes in our development and should constantly be on the lookout for them.

I tried microdosing LSD for work before, and found that it was too wavy and unstable for any kind of decent productivity. You're better off with something like Modafinal or frankly, a good night's sleep.

Such eloquence. How can I argue...

This is a great example of why saying "everything is imaginary" is such a shitty teaching. All that encourages is for you to get stuck in your thoughts. Thoughts about imagining, imagining that things are imaginary, etc. Do you experience things as imaginary? No? Then great, stop thinking that shit. Leo would do well to stop thinking it himself. Your experience is what counts, and until the nature of reality becomes apparent to you, don't go around creating this pseudo-spirituality religion out of it. What you're really doing here is creating a self-concept out of these thoughts, and solidifying that self concept, effectively deepening your separation from reality/experience. This obviously is going to increase suffering. Suffering was used as the primary metric by the Buddha for a damn good reason: it is directly linked to sense of self, clinging/craving, and separation (and hence, realization = no suffering). These all go to zero simultaneously. Start working on that and use your suffering as a guide.