Flyboy

I highly highly recommend Angelo DiLullo, author of "Awake", youtube handle "SimplyAlwaysAwake". He is a fully realized "arhat" level dude with incredibly clear and helpful intuitive descriptions which point to awakening without ever making it a concept. It's an outstanding counterpoint to someone like Daniel Ingram or other intensively rigorous meditative techniques.

I think there's 2 things to examine here--the relative and the absolute. From an absolute perspective, like others have said, there's no separation and thus no "being" to be reincarnated at all. From the relative perspective, I could appreciate the *possibility* that a "soul" of sorts could exist in that it could represent a process of division becoming unified. The "self" in all its forms stems from division, and this division need not be purely based on a single corporeal body's life (though it could be). Essentially, I'm saying there could be any number of in-between arcs between living as humans and a grander reunification into the One (all of which would be part of the dream, but nonetheless they could "exist" just as we do). Maybe enlightenment breaks part of this wheel or is the door to leveling up. Who knows? But I can appreciate a reasonable degree of agnosticism, as the complexity of reality even within the dream is unfathomable.

I guess that makes two of us

You have repeatedly, consistently demonstrated you literally do not understand what enlightenment refers to. Stilling your mind isn't about basking in silence. It is about allowing identity to dissolve at deeper and deeper levels, removing conceptual filters as it does. This process will eventually take with it EVERYTHING, including agency, time, space, the present moment, and even existence vs non-existence. It leaves absolutely no-where, in the Just This. The reality that a normal person "sees" is almost completely conceptual. Enlightenment is simply seeing what is ACTUALLY there, without these deep filters. This is non-conceptual, absolutely ungraspable and uncontainable. If you can put it into words, it isn't it. You have given up doing the real work and just opted for grand shortcuts that blow your ego up to infinity. Sorry, but this is a travesty and you do a big disservice to people on this path by encouraging this wild solidification of concepts. I wish you would backtrack about 4 years to the humble genuine curiosity you used to have, and look for the trail that you missed. From my perspective, you're caught in your own ego trap and can't see it. That's both ironic and sad.

Desire and resistance are the same thing though, if you look closely. The universe is "desireless" in that it is effortlessly spontaneous all the time, always perfectly identical with the "what is". I would just be careful not to stop looking into your own desires/resistance because you excuse it as "good," as this will keep you stuck in suffering, even if subtle.

My personal opinion is they were always stage Blue, but they were "Blue about Green." This is a common phenomenon for people born into Green who just accept its values in a dogmatic way. When other values come around, it's just a lateral move that helps their survival or comfort in some way.

I have a really hard time understanding how any symbol could be "special", as they are merely conceptual representations of some other "thing," making them totally arbitrary--merely part of a massive web of meaning-making constructed by the mind. Can you explain?

Annihilation is an excellent movie very clearly about enlightenment, but subtle enough to be taken as sci-fi by those that don't know what to look for

Well, because the answer you are looking for is simple: JUST THIS. But those simple words are ridiculously deceptive, in that they are so much radically deeper than you think that you will likely stop looking long before you have understood that. Meditation keeps you right now, for long enough to wake up to what I'm talking about. Psychedelics simply don't. The mystical experiences and mind-blowing "realizations" are just that--experiences for the mind. They are not enlightenment, and Leo does not understand this. But then, everything is enlightenment when you truly see, so that ground will fall away eventually too. But it probably won't fall away without meditation.

Spoiler alert: JUST THIS If that doesn't seem profound, keep looking That's all I have to say about that.

My perspective is that meditation is not about controlling the mind (e.g. Adderall), but about learning to be present and equanimous with what IS, whatever that may be. So even a fatigued, distracted, wandering mind is still a perfectly valid subject for meditative work. Stimulant drugs "speed up the river" if you will, and will enhance the challenge of actually paying attention to the flow. It can be done and I've heard of people reaching various stages of enlightenment while using ADD drugs, but I strongly recommend you don't fall into the trap of thinking meditation is something you "do". Meditation is the undoing of doing. It's realizing that doing and not doing are the same thing. The drugs won't help you with that.

Nope, the most clever wish is for you to never wish for anything

@tedens Do tell

Also, with ANY spiritual teacher, followers absolutely love to talk about the stuff the teacher says with slight variations in wording or language to make it sound like they both understand and are at/near the same level. There are plenty of these people on this forum, many in denial about it. I occasionally do this myself, though I at least try to be honest about when my understanding is "intellectual" vs experiential. Fortunately, there's also some really great authentic and realized people here, so you just need to apply some wisdom in who you listen to.

You sound like you're in the pit of the dark night... Just remember the 6 sense doors, and to see them with clarity, concentration, and equanimity, NO MATTER WHAT arises, and to notice the 3 characteristics in all things. Be so sure of that that you will face death itself head-on if necessary. The only way out is forward. Keep taking one step after another. Rest when you need to, but keep going. Remind yourself that in a way you're lucky... this despair precedes something truly wonderful. You've gotten this far, and braving this darkness is the key to the next sunrise. Everything is impermanent, even this. Look for what you're clinging to, as well... there is no suffering without clinging. Find it, see it, and let it go.

The book "Time, Space, and Knowledge" has some very good exercises for this phase of the path. It is however probably too advanced (perceptually) for anyone pre-stream entry or 2nd path maybe (aka me). It seems like later path progress is basically impossible to understand or visualize until you are entering that territory. Would you agree?

@OBEler I literally fried my brain after a single use. It has caused me HUGE amounts of suffering, and I was trying very hard to be responsible and safe. I'm just trying to help people not take stupid risks for a feel-good high. You do you bro.

I took a 120mg and a 50mg re-up. Very moderate usage and in a safe calm environment. The pharma-huasca was 2 weeks later. I don't know what to tell you, but I'd never had any issues with psychedelics before, and that pharma trip messed me up big time. My brain was fried badly enough that I couldn't even do a light dose of shrooms 6 months later without significant suffering. MDMA, for some people, does NOT require a large dose or multiple uses to cause long-term toxicity. Read the whole article.

@WokeBloke You just keep trying to back out the "self", but it's not there. It's like a sneaky assumption you're making that because something arose, something else had to have caused it. Your experience will not reveal that. Even intention is a thought, as is agency. You think you moved your hand to grab your cup? No, the thought "I" took credit for the intention/movement AFTER it was created. This is a key insight from close mindfulness. ALL thoughts and sensations arise from and return to "nothing", in no time, for no one, no where. No perception can perceive another perception; taking credit is just another thought. Time, space, distance, and self are all illusory constructs and reflections.

There's no thinker. It's just a mirror that reflects experience with no substance at all. But this is the end of the path, not the beginning. It will take a lot of work for this to be experientially true for you, as this subtle sense of self is highly entrenched and solidified.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071023/

Personally, I'd avoid MDMA unless you really need it for a specific and serious trauma (like bad PTSD). It can permanently alter your receptor functioning, and in my case, contributed to a pharma-huasca disaster 2 weeks later in which my receptors got badly fried. While it feels amazing to be wrapped in Joy, it isn't worth the consequences, in my opinion.

- Not listening to your heart - Not listening to your intuition - Not loving your ego / small-s self (goes hand in hand with integrating your shadows) - Using guilt / blame on yourself or others in any way (inherently dualistic and dividing) - Pursuing Truth but not Love, or Love but not Truth (they spiral around each other until the very end) - Implicitly weaving models into your "understanding" (great example is Leo talking about states of consciousness and consciousness going up / down - this is a model and creates a ground to stand on and excuses NOT doing the nitty-gritty work) - Accepting ANY ground to stand on - Psychedelics are fine, but the reality is that until the self/Self are totally undone permanently and utterly, you literally CANNOT perceive ultimate truth without a filter... even the most transcendent 5-MeO state will still be seen from the subtle ground you stand on, resulting in some warped views on Self - Not doing the nitty-gritty work because you want the mystical states. When you see, is there a seer? When you hear is there a hearer? When you think is there a thinker? This is SUPER subtle work and requires much time and delicacy. This last layer of subtlety collapses co-dependently at the very end of the path... don't lie to yourself that you are there, because you probably aren't. This is swiss watch repair, and psychedelics are a sledge hammer. This can only really be done in meditation or contemplation, sober. - Not letting go of the mind. What you're looking for is beyond the mind. Thoughts are fine, but as long as there is any identification with them, the Truth won't find you. If you can speak of it, it isn't IT.

Just don't forget that psychedelics are a very powerful tool, when used wisely, for healing and growing yourself. They can help you accomplish the list of "prerequisites" you mentioned. The point of them really isn't a grand mystical experience, though that can be great; the point is to help you on your path. I think the only true best practice is to take them seriously and use them with intention, and to give yourself the time and space to integrate the lessons into your real life. They can be extraordinary for real/lasting healing from anxiety and trauma, so don't feel like those are "bad"... just know that difficult trips may be necessary to confront the darkness head-on. Serious usage spread over long periods of time will help you the most.

Plus, if you are saying "I am God" you are imputing a Self to this "entity" which you are conceptualizing as God, and conceptualizing as "you." So many errors here. Someone truly realized is like a tree growing in a forest... the tree doesn't tell you it's a tree, it just is a tree. It would be ridiculous and very un-tree-like for it to tell you it's a tree. If it tells you it's a tree, chances are it's a dude wearing a tree costume believing it's a tree. Which doesn't mean the dude isn't a tree, but he sure as heck isn't realized about it.