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@Fadl Agree. Easier said than done though. Unfortunately I don’t think overcoming fear of death is in my father’s life trajectory for this lifetime...perhaps not until his deathbed, when many finally are able to let go.

I noticed my dad regressing due to fear of COVID. He became more Conformist and fixated on everyone following the rules and maintaining order.

I heard Adyashanti push back pretty heavily against the notion of a global awakening in a recent interview. He said there’s just as much evidence that we’re going backwards as we are forwards. I was pretty surprised to hear him say this as I too have gotten used to hearing the New Age default storyline being a “mass collective shift in consciousness.” But like Leo is saying, it seems clear that it’s a shift into Green, not a mass awakening into nondual consciousness. Those are two very different things but often are conflated by 1st tier thinking.

@Leo Gura What distinguishes this as Turquoise rather than Yellow?

When we humans all used to be Stage Purple thousands of years ago, Blue would have seemed completely impossible and insane. But now it's the dying minority that's being transcended. So I don't see a reason why in many hundreds or thousands of years Yellow somehow couldn't become the norm, what Orange is today. But certainly it seems that unless something miraculous happens it will take much longer than 200 years for this to occur on a global scale.

@allislove Ha, thanks! So far Ananda has only helped me to remove labels that I've put on myself, not the other way around...

@beastcookie Clear* light "blast" as he refers to it in the 580s chapter...I believe he's talking about a direct mystical experience. Equivalent to "catching a glimpse" of the Ox in the Ten Ox Zen map. I've only had this experience via psychedelics. Occasionally I see what feels like the shadow of the ox but still not the ox itself

@Leo Gura Thank you - I appreciate the advice and warnings. Rest assured, I'm pegging this whole RASA experiment as the equivalent of seeing a personal trainer twice a month at the gym. Obviously the actual work is up to me, but perhaps the trainer, in this case Ananda, can help make sure I'm working in the right direction and *potentially* even help expedite the journey. Even if the RASA itself does absolutely nothing at all, I've still found my two hours of one-on-one time with Ananda to be invaluable. I'm taking it session-by-session and will certainly stop if I feel it's no longer serving me.

@beastcookie How are your sessions going? I've had two sessions with Ananda so far, and my third is next week. The first session brought me to the same state that I was in after the two 10 day mediation retreats I've done in the past. Super present and able to rest as The Witness with little effort. Meditations felt much more effortless and drastically less thoughts. This lasted for a week. It was pretty amazing that a 15 minute session could do that. She assessed my LOC at 583 before the first session. I felt this was a little higher than where I likely was. Based off reading Ramaji's 1000 book, I had put myself somewhere in the 570s. My second session I started crying during the RASA, feeling a lot of love and gratitude. But then like a wave I came face-to-face with many of my shadows and stories, and the past two weeks has been like all my baggage was dumped on the floor for me to review. I see this as a great gift and part of the process, but it certainly has come with some frustration/amazement at how many stories, beliefs and patterning I still have to work through. She last assessed my LOC at 589. Again, based off my reading of the map, I'd say this is higher than where I actually am. I have not had a "white light" spiritual blast yet, which according to Ramaji is basically a prerequisite for moving past the 580s into 590 (but perhaps this is yet another false story I'm telling myself?). I had a very profound psychedelic experience 1.5 years ago that was extraordinarily transformational, but still my guess is I'll need to keep at it until a moment of Grace helps bring me into the 600s (I know it's all Grace - forgive the semantics). Overall I really resonate with Ananda and her teaching style. She has a great balance between intensity and loving feminine energy. Her ability to weave the Enneagram into her teaching really resonates. Looking forward to my next session on Tuesday!

I deleted all my social media accounts 1.5 years ago and haven't regretted it for a minute. I find I keep in better touch with my friends, texting and calling them directly rather than passively "catching up" via scrolling on their feeds. I have endless more time on my hands which I can pour into learning new subjects, reading, contemplating, being in nature. It's an individual decision for everyone to make on their own, but for me it's been a life changer.

Travel. Growing up every year my family would go on an off-the-beaten path trip in a "developing" country. Made me see from a young age that the world is big and our diversity of beliefs and practices are what make life rich and beautiful. Also, this documentary Baraka is like traveling without traveling and had a huge influence on me when I first watched in around age 15.

I did a vision quest program with Animas Valley Institute, which involved a three day solo in a remote area. We fasted for four days (one day before leaving, three days during the solo). It was a powerful way to alter consciousness without drugs. I would move so, so slowly and was totally present. All the nature around me was magical and transcendent. I'd also recommend brining a rattle or drum, which you can use to get into a trance state. Also, tents can make you feel quite closed off from the elements. Depending on where you're camping, considering just bringing a tarp so that you're exposed to the elements and animals, and it becomes a much more embodied experience. Lastly, I recommend some night walks without a flashlight, moving slowing and allowing your eyes to adapt to the darkness. Minimize the use of any artificial lights throughout your experience, if you can! A great book about this is Waking Up to the Dark. Definitely allows you to grow closer to spirits, ancestors, etc (if you dig that sort of thing). Have fun!

Question, I sometimes hear teachers like Mooji say in his guided meditations that when one is fully present and resting in the witness that a great peace and joy comes over us. I don't always have this experience. Most of the time when I'm fully present I feel...nothing. Just neutral. I'm aware of thoughts/sensations/emotions occasionally arising and watch them pass or say my mantra word to return to stillness. Often I get to a point where nothing is arising and I feel a sense of clarity, but I wouldn't label it as "joy" or a great "peace." Am I missing something? Or am I just overthinking these labels? Thanks for the help.

@whatthefucksgoinon Thank you for your thoughtful and constructive feedback!

@DocWatts Are you talking about stage Turquoise level stuff, or just higher than mainstream/average? Looking through the Yellow/Turquoise levels threads on the Self-Actualization page is a good place to find stuff. Nothing profound but I just finished this Netflix show about Bill Gates and found it very compelling.

@Matt23 Agree these guys are stage Yellow. I've spent some time on the Rebel Wisdom channel. That said, I feel it could be an example of some of Yellow's shadows. For example, making rather simple points incredibly complex, wordy and unnecessarily detailed. The first 20 mins of this video could be summarized in two or three sentences without losing much depth. I can see how Turquoise is a necessary counter-balance to Yellow's sometimes acute intellectualization of the world. Of course, plenty of Yellow thinkers don't fall into these traps (Leo being one of them), and I recognize these types of discussion has their place. Perhaps I'm even projecting my own shadows here. Anyways, curious if anyone else feels similarly about Rebel Wisdom...

@soos_mite_ah In my family alone we almost span the entire spiral hahaha.

@soos_mite_ah Totally! It's all shifting and just a matter of time. And the shift seems to be accelerating rather quickly. My guestimation (based off absolutely nothing) of America's place in the spiral is below. I wonder if this lines up with reality... 3% Yellow+ 5% Green/Yellow 15% Green 20% Orange/Green 20% Orange 15% Orange/Blue 15% Blue 7% Blue/Red

@Carl-Richard You could be 100% correct. I think Trump ironically has done more for "progressing" the progressive cause than almost anyone else on Earth could have done. I guess the question is...is another four years a risk we're willing to take? Sometimes forest fires get out of control fast...

I've been a Bernie voter the past two cycles, so I likely resonate with your politics. That said, I don't feel the Dem establishment is pushing the left out of the picture. In fact, I'm pleasantly surprised by how much mainstream Dems like Biden have moved left. In fact, if Biden moved any further left I would question his ethics. I prefer for him to be true to his authentic values and listen to all sides rather than drop all his positions and align 100% with Bernie/AOC just to win an election (plus, I don't think this would be smart strategy anyways). Did you hear Bernie's speech last night? He could not have been more supportive or passionate about the need to vote for Biden and get Trump out of office. I don't think anybody in the country is jazzed about Biden, but when dealing with a country that's a fractioned as America, it's not surprising that we wind up in the center-ish with milk toast. Or we swing from one extreme to the next, and we've seen how that's played out. The way I see it, from a big picture bird's eye view, a Biden victory is a win for "progressives" and more importantly a win for progressive policies.

This is a complicated topic that could be explored from endless perspectives. I'll just say that my personal POV is we risk not having an election nor a stable democracy in four years if Trump is re-elected. We barely have either of those now. Trump being re-elected is like allowing a child to play with a nuclear bomb (metaphorically and literally). That doesn't seem like a risk worth taking, regardless of how it could theoretically help the progressive cause in some unpredictable future.

There's a growing trend in progressive, environmental stage Green circles that are gleefully cheerleading the collapse of industrial society, at times suggesting that the only sign of courage is to help it collapse as fast as possible. What are your thoughts on this? To me it strikes me as naive, far underestimating the impacts that the collapse of such an inconceivably massive globalized system would have on the world, especially in communities that are already extremely marginalized (like urban ghettos which rely almost entirely on industrial society for survival). Certainly the course we're on is unsustainable (to say the least) and something massive needs to shift, so perhaps the collapse is inevitable and necessary. But I'm not sure if I would be so quick to cheer it on as if it's just another political policy agenda. It's so complicated and the implications seem unknowable. What do you think?

Watched this last night. Great film based off a true story. Example of an almost cliche Green teacher entering a school with stage Red students, realizing her kumbaya approach won't fly and employing some stage Yellow thinking both in dealing with the Red students as well as with the Blue school board and her Orange father and husband. An example of a Green person reckoning with the limitations of their own stage, employing different strategies to create effective systems in a dysfunctional environment. Great movie for analyzing Spiral Dynamics!