Adamq8

I might have misunderstod the OP here and if so I stand corrected. but I would disagree that God is within emptiness since It does not exist and isn't real at all. Since eternity is eternity, there is nothing else for God but God, non existence isnt real to IT, just a concept. Thats all I wanted to add. Im sorry if I misunderstod you @johnlocke18 from the beginning. Cheers ?

Dude calm down, you are confused here about what GOD is, God is not some force either, you have a poor definition of God and emptiness is NOT beyond or prior to, if you believe so, I suggest you actually study what God is, an experience is not even necessary in this case. If emptiness is prior to or beyond GOD, then you could call it the magic unicorn- fart alien flying spaghetti monster because it is not real and something you made up just now. Btw, if this is not clear by now, this is my "opinion" you don't have to care at all about what I say. You can believe emptiness all you want, but I sincerely disagree with your conclusions.

@johnlocke18 I am sad to see that you felt attacked by me , that was certainly not my intention at all. We share our experiences and opinions and what not on this forum, which is what this place is for, but you also created a thread and claimed something is deeper then God and that is what I wanted to comment on because it is here that I feel that you are confused and are not thinking it through , not to make you look or feel bad, that was never my intention at all, and im sorry if you felt that way. I just wanted to point out that perhaps you are to quick to dismiss God that's all, I am not looking to argue or anything with you. We can end the discussion here, its no problem. God bless ?

I said emptiness is a poor definition of God. You say God is within, God is not within emptiness. There is nothing outside of God, why do you have to use a word as emptiness for that which created out of nothing? And to say it is pretty sad that moderators behave like this, is a low blow, I made a comment that you are making a mistake in saying God is within emptiness, there is nothing prior to God, if you believe so, you have a limited view of God. Emptiness is not a sufficent description of God thats all, it is more confusing when it comes to God. There is nothing deeper then God. It is not called emptiness, it is called God, it is called The One, that which has no other, not some petty emptiness. You somehow try to put the word God away and replacing it with emptiness and then claim that is God, no GOD IS GOD. Infinitely intelligent. Unlimited power. Existence. But this is not some unconcious dumb source. If you say that emptiness is this, I say you just described God and changed the word just for the sake of it.

Something beyond GOD... Yeah you have an extremely limited view of what God is. Also, you seem to imply some linearity to awakening, what made this emptiness actualize infinity in that case if the case is that emptiness is prior to God, which is by definition : Eternal / outside of time. Unlimited since there is nothing to limit it. Uncaused cause. Can emptiness be other than it is? And if so there is infinite power in it if it can create/be this, it must be infinitely intelligent if it can order the cosmos as it is. Since everything you ever experienced or known is a contingent being , you are a contingent being, you won't survive without air, food , you were born out of your mother, without the sun you would die etc. Everything is moving Everything else, but this does not go on for infinity without a first cause, something or no thing which is PURE ACT without potentialitys , that is what men has always refered to God. Since everything that is could just as easily not be, I hope you see that, we have to arrive at a necessary being, that which has no other, that which is, the sheer act to be itself. That is refered to GOD. Also I want to add, I am NOT speaking about a GOD realization only, I am speaking about what GOD is, God is God whether you realize it or not. Because without it, everything would evaporate in an instant. If emptiness is prior to God, which somehow then created God, then emptiness is God and the God you refer to is some lesser but a powerful god/s like egyptian gods. The light of lights, GOD is pure light and what it does is illuminating everything else. They are ONE. Also infinity does not necessarily mean everything either, infinity is that which is without end and limits, it incorporates everything within itself, thats why it is everything. And if that is your definition of emptiness, you should say God and nothing else imo. Because that is describing God as mystics and philosophers has said for thousands of years. If emptiness is the source of all, it is by definition God.

This. Awakening can be really really profound and weird ? and obvious.

That which nothing greater can be thought/imagined/experienced/being Completely unlimited. God's knowledge of itself is exactly the making of all things. Infinity.

Talk about making dualitys out of thin air, psychedelics is life, is being, you create a distinction out of thin air here.. They are truth and they are life. Just as much as anything else. Who's doing the mental gymnastics here really? " they are just " lol what do you think any insight / any creation actually is? There is plenty of non dual parroting on this forum with no power or actuality behind it. " its all one , but only sometimes, when I feel like it , and only if it fits my views on reality " Life holds and incorporate everything you ever have been or done or will do.

I agree with this. @Consilience you are awesome and do amazing posts, and you make me motivated to keep up my practice of meditation, but I also see that you are annoyed with Leo's meditation view and you yourself become blind to that and want to jump on everything he does that you dont agree with, its human nature bro, but we are also a bullshitting animal, we have to be careful with that. And I sincerely feel that you are lost in your own thoughts about this particular subject. More projecting less careful investigating atm. But I know you are a incredible intelligent guy, and I also feel that you can feel me coming from out of love and nothing else. I appreciate you brother, this is not some criticism just for the sake of it. You are one in this forum that is able to hear this without going to war with me over my words now ?? And God knows i fall into this my self so it is not like you are the only one ??

There is meditation, prayer, breath techniques, asceticism etc, all that you find in an eastern religion for example

I think it is funny that people clearly have no clue about the rich spiritual traditions these Western religions have, why do you even have to bring some eastern religion into it if you are from the West? The Western tradition's got all the teachings you need, in a language that is more accessible imo. Christianity has an really profound mystical tradition, especially the Eastern Orthodox Church. Here are just a handful of profound teachers: Pseudo-dionysius the areopagite. St John of the cross. Meister Eckhart. Gregory of Nyssa. Origen. The Desert Fathers. Augustine Of Hippo. Maximus The Confessor. Johannes Scotus Eriugena St. Teresa of Avila. Thomas Keating, a modern mystic. And ofcourse the original mystic , Jesus. This is just an example, there is plenty more. One does not have to go running to the East to find some good spiritual tradition, that is purely a bias because you perhaps dont like how some Christians are behaving etc. But if you truly look into the Tradition you will see that it got everything you need to in order to live a spiritual life. Trust me, i've been into the eastern teachings as well, and when I discovered the Western counterpart, it hooked me in. Not as an ideology , but as an actual practice. But everybody likes different ofcourse, but I feel that we in the West have somehow pissed on our local religions in hope that the eastern is better, which I say is a mistake imo. We should cherish our religions and also sort of the bad stuff and look at how rich the spiritual tradition in for example Christianity really is. That's just my two cents tho ? Also Leo is more Western in his approach to GOD then perhaps he care to admit ? God is ineffable but also a divine infinite mind, that is what Christianity has been saying all along, the Logos. The uncaused cause, infinite love, infinite goodness, infinite power, infinite intelligence, infinite wisdom etc. "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God "

Hi all! So the bigelow institute for consciousness studies held a competition about the survival of conciousness after bodily death, so people sent in essays about the topic, they have now announced the winners of their competition, all from scientist to academic philosopher sent in their essays about the survival of conciousness after death, the first winner recieved a 500,000$ check. It was a really great initiative by the Bigelow Inistute, among the winners were Bernardo Kastrup, I will share the links to the essays so you can download and read them yourself. https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/contest_winners3.php It is 29 essays, I have read Bernardo's and Pim Van Lommel's, both have great essays. If you are interested in topics like this i can warmly recommend reading them, take it in any order, they are free to download ? It is through science, and reasoning, and mystical experiences and NDE'S that they have come to the conclusions that conciousness is fundamental. Which might on this forum be a no brainer, but still, it is amazing that the discussion is opening up more and more, it is really fruitful and necessary in this day and age. Please do share your thoughts after you've read some of them ? Cheers ?

Okey thanks for the answer! It's interesting! My question then becomes, if you cease to exist, how come you come back? How is that possible? And why don't you stay in non existence if an opposite to existence was possible? Also i just want to add that there is an endless different interpretations of what the Buddha taught, some say that the yellow robes monk in Thailand and Sri Lanka is pure materialists which holds a flush down the cosmic toilet is the highest teaching. And anti existence is the definition of evil according to some traditions. All I see is that you can experience "non experience " just shows that you are a contingent being and not GOD, because he does not cease to exist, and neither do I when you " experience " cessation. But to go so far to say non existence is a thing is funny, there is something which has the power of non existence if you even remotely can come back from it, and what's holding you in existence moment to moment? I would say thats GOD. Im not making an argument just so you know, im throwing some other view points out there, and im not saying im right either, im agnostic in this particular topic. But it does not really make sense to me this whole obsessions with cessation, that can i atleast say. ? I believe it is the atheist's and materialists that try to cling unto this cessation thing in order to try to proof something anti advaita vedanta etc because logic reason and evidence point towards the eternal nature of conciousness, not my mind alone or your mind alone, but existence as it is in itself, we are in existence but not pure existence itself. That's just my two cents, and im open to being completely wrong ?

this one is extremely impressive, awesome buildings.

Nice!! We have some beatiful churches in the West also! La sagrada is a church i saw IRL and damn it was so impressive.

A sincere question for you. People with narcolepsy do have " cessations" and they suffer for it, why would a cessation during a Meditation be any more special or significant than that? And whats the difference between a cessation and deep sleep?

Im not really sure what you mean with that , or how that is relevent to my post ?

Thats true in a way, so you are saying that I have a limiting belief in that it is hard to get my hands on?

Then what should we call the thing I am at the gym working out hard for in order to shape?

Hahah i will send one right away ? oh no wait you do get a check from me every month, through patreon ?? 5 meo is unavaible in sweden as far as I know, but not regular dmt, so that is atleast a bit comforting ? I think i have to go to another country, tho i don't know if I want shamans with me when I do it ?

Thats true and a different view of reality which in some way is 100% DIRECT, and not based on assumptions which my argument was, I assumed that there is more to reality then my direct experience, I can think it up but perhaps i can't verify it. Even tho, I dont see why reality as a whole would have any limit whatsoever, except that it is imposed on itself. To me the only valid metaphysics is GOD, all else makes no sense, but I still imagine GOD to be other then me, and perhaps it is there where I am deluded. But in my book God is the unlimited one, but as you have said in the past, it is also unlimited in how it can limit itself to appear as the experience i have right now. So I guess at the end of the day that, I am God. But I feel extremely limited in my creative ability when compared to Infinite Mind, even tho iam creative, but the deepest part of me i suppose is the creative mind of God, it just appears that this is not so in order for it to be a beliveable reality like this is, even tho this also feels like a dream sometimes.

Yeah well ive had some unexplainable experiences that got EXTREMELY solipsistic, I mean that your significant other disappears and it is just you talking to yourself, which to me is insanity, but it was during a trip and that insight has not happend again. There is some valid points to your argument, however it feels a bit untrue anyways, but I might be wrong or deluded in saying that perhaps, but do you really feel that others are npc's? But there is certainly totally weird synchronicity's happening when you become more aware of yourself and your enviroment, like thinking a certain thing and that thing appears in exactly that way out of the blue, but it is extremely subtle most of the time, but at that point it becomes more solipsistic actually, which is scary ? But I don't know what to make of it at all, it feels like there are others here, alive and living their own life for example, but that might just be the illusion, but I do not know how i could be the only one and still not know 1% of reality or how the dream works lol.

Yeah I see where your coming from, ? formlessness is the most powerful imo. But I would suggest that there is an uncaused cause, an unmoved mover which is pure ACT, that which has the power and actuality to actualize the big bang or actualize "potential" and energy is in constant motion through change, since it also is potential and actuality, like for example it has the potential to expand as the universe, hence it can't be the unmoved mover. Alas there needs to be a necessary being. A being that is its own existence, since we can't really regress into infinity with beings that is necessary upon eachother, and matter is not a necessary being, since it undergoes change, then it has potential and actuality's. What is changed is changed by another in some way. But a being that is necessary in itself can not and does not rely on anything other than itself. But neither you or me are necessary beings, because we can possible be and not be, as is the same with every thing in the universe. So then we have something or " no thing" which is prior to and necessary in and of itself, that being is GOD. But notice, it is not really being, since it is not in competition with other beings, it is rather beyond being and non being. And what we can deduce from the uncaused cause is that, it has the power to actualize, and since it is pure ACT it is active power without potentiality, hence it has to be infinite in power or unlimited. But this is not some unconcious source either since unconcious matter produces unconcious matter, I would suggest that GOD is an infinite mind, but also recognize that we can not really pin down GOD as what he is, we can more or less only say what he is not. He is not matter, he is not energy, he is not parts. It is pure Absolute Existence, unchanged, immaterial, infinite.

Let me ask you this, how can infinite potential become something without "something" that actualizes it? How can this " nothing " ever become something? Take wood for example, it has the potential to be set on fire, but something hot like a match can actualize that potential, and a human is actualizing the potential for the match to be set on fire etc. The wood does not set itself on fire, so we had to actualize that potential. What then actualizes this nothing into something?