The0Self

They can. Once they wake up, they often abandon their addiction(s), but not always. If they do keep an addiction, it's often enjoyable and it just seems to continue to happen. The body can be dependent on anything.

Ecstasy is for novices and newcomers. Having no need for ecstasy, on the other hand... And btw, what exactly do you mean by enlightenment? What do you think it is? What do you think you're gonna get?

Daniel Ingram is definitely in a sort of Buddhist paradigm lock, but if you're a spiritual seeker you'd be interested to know that what he "has" is some undoubtedly profound, mind-blowing skill in meditation. He can enter 8th jhana at will by just closing his eyes and inclining his mind to the place that's neither perceiving nor not-perceiving. You don't quite get to where he is without years of countless 10-90 day meditation retreats though.

You (ego; falsehood) will say it seeks truth, but will actually seek happiness -- that's how it survives. Truth is the end of it. Truth is all there is. Truth cannot be found, because it was never lost. Navigating the infinitely integrated layers of reality instead is a fine endeavor.

The amount that you need to learn academically is tiny. What gives success in this area is truly 90 percent kindness, intuition, counter-intuition, fun, playfulness, practice, and non-neediness/non-neuroticism. Knowing stuff won't really help much in pickup; trying stuff will. Try anything with relaxed diligence and fun. The people that have the most problem with this are guys who are decent-looking but very shy or fearful -- these guys often have secret admirers from afar (as does any decent-looking human) that they'll never know about, and if they do find out, their awkwardness or neediness usually drives the girl away. Fearlessness, humility, and confidence derived from humility and self-love rather than arrogance, is what will provide success. If your mood when picking up women is primarily one of gratitude, you're golden. And if you've done enough consciousness work to be in a transcendent-integrated state, it really doesn't matter what you do, unless you're somehow deficient in creativity, in which case you could research how to be more creative and spontaneous. Don't do it with the goal of trying to get something from women though.

You can keep yourself in the dream by doing this: Keeping a vision of what it could mean to be a profound/etc human being in the future. Make it idyllic enough, or just continue enhancing it, and there’s no danger of it ever being achieved, so you can remain in the dream. At least until you are confronted with hopelessness. For the exact opposite, you could do the exact opposite. Neither is better or worse than the other.

Perhaps just meditate and figure out what you want. Nonduality is the story that cuts through all the other ones. It may resonate. Head in tiger’s mouth, if you are there, you wait for it to either bite off your head/ego, or not.

Yes. But it is possible that it will go away if it wasn’t absolute. If there’s still an apparent “wow” going on there, it could last a while (or perhaps not long at all) if it wasn’t complete, but in your case it easily could be complete — it‘ll be obvious if it’s the latter. “First, mountains are mountains. Next, mountains aren’t mountains. And then, mountains are mountains again.“ The quote has nothing to do with the first paragraph I wrote. Just realized it might seem that way. It describes the recognition that seemed to happen in relation to your character.

“First, mountains are mountains. Next, mountains aren’t mountains. And then, mountains are mountains again.“ - some Zen quote

No one knows what God is because God is no one. And no one knows that.

@Juliano Zn You're welcome!

Not only that, Oregon decriminalized simple small-amount possession of all drugs, even cocaine and heroin.

lol oh god

It can seem to matter in the beginning but really it doesn't need to matter. You might allow them to be in the periphery - fill the whole body with awareness kind of like filling up a balloon, so there's not a whole lot of room left over for distractions. Get there by gently but firmly returning to the breath whenever you gleefully notice that you're distracted. Unless you can remain attentive to the breath sensations indefinitely, your main focus should be cultivating the readiness to emit appreciative joy upon noticing you're distracted - this positive feedback will cause your mind to associate "noticing you're distracted" with "good," and eventually you'll rarely ever get distracted (because as soon as distraction would arise, it instantly would turn into "noticing you're distracted," meaning there just is no distraction).

...even in the dream, that would even make sense to you, with your limited understanding. You may or may not get it (in fact you probably won’t), but it’s there. It’s there alright...

Oh, you’re so welcome. Buckle up. ? Lol, Rob was something else. He died less than a year ago of cancer. Pancreatic, I think.

@Gesundheit I’m sure I’ve seen you mention Jed quite a few times. I think what OP meant by happiness was not what someone who holds Jed McKenna’s “enlightenment“ in higher regard than “human adulthood” would consider as happiness. For OP, happiness likely means personal fulfillment, profundity, meaning, and other stuff that has a point. Figuring out what he (she? idk) wants is what will help them. And gratitude and practicality, and not taking life for granted. Maybe you were coming from the same place and I misunderstood, or maybe you’re right. I don’t know.

Oh I certainly hope Biden wins, to be clear. But in the end it only matters if your time horizon is rather tiny.

@Schnaby Imagine having a boyfriend that you saw as a manifestation of perfection. Have it as a reality in the next year or so.

@RoerAmit You’re trying to get something from women. You can’t. Someone might seem to, but it’s never their doing. When you see women as yourself, nothing can go wrong. You could probably even fake it, and you’d be a lie, but all people are lies. You don’t need to believe the lies.

Don’t get your hopes up man. Or do. Pros and cons to any way of viewing infinity.

I haven’t considered this particular lens. Not that it means anything. Just... thanks for illuminating it. What fun! Profundity and stakes! Awesome. Keep on keepin’ on, man. I love what you do.

Well, on that, we agree.

My contention wasn't whether or not it's good to vote for Trump - for one to think they know it's wrong to vote for Trump is to ignore the infinite nature of everything. My contention was with your view that Trump is a better person than Biden. I don't think a good person is even a real objective thing, but if a good person is to mean anything, a grandiose narcissist is not it. Most narcissists are vulnerable narcissists - in all likelihood describes your friend. Grandiose narcissists have absolutely no regard for anyone other than themselves, and they hurt people by necessity. Their ego is so all-encompassing they can't even hear criticism. Their mind literally filters it out. It's probably best that the president doesn't have that affliction.

See my previous response just a few responses up - though I voted Biden I defend those who vote Trump. This is me speaking in the dream perspective, but still, I'm curious, are you aware that Trump displays just about every sign of a grandiose narcissist? One of if not the most dangerous of all personality disorders?