Into The Void

If the study of non-duality has taught me anything, it is this: You cannot know who you are. All you can know for sure is what you are not. You are not the body, the mind, feelings, opinions. What is left? We are told by psychonauts and spiritual masters that what remains is consciousness or God. This is a mental construct. If we cannot know who we are, how can we know we are God? What an ego boost to imagine that God is running this biological machine. The words "God" and "Consciousness" refer to no-thing. They refer to the unknown. The mind says "aha!". I know all about what these words represent. I know about God and consciousness because I have worked hard and have achieved a higher level of understanding. It is still a mental construct. You believe in these mental constructs. You have faith in them. They are all concepts and you are deluding yourselves. I'll repeat; you cannot know who you are, If you think you know who you are, then you have fallen into the mind trap. You have focused on these mental constructs and believe you are on the road to understanding God, emptiness, love and the Universe. These words are concepts. They are "shots in the dark" aimed at the great mystery. Awaken to who you are not. Do not chase after mirages. If chasing mirages brings you happiness, then by all means do. The Universe is happening. It is not happening to a someone. Everything else is a story about what is happening. It's okay. Relax. You do not HAVE to know everything. If their is some underlying intelligence involved in creation then accept it; you cannot know what this intelligence is. If you think you know then you are chasing a mind construct.

@Leo Gura What Huxley did not mention was that drugs, specifically the plant hallucinogens, can reliably and repeatedly open the floodgates of the reducing valve of consciousness and expose the individual to the full force of the howling Tao. The way in which we internalize the impact of this experience of the Unspeakable, whether encountered through psychedelics or other means, is to generalize and extrapolate our world view through acts of imagination. Terrence McKenna.

@Tim R The enlightened ego. Well said.

Indeed she is. Most importantly, she has the patience to continually pound into my head what I am not.

@seeking_brilliance As a dear friend of mine put it: "Witness who you are not; who you truly are cannot be perceived." I cannot know who I am although looking at some of my contributions to this forum: I see that ego of mine rearing it's ugly head. Ugh! My ego wants me to believe in the story that I know everything. "Witness who you are not" has become my mantra. My dear friend gave me a new perception this weekend. She said your ego is both the thief and the policeman. For example: The thief says to me " why are you wasting time trying to find out who you are? Your true nature cannot be known so why bother?" Then the policeman steps in: "Don't listen to your ego. You are on the path to awakening. Just shut out that yap-yap trap in your head and meditate more! You are going to be enlightened sooner than you think! Both "voices" are the ego. The ego wants you to stop what you are doing regarding spiritual advancement" (it threatens the ego/mind). The ego failed so it changes masks and comes at you again as the policeman. The policeman pretends to be your friend and win you over. Beware of mind traps. The mind has many masks.

@Nahm Simplicity is this: Witness who you are not. Who you are cannot be perceived. This is the stage of "I am". I do not mean I am this or I am that, simply I am. Next "step" is going prior to "I am". In this stage you are the perceiver and the perceived. This "level" cannot be achieved until you have a firm "understanding" (knowing) of who you are not.

@Breakingthewall My bad. People do reply on this forum! That puts this forum a cut above the rest. No hard feelings.

@Tim R Same reason your here bro.

@Bulgarianspirit Nice sentiment and nice pic (5MeO inspired?). Debate is debate. Quarrels are quarrels. If you are afraid to debate something because it may be inaccurately construed as a quarrel, then you will not debate anything.

@Space @Leo Gura Very true. Regarding "Space" commenting "but remember to be open to the possibility of it being true". I said in my message: "And then again....maybe "you" really did have an interface with the Creator. " I was keeping the possibility open that Leo was correct. FYI

@Leo Gura Very true.

@Tim R Pure consciousness? Pure awareness? What is with the "pure"? There "is" awareness and there is consciousness. When you add the word pure, it becomes a perception of those words. I know what you mean though.

@seeking_brilliance Many folks advanced in this work? That is exactly why I was questioning Leo about his statement in his "Experiments with Consciousness" that 5MeO has somehow given him a higher consciousness than anyone else, including the spiritual sages of the past. That may very well be true but it is unverifiable. Every ego wants to think it has attained the highest possible level of consciousness. I personally believe there are no higher or lower levels of consciousness. The human brain is designed to filter out everything except those parts of the brain that are necessary for survival. Leo's 5MeO experience (27 consecutive days) may have resulted in that filter being removed and Leo was exposed to infinity (so to speak). It was not a matter of levels at all. If this is true, Leo is courageous and has a very disciplined mind to deal with it and stay sane. I digress. In simple terms, no one is more advanced in this spiritual voyage than anyone else. No one achieves a "higher level" than anyone else. Everyone is a potential buddah. Remove the filter and voila!

@Breakingthewall Leggo my Eggo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Leo Gura Hi Leo. Trying to get a conversation going in this forum is like trying to extract blood from a stone. Forums are a lot like politics. The wrong people tend to get into both, It appears that egos are alive and well in this forum. Ignoring new member's attempts at conversation are par for the course in most spiritual forums. Apparently that includes this forum. No matter. A spiritual journey must come from within. I watched your video "Outrageous Experiments In Consciousness" yesterday. Twenty Seven days of consecutive 5MeO usage appears to have run you ragged despite the 27 awakenings. The fact that the God consciousness did not leave you at the end of your "retreat" must have been scary. I admire your courage for going "balls to the wall" in this "experiment". Very interesting the conclusion you derived from this experiment about many levels of awakening. in fact, an infinite number of levels are available. I would like to point out that your statement "Nobody, including the great masters, has reached the level of awakening I achieved" (or something to that effect). That sounds a lot like ego rearing it's ugly head. It may very well be true, nevertheless, it sounds elitist to me in nature. Your statement that when your ego was nullified by the 5MeO, "GOD" appeared. How do you know it was GOD? To me, God is a word that represents the unknown. The great mystery. How do you know it wasn't aliens trying to communicate with you? To give a smart phone to a tribe living in the Amazon (who have never been exposed to modern technology) would appear to them as an instrument from the gods no? The person who gave the phone would be considered a god or an avatar. Could the same thing have happened to you? The aliens who send Dave Bowman on that journey through the universe and time in 2001: A Space Odyssey appear as god-like do they not? There is of course another possibility: a mind trap where your mind convinces "you" that you have had an awakening. The mind takes credit for the awakening, fueling the ego. And then again....maybe "you" really did have an interface with the Creator. Thank you for the videos. I sincerely enjoyed them all. Chris (Into The Void)