Batman

Survival is the fundamental principle that directs the life force of an organism toward the persistence of the organism's form. The activities of life - perception, mind, biological regulation of hormones, digestion, breathing, etc. - are all there to maintain some specific form. Being attached to survival and living is the nature of the entire human interface. For this reason we are attached to ego or self - they enable us to draw lines around an identity that we need to persist or survive as. We think we are separate because we assume that if some thing is distinct from another thing, than they are separate. But distinction is not separation once you become conscious of the nature of distinction. The intensity of the attachment is dependent on the culture and surroundings the organism grew in. If an organism has a complex self-definition, and he is identified with his life story and body, the attachment will probably be strong. This is exaggerated especially in cultures where the social domain is highly developed in structure and language. This development enhances the possibility for the creation of many distinction between individuals, which perpetuates the assumption (and illusion) of separation. Of course, that social values or beliefs such as the sacredness of being alive, "you only live once", "life is the most important thing", contribute to the intensity of the connection that binds Consciousness with mind.

Emotions are pathways to relate the self to environment and stimuli. They are manipulations, and they always relate to the self. I don't think we are seeing eye to eye regarding anger. Anger is an emotion which is generated when the self is hurt or feels powerless. The anger creates the motivation to act in ways that display power or capability for power (e.g. destroying an object, yelling, acting violently against the other). Because the thought that is the foundation for the emotion is powerlessness, or feelings of vulnerability and hurt, which are all "negatively" charged and create an adversarial relationship with the other/stimuli, anger is a rather negative emotion. This is not to say that anger should be repressed. Do not repress emotions. Allow your self to feel them and ask your self why you generated this particular response. However, feeling the emotion is distinct from acting it out in some destructive way. It is better to express the hurt one feels, cry, or allow your self to feel vulnerable or weak.

What do you mean by 'thought isn't perceived'? Of course thought is perceived (unless it is a subconscious thought). Whatever conceptual activity we are conscious of is perceived. Even though the mind is not a perceptual faculty by itself, but a reflection of the perceptual faculties, it is still perceived. Thoughts are abstractions of our senses, and so the mind might be held as the 'space' or capacity for internal sensory reflections. So the mind could also be defined as 'inner world of sight, sound, smell, taste and sensations that exists solely as an abstraction of the actual senses'. OP - thought is an internal mirror that we can use for different applications. But like a mirror, the reflection is never the thing that is reflected, and given our innate capacity as humans for error and self bias, this mirror could get twisted. It is like looking in the mirror and assuming that the reflection is you. What happens if you do that and the mirror is very distorted? You would think yourself to be disfigured or some such.

Freedom.

From the perspective of the experience it self, they alter your mind so you are able to glean insight that the previous mind structure hindered you from. From the biochemical perspective, the substance effects regions in the central nervous system that inhibit the brain and other areas of the nervous system from clear-seeing and other stuff. When it comes to Enlightenment, however, it is not a function of chemistry. That is because your true nature (what you really are) is prior to any form. And yet, mind altering substance may induce awakening of true nature because as humans we are "rigged" against being conscious of our fundamental nature, and the substance is 'short circuiting' this rigging. Different practices are also intended to overcome this predicament so we can wake up. Psychedelics is more like brute force.

Because alcohol depresses parts of your mind that limit your self-confidence. So you feel more powerful and willful, and you might even actualize it by acting in ways you haven't before. This can cause an the afterglow effect of gnawing at self limiting beliefs. The self-confidence in the morning might be the result of the afterglow, and/or the fact that the alcohol is still in your system.

Your question reflects your lack of Consciousness.

Invert the suffering by loving it. Don't resist it, don't try to change it. Embrace it, enjoy it. Dare to ask for more suffering, tell yourself: give me your worst suffering. Enjoy the suffering.

Your assumed impossibility to awaken exist in the exact same place where the possibility to awaken exist.

Sounds like enlightenment delusions. Being conscious of your true nature does not change how things are for themselves. Of course, it can dispel a lot of ego illusions that distort your reality, and purify the senses. But this is dependent how deep the awakening is. The deeper the enlightenment, the more probable that deeper aspects of mind will surrender to it, and core assumptions such as being a body and a self that is separated from not-self will weaken. And this core assumptions distort your sense of reality deeply. Remember, ego is a massive mashup of thought that act as illusions on sense perceptions. They distort reality precisely to preserve the conceptual self. Awakening is not grand or special. It is actually rather neutral and natural - it is the basic truth, so how could it be anything unique? It might cause a very peaceful and joyful state, because it may dissolve ego which is an activity that consumes much energy, contracts consciousness and creates negative feeling states to preserve the self. Awakening is only special from the perspective of Ego. Otherwise, it is just what already is.

All spirituality is a human invention. Its entire purpose is to lure the practitioner to become conscious. Spirituality is just a tool, so when the purpose is accomplished it is no longer needed. People get attached to spirituality the same way religious people get attached to their religion. There is no real difference. You are looking for some self-definition and spirituality can be very sophisticated so it is adopted by the mind.

Yes, stop having negative thoughts, which produce negative emotions. Make your mind a Zen garden - clean it, nourish the flowers, mown the lawn, put a nice fountain, and don't let any intruders in. Seriously, probably at sometime you developed negative thoughts to manipulate your internal state and your surroundings, without noticing that you chose to do this. Now it causes you harm, so observe your mind constantly and see what comes up. If a thought that is not empowering surface, don't resist it, but don't cling to it either. Just let it go. Constant introspection of thoughts is necessary to dissipate negative thought patterns.

It feels like nothing at all actually. Awakening is not a feeling, or any other function of mind or the senses. It may affect the experience, but YOU aren't affected at all. Even if the entire existence would collapse in a reverse big bang, YOU wouldn't flinch.

Enlightenment is not a function of mind. Of course, that if you are "lost in your mind", so to speak, that may make it harder to become conscious of You. But mind and experience are not your true nature, so becoming conscious of the Truth is not about them. Of course that if a person is suffering from survival issues, whether physical or social, it will be harder to become conscious of who and what he really is. This is because he is busy in maintaining the self, and not becoming conscious of its nature. You are you regardless of any condition you might have. And you are you always, no matter in what state you seem to be in.

Yoga, in the physical practice aspect of it, is a manipulation of mind. This is because the poses (asanas) were designed to serve as a tool to let go of conceptual activities such as thoughts, beliefs, assumption and so on. For example, if someone had rough childhood in which he was bullied by other kids, this could give rise to assumptions such as "The world is a dangerous place" or "I am not capable of protecting my self". This, in turn, may motivate the self to embrace natural defensive tactics such as contracted shoulders or forward bent back/neck. This may also cause shortness of breath or other contracted areas in the body-mind. Proper practicing of asanas of breathing will gradually nibble thought patterns and the body movements that accompany them. This is why it is crucial not to use push or pull to enter into an asana, and not to hold your breath for entering or maintaining some pose. The asanas are to be practiced by gradual relaxation of the mind that cause the tension in the relevant posture, while maintaining steady breath throughout the practice. Another example are balancing pose. Those usually require focus and concentration, due to the adjustments that are needed to hold the pose (for example: handstand, headstand, crow, half moon and many more). If a practitioner of yoga doubt his ability to maintain a balancing pose, or suffers from "monkey mind", then the activity of mind will affect his ability. Practicing regularly allows one to relinquish the mind from the body.

Sounds good. Looks like you cleared many illusions, and you experience your self with more clarity. I would say that thinking that you go to the grocery store based on pure faith is a little far fetched and that your are might be in a too much spiritual context. After all, in our relative human experience there are fundamental physical principles that give solid basis for the belief that the grocery stayed where it was - objects permanence, gravity, the three laws of thermodynamics and so on. So be wary of not slipping too much into a spiritual shoes. I would also consider the possibility that the distinction between mystical experiences and any other experience is ultimately relative and so isn't true. The same goes for distinguishing self from god, relative from absolute.

In the context of thinking, then yes and no, your mind can produce automatic thoughts and you can use the mind to produce thoughts as well. Firstly, you created the distinction the there is a "space" called mind where you can hold, among other things, thoughts or internal dialogue. Before that, you did not discerned mind from perceptions. Secondly, try to recognize patterns of thought that occur in your mind. Ask your self why do this patterns occur, in which way do they serve you. Do you judge other a lot? Do you curse the other in your thoughts? Do you blame, shame or create other negative feelings toward your self and others? ask your self why do you do that and what results this thoughts and feelings produce. Thirdly, notice that you can choose whether to give any thought meaning, or just relinquish it from the mind. You have choice in the matter. Also: consider the possibility that patterns of thought that occur for you served you in the past to defend your self in certain conditions, but now have become obsolete. Thought can be very powerful and destructive. Thought can produce very negative charge towards objects or experiences, and distort reality for serving self-agenda. By this, your experience becomes subject to illusion which is detrimental to clarity of vision and insight. With thought, you can pump your state of being with negative feelings, and suffer for that. This is why it is crucial to grasp the nature of mind, learn how to control it and ultimately transcend it completely. This can be done by observing the activities of the mind through out the day, meditating, psychedelics (especially LSD and Psilocybin) and contemplation. And remember always, you are not your mind. But you are not separate from it either. Have fun!

You need to contemplate this. You can tackle this activity from different views: Thinking is concept: the activity of mind is conceptual in nature. it has no actual substance in physical reality. Thoughts come and go: take a close look and see that thoughts or internal chatter comes and goes, so they can't really be you. You may generate them to produce some internal state, or some disposition toward aspects of experience. For example, you may judge an other so you can generate negative feelings toward him, and so reject him from your or other's experience. You use thought to manipulate your emotional state so you can direct your experience. You are not really talking to your self, but more like to an other. There is no reason for language to occur, unless your self needs to communicate with an other self. Try to imagine an experience where there are no others, and so the content of your mind will likely be very simple (revolve around memories and associations regarding physical survival) and without all the social management that occurs in the mind. Thinking is a function of mind, and you created the experience of mind so it can serve you in some way. Although they differ in nature, asking what is the origin of thought/mind, is the same as asking what is the origin of perception. Try to see the mind as like a quasi six sense that enables you to create conceptual distinctions in reality; assign different values to different distinctions; manipulate your physical sensations; create representations of past experience (aka memories); imagine or scheme future experience; focus your perceptions on particular distinctions. The mind, or the ability to conceptualize in some way, is a function of survival. In our social complex world and the enormous amount of data and distinctions we create with language, the mind became a very dominant aspect of our experience. Imagine that this entire forum could not exist without our minds capacity to have a meaning for. so. many. words. which. have. no. meaning. of. their. own. because. they. are. only. pixels. on. a. screen. you. are. reading. right. now. Also, you might want to try to stop your thinking and internal chatter for as long as you can, an see what happens for your sense of self.

It sounds like you are going after states, not for the Truth. There is no such a thing as "God state", because God doesn't exist, it is existence. In other words, God is not distinct from any thing. So sorry, I have no idea what you talk about when you say by living in some god head state. As a human being you can have a very different variety of states, for sure. But those are all functions of self and mind. Self and mind are not God, but they are manifestations of "it" so fundamentally there is no separation. So, it doesn't matter whether your self is in a state of suffering or flow, or some love state. Self is not separated from God. If "God" was a function of state or experience, then it wouldn't be the Truth. It would be just another thing in existence, relative to some other things which are not god. I don't mean that going after states isn't good or beneficial. On the contrary: improving your state of being is important for us all. I love being in the flow state. But a state of being is not the nature of being, and many many fall prey to the delusion that God is hiding in some mystical state. God is every state of being. I think this is especially common among Psychonauts. The substance nukes self or mind so deeply that you are temporarily freed from being inside a conceptual self that drains your being and lower your state. And boom, you go from emotional deficiency into some blissful state of peace/flow/love, and mistake the state for the Truth. Classic trap. If you want to permanently change your state, than lose, loosen or change the self you created. Self transformation is no easy task at all, especially if you want the "high" states of being. You will have to sacrifice a lot of what you built as your self for this. And shedding deep beliefs and assumptions about you or reality is not easy at all. And you don't remember that you crafted your self from scratch, because your were to busy in creating it, so how could you? Consider that if you want constant emotional abundance and being in flow or bliss, you would actually have to give a up all the things that bind you into your current self and state of being. And this could be everything that you hold dear as a self.

Spirituality is a concept, it is a human construct. All the methods/practices and concepts you address are human inventions as well. They are not awakening, they are only tools to propel you towards awakening. Remember the Zen monk that has been in a Zen monastery for 30 years without getting enlightened, even though he abandoned his entire life for Zen, including abstaining from any material desire? Well, disappointed for his lack of "success", he left the monastery and went directly to a brothel. While having intercourse with a prostitute he had an Enlightenment.

Of course, from an Absolute perspective nothing matters because meaning is created and not inherent. So now you can view life as a "game", a "movie", a "play, a "dream" - or whatever analogy for a reality without inherent existence - in which you have the possibility to create whatever storyline or dream or movie you want by applying meaning and value onto aspects of experience. Of course you can drop eventually all the analogies and just see everything for what it is.. The dream/movie/game analogies are good in releasing us from the "objective reality" worldview, but the most powerful and true "worldview" or context for existence is no-worldview and no-context at all. You are the producer, director, screenwriter, cameraman, player, casting producer, narrator, soundtrack producer, special effects authority, and of course - the viewer. It is all you, and it doesn't exist. What a rush! God sure can create some powerful VR engine out of nothing, can't it? This is not to say, that there aren't powerful principles to discover within this realm, that can effect your experience greatly regardless of the meaning and value you choose in impose on things. For example, if you wish to have deep connection with an other, than you must be honest. It just isn't possible otherwise. If you hide, lie, deceive or misrepresent your self in any way, than you will feel separate. If you won't keep your word and act congruently, your self will lost integrity and you will become weaker in pursuing your purpose and meaning. So you see, your journey does not end with the Absolute. Our relative experience is abundant with many gems, elements and principles that when discovered, can produce a very different experience. Have fun!

Building on Leo's response, depression is an emotional activity that arises from thinking that the present moment is not enough, and that you are incapable and hopeless regarding the possibility of having a better future. When you boil depression down to its core, it is actually a manipulation that is meant to draw attention to the self so the other will intervene in the self's life and create a better future for him. You are physically creating a feeling sense of weakness and depressed cognitive-physical abilities so the other will take your "wheel-of-life" to his hands. Depression can be overcome by becoming conscious that it is a self-generated emotion that is based on thinking, and not on the truth. This may be very hard because depression is the most debilitating and paralyzing emotion there is. It is like a "last resort" emotion, when thoughts of hopelessness and incapability dominate your feelings. If you sense depression don't resist it, just observe it and try to sense the thought that is behind it. It is indeed possible to engage in activities that suppress the thought, but if it isn't faced directly and seen for what it is, it is very possible that the vortex of depression may return. Depression should be eliminated as an emotion.

Go and find out for your self.

Yea, there are not really necessary tool, but they are indeed powerful in showing how deluded the false self is, and how the different aspects of mind operates. They empower greatly the possibility of Enlightenment and Transformation. They can pierce through the most negative or false belief you have regarding your self, life and existence, and show you how the depth of your misalignment with Truth, as well as the enormous energy you invest in keeping your self in a contracted state and adversarial disposition regarding the other. I would dare to say that without Psychedelics, it is almost impossible to be motivated toward a deep Transformation of self and mind. Modern culture and language has created a very limited mind patterns which creates a glass ceiling that is fortified by other programmed and self-deluded minds. Psychedelics break this ceiling and motivates you to change the self-mind you created that is the only thing that gives life to this self imposed limitations.

A person cannot reach Enlightenment, because it is not a matter of relativity or mind. Yes, of course religious practice can set the stage for Enlightenment, if it keeps you honest and open. You think meditation, contemplation, yoga and psychedelics are not the "religion" of spiritual people? If not, think again. The method or the process is relative, and only serve as means for "producing" Consciousness of the Absolute. The means are not the end. Some practice or set of beliefs can open Consciousness from being anchored to mind and perception for one, and not for the other. Because we have different minds and selves, there is no ultimate practice. This is why experimenting with different practices is so crucial. So the road really doesn't matter, as long as it fits the mind in question and empowers the possibility of becoming directly conscious of our True Nature. I am not informed regarding Judaism, but isn't it believed that Moses had direct consciousness of God? Such a belief may set the stage for other to become conscious, just as (probably) every person in this forum has learned about Enlightenment from an other. So Enlightenment is only belief or hearsay anyway, unless you had the good fortune of surrendering the self without hearing about this possibility from an other. I will also suggest that if the Enlightenment is deep, than it is probable that the self will drop most if not all of the beliefs or practices, because they will become futile. The nature of Enlightenment is radical in the sense that practice isn't really needed, it is more like placebo pill - you are literally doing something that prepares you to get that there is really nothing to do or think about. This why I doubt of your impression from the guy. It is also possible that he has studied different "ways", so to speak, and has a sharp intellect/mind. If you throw some charisma into the the mix, this is a done deal. But who knows, right? You will just have to find for your self. That's my take on the matter, hope it contributed in your contemplations.