Preetom

That sounds like the epitome of the path to devilry

I now mostly watch like a dozen selected videos from 2016-17 era. They were pure gold! I haven't found most of the recent videos that Illuminating or helpful for learning experience. At this point Its safe to say that I can guess whats he is gonna say next most of the time lol. But I guess this predicament shows my own limitation more. And regarding journaling, my inquiry these days have been more visceral, subtle ques and non-verbal level than on the thought level. Exploring the vague me-feelings in the body.The theory stuff have become so ingrained that it feels dry and boring.

He has a video called ALL OF REALITY UNDERSTOOD probably 2-3 years back while he was on Al-Lad (If I remember correctly). Then the 5-meo breakthrough video dates even back. Yes we get his point that he is having more and more deeper realization of the same elephant. But at this point, this has become overused and redundant. If he has another 30 5-meo dose everyday for the whole month of April, he would feel every awakening more deeper and profound than all other realizations, teachers and everything. He literally could drown in the self-gloating for the rest of his life in this manner. Now I'm sure there will always be audience for that like how people worship superstars doing v-logs or watching others playing video games on twitch instead of living and experiencing those life elements themselves. But it would kill the core value upon which Actualized. org was made. That was to remind us of this work and slowly introducing to us to a life other than we conventioanlly know it(at least that's what he preached). But the self-gloating claims and state chasings are getting noxious now. I wish he stops talking about his own ''grander and grander'' spiritual experiences, until he reaches the abiding no-self realization which he calls awakening. hey he has figured out it all anyway! Right? And instead talk more about practical strategies of enlightenment once a week, bi monthly or once a month depending on how much he wants to focus on the quality and research

Some of the things I found sort of disheartening are 1) the claims of being the most advanced mofo alive..over and over and over...over the years 2) doubting and belittling the teachers who taught you this thing piece by piece in the first place 3) so much conviction behind the claims after each 'state' which eventually contradicts itself down the line Nothing personal about Leo but noticing these exact deluded patterns within me, they are like immediate red flags. We've all been there. After a glorious meditation sit, you feel like the king of the world. The ego-mind comes back to distort whatever clarity was there. Even Leo himself said that the true mark of a genuine master is humility. Repeating after key-elements, Leo does sound redundant now. A madman with some same old learnt lines on repeat. I have a mild guess that few dozen people could even talk like Leo now lol Another thing that really grabbed my attention which @Garuda asked in some other thread about what's the common ground in all of spirituality in spite of all the disagreements and bickering. Well it obviously has 2 fold sides 1) Completely seeing through the illusion of the separate ego-mind so that it can't distort what is 2) living the ramification of that realization intellectually, emotionally, physically, interpersonally moment to moment There is no spirituality without this element. There can be and always will be disagreement and bickering with notions like God, other metaphysical theories and hypotheses, creation theory, path, teachers etc. But the no-self/true self realization is like ground upon which rest of the redundant stuff lies upon. In a sense, no-self/true self realization is the beginning and ending of spirituality. The rest of the delusion and disagreement lies in between. But it seems Leo is flying so high, he sort of has a disparaging view towards it. When Leo told in the final moments of the latest video that he still doesn't have abiding no-self realization, it literally felt like a first grade kid whose job is to master that 1st grade stuff, but who dreams about attending first year college every night after having few drinks(no pun intended), and then next day belittles the actual 6th and 7th graders for not being in the college. I hope Leo does continue to talk about enlightenment, make more guided meditations, talk more about techniques and pitfalls in a more refined manner based on his personal experiences, motivating mystical stories(those he has come across through research), talk about other meta stuff like self-deception, epistemology, limit of knowledge(absolutely gorgeous stuff!), other topics and some real talk/rant once in a while. But this circle-jerk and gloating is becoming redundant and honestly boring. The claims about absolute have been made so many times and contradicted so many times that shit ain't even entertaining anymore. As his regular viewer, just my personal comment. I know he doesn't take a cent from me to make this stuff, so at the end of the day it's his choice. I'll just leave it here.

Joseph Stalin "Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem." Can you give a more enlightening quote than that?

If Leo was a giant philosophy department in some Uni, how could it implode from inside out? ?

People are concerned about the philosophical self destruction of Leo

NEVER PLUCK your eye brews = growing a thick beard

@Aakash @Highest @now is forever The way I've taken it as a hypothesis is that, forms are just an appearance. But the essence or substance of form is nothingness. Just like a human body is made of blood, water, carbon and other substances but it appears as a body. We can reduce everything like this. Nothingness/enlightenment is the ultimate reduction. You cannot go any behind than that. The essence of a form is nothingness and ONLY nothingness, so much so that it really doesn't matter if there is an appearance of form in the first place or not. Nothing real or essential comes or goes when a form comes or goes. It's like a video game stored in the computer. The essence or reality of that video game is the 10 GB raw data. But it appears as a stunning video game that looks nothing like ''10 GB data''. Also notice that nothing essential or substantially matters whether that video game is ever played or not or how many times it is played. The reality or essence of that 10 GB data remains ever the same. I'm bringing this up because few days ago after waking up in the morning, I viscerally felt that the waking state is nothing but the deep sleep; it only 'looks' different now.

If the universe is 100% comprehensible, it can be resolved. And also I am not probing about God or some other fantastical idea. I am probing about the nature of experience, which everyone of us have and have nothing else but that

Could you elaborate a bit more on this? Do you mean that Reality is nothing, but it appears as something? Thus the appearance is NEVER the Reality. If form/illusion/appearance 'exists', while God/nothing is the only existence; doesn't that mean that God cannot BE without a form? If that is the case, then what happens in deep sleep? Is deep sleep devoid of existence?

Yes. Let me get that in and out first. Then I can look out again if something still feels 'missing'

man is your 'b' key broken or what? @now is forever: everyone only looks at p while no one knows b

The clear seeing hasn't settled completely yet and thus it seems flickering. So yeah, I'm not enlightened. Habitual identification to form continues in different situations. It's only possible on a 24/7 constant basis when you've seen the hollow/void nature of all objective experience or knowledge. The entire thread of perception containing a subject perceiving an object is burnt to ashes, never to be reformulated again. I ain't stopping self-inquiry until that level of recontexualization takes place down to my bones. Whatever you are pointing to, it may be technically right and fun to talk about but it's impractical. Because 'I' cannot choose to make that jump. It can only happen by a moment of grace. Thus it is said that the actual moment of enlightenment is always an accident. All I can do, is to stick to the technique vigilantly.

And last but not the least, when all are said and done, you actually need to sincerely spend time with this technique..with yourself. It's like a musical instrument you learn. You can have the best lessons for the best masters, but progress is only made if you regularly sit with that instrument sincerely. Eventually, you will know your way around that instrument after months and years of practice. You'll probably spend many months just to see clearly and being 100% convinced that you are not the sensations in the chest or head which are so stubborn and repetitive. This phase contains lots of questioning, reasoning, following the logic that you are not what you perceive over and over millions of times until they loose their hooks on you. This phase is not silent or peaceful at all! Then comes being aware of being aware. It is silent, peaceful, constant abidance..goes on deeper and deeper...you'll find yourself naturally falling into awareness when gross body-sensation identifications are seen through... until everything pops and you realize you are the Self without any shadow of a doubt. Hope these posts were helpful. Good luck

It's impossible to conceptualize about post-awakening state. It's safe to say that you're life as body-mind would be over; only other people will see your body moving and doing shit. One probably wouldn't take on this intense journey unless they are utterly dis-satisfied with their so called present life anyway. So there is really no lose. Just the satisfaction of being relieved of a hideous cancer called ''me and my life''. So the teaching says get enlightened first. Then the notion of how to live afterwards can be addressed if its needed (which it won't) Yes follow that only aware element in your experience. That is what you really call 'I', the perceiver. But notice that you also see everything you are not along the way. So you have to make sure that you are not focusing on some subtle phenomena as 'I'. The deeper you go, your mind will be absolutely silent and it will feel pure bliss. Not a bodily bliss but something that can't be located. Everything else will feel very relaxed. Witnessing is something you are already doing in self-inquiry where you are noticing that you are not the phenomena that are popping up. But don't witness as a separate subject located in the head in the back. That is actually identifying the 'I' with some subtle sensations and it won't help you much to wake up.

I've found this true in my experience. Even ''I am aware'' is a thought. The real 'I' or light of pure knowing is even beyond that. That thought doesn't arise when self-inquiry really sinks in. It's only after coming out of it and intellectualizing it from memory does the thought ''I am aware'' arise.

I've already seen this clearly and in fact return to this understanding within few minutes of being still and self inquiring. All experience and knowledge are 2nd hand objects. None of them has the awareness to be aware of 'I'. All objective experience however subtle or gross, are found to be dead and insentient if scrutinized. They only seem to be so alive, dynamic and convincing but look at them and poof they go. I humbly disagree with this part. The 'I' is not the issue here. The issue is the unquestioned, false notions and underlying beliefs about this 'I'. If I keep on focusing on an object like a located sensation in the chest or head as the 'I', that indeed is going to reinforce the notion that 'I' is located in the body and has limited qualities. That's why typical mindfulness meditation where you are ''sitting at the back as a separate subject to know all other thoughts and emotions''- this actually reinforces the belief in the separate self. Staying with the 'I' is only valid after it is not identified/stuck with any objects. Here the 'I' becomes the pure light of knowing with which all experiences are known but which itself is not an experience. This constant abidance of this ''knowing presence'' or 'I' cures all the deluded notions like ''I am a separate self in the body, consciousness is generated in the brain, there is a world outside of me, I become unconscious in deep sleep, all my thoughts and beliefs are true and real etc''. I'll quote Maharaj ''Wrong knowledge about the I AM is bondage, right knowledge about I AM is liberation'' And here it's obvious that he isn't referring to mere intellectual knowledge but non-verbal, direct, pure being knowledge that results from constantly being with the I AM persistently without giving in to thoughts and fantasies

No you haven't misunderstood. And guess what, that's exactly what I am doing. Staying with the 'I' until it vanishes. Thanks. But I don't understand the void. Neither in imagination nor in experience. What I find myself in , is that all pointers break down. Step into the void? Where is that direction? Every single minute movement is cognized as more 'objects'. But forgetfulness comes back in very quickly which I guess I need to cure through persistence and stillness

Right now, go to that which you call as 'I'. If it's a form(sensation/thought etc), notice that you are aware of that. So that form is not 'I', however convincing it may feel. Keep noticing this until you stop taking the sensations in your chest as 'I' habitually. After you've seen through these body-sensations or image identification, you'll notice that you can't find the 'I' as an object no matter how much you look for. Being aware of awareness starts from this stage. Notice that 'I'(whatever that is) is aware of everything(including all the confusion, suffering etc); but no thing is aware of 'I'. No form(inside or outside) possess the reflective consciousness to be aware of 'I'. No people is aware of 'I', no thought is aware of 'I', no pain/sensation is aware of 'I'. All these things were merely pretending to be the 'I'. But upon looking clearly, they are found to be insentient, dead things with no awareness(even though they feel so dynamic and convincing). ONLY 'I' IS AWARENESS. From this stage, your job is to be continuously attentive/aware of this 'I' which cannot be located particularly and feels fictitious but yet IT EXISTS AND IT IS THE ONLY THING IN ENTIRE EXPERIENCE THAT IS AWARE. This is what is called 'real' self-inquiry. From Wiki, self-inquiry is the constant attention to the inner awareness of 'I'. Note: You are NOT paying attention to a particular sensation or a thought or any object. You've seen their dead, insentient nature and thus losing interest in form more and more, while being more and more interested in the 'I' that knows all these things. If you keep persistently doing just that hour after hour, day after day very soon (within 6 months to 2 years depending on how vigilantly you are doing it) you'll permanently realize the Self without a shadow of a doubt. All knowledge, thought, belief, identification, separate form cognition/perception will burn away as if never existed. You simply wouldn't be able to identify as body or anything ever again. the very mechanism of rising as subject to know other objects will be destroyed. Even though this sounds too good to be true, usually people need decades of trial and errors, purification to get to that final year of constant, vigilant self-inquiry. But who knows, you could be ready for it right now

@Mu_ you are right. I have realized nothing

Well, Rupert Spira has a very different notion of 'infinity'. While, Leo (and almost everyone else) visualizes and tries to express Infinity as something extending forever in all dimension; Rupert defines Infinity as something that has absolutely no dimension at all. Because having a dimension itself would be a limit. It immediately kills all the imaginations of the mind. Even though it sounds contradictory but I think it eventually goes full circle to point to nothing is everything, everything is nothing sorta deal. Also regarding the validity of 5-meo, I think Rupert's usual response would be that they are as valuable as mantra meditation or any other activity/substance. Might be helpful for a some people to see through their delusion and still the mind, but not necessary to be what one really is.

Q: How deluded is Leo? A: As deluded as the one who sees Leo