Water by the River

Excellent.

That is not the case in the higher states of for example Mahamudra stage 4 Nonmeditation, and neither in Dzogchen. The mind runs along quite nicely, but the thoughts are moving like leaves in the wind, as appearances in Infinite Being. The shutting off is emphasized in Theravada-approaches, leading to the Jhanas and cessation. Cessation is not the goal nor the highest state in all later developed Mahayana systems. The goal their is nondual Enlightenment sobre, while thoughts and the world arise in Infinite Being. And one can contemplate about Infinity all day long in these awakened states. Selling Water by the River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_pipe This lovely unique place here never gets old. Selling peace pipes by the River

If you want to call realizing Infinite impersonal eternal True Being (and staying awakened nondual states sobre) reductionism of Consciousness... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductionism "Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena.[1] It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical position that interprets a complex system as the sum of its parts.[2]" Luckily, Infinite/Absolute/Nondual Being doesn't have parts. Nondual. Only in duality/ignorance it appears so as being divded and having parts. Nondual doesn't have parts. So reductionism doesn't apply. Selling better don't play reductionism with Nondual Infinite Being by the River PS: Wise new video by the way. Meeting all children of your True Being where they are at. Stabilizing from yellow to turqoise to coral and so on. Nice. A solid base to stabilize the love that resides in Infinite Reality if it is not divided.

That is why I wrote infinite. In-finite. Not-finite. I didn't write Infinity as you did. Something not-finite can't be measures in any way, that is its defining property. Not higher nor lower, not more or less, not here or not here. Infinite Being. Always here, and never any kind of form. Reality itself. Infinite Reality, to be precise. Unchanging. True Being. Techically, Infinity is manifestation. A mathematical object. Manifestation and appearance. Happening in Infinite Being. But not the Infinite, as in Infinite Being. Only the content or what appears in Infinite being can vary, different Infinities, appearances, understandings. All the understanding you grasp is understanding of more content/manifestation/appearance/shadow/illusion. Realizing/Being/"Understanding" the Infinite Absolute of True Being on the other side is Enlightenment, which actually brings the satisfaction you seek with your understanding-project of infinity of infinities. Confusing the Infinite or Absolute with Infinity is btw. the core difference between true Impersonal Infinite Nondual Realization and a nondual realization still interpreted through elements of subtle ego/personality/separate-self filters. It is btw. the core mistake you are still making, and that will not change until you get a big clap from the One Hand and finally let the rest of whatever remains of your separate-self or "Leo"-ness die and see through it as mere appearance. Temporary form arising, a hypnotic illusion covering True Infinite Being. So basically seeing through & cutting off in real time what remains of your remaining separate-self gig. So well, can get more Infinity than Infinity: Yes, true, known since Cantor. Different classes/sizes of Infinity exist, and that why one can get more Infinity than Infinity. But can't get more infinite than infinite, can't get more absolute than absolute. That is how absolute is defined. And Absolute=infinite. Non finite. I know makes this differentiation doesn't make sense for you, but maybe just keep it in mind. Somebody once made a really smart video on youtube about open-mindedness. Maybe stay open-minded, so that the One Hand has a change of finding you and clapping the rest of the Leo-illusion out of you? Trust me, nothing more wonderful than that. In that moment, all Aliens & ETs in the Infinity of Multiverses will give you a hug, and whisper in your ear: My Darling, we just appear to be different, but actually we are all one, lovers of truth and understanding united in Infinite Being and of the same essence. And then you can continue meeting & hugging these way more intelligent beings and bask in their understanding of Infinities, but coming from infinite nondual being before the trip, and letting them appear in nondual true being during the hugging. Then we would have a truly happy love affair, since the essence of these beings wouldn't leave you after the romantic trip. Selling Water by the River PS: As you know, no Lèse-majesté inteded, always. And always with (imagined) alien respect & love.

Samsara, or the separate-self suffering mechanism in a nutshell.

Suffering = pain x resistance. Well, I prefer to not try every horror to test it (I know you are veeeery creative when it comes to that). But yes. IT is pretty amazing. Dark Room Retreat. Endohuasca-visions. I assume, but never tried. The Tibetans do it since a long time. Influences the brain chemistry and serotonin-dynamics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_retreat https://dmtquest.org/psychedelic-melatonin/

read too much Nietzsche lately? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_return "What if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness, and say to you, "This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence" ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: "You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine."[23] oh well... and now the Truth: Selling With no hindrance in mind and therefor no fear by the River

Um, guess I was lucky then that neither the hungry rodents nor any crocodiles who skipped lunch did manage to get into my dreams

Yup. When "it" is not Absolute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_(philosophy) Can't get more Absolute than Absolute, can't get more Infinite than Infinite. I agree in so far that many Enlightenments (by far most of them) are announced when it is not Great-(Zen-lingo) or final/full-Enlightenment (Impersonal, Death of the separate self, real Satori), but just Nonduality, or Unity of the separate-self with the universe (just nondual, not impersonal, just unity of personal + Universe, or Kensho). Or, the difference between waking up and a nondual dream.

... and no imagined rodent has been hurt Enlightenment doesn't mean that one is always right when it comes to relative truth like the things you mention. It just meaning knowing what you truly are, and what Reality is. Answers to both is the same. And on top, having that accessible all the time means nothing else than being to switch off/cut-off any ignorant I-thought and I-feeling of being only this little body mind, which makes the states (1)-(4) available all the time. And this can be done (without lying to oneself) if the Awakened State is accessible anytime (1) Infinite boundlessness of the Visual Field (and any other perception/dimension) (2) its groundlessness, or mere-appearance (imagined) character "hovering" in Infinity (3) the eternal nature of this Infinite Reality/Consciousness is always known (4) there is no (zero!) separate-self I-thought/feeling still hypnotizing. Impersonal. Empty. Silent. Vast. Yet, giving rise to all appearances and thoughts. And if one chooses to, one can cut off these thoughts/feelings off in real-time. The magic word is real-time, Or high-speed cut-off of any thought/feeling arising that ignorantly believes in being only this body-mind. Speed & strength of awareness, before any thoughts starts hypnotizing oneself and are believed&elaborated. And that takes normally many years. But its worth it. The high-speed cutting of of (4) isn't always necessary, but that ability is what opens up the Awakened states described in (1-3). And if thoughts then rise again, simple mindfulness lets let flow in Infinite Being without believing them, if (1)-(3) are powerful enough. And: Being able to generate (1)-(3) with (4) induces so much bliss that the annoying separate-self arisings don't "grip", even if they are not cut off in realtime but just watched in mindfulness. Ego-wanting/avoiding only grips when one is not in a positive enough state already. One has a human, but one isn't one. True Being is Infinite Reality. That doesn't mean one does stupid things for to ones relative vehicle, like James hand-into-the-fire. Beings who know their True Nature are not brain dead. And that is having Absolute Truth always available. Or Enlightenment. It is not an idea, and there is zero doubt about it that this is final. Can't get more infinite than infinite, and there is and only can only be THAT. And any Alien, ET or way-out-spectacular-appearance-of-consciousness appears only in THAT. Nice to understand&see, but not really urgent in any way. There were enlightened Zen Masters who thought Japans Imperial Wars were great. So one can be totally wrong on relative stuff. But the Absolute stuff must be handled. Selling smiling little annoying Buddhist-rodents by the River

@Osaid good points. I find the following thought experiment interesting: Imagine that all it would need for Enlightenment (realization of True Infinite Being instead of being a separate-self/human) would be taking psychedelics. Truly realizing Infinite Being means understanding that each and any identity and thought is just an object. No character/ego-element not made from subject into object arising in Infinite Being in real time. If psychedelics don't deliver that (which they apparently don't do, has been tested many times), and yet would cause a permanent blissful nondual state, that would mean nothing else that ego and its normal occupations with I/me/mine and all its endless needs Maslows pyramid up and down, not to talk about being soooo special (a brief look at current state of the world suffices) would at least partly survive untranscended. And then we would have permanently blissful non-suffering (and hence NON-CHANGING) super-egos running around, established in blissful nonduality, doing its remaining turbo-egoic-thing. . Not for the faint of hearted... So, there is and will remain an entrance price for staying in blissfull boundless impersonal nonduality: The transcendence or seeing through each and any separate-self I-feeling and I-thought in real time. The death of the little self, understanding it never existed, and only Infinite Being IS and apparently played the game of being something separate. And what would a Roshi say to Water by the Rivers telling his little pet theory and thought experiments: Empty your cup and back on the pillow! And he would be right. Oh well... Singing "If I can Dream..." by the River

My best guess would be the overflowing cup. Do I have to put my hand on the fire, or does the answer to the Koan please the Roshi? Selling plenty of tea by the River

Paul Atreides of course. Seems he followed your advice with the fire & hand. And now lets get serious: James my friend, if you wouldn't have written that wise statement in your signature, someone really would have needed to state such wise words. Selling Gom Jabbars & burning hand tests overflowing cups by the River

If one blows it up, I don't doubt it can feel like.

No-Self is not Infinite Being without a functioning personality. It is just Infinite nondual Being containing a personality. Like it contains the rest of the world also. And the personality doesn't have to become totally stupid my friend

That is wrong in my experience. But see for yourself before you rule out what is possible.

When first stepping truly into True No-Self or truly impersonal Infinite Nondual Being, it kills the separate self. Literally. It no is longer believed at all, just as an assembly/Gestalt of incorrect ignorant ideas and feelings, realized as appearing mirage that just pretended and cut off in real time. The snake is the rope. Which is Infinite Impersonal Being. And "the" "Realizer" of that is also more BS-clusters of thoughts and feelings. That closes the loop. The separate-self illusion has then no ground to stand any more in infinite groundless mere appearance Infinite Being. Then, it is replaced by an Infinite Ocean of Suchness or groundless mere nondual appearance. Only after quite some familiarity with that does the normal hypnosis of unawakened human life seem as the altered state, and the empty Suchness as the unaltered state. Yet, that is how things truly are.

When it is all said and done (in retrospect), all other states of consciousness seem quite altered and strange when compared to the no-self state. No-self is in no way an altered state of consciousness; it is completely and absolutely unaltered. It is simply the One, seen from the One's point of view. It is a single drop of rain, a cloud passing, the fall of your own breath. Adyashanti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e78ZGCm4jtU&t=84s Sorry, didn't find that in english.

1 hour ago, Water by the River said: Like any other being, it seems to me you strive for what brings you satisfaction. Now you equate pleasure with bliss or non-suffering. Which I didn't do: The Sat & Chit in Sat-Chit-Ananda, or the bliss & love that a sobre Awakened Nondual State brings is also not pleasure, and I assume you are well aware of that. So lets look up Wikipedia (I know..) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasure "Pleasure is part of various other mental states such as ecstasy, euphoria and flow. Happiness and well-being are closely related to pleasure but not identical with it." "Pleasure refers to experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment OF something". For example of Infinite-Consciousness-chasing-exploration. The bliss or love of Awakened Nondual States doesn't NEED the enjoyment OF something. Then we would have to consider the nondual essence Nothingness behind all appearance as OF something. Which luckily it isn't, because it is not OF something (but Infinite Being, Nothingness and nondual appearance and not something specific IN/OF it) Selling the basic difference between pleasure and between causeless Sat-Chit-Ananda by the River

Like any other being, it seems to me you strive for what brings you satisfaction. And even if that comes from "Infinitely Consciousness"-ET/research/n+1 or whatever. Dukkha=unsatisfaction (unsatisfying is a much better translation than suffering) = separate self = appearing/imagined opposite of bliss & love of Infinite Being. Or do you strife for dis-satisfaction? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Discovery These guys also did what they liked... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccidānanda Sat! Chit! Sorry. Watching & cheering the Great Discoverers departing on their ships by the River. Really! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_no_man_has_gone_before#:~:text="Where no man has gone,Shatner as Captain James T.

. Let's dance. How about researching angels? Ok, got me. Demons & Aliens are also interesting: But angels also Strassman, DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: A New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible Who else could? Water by the River listening to....

Exactly. Heroine is a foretaste of these states where the self-contraction is totally obliterated. Unearned bliss. That is what makes it so dangerous. Luckily, psychedelics are not that dangerous, and can be even non-addictive by boosting consciousness. Yet, certain similiarities in possibilities of bypassing are hard to ignore.

When the arugment breaks down we turn to funny stuff. But its a step further than the rodent-insults -comments. So fine with me. Have you ever seen an enlightened crocodile? Maybe the crocodile becomes a Neandertaler after having been an efficient crocodile and l-o-v-i-n-g its food? Who knows? But to be honest, crocodile minds are not really my research-focus. They seem to be not too high neither on the Karmic-evolution-ladder, nor on the smartness-ladder. Not even being a good-buddy-ladder... Bon Appétit: I always wonder when you sleep? I just got up here in Germany.