OneHandClap

Basically what @Inliytened1 wrote above. "The present moment" is still a subtle reification of time and subject to grasping. Again, this is a very subtle point that you can find a lot of material about in Zen or Dzogchen (Nagarjuna was a great writer about these concepts).

Clarification: the present moment is unstable, but the now is not. The now is a sort of "eternal" time. It doesn't correspond to past, present, or future, since it is beyond conceptualization. This is a subtle point, but one stressed a lot in Dzogchen practices.

"You" are always the same thing "you" have always been—a looping, self-referential pattern of grasping that manifests and self-sustains through clinging. In Absolute reality, there is no self to be spoken of. But in relative reality, yes, your self-image can be literally anything, including (or containing) attachments to inorganic objects.

Great to know. I smoked standard D9 for many years and always liked it, despite the anxiety it inevitably brought up. It feels like the D8/D10 variants are what "normal" people always felt when they smoked and remained functional throughout the day. Also excellent choices for watching movies, it seems

Keep in mind, too, that a lot of these "prank" channels are using paid actors to pretend to be wooed by the guy in question. There's big business in lying to people about how much game you have on Youtube.

How is Delta-10? I have never used it (or even seen it, lol). But I definitely agree that D8 has a clearer headspace to it!

The SSRI I took (lexapro) was only at the smallest possible dosage (2.5mg, which is about 1/4 of what most people take). I firmly believe that if you choose to take medication, you should always start at the lowest, lowest, LOWEST dose and see if it helps. Some people just need that little boost in confidence to open their eyes and change their worldview. I know that most here are fervently against psychiatric medication, but it can be a godsend if you are in a tough spot. Getting off of it was/is very easy, especially if you stay at a low dose. The people with withdrawal problems are those that have been taking high doses for months/years on end. I feel that overall it's a hugely positive thing if you are in the middle of great suffering; however, I am also not a blind advocate for just throwing pills at somebody to fix them. If your issue can be solved through lifestyle changes (working out, new job, new partner), then it is always better to do those things first before looking at medication. In my own case, I had everything that could be considered healthy (diet, meditation, exercise, loving relationship, work, etc), and still had crippling anxiety despite insights from psychedelics and CBT therapy. So, in that sense, there was a deeply biological component to the anxiety that most techniques just couldn't target. If you have any other questions, feel free to let me know. Edit: I also agree with @Flowerfaeiry's comment about "getting stuck." It is crucial to have short-term goals that you can check off as a way of measuring progress. If you realize you've developed coping strategies to be able to do "normal stuff" without feeling like you're on the verge of a panic attack or depressive episode, that is a good time to start coming off whatever you are taking. Getting hooked on meds is an absolute nightmare (never gone through it, but some have).

The love returns when you stop trying to make sense of how, why, or where anything is happening. The mind will never be satisfied with the answers it receives. This is because what we typically call "mind" is just a looping set of mental formations based on intellectual knowing. There are great uses for intellectual thinking, such as engineering work or doing your taxes, but reality cannot be grasped by thoughts. Thus, the path is one of continual surrender. You do not need to learn to love—you are love. Let go of the idea that you have to/must/should control anything, and you will find yourself, as love, as naturally as breathing.

I actually switched from Delta-9 (regular weed) to Delta-8 (which is legal in most places - D9 is also legal here, but I digress). D8 has produced much less anxiety and a far "cleaner" / more contemplative state of mind than standard weed. I find that a few puffs of Delta-8, with a healthy helping of CBD, is a guaranteed gateway to nondual states. My favorite practice is to notice all sensory fields as "not me, not mine" and gradually loosen the reins of control. Eventually the senses recede into a sort of boundless expanse, or a void, that is absolutely blissful.

No, I am saying awareness is exactly what it is: awareness. There is no subject experiencing awareness.

Again, you're just playing word games now. There is most certainly no awareness of body or thinking while in deep, dreamless sleep. Put shortly, "you" are not awareness, nor do you "have" awareness. Awareness is what it is

Bookmark this answer, OP. This is the only summary you need. Everything else is extra words.

There is a difference between receiving a diagnosis to manage lifestyle stuff versus identifying with the diagnosis. A person who receives a diagnosis of diabetic is not necessarily "identified with" diabetes, but they still have it. Similarly, if you are really, deeply struggling with anxiety and depression to the point where you're not enjoying life, there's nothing wrong with talking to a professional. You do not have to take medication; sometimes talking alone is enough to understand where you're being too harsh on yourself and find adjustments. Edit: For clarification, I struggled with anxiety (I also come from a family line with tons of anxiety) and took an SSRI for a while. It was a great decision and allowed me to contemplate/meditate upon the causes of that anxiety and do the work to rewire my own brain. Without that SSRI, I can't say what would've happened.

Awareness does arise and cease. Deep sleep is a cessation of awareness; so are cessation meditative experiences. Awareness can absolutely "boot up" and "switch off." It is not "you."

The issue is that it's making a distinction between appearances and awareness. That would mean that appearances are somehow their "own thing," floating around until awareness "catches them." But they arise simultaneously and cease simultaneously.

That's an assumption. If there are no appearances, no awareness. No awareness, no appearances. They are intimately connected; one cannot exist without the other. Awareness is its displays. Without displays, how could you know or label awareness?

Neither. The awareness is the appearances. If you remove all perceptions from awareness, there's literally nothing. So awareness is not separate from the things it seems to know.

Awareness is awareness is awareness is awareness is awareness, ad infinitum. Awareness is literally what it is.

You expressed this beautifully. The suffering of life sets in when we try to refine, grasp onto, or believe in an experiencer/possessor of awareness or life itself. All is simply happening. If there is no target for the arrow of suffering to strike, how can it land?

Spot on, Nahm. Love ya.

Language games. The minute you call me "me" and you "you," yes, we are separate. What I eat does not make you shit; what you wear on your feet does not cover mine. In the Absolute, there is nobody to be called me or you. But again, there are no words that can point you directly to what I am saying. Nothing I write here will satisfy you in terms of a concrete answer.

You're free to believe whatever you want. But be careful about building your house on top of a sand castle of beliefs. One wave is all it takes to wash away everything you know as true, no matter how many games you play about having enlightened knowledge.

The highest aim, at the end of the path, is to realize there was never anybody walking the path to begin with. When the Buddha speaks of ending rebirth, he is talking about permanently removing the delusion that there is a "somebody" (me) experiencing all sensations. For example, we look at a tree and think "I see the tree." But in reality, the seeing just happens on its own. There is nobody at the driver's wheel directing vision or thinking or smelling or anything else. All religions and teachings are trying to express this point, with varying degrees of success. Any practice that allows you to see the selfless, agentless reality behind perception is a valid practice and will lead you to "God."

I would say that nothing we can say of the Absolute is ultimately "true." The Absolute goes above and beyond literally every concept we apply to it. In our relative world, there are others. There is a you and a me. In the Absolute, there is nobody—not even "me" to feel that I am alone or with others. Ja feel?

"I am all alone" Duality at work. In order for there to be "you," there must be other.