OneHandClap

The Absolute is not a being. The Absolute just is. If you believe the Absolute is a single thing and not simultaneously one and many and every other form of concept, you have already entered duality. The Dao that can be spoken (or in this case, described) is not the Eternal Dao.

There's nobody to be enlightened; this is the giant joke of the whole thing! Saying there is "one being" or that one is "alone" are just alternate ways of expressing the insane realization that there are no beings in the Absolute. There is only the Absolute. So even saying "only you are aware" is already one being too many

What is the sound of three hands clapping? I tried it last week and it didn't sound great.

This. This entire thread (and many others like it harping on solipsism) are just playing language games. There is one Being, many beings. Saying that everyone is an NPC only to pull a trollface and say "Haha, got you, it's because God is only one and you're God!" is the ultimate sign that these insights have only been digested on a surface level. Enough games; do the work.

In Buddhist thought, we are born, die, and are born again precisely because we believe there is a "me" who is experiencing all of that. Once you see through the mechanisms and understand there is nobody "inside you" seeing through your eyes, the question of birth and death ceases.

All I'm saying is that the vast majority of us males here have not been kicked out of bars, especially for being perceived as creepy. So this constant attempt to push it back and say "I'm not the problem, it's them!" doesn't hold much weight. If you want to make progress here, be open to the criticism. If not, it's just a complaint-fest with no actual goal, IMO.

Nirvana is samsara, and vice versa But I get what you mean. I've had a few experiences that orbited the very edge of the void. Time, sensations, and perception literally slowed to a millionth of their ordinary function. It felt like falling into a black hole, knowing that if I took that last step, everything would vanish. Seeing as I didn't enter the event horizon, however, I can't say what the "other side" is like. If I manage to send a message back after death, I'll surely let you know

I'm not sure on that part. I think most people can agree that QM messes with the standard models we had before, but it also doesn't seem to affect the large-scale structures of our other models (i.e. cellular reproduction still works, gravitational equations still work, etc). Philosophically it has tremendous implications, but I don't think it really encroaches much on our other models of reality. As long as an equation still "checks out" in practice, it has value for mundane matters like building bridges or curing diseases.

This, lol. Honestly, OP, talking about period blood and semen unprompted in a casual social gathering is a surefire sign that you are either socially unaware or don't understand conventional boundaries of conversation. Women (and often men) will do many things to avoid a scene and keep things kosher in public. They are used to creepy men going ballistic when they offend them. So, in short, try to keep the "open-minded" stuff off the table until you A. know your audience more intimately, or B. have been invited to talk about those things by the people you approached.

You're trying to rationalize something you will never get a sufficient answer to. The simplest way to conceive of this is evolution. Almost everything biological can be explained through evolutionary theory. Some structures hold up better than others. For example, a fast zebra subspecies will outlive a slower one, assuming the slower one doesn't have any other advantage in its environment. Similarly, modern humans are the descendants of past humans who were "fitter" to survive in their contemporary environment. There's no need to speculate about metaphysical reasons why X is stronger/weaker than Y.

So basically it's exactly what I stated. You are 16 and not nearly as mature as you might imagine. Be careful with that brain/developing conceptual world of yours. I've known plenty of people who tripped in their teens seeking the Absolute and wound up spending decades haunted by it. Caveat emptor, but as you said, you're going to do whatever you want. Your brain, your choice.

I don't see how idealism (mind is all) would in any way indicate that biology loses meaning. Even if it is just "dream logic," it works. We have testable theories that work for us, and if we don't, we revise them. Just because something is constructed within consciousness doesn't mean it can't have a logical and consistent structure. Otherwise there would be no need for language, which is itself a concept.

Well, hard to say. For me, I would drift off pretty fast (5-10 minutes), but then wake up with the void/lucid experience about an hour in. I think certain REM cycles need to kick in for this to engage properly.

You need to grasp that imagination is reality. There is no divide between the two. Biology might be imaginary, but that doesn't mean it's fairy dust and witchery. There are regimented systems that govern the behavior of the body. If this wasn't the case, Leo would not be advising people on things like heavy metal detox and diets.

Sure, it could be. But try not sleeping for a month. You will discover quickly that whether you believe it or not, there are biological reasons for sleep.

I basically just listened to a guided yoga nidra track for a while as I was going to sleep (body scanning, mostly), but over time it became pretty natural to do it automatically. You're essentially just lying there and trying to feel each part of the body clearly and slowly, moving one piece at a time. It's more or less vipassana going to sleep. I don't remember how long it took, but maybe a few weeks? It is different for everyone.

Anecdotal, but I practiced yoga nidra hardcore for a while. There were a lot of weird experiences that came from that, such as lucid dreams with instant manifestation ("Oh, let's imagine a red ball in my hand, and a red ball appears," etc) and falling into "the void." I have no idea how to explain the latter, aside from the feeling that you are just a formless witness in a vast, pulsating expanse of energy. I never really knew what to do with the void in practical terms, so I'd tend to linger there for a while and then wake up or go into unconsciousness. Very weird.

I mean, relatively speaking, yes, all of those things do happen. Imagination does not mean that we're just making random shit up. Sure, the universe is doing that all the time, but these things evolved through stable structures. For somebody who has diabetes, insulin has a real effect, not just an illusory one. Relative = absolute, so there is zero divide between what is imagined and what is "real."

Well, technically speaking, oxygen, food, water, and sleep do keep you alive. You exist right now as an individual being, and if you stop playing by the rules, there are consequences - namely, the destruction of the system that relies on you playing by those rules. In this case, that means your body will perish without those things. God is a term that represents the totality of the experience, so it's closer to say that God doesn't keep anything alive—it is life, in a broad sense. God, as a stand-in for reality, cannot be killed—but you, as an individual, certainly can be.

It gets "easier" when you stop trying to intellectualize the experience or think about it. The main reason people run into the dark night situations or struggle with expanding consciousness is because their thinking mind is in overdrive trying to figure it all out, put it into philosophical boxes, and twist perception to aid survival mechanisms. But when you really, truly surrender to the vast weirdness of reality, it becomes a default state.

How do you know where Zen monks actually are on the spiral system? You can't experience their state of consciousness directly. Furthermore, Zen is esoteric because it acts to deconstruct literally all dogmas, systems, gradients, and ideas of "progress" in meditation. We can argue all day about whether Buddhist monks cling to that sort of thing, but Zen is pretty actively involved in breaking down dualities. Read a few koans or read the tales of actual Zen patriarchs if you doubt this.

This, lol. What is the purpose of "imagining" you're taking a shit? Or squirrels? Or neutron stars? Things are what they are. Trying to figure out why they exist is a pointless loop.

You will always stress about survival, because you exist as a biological being with a functioning nervous system. Are you less scared of death and pain after some level of realization? Absolutely. But seeing as there is no divide between the mundane and the infinite/transcendent, there's no reason to fight survival, either. Ice cream will always be better than having your fingernails ripped off, in your experience.

You want to trip, many people have offered good reasons not to do so at your age, and still you carry on by saying how everyone is wrong. Why even make this topic if you just wanted confirmation bias?

Quite frankly, I think the main issue with this forum is that you guys have let these videos get to your head in a most unfortunate way. There is truth in what Leo is saying, but it's obvious that the driving force for most users is drug highs, not actual contemplation of the mind or how it generates reality. As I stated earlier in this thread, repeatedly parroting "I'm God, you're God, everything is God" and taking psychoactive substances as a replacement for genuine contemplation is not at all the same as experiencing direct consciousness. To believe that one can have more refined consciousness than people who have spent 30, 40, 50 years dedicated to understanding the mind is delusion of the highest order. I wish you all the best of luck.