Ayham

Yeah, I used to be like most people here, and I still think its a valid approach, just taking what I like from each religion without following the dogma, now I am thinking that each religion can be a vehicle for transformation if applied right, like there are many stages, you can do blue Islam, green Islam, Yellow Islam, etc. until you transcend the religion at some point. Of course, most people take their religion as inheritance, never thinking about it, and take it as absolute truth, they never bother about using it to grow. So here is the correct way to choose a religion: not as absolute truth, but rather, you find the principles and values of the religion right for you, so you can choose it, and follow it wisely as a tool of transformation. All religions have a mystical aspect (Sufism, Hesychasm, Vedanta, Buddhism in general, maybe especially Vajrayana) and they also have a dogmatic aspect This is an MMORPG, choose one of those classes, or choose none and take what you like from each. Since we are talking about Islam, Muhammed said: “Seek the verdict from your heart and follow it, even if thousands of muftis declare verdicts against it.” You are feeling a closeness to Islam (me too recently, as an Arab ex-Muslim), I would say go for it, just stay away from Salafism because they have become mainstream in last 100 years, and don't get attached to the religion or take it as absolute truth. Symbolic interpterion also applies for many things if you go by Ash'ari theology school. If you wanna get into Sufism, start with basics: 1. The Quran 2. Revival of Religious sciences (basics of Islam + Sufism) 3. The bezels of wisdom, Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya (Ibn Arabi, the man) Big books so take your time

I was born Muslim but never got convinced of it, I used to hate it, now I am finding my way back to it but of course not in dogmatic way, I don't see it as absolute truth but I like the teachings, a lot of it that might seem outdated, is made to fit the people back then, a lot of people claim "scientific miracles" from the Quran, some of which make sense, others don't, but in general, the 5 main pillars of Islam are great for advancing spirituallty if you do it right (unlike most Muslims) The five pillars are: Believing in one god and that Muhammed is the last prophet (Sufis believe in Awliya, which is like someone close to the prophet level, someone very highly spiritually attained, but not exactly a prophet, and technically, no major religion has started after Islam, so Muhammed is actually the final prophet) Daily prayer 5 times a day (a great way of introducing bhakti and devotion) Charity (small amount) Fasting of Ramadan (we all know that various saints and spiritual people in history have used fasting, including Buddha and Jesus) Pilgrimage to Mecca once in life if you are able to Some Sufis added a sixth thing, which is Dhikr (constant rememberence of god), by chanting a mantra like La Illaha Ila Allah (there is no god but Allah), or Allahu la illaha ila hu al hayu al qayuum (allah, there is no god but him, the ever-living, the ever-subsisting), basically a form of meditation Now you can't really group Islam under one thing, there is too many sects and sub-sects, the Sufis are really spiritual, but the dominant form of Islam these days, in Arab world at least, is the most dangerous, Salafi Islam, this is what has the tendency to become terrorism. Even though all my life, I looked at Western things, it has been fun discovering Islamic and Arabic things, the tradition, literature, poetry, philosophy, etc. is huge and really underrated, especially the mystical aspects, I am seeing how it can be a way of fully reaching enlightenment. The main problem is, for most of you, is that you need to understand Arabic to fully understand Islam, which I would say is also worthwhile since you unlock huge poetry and literature, but its too hard.

(Sorry to disappoint, you probably thought I was sharing the resources, but I am actually asking for them ) Okay so, I am in an Arabic Muslim country, I am not Muslim by any means at all, there is so much bullshit in it, but also, I love the sort of structure it gives to life, of course, if you are in the west, it would be harder to practice, but here it is very conductive to practice. So of course I don't like the dogma that comes with Islam, so therefore, I am gonna practice Sufism temporarily since it fits my current situation here, I am curious about it and I want to practice. Most Muslims here are Salafi/Wahabi Muslim's, or Shia, so that doesn't help much. I am probably going to combine Sufism with Kriya Yoga. This won't be considered Islam from normal Muslims, but I don't give a fuck. So.... give me some sufi resources and tips

@Danioover9000 yeah, Islam is associated with violence, this is a large topic, the first 3 caliphates are the ones that caused most of what you are talking about, which the Shia don't consider righteous and only believe in the 4th caliphate. On the other hand, Islam was born in a very barbaric culture, this isn't unexpected. On the other other hand, Muhammed himself preached a lot of peace, here's some of his sayings: “You will not enter Paradise until you believe and you will not believe until you love each other. Shall I show you something that, if you did, you would love each other? Spread peace among yourselves.” (Sahih Bukhari) “Avoid cruelty and injustice, and guard yourselves against miserliness, for this has ruined nations who lived before you.” “Shall I inform you of something that holds a higher status than fasting, praying, and giving charity? Making peace between people, for verily sowing dissension between people is indeed calamitous.” “Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors.” (Quran 2:190) And there's stuff that aren't peaceful at all, I personally interpret it as a result of the culture there, Salafism or Wahabism, tries to practice religion the same way as 1400 years ago, but other sects are different, and also, Salafism isn't exactly terrorism, most Salafis are pretty opposed to terrorism. Shi'as are pretty cool, as well as Sufis and Ash'aris @Leo Gura To understand Allah directly, sure, but I meant Muslim theology and philosophy, which you aren't interested in much so yeah. But yes, language is a distraction when it comes to understanding god or Allah directly.

Leo changed my life and I wouldn't be where I am without him, but: Disregarding a lot of teachers and traditions as "rats", dismissing many aspects of developing oneself as secondary, as well as dismissing traditional enlightenment and going for trippy "alien consciousness". Maybe that's just my personal bias, but he does philosophy, not just spirituality, but doesn't give strong reasons and arguments, which are important for philosophy. too much emphasis on psychedelics, neglect of traditional spiritual practice. But hey, I appreciate how unique all of these "negatives" make Actualized.org, he refuses to follow a particular set in stone path or traditional framework, which is the strongest positive, and even if he goes wrong, it is still worth it, and it is obvious that he isn't interested in most of what I mentioned. as I said, dude changed my life, but at this point I have outgrown my need for him, he doesn't teach me anything new, but he taught me a lot of great things, particularly how to live a good life and good epistemology, which I can continue using for anything, as I have been getting into western and Arabian philosophy.

@Evan Gill very much yes, that is exactly my situation.

Maybe it would reassure you, that where I'm from, the norm is to be a virgin until you get married, like it's normal to find 25 years old virgins here, and that doesn't make them any less successful or enjoy life less.

@r0ckyreed yes, meditation in and out of itself is very important for our work, it is important to have a still mind, to be able to sit and do nothing, retreat into solitude, connect with your true self, and have a higher baseline of consciousness Meditation gives you a clear mind and if you want just better mental health, it will give you that, if you want non dual states, jhanas, samadhi, etc. it can give you that if you do it right. And yes, it is also a mistake to spend all your time mediating or sitting with the greybeards lol, but also you would miss out if you never train with the greybeards. A holistic approach that includes mind (contemplation, reading, writing, etc.), body (exercise, martial arts, yoga, etc.), spirit (meditation, music, poetry, art, etc.) and shadow (journaling, self-reflection, therapy, etc.) is the best approach because it leads to holistic growth in everything, and until you master meditation, nothing will develop you in the domain of spirit as much.

Yes, you can make a summary of the book, focus on writing stuff in your own words, You can make an outline, or write whatever you feel is important I've done this for a lot of books, I usually finish a chapter, while underlining on the book, placing a star near main points, and either writing my thoughts on sticky note, or a seperare paper. Understanding the structure of the book is key, the author always presents with main points, backed up by supporting points, focus on pinpointing the main points. When i finish the chapter, I go back, make the main points as bullet points, then add the details from memory as sub bullet points. And in the end, you can make an action plan. But in my experience, and this may differ in your case, this amount of note taking doesn't really help with self help books, since most self help books are very repetitive, nowadays i focus on just writing down my personal insights from the book and actually making an action plan. Check out this YouTube channel, you might like it: https://youtu.be/Ls2ynrMv10A?si=OdttPO9WfRvr_6PP And yes, obsidian is better than onenote.

@LambdaDelta I see, so stuff similar to Sunni Islam but with ascetic lifestyle, poetry, meditation, music, divine love, contemplation, etc. I think Sufism is one of the most potent paths but it has a big hurdle, that it requires an in person group or sheikh, a lot of which are cults or not realized, plus there doesn't seem to be any around even though I'm in a Muslim country. I will do more digging around. @Salvijus excellent!

slow reading > fast reading You should be reading books as much as possible take notes, jot down insights, highlight, think, contemplate, summarize. The only way information can transform your thinking is through connections, I do this with a Zettelkasten system but that's complicated and you probably don't need that. So read quality over quantity of books, here is something i find helpful: keep self-help books as audiobooks, because they are usually very repetitive, and don't need much attention, listen while at the gym, driving, etc. And actual reading would go to difficult books.

Kriya yoga (not sadhguru version, which is only similar in name) has only one Asana, which is mahamudra, there are some kriya practicioners that only do this but a few hundred times (rare but still)

Oh nice @UnbornTao @LambdaDelta I know those names but I haven't gotten into them, I believe they are more philosophical in nature, of course I will get into them but what about practice, any resources for that?

Hey, look into PARA, a digital system, you have 4 folders: Projects: projects you are working towards with a deadline (ideally you should be creating small projects, like one week duration, so that each week you are finishing projects, like try generating 10 projects during your next week) Areas: stuff that are on going in your life and you have a responsibility for (health, finance, meditation, fitness, journal, etc.) Resources: notes on books, articles, videos, on anything, whether it is personal development, philosophy, hsitory, marketing, etc. you can make a section for each Archives: the inactive categories from previous folders, projects you finished, areas that aren't in your life anymore, resources you lost interest in, etc. Digital is better in my opinion because you can never lose it For me, I have a digital system for information gathering, summaries, noting insights, etc. And I track my life with a physical daily journal

@Javfly33 do you have any recommendations for Hatha yoga sources?

High quality!! Amazing

I understand that it is a surface level understanding of Nietzsche, I'm still new to his work, thanks for pointing out.

I like Nietzsche's idea of the Ubermensch Or the super man, his famous line "god is dead and we killed him", means that we killed the religious values and principles in the west without replacing them with anything better, so nihilism, meaninglessness, mental illness, addictions, etc. started to arise. I believe his idea was that after "killing god", we had 2 options: Become the Ubermensch, the super man, the society that transforms pain, suffering and meaninglessness into meaning and something valuable. Become the last man, the society that is based on addictions, and constant struggle with meaninglessness And we have definitely became the second option. Of course when we take spirituality into account, I think the way into the super man, into the Ubermensch is through spirituality. Nietzsche tried to find meaning after losing religion, through intense philosophising and logic, but he ultimately ended up being insane, the mind can't win this battle, this is where spirituality comes in.

I'm aware it's weird but for real, I legit have Leo as a father figure, I never had any males around in the family sense while growing up, and weirdly enough the elementary school i was in also only had female teachers for some reason lol, then I got into philosophy then spiritually and finally found actualized.org, I was still 14, and man, Leo changed my life, he was the first person that was able to influence my thinking, even though I watched other resource's before Leo, none were able to change my thinking. I got a derealization experience after first watching him the first time, and that was really transformative, I changed a lot after the derealization experience passed. At some point with every teacher and thing, you begin to see it's limitations, and that's a good thing, a lot of people here follow leo way too blindly. But I will always be thankful and remember him as the person who most influenced me growing up, especially as a person from Iraq, even though I always questioned all beliefs and ideas since I was 10, maybe I could have ended up falling into Islamic fundamentalism instead, like most people around me.

@Leo Gura I think I got what you mean, these concepts can hold you back from investigating everything purely for yourself. I agree with the idea that ideas derived from others won't be enough, specifically because it's indirect experience. It's a real trap that each worldview thinks itself immune, even the spiritual one, Buddhist one, psychedelics one, etc. who usually think they are above this, so deriving answers for yourself is key, which is much easier said than done, I notice that even most forum members here either subscribe to traditional spiritual thought, or blindly follow you.

@Leo Gura I get your point, that western and academic philosophy is full of bullshit, even if there's gems in it, it isn't worth the hassle and years of study, since that won't get you anywhere. I personally think Western philosophy is very valuable, the reason most academic philosophers don't get enlightened is because they get too lost in the abstract concepts, but imagine combining these abstract western philosophy concepts, with hardcore spiritual practice and psychedelics, I think that's extremely valuable. What do you mean by you can regret having certain concepts in your mind? Because I always thought western philosophy makes you get to the point where you don't even know what to believe anymore, you get to this state of not knowing because of all the various contradictory viewpoints you understand, and here is where you are supposed to leave your books, do hardcore spirituality, get out of your cave and live the world, to let all this integrate into something whole.

Good and evil is imaginary, a human bias And let's say hypothetically that there's a devil, it's still part of god

Orange.

I think going small is best Cutting social media is not possible, just switch to healthy content, spiritual content, personal development content, philosophy, science, whatever you are into. Focus on building habits temporarily Make a year or so plan where you add a habit every month, and you aren't going to judge yourself as long as you do the one habit you are supposed to do everday, and make an ideal and a bare minimum for it. For example: June: daily meditation (bare minimum: 5 minutes, ideal: 1 hour) July: going to the gym (bare minimum: put shoes on and walk to the gym, ideal: train really hard, cardio and weightlifting) August: Journal (bare minimum: write for 1 minute, ideal: write for 15 minutes) September: contemplation (bare minimum: contemplate for 5 minutes, ideal: do a full contemplating session for an hour) October: writing (bare minimum: write about a topic for 5 minutes, ideal: write a whole essay) November: reading (bare minimum: read one page, ideal: read 30 pages) You get the idea, the idea is, you have a bare minimum, which makes it really hard to skip a day, because it's so easy to do, you won't skip it, and once you get started, 80% of the time, you will continue, and if you don't, it's fine. This works as a permanent fix, changing too much won't work, gradual and simple, while still allowing yourself to be spontaneous is the best way, it's the only thing that worked for me. You just make a plan like this, with a strong why and idea of who you want to be, it's extremely easy to stick to it, and within a few months, the ball will start rolling, and once you get so used to it, you don't need to keep track of anything, it will be so natural. But an important tip: making meditation the first habit makes everything else much easier to stick to.

@Nilsi and how does that vision get actualized? This is like the Ubermensch right?