cetus

@Nahm I was thinking the same thing. What was that trip insight that Leo talked about?

@AleksM Yes I totally agree. It comes suddenly and is complete.

@AleksM I wouldn't dismiss any possibility. This is more about true insight than a story though. We could all be so embedded in what we believe to be truth, that real truth may look like delusion.

@arberor

@kieranperez Not to be sarcastic but it sounds like you've already talked yourself into this being a problem for you before the work has even started. Only when you put a positive intention behind something will you get something positive out of it. Like all else in life.

@arberor Yea. I'm sure you've heard the saying, "enlightenment is not so much about gaining something as it's about losing something". Now you have a direct experience of exactly that. But that's still looking at it from the ego's point of view. Who is there to give away anything? Getting deep now. And yet, who knows this? Or maybe better said, what is it that knows this? Now everything is becoming that singularity again. Something is at the core of it? What is that?

Everything you say here makes perfect sense. Not that it needs to though. It usually doesn't make sense to the mind. When that happens, you know your really getting somewhere. Your doing fine. Just keep hitting that wall. You'll break through sooner or later. Embrace that claustrophobia! It's a gift even though your mind may strongly disagree. Oh yea!! Sweet! *I just contemplated that one. Everything did collapse down to a single point- including me.

@arberor Just downloaded Peter Ralston's new book, 'The genius of being'. I only listen to the first chapter so far but it sounds like he will address some things you experienced. He said how our beliefs dictate the world we see as a second hand experience. And that the mind needs to be"'reverse engineered" so it can see beyond the limitations of belief. Very cool! That relates well to what you experienced as letting go of your belief in a solid floor beneath you. You see, it's not about whether or not there actually is a solid floor. That's just the physicality of it. The mind fuck part. Don't let that freak you out. Instead transcend it. Rest in that very place where there is no concept of a solid floor. No floors are needed. Can you feel the spaciousness of it? That's the spaciousness that comes with letting go. Funny how it hides in the very last place you dare to look. But isn't that what it's really all about? Peering out to see beyond what is known?

@arberor Sounds like you had a breakthrough. An ego death. Your conceptual model of reality broke down. You briefly seen through the magician's tricks to realize the truth, that things are not at all as they seem to the mind. Bye-bye terra firma. "He who thinks he knows where he is standing -is in trouble". To answer your question, it was both. Your mind quickly turned a breakthrough into a breakdown of sorts. Next time try totally surrendering when the floor disappears. I know that's easier said than done. And it's not your fault that you bailed by mentally creating a bond to firm ground when you seen there was really none. Evolution has instilled a fight or flight mechanism for survival in humans over millennia. It has never been to 'totally let go' of everything. That's just the nature of the mind. It's Default Mode Network or (ego) must be overridden. That I believe is a remnant from our caveman days. Who will stand guard to keep my body safe while the mind has left it's guard post in the physical world? What if I don't come back? What if I totally let go and just keep going? Can I let go 'too much'? Will the world ever be the same again? I demand order and predictability! haha All this is just the mind doing it's job and perfectly normal. *To anyone here who may think that enlightenment is something to 'attain' or to add to their list of 'accomplishments' to put under their belt, this is the real deal. I don't mean just understanding all this conceptually. I mean actually experiencing it. Finding that place where there is no place to stand. The life you see around you may seem to be at a fixed position. But if you look deeper than your immediate surroundings, you find that impression totally collapses. The truth is that reality is in free fall. Therefore, so are you.

@Dodo " "The absolute does not know itself at all". Nisargadatta

Check out this blind girl playing keyboard. Totally amazing! She must have a super tuned sense of awareness to compensate for her lack of vision.

@Friend Haha, yea your right-my bad. It was PCP not THC (it has been a very long time). Actually it was both. Somebody turned me on to a joint laced with angel dust. And no, I wouldn't suggest it for any use. As far as THC alone. I find it has different effects on consciousness work. Sometimes it's very contemplative and focused. Other times the mind just wants to wander all over the place. For me the setting can make a difference too. For instance, if I smoke a joint and sit in nature, I totally dissolve into it with no separation. Everything becomes one field of consciousness or Samadhi experience. I wouldn't make smoking it a habit that needs to be relied on, but it can show you a very different view of reality.

@Arman No.

@Power I haven't watched that video for a while but I watched it again up until 10:00. Yea, I slip right into what Leo is saying 'allowing yourself to become all of reality'. With effortless practice you to will eventually stumble upon what he is talking about. Than will you easily recognize it and know exactly where to return to. It is a state of no-knowing. All that remains is what is. Any separation is an illusion.

@sweater That shit broke my cherry. Reality became insanity as I sat and observed people going about their daily business.Than I looked at my own life and seen the same. Absolute -stark reality. This was many years ago. "Angle dust" Yea. Don't let the name fool you. If you want to see reality as it is without the additives and colorization of the ego, this shit will show you. I guess that was my first true experience of 'ego death'.

@Ilya The mind creates an avatar to navigate time and space. This shits a total trip when you see what's really happening.

@Ilya More like realization that it was never really there in the first place. 'You' where never really there.

@Power With mindfulness practice it will get easier. You say 'keep telling my mind'. That's a chore of the mind. Something that needs doing. Practice no- effort instead of effort. That's letting go. I was contemplating this yesterday after observing the mind and all it's wanderings. I wan't to stay present. But sooner or later the mind has run off like a stray dog. And I contemplate, what is this mind when it has taken me hostage? Than something breaks wide open and I see it clearly. Mind is illusory! It continues doing it's thing. But the difference now is that there is an awareness of the of mind and it's illusory nature. So 'let go' and realize that your mind and all there is to it is an illusion. No practice. No doing of any kind. Just truly letting go without any effort.. ......................... Who is here to let go of anything?

@BobbyLowell'Authentic' self is the witness to everything. The one who sees it all. It witnesses the you as a physical entity of thoughts and memories (the self) that exists within reality/space/time. And it witnesses what is you as the absolute. As a very wise man once referred to it "Eyes without a Face".

@Nahm Foo's fan?

@Dan94 That didn't stop Sting

@Dan94 Everything works hand in hand so I say go with a well balanced diet of discipline, meditation, self inquiry, fitness, healthy food, study, life purpose, skill set, ect..

The mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work unless it's open.

@Wormon Blatburm Haha, that got me thinking so I searched, sure enough!