SeaMonster

Yes. The ego just gets trickier until it is fully extinguished. The point is that there is still an "I" thought. "I" may think it is the entire universe or one with God or whatever, but...there is still an "I." If a fully enlightened person tries to do self-enquiry (ask "who am I?") the feeling that comes back is that the word "I" is a fiction and that there is only The Absolute, The Self, the Nondual Consciousness, etc. So there is a simple test for the state one currently experiences.

There isn't one central authority governing the use of language pertaining to spirituality, so the words are used quite loosely and interchangeably by some, and for others enlightenment is ultimate while awakening may be an initial experience of spirituality. I tend to modify either term with "partially" or "fully" for clarity's sake. Then some people call a psychedelic experience as awakening. It may be an awakening, loosely speaking, but it doesn't mean it is a nondual awakening where you have permanently shifted into a state where you no longer experience "the center" (i.e. "I" is identified as the body or some bodily location, like point between your eyes.) After that state where you experience "the center" there are a bunch of intermediate states, where you progressively identify with local emptiness, universal emptiness, God/bliss, and ultimately all identification ceases and the subject-object duality is gone. You can call this full awakening or full enlightenment or whatever else you want. There are different names for this. Moksha, self-realization, sahaja samadhi, etc. (Of course, past that there is a period of years of integration, because personality habits have to unwind. A lot of shadow work takes place here.) So if you want a definition, enlightenment is the attainment of the "natural state" where conditioned notions of separateness are seen through and realization of The Absolute as the true reality is complete.

Either you're fully awakened or not. There is no "most awakened person" award. Anyone who thinks he is...is not awakened. Anyone who thinks this is some kind of contest or competition is an egomaniac. (This goes for Leo, Ken Wilber and other unawakened or partially awakened people.) They don't get it...the ego takes interesting detours while seeking. There are probably thousands of fully awakened people who...get it. They're not out there competing in the public eye to earn themselves a Most Awakened Being award...because they...just get it. They also know what will help others awaken and what won't. Forget about Leo for a second, though: if you think you're special BECAUSE you follow Leo and think you are PRIVY to something unique...you have a much bigger problem than Leo does. You need to question yourself and ask what it is you're really after: to bolster your ego or to awaken.

The simplest explanation is usually the right one: grandiosity. Narcissists live in a fantasy world and think they are special and unique in some way. Occam's Razor.

I'm not sure you even understand what shadow work is. Shadow work is all-encompassing. Even these spiritual tools that you practice can be an example of shadow work if that's what is the opposite of your typical ego tendencies. It varies from person to person. People have different personalities, a different ego makeup. Shadow work is done in light of awareness that who you've been conditioned to be isn't the totality of who you are, and integrating that hidden self is the ultimate goal. Of course, "thought" is often associated with the ego, especially for thinking types, but not dwelling in thought as you suggest IS an example of shadow work. You can't escape it, lol.

Nah. Psychonauts who believe this (not picking on you personally, this is a common belief) are totally in denial. Think about it for a second: what has the belief that "you can't do it naturally" and "you need 5MeO."? It's an ego belief. Why does the ego have this belief? It is not to kill itself, it is to inflate itself. In order to overcome the ego, you must do the opposite of what is comfortable to the ego (in other words do that which you feel the most resistance to.) In this case, "doing it naturally" (whatever that means) is it.

It's not a silly question at all; in fact it's one of the best questions you can ask. The problem with knowing what you authentically want is how the ego is structured. You may be accustomed to pleasing other people or being a follower, or other tendencies where you aren't really being true to yourself. Or you may have addictions that you use to cope. Some people do drugs, some people compulsively masturbate. These things aren't what you AUTHENTICALLY WANT, it's what you're SLAVE to. So firstly, figure out what you're slave to. Is it pleasing people? Is it eating to cover up the pain or some other bad habits? It's easier to know what you want if you can figure out which of the things that you are constantly doing are TO COPE.

You are not going to achieve ego death on psychedelics. At best, you'll achieve inflation. "I want to destroy my ego" really means "I want to be different than what I am now -- I don't like how I am now." You can start by changing your daily habits.

They can't both be true. Solipsism is a philosophy of the unenlightened (really, unenlightened radical egocentrists.)

Of course it's important. Getting a good night's sleep is important. A lot of people here are babies who think enlightened people are DC Comics superheroes or something. Try sleep depriving an enlightened person. They are not going to be "blissed out" for long.

First of all, if you say shit like "this is one of the highest teachings" you are DEFINITELY lost in the ego. You are emulating how Leo talks because you aren't comfortable being yourself. You feel like you are a better person if you copy Leo's style and presentation. So yeah, you most certainly need shadow work. STOP THE CAP.

The relationship between healing psychological dysfunction and nondual awakening or enlightenment is much more nuanced and interesting than mere nonduality dogma that "enlightenment is all you need." What happens in reality is that enlightenment rids one of the problem of the I-thought, which clings to certain personality aspects (i.e. The Ego.) So shadow work is much more difficult and less fruitful before enlightenment. It doesn't mean shadow work doesn't take place after enlightenment. You're not just magically saved after you see through the I-thought. That's not how it works, that's not how any of this works! Only then can the process of shadow integration really proceed without resistance, and it takes many years for it to get far enough so that you can say you are anywhere close to "healed." But if you lazy motherfuckers think you're just going to be magically saved after reaching enlightenment, you're in for a world of disappointment. The issue is that you have decades of habits built up from having an ego that don't just magically disappear. You have to use you new insights to rebuild your habit structure, so that negative habits are shed and positive habits ingrained. That's what "heals" the brain (i.e. trauma patterns, maladaptation, etc.) You could do that now, but you won't, because your ego is in the way. None of this stuff is mystical or complicated. It's just difficult to change because of the ego, that's all.

As far as the US is concerned he is right. Progressives are about the narrative of Fake Victimhood, i.e. First World Problems -- not real economic deprivation such as in many communities hollowed out by offshoring that supported Trump e.g. The hottest thing in progressivism is intersectionality (i.e. race/sexuality/gender based politics.) In other words, you can be an upper middle class black lesbian professor and still consider yourself a bigger victim than some dirt-poor white working class man in Appalachia e.g. Current progressivism simply shunts Class to the side in favor of less important identity markers. Of course it attracts a bunch of spoiled brats waging pee-pee politics, crying on Tik-Tok when they can't indoctrinate kids in schools. Working class white AND poor blacks HATE that shit. They don't want anything to do with these spoiled monsters.

But that's not even right. The fool doesn't understand himself, doesn't know himself. One's insights can be independent of self-knowledge. You can be the smartest, wisest person in the world on an abstract level and not having it mean anything personally. And an idiot can know himself well, be a holy fool type.

If one is strong in narcissism, has full-blown NPD, psychopathy and so forth, inflation from psychedelics is a guaranteed outcome. This is how you get e.g. cult leaders and similar types. So psychedelics are definitely not advised for people like that (not that they would take the advice anyway, since they don't see themselves as such.) So there simply are going to be quite a few trainwrecks on that path.

That is not how people think. There are two paths people can take: a path of "copium" (which is acceptance of ideas and beliefs that prop up the ego [false self status quo]) or that which leads one away from it towards greater integration. The first path is EASY (in the sense that it just perpetuates one's defenses.) The second is HARD (because it challenges them) and out of your comfort zone. So in essence all these "ideas" can either perpetuate the status quo or to lead one somewhere new. The problem is many people CANNOT TELL which one is which.

It does not lead to narcissism. The philosophy stems from narcissism in the first place. It is the complete opposite of enlightenment, it is the ego rationalizing its own existence (in other words, a reinforcement of the false belief that the I-thought concept is.) You can only "accept" solipsism if you have strong narcissistic tendencies in the first place. Enlightenment is about seeing through the I-thought; solipsism is about universalizing the I-thought (in other words it's about maximal ego inflation.) And strong narcissistic tendencies = a broken person who needs to prop up a "special", grandiose false self.

Why is it so hard to admit that the way Leo crafts his message is harmful? If you need me to go trolling for something in Spira's content just to prove a point, doesn't it prove my point, since you DON'T need to go far to find Leo's harmful message? It's pretty much in your face.

That's nonsense. People confuse regulated capitalism or capitalism with a welfare state with socialism. Socialism is simply massive government control over economic activity which creates black market capitalism.

That doesn't make any sense. It's like saying you can have all the sex you want, there just aren't any women for you to have sex with. It destroys the incentive for any innovation.

Not really. Countries like Sweden and India were more socialist in the 1970s, and became less socialist because it wasn't working well. The US could give a shit about embargoes; it produces its own oil and food. The problem with socialism is that it destroys the pricing mechanism in the economy (since the government wants complete control over prices.) This automatically means a black market, which simply pushes "capitalism" underground. This was the story in the Soviet Union. Socialism forces the normal person to become a criminal just to have a normal life.

I'm not a fan of Osho or Sadhguru as a spiritual teacher (and Sadhguru specifically BECAUSE of this.) I would never recommend them as a primary spiritual authority. Again, what you guys are missing is that the EFFECT the message produces IS the message for many (especially vulnerable people.) I'll repeat: the message is crafted for maximal negative impact. You can spin it anyway you want, but it's simply the reality. Over and over, for many years people have mentioned this impact, either here or elsewhere on the web. It's not coincidental.

When I say in subtle ways, he basically uses NLP-type techniques to induce weakminded people to kill themselves. This is entirely different than standard nonduality explanations as those of Rupert Spira, and I KNOW you are smart enough to know better than this false equivalency. "You are not born and you never die" with a long explication of how consciousness relates to perceived "reality" is VERY different than "God is death and we are already dead." Those words are chosen for MAXIMUM NEGATIVE IMPACT on the psyche of the weakminded. And the evidence for my assertion is that IT WORKS. People have killed themselves after following Leo. I haven't heard of any of Spira's followers offing themselves. Of course there's a lot of apologetics and denial around this, but you judge the words by their emotional impact, not by the many possibilities of meaning you can twist them into with labored justifications.

If you've noticed, in subtle ways Leo encourages weak-minded people to kill themselves. He just dresses it up in pseudospiritual garb. This is some seriously psychopathic shit. It's more subtle than "here, take cyanide-laced kool-aid" but when you strip the facade it's some sick stuff.

'Cause the map isn't the the territory. Obsession with maps is for people afraid to actually explore the territory.