SeaMonster

In my experience, IFS and "nonduality" are both necessary as far as holistic spiritual work. Here's the problem: IFS alone is very nice, but it's a delusion to think you can ever properly integrate the parts without dropping ego attachments. The ego construction means an inevitable preference and prioritizing of certain parts due to attachment. And nonduality is very nice, but without IFS you have not integrated, so you're in a let-go state but with many of the same issues that you had prior to enlightenment. It is best to do BOTH, otherwise your results will be limited.

There is nothing disturbing in the video. You are disturbed because you are taking snippets out of context and misinterpreting what he means. You are getting triggered by certain words, in essence. What he is saying is what anyone who is enlightened knows. First there is a self, a center, then there is a localized expanded self (i.e. a bubble), then there's a fully expanded self infinitely radiating outward, then there is bliss or God consciousness...and the last step is the cessation of any strand of self. So think about the logic of the process of becoming awakened: gradual expansion of self until all sense of self is lost and merges into a field of awareness. At that point, you can perform a test: look at something, like your phone, e.g. and mentally ask "who is the subject and which is the object?" The feeling that returns is that there isn't a subject or object, there is only one field of awareness. So stop getting triggered by words people use. Words have different meanings in different contexts. Stop subjectively assigning the scariest possible meanings to them.

LOL. Posting this, acknowledging this, puts you ahead of 99.9% of the people out there, and apparently many on the forum. Being aware of how your psyche operates is the first step to awakening. Hell, it may be the first step after awakening for some. You just have to understand that the reason for the distractions has to do with unmet needs or unprocessed pain. On the basic level, you may simply be tired or lacking in proper nutrition, or not enough exercise. More profoundly, there may be emotional wounds that keep getting triggered and are being masked by these distractions. So create a plan to change your lifestyle so you're proactively addressing these issues.

Congressmen got very close to being killed (Scalise was wounded) at that baseball game by a Bernie nut, and the media pretty much yawned and moved on. That was actually a much more direct example of what you're talking about, there is no need to speculate about it. Presidents have been assassinated several times (and others wounded) in our nation's history and there hasn't been an outright collapse. So with all due respect, get some perspective.

Seriously? It came nowhere close to collapsing, get serious. That's hyperbole of the highest order, and the reason why I can't take complaints about toxicity of Twitter seriously. At some point you can't keep going to the "everyone who disagrees with me is a Nazi" playbook. A large majority of the country has opinions that, if freely expressed on Twitter, would get them banned (such as regarding transgender issues.) That's unsustainable for a "public square."

I would get a medical check-up to rule out any physical health issues, including vitamin deficiencies, but if everything checks out ok, just ride it out. The ego likes to play these games to get you to stop.

Kundalini awakening side effects of some type are normal. I had dizziness a few times. No big deal. It passes.

I think he knows what he is up against. He is creating a lose-lose scenario for Twitter, and a win-win scenario for himself. Either he buys Twitter and takes it private or he exposes Twitter for what it is to the normies, and takes it down in the process. Basically, Twitter position is that an elite group of people is going to unilaterally decide what good ideas are (i.e. as in Moses bringing tablets down the mountain.) Sorry, that's not the spirit in which the US was founded. Accounts are getting banned for politically incorrect jokes. That's not going to fly for long.

No offense, but posting a Will Smith graphic kind of defeats the argument, as he is clearly delusional if he thinks he has attracted the right people into his life. He hasn't attracted the right MAIN person into his life. But the thing is that the language and assumptions used to talk about this subject are really shitty, and confuse (perhaps intended to) people more than they clarify anything. There are a lot of platitudes being thrown around, as well as falsely simplistic thinking. To think that being attractive vs. not being attractive are fixed categories is insane. People can change for the better along many dimensions (being in shape, dressing well, learning social skills, maturing as far as personality, etc.) This is indisputable if you have actually observed people for a long time. The REAL issue is whether you are faking being different or whether you have actually done the real, often painful work of changing yourself for the better. The first is unsustainable and sooner or later you revert back to the old self, while the second is proper, desirable and necessary unless you want to stay mired in misery. It's pretty much get-rich-quick strategies vs. building wealth over time. Same idea.

Totally fair. Enlightenment is a meaningless concept to someone who is not enlightened. It simply means "something good" like having a Tesla or a million bucks.

It isn't done genuinely, that's the point. People here will not admit that they don't really give a shit about "spiritual enlightenment" but rather they are looking for benefits, a better life, less suffering, etc. - i.e. they don't like something in their lives or are missing something. In essence, they are no different than any other human being. They merely think "spiritual enlightenment" is the golden ticket. They can't possibly know what it is, they're merely placing a bet, so to speak. Well, that's kinda the point. Be honest and not afraid to sacrifice, i.e. give up what you cling to. That's the price to pay.

Through surrender. Spiritual seeking is self-deception -- it is finding more subtle and sophisticated ways to prop up the ego. It conceptualizes spiritual attainment as an object of desire and creates all kinds of toxic ego dynamics (e.g. spiritual ego, pride and status.) Spiritual "finding" is about letting go, not about getting or attaining.

This. Improve your diet.

Next you should get your natal chart done by someone competent, 'cause you're in for a surprise. Nothing vague about it. It's at a level of abstraction, but so is any personality psychology.

So you're saying that, ironically, Adeptus has much better character and regard for the truth than a lot of people here who possibly mischaracterized his criticism? Sounds like the kind of person you'd want to have around since you'd count on them to tell you the truth, even if it's not something you wanted to hear. After all, Leo is NOT infallible (given the history of the forum), so having a bunch of sycophants around might actually be hurting him in the long run. But what do I know? Maybe having a bunch of sycophants around is totally awesome and I'm simply jealous.

You can't. Here's something you need to understand: that which you call "Matthew" (i.e. the ego or personality) is setting that goal of (let's call it) "permanent enlightenment" not so that you can achieve "permanent enlightenment" but so that you CAN'T. "Matthew's" actual goal is self-protection and self-perpetuation, and it uses the tactics of self-deception and misdirection -- it is setting you on a wild goose chase. The only path is not one of "I do this and I achieve my goal." It's "I freakin' surrender." "I give up." "I can't do it."

A better analogy is a dog whose teeth have been knocked out pushed into a corner. Might be capable of seriously gumming you. The Ukraine war has revealed Russia's Potemkin army. Present a threat to Finland/Sweden? Unlike Ukraine, Sweden e.g. has a modern air force, air defense systems, tanks, etc. It's like threatening the Phoenix Suns at halftime of the game during which Liberty University is kicking your ass. The Russian army has always been incompetent logistically and have taken unnecessarily heavy losses because of it. This happened in 1939 when they split Poland with Hitler, e.g. WHAT HAPPENED IN UKRAINE IS NOTHING NEW, IT'S A PATTERN. Only now their fertility rate is low, and they cannot be taking heavy losses, sending only children back home in body bags. The Russian people are going to figure out the casualty numbers from the Ukraine war pretty soon: good luck getting a lot of kids to sign up voluntarily. The only ace-in-the-hole Russia has is the nuclear threat, and good luck getting your army to fulfill that order. TL;DR - they are fuuuuuuuuuuucked.

Let me guess - you live in Norway and your Vitamin D levels are near zero. You have to be on several thousand IU per day year-round (plus Magnesium and K2.)

Third,...and you are perfectly ok with that.

Yup, it's basically a combination of working memory and abstract reasoning capacity. The best way to increase it that I've discovered and tested on myself is regular intense physical exercise, especially team sports like soccer or basketball. Meditation may help, but it's nowhere close to aerobic sports which simulate the early ancestral environment, such as the group hunt (which sports sort of do.) Of course, there is a genetic baseline. IQ is mostly genetics, but you can maximize it through sports.

But that's not what's projected to happen. If trends continue, below replacement fertility will become the norm and at some point the total global population will decrease. Now, let me say that what's projected to happen is not necessarily what WILL and MUST happen. There may be some unforeseen spiritual awakening and cultural shift that reverses this. But strategic planners in great powers don't strategize on the basis of what may happen if we luck out, they strategize on the basis of what is most likely to happen given what we know now. Let me answer both of these in one part. There are immediate and short-term goals and there are strategic goals. If you're not addressing strategic goals, satisfying your immediate goals won't matter at some point. Russia's population is on track to decline. Their demographers have been ringing the alarm. Putin is aware of this and the idea pains him greatly. This is an open secret. What happens when your population declines and your technological progress is insufficient? Your economy contracts, there's a smaller workforce, your population is older, so more of your economy has to go towards supporting the elderly in pensions and healthcare, etc. Less young people for your armed forces. Quality of life goes down. You are vulnerable for picking by your more fertile or growing neighbors (Russia has a huge land mass.) Difference between Russia and The West: (1) can't compete with the West for immigrants - less attractive destination; (2) not as technologically capable of compensating economically. You need to automate at a level where you are compensating for the lost labor force. This cannot be done solely by importing technology. You need to produce some of your own technology. So to sum up, it is the primary strategic i.e long term goal. Are there shorter term goals that may fold into it? Sure. But any action has to address the strategic goal. Otherwise you are self-sabotaging. And the cherry on top, just to prove that I haven't been pulling stuff out of my ass: 400,000 Ukrainians Forcibly Moved to Russia, Ukraine Says | Time https://time.com/6160765/ukrainians-taken-to-russia/ Literally stealing people.

Well, it's a supposition but an easy one to make, considering what China has done on Hong Kong and their stated policy on Taiwan. You're not going out on a limb there. But they HAVE adopted those policies to the extent they can afford to. It worked for a year and then reverted back. They are seeing that it's not working and there is panic in those capitals. The truth is, once your population is relatively wealthy and educated, fertility drops below replacement and it's very hard to avoid a population death spiral without major immigration. The only country that has been able to do that is Israel (perhaps a special situation because of a sharpened sense of do-or-die.) What experience is showing is that it's a hell of a lot easier to get people to have less kids than more kids, once they get used to the less sacrificing lifestyle. They get spoiled. You have to understand the desperation involved, and then it all makes sense. What choices do they have? Russia and China's tragic flaw is an extreme sense of self-importance - of national greatness. China is the "middle kingdom" between heaven and earth. Russia is the empire of old, of Peter The Great and Soviet Union. Their national psyche is ill-suited to acceptance of being some backwater. So this puts them in a position of desperate and counterproductive moves. Now Russia is considerably more reckless than China, but the ultimate result is the same. China cannot accept immigrants to the same degree as the West, for many reasons. Sure, they can pick off some South Asian or North Korean brides for their men, but it's not close to the West. And their people are not responding to "have 3 kids if you want." They are like "waaaaah too xpensive." So what would you do? Now maybe they will simply not do anything for now, like I said. They are a cautious people. Maybe they think they can outcompete the West on technology and so they can avoid the worst consequences of a population decline. (Certainly Russia has no chance of doing that.) But whatever the solution, this issue of fertility is very much a major driver of all strategic choices going forward - rest assured.

The bigger European countries like France and Germany have had a massive influx of foreigners (North Africa/Middle East) over the last few decades, if you follow the news, and some of the smaller ones like Poland have not, but also they do not have pretensions of being a superpower like Russia or China so it's not as pressing an issue for them yet. They don't have to make those strategic calls yet. Russia does. (Why do you think the EU is harassing the smaller countries like Poland and Hungary to accept refugees? It ain't humanitarianism. They have access to the same demographic data that we all do. A shrinking EU reduces the power of the bureaucrats in Brussels.) As far as China -- Hong Kong down, Taiwan next, if the West allows them. They are looking at what the world is doing on Russia. Also, the pickings are simply not as easy, geographically or culturally (It's not like they can invade India, e.g.) So when you say "you don't see them attacking anyone" -- well, maybe the Russia debacle has put them off Taiwan, or maybe they will merely wait and make sure they have their ducks in order before they do it in a year or two. But it's not as if they don't need to.

It's not about Russia's security interests, unless you define that so broadly as to have it be meaningless. It's about Russian demographics -- Russia is dying, its population is expected to shrink in the coming decades (fertility below replacement and not a super-attractive immigrant destination compared to the West.) The only solution is to reabsorb the population of former Soviet Republics (including the more fertile Central Asian ones, like Kazakhstan.) Of course good old Russian incompetence and corruption have made this war a clusterfuck for them, and they've only accelerated their decline. It's a freakin' humiliation. Putin looks like a complete buffoon, lied to by his underlings and loathed by more and more of the world due to the typically Russian war brutality. Quite a bit of their educated class will move to the West now. But that's Russia for you, par for the course. I see a lot of people trying super-hard to push the New! Global! Order! narrative, but Russia has really fucked itself with this misadventure.

This. Pretty much what it all boils down to -- allowing your pain to process without resorting to negative coping mechanisms. The rest pretty much IS a negative coping mechanism -- including spiritual "knowledge" (i.e. conceptualizing spirituality instead of actually being present.) If you're never allowing your pain to surface and witnessing it without turning to unhealthy distractions, there will be limited to no progress. Look, it's all simple. Either you're present or you're in your head, contemplating this abstract notion of "spirituality" or "higher consciousness", etc. When you're thinking about spirituality you're NOT BEING SPIRITUAL. The reason you're not present is because you're turning away from the pain.