theleelajoker

Fasting over an extend period is sth that changes my psychological / mental state tremendously. Not surprised you find this in shamanic / religious / spiritual context. Long meditation retreats (10 days is my max) do so as well. Of course it's not comparable to psychedelics and I would not call it tripping...but it's a very fun experience. Especially when combined with Yoga and meditation.

@integral @Raze I cannot say that she's a narcissist for sure - but I listened to 3/4 of her video and there were some moments that got my attention. She's a lot "I am great, I learned this, I am that interesting, I am that good of a communicator". For me, these are at least yellow flags. If you are that great, just be and do your thing you don't need to tell everybody how great you are. Combined with her tone of voice and how she presents herself I got a feeling of in-authenticity It's one thing that also put me off with your videos, Leo. I remember one where you talked about integrity and other personal values and then continued to give an example. That you made the "how to get laid videos", offered them for free. Then you continued to tell how someone contacted you and offered you money for those videos but you declined. For me, that's storytelling to make you look a certain way (here e.g. rich, popular, generous). There are a million other stories to give examples for integrity, no need to tell exactly that story. The reason this story was picked is to appear in a certain way. And IMO the same applies to the lady in the video. It's important to her to appear in a certain way I am VERY careful about people communicating this way. I met many people in private and business that act this way and their mask looks incredible competent, strong, confident. And typically they have some real skills in their expertise + skills in communication - they learned what to say and how to say to create a certain impression. But videos are not real interaction, they are staged. And once you get to know them in the right situations that goes beyond their comfort zone, the mask drops and reveals very dark character traits (arrogance, aggression, manipulation, 100% "me me me") Some - maybe most - people are attracted to those kind of people either for work reasons or even in a romantic way. It's OK and especially at work those people can be great for certain roles over a short-to (max) midterm. In the long run, I observed how everything went toxic and turned to dust. What helps is to not fully trust, not to get emotional attachment and to always keep a certain distance There is some good in the video advice, yes. But in my experience with coaching, teaching, working with people just "saying things" has little to no effect. Often it's the opposite, people desperately try to follow a method and create mental blockages. Worst case, what you get is a person that follows a method to APPEAR a certain way (attractive, confident) but not authentic self-expression and deep inner calmness. Or you get a person that feels shitty because he/she can't apply the method yet. Of course some methods can help but my experience it that it's more important to work with people based on their individuality and then develop methods together with them based on that

Yeah, the process is pretty mysterious and non-linear for me. There are times where I realize that I am very much aware and awake, with a lot of clarity. Then there are times where I forget again. And then I go back to this state of clarity and awareness and then I wonder: WTF I remember now - I have been here before! How did I "lose" it? Also, is it a journey where you can actually do anything or is it "just a ride" with the illusion of being able to do activities to become more or less awake? Comments from me in blue: - It can be described as a dream / illusion / hallucination. Yeah, it's actually really funny how physics and neuroscience tell us how our senses create our reality...and still very few people want to think / talk about it. And now word of it in public education - It's not actually "You" who is the body and a part of your lower mind What you mean with lower mind? The individual unit typing here in this forum? - It seems that there has been separation from you and God, but in reality it never happened. Yes, for me the connections between appearances in everyday reality - people and things - in are sometimes incredible strong and obvious. - What you are experiencing is simply a mistake, but it was instantly corrected by God, you're just experiencing it as some body and mind, personality - until you wake up. Strong take re the mistake and the correction. Why so you believe so? In my strongest psychedelic experience I remember a clear message in my head: "I WANT to be here and I want to be exactly in this reality" - You have Higher Self that can guide you when listened to in peace, although it is not purely meditation or it's practice. It's more of a focus shift between two minds. Yeah, for me there seems to be sth one might call "higher self" or intuition that is giving some guiding information (for example, "talk to this person" or "open this website" or "go to this place"). But not a clear idea how it really works. For me, it often feels like I have a guidance that is in competition with my learned behavior ("programs"). But in what circumstances do I follow the program, when the guidance? What makes the difference? And is this separation actually sth real or am I just making this up to have some concept? - I believe you have had past lives, but I have not had direct experiences of this Don't know. No direct experience. - I believe that there's a cycle and if you do not learn the main lesson you will be reborn again with past karma. I believe this reality is entertainment and there is nothing to learn. Or better, there is only so much to learn as it keeps the entertainment going. It's like surfing. You learn to surf bc you want to experience surfing. Getting better at surfing is very likely to correlate with better experience of surfing + learning itself is fun. But there is no purpose beyond that - The world you perceive is a mirror of your inner self and it's current state. If you perceive evil, wrong, pain, guilt, fear - you will experience it in your daily reality through various explainable and inexplainable events This is very tricky for me to answer. I had and have incredible synchronicities that reflected my current state amazingly well. Shockingly well - re people and objects. But I also have the feeling that sometimes, there is no correlation at all. - There's only one dreamer, solipsism is true but it has levels. From the point of "human experience" and "ego" there are several dreamers from different perspectives. But only one dream is true, Yours. Since it's all one in the end, it's just one dream. Don't know. Went through many iterations and depending on my current state and experiences, my view on that changes regularly - Mind over matter. Your mind is powerful and can change your reality, or perspective of it from right to wrong, once identified with God you can cure your pain, disease or anything else, but you must surrender it to God fully. This is tricky Yes and no. Yes - mind > matter in some way. How? Don't know. The craziest manifestations happened without me really doing anything. This idea of healing etc has a basic assumptions. Namely "I have control" and I don't really buy it. Because ....(next abstract) - Practice awareness of your thoughts and non judgment of the thoughts, the world, the events of your experience and you will be free from suffering....because if there was any formula on how to do stuff - at least one human must be able to do it and teach it to others, right? And then the world should look different as it is today IMO. Yeah yeah there are stories of Jesus, Buddha ect but I only believe freedom from suffering if I can see it in direct experience with others. Never seen anyone like that. Of course, there is the argument that those humans exist, but I haven't met them. Or that I will never meet them, as long as I still suffer because I haven't cracked the code. Or that I never get enough awareness because I don't believe that there ANY method making you free from suffering. Who knows. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe freedom of suffering is just a carrot on the stick me/others will never reach. In any case, stay tuned for the next season of "Earth - the funniest daily soap in the Universe! Each day, 24/7 until the sun implodes!

It's one thing to say or to write sth. It's another thing to authentically experience it. In fact, it's a gap as broad as the Atlantic Ocean. If there is one thing I learned from interacting with people, then it is to not trust their words. Words are just stories. Humans are incredible good in deceiving themselves. INCREDIBLE GOOD. Meet the people over an extended period of time in different situations. See how they behave if things get uncomfortable. If you then genuinely find that what they say is aligned with what they do - then investigate with an open mind. Do not trust any statements unless you have a sufficient sample of direct experience.

Thank you as well. After our exchange I believe that our perspectives are actually a lot closer than I thought they are Wish you all the best

OK after reading all this pick up stuff re "targeting other girl, make them insecure, make her jealous etc"...it's very refreshing to read this and I can 100% confirm it re my own experience. I used to think and act somewhat in the manipulative or pick-up mindset. Got me now and then sex, affairs or even a relationship or two out of it. But it was not a good experience. Not healthy at all. What I attracted what a reflection of my behavior. This changed 180° when I changed my behavior. I started to be as honest, as authentic, as straightforward as I could be. The rewards was (and is) the best woman I could ever imagine (better than I could ever imagine, tbh). At the beginning I thought: Can it be that easy in dating? Can it really work that well? Can I really drop all the bullshit and just built a true connection based in integrity? The answer is yes, yes and yes. And funnily, she told me that she wondered the same questions

Thanks for taking time to reply. I think my points boils down to: Who or what is creating or manipulating things to happen? To set an intention, I need a desire. Where does it come from? Why exactly this desire among an infinity of possibility? Do you - Natasha Tori Maru - create your desires? If not, how are they created? Your life could be just like a movie while giving you the impression of control of influence. How you know the difference? Life is way to mysterious to figure out a formula The pattern you believe to see are 1) Only a fragment of reality. Think of the distribution of matter, dark energy, dark matter in the universe. Only about 5% are matter, rest is invisible. 2) Only what you are programmed to see. What you see are symbols of what truly is. Your eyes believe they see colours, but objects have no colours. It's created by our organism 3) Most likely a fantasy. Humans are pattern- and meaning-making machines. We see them even if they don't exist. Because we want to see them Re the coincidences: What I mean is that I don't believe that my life follows a completely random pattern. There are connections, but "I" don't control them. "I" don't create them. They are happening, and I am part of it. Let's say I want to call a friend, take the phone and before I dial he is calling me. That's an example of coincidence for me. In my logic, it was not me - leelajoker, the conscious part that is also writing this message - creating this event. What caused me to want to call him? I don't know. What caused him to call me the very moment? I don't know. Any pattern I might believe to see is IMO just a fluke. However...maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right. You do you, I do me : )

@Natasha Tori Maru Some parts of your answer I do like - but others I wonder how and why you got to this perspective. What resonates with me is for instance: No coincidences Your quote: (...) that something beyond this material existence was present. Answers not coming from outside Intentions seem to matter - somewhat What I am skeptic about is: we are here to learn to manipulate energy & matter. --> How you think know that this is our purpose? What makes you confident on claiming this as truth for everyone? Could be plainly wrong. Could be very subjective experience for you. Your purpose and your purpose alone. Mastering matter manipulation: Even the idea that one can master it - I am at least very doubtful. In my life, the most powerful manifestations and biggest coincidences (falling in love, being offered jobs, receiving surprising gifts, meeting new friends, life opportunities in general, etc) have happened without me trying to manipulate anything. There were times where I had strong intentions and the exact opposite happened. There were times I had strong intentions and exactly this thing happened - when I was least expecting and not actively seeking it. There is one quote - I even think it's from Leo - that I liked: "You create and you are not aware of HOW YOU ARE DOING IT". All these manifestation techniques, all these gurus, coaches and trainer etc etc - I believe conscious manifestation is something that cannot be learned. To pick up your analogy: Contrary to cooking, you cannot plan manifestation/ energy manipulation by recipe. There is sth in it that cannot be explained by conscious mind - you might call it magic. What happens IMO is this: People experience sth and then find explanations how they created this experience. But to stay in the cooking analogy, you experience eating a loaf freshly baked bread. Seeing the bread, you try to break down the ingredients and the process of how it was created. But: 1) You can't see all ingredients by just looking at the finished product 2) Even if you could, there is a certain process you can't see 3) All the ingredients combined create sth new - like the crust on the bread that was not an ingredient at first. Finally: If there was a formula to matter manipulation - some human on earth certainly would know and teach it? And it would multiply and bam we would have a different world then we have today, wouldn't we? IMO you follow the same line of thought as @Flowerfaeiry: Looking for one answer (yours: a formula to energy manipulation), one goal, one recipe for life. Don't think that works. But as you seem very convinced about it: What makes you that certain about it?

Honestly asking: What's the practical value of repeating this "there is no you, there is no self all is a dream, all is illusion" message"? As far as I can observe, people (including me) are dealing with real life problems. I can "know" the wall is an illusion and part of myself. Still get a bloody head trying to go through it. So, what use has it to repeat (not only you do this) that message for others? What do you get from it?

I can relate to your experience re "why I am here, self-improvement, trauma etc." . Re ayahuasca and the shamans I want to share some personal moments that helped me to gain perspective: Someone close to me introduced me to ayahuasca and recommended it highly. The persona authentically believed in its potential to transform and heal. And I believe there is sth to it. However... ...first time doing ayahuasca (in Iquitos, Peru) I experienced two things: 1) There was a British guy staying at the retreat center for many months, participating in many ceremonies. And let me just say - he did not look healed but rather a hollow shell. 2) The shamans did not really care, they did not really listen. They were less healer and more of business men. Second time doing ayahuasca (5 years later) I made sure the shaman was "a good guy", seriously interested in healing. He really was. He said he gives and takes ayahuasca for many years for healing. I got to know him personally before and after the ceremony and tbh, he was not more or less hurt, healed, traumatized then anyone else I know. The same impression I get with every person taking the medicine, no matter how often and how long they take it. Moreover, the shamam told me stories about his shaman teachers in Peru and Mexico. He said he learned a lot from them, but he left several of them because of fights about honesty, money, scams etc. He himself said that they were "bad persons" despite drinking it for many years or even decades. So, what's the point of I want to make? Maybe there is'nt really a medicine that really heals, and there is no savior like Jesus that can guide us. We look for sth on the outside, a solution, a final state - but it simply does not exist. Yes, of course psychedelics and believes systems like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism etc can (temporarily) help. But as of now, I am not convinced that any of those things can really create a final state of "all is good all is healed etc this is the solution". Or at least, I haven't seen it with any person. Finally, I am very skeptic re the story of Jesus (Things are not as clear as people want to make it look. See here and here for instance). What's really true, what's historic, what's just made up? We assume a lot of things about the Christianity ans Jesus story, but if you take a look at any religion you can see how it was typically abused by rulers to achieve certain political goals. So maybe it's square one all the time, all our life? Maybe sounds disappointing, but can also be a relief : )

Point taken

Yes, it is : )

Good question, I don't remember I googled the quote to find a transcript. Could not find it yet, but it seems it's a quote from "Dōgen". I see if I find the Watt's talk and what he said afterwards... Edit: I think it was this one: https://www.organism.earth/library/document/taoist-way "And so, also, the meaning of this wonderful Zen saying. Tài (太)—that’s the character for the sun; tài—that is good day. Every day is a good day. On condition, you see, that tài, tài is like niàn, niàn. They come one after another, and yet there’s only this one. You don’t link them. This, as I intimated just a moment ago, seems to be an atomization of life. Things just do what they do. The flower goes poof, and people go this way, go that way, and so on, and that’s what’s happening. It has no meaning, it has no destination, it has no value. It’s just like that. And when you see that, you see it’s a (great relief. That’s all it is. But then, when you are firmly established in suchness—in that it’s just this moment—you can begin again to play with the connections. Only: you’ve seen through them. But now, you see, they don’t haunt you. Because you know that there isn’t any continuous “you” running on from moment to moment who originated at some time in the past and will die at some time in the future. All that’s disappeared. So you can have enormous fun anticipating the future, remembering the past, and playing all kinds of continuities. This is the meaning of that famous Zen saying about mountains are mountains" (...)

Alan Watts said sth I liked: To the novice zen student, a mountain is just a mountain. To the intermediate student, a mountain is no longer a mountain. To the advanced student, it's just a mountain again. Source: "Being in the way" series, one of the early episodes on spotify

This whole "no self, nothing is real, nothing exists, all is illusion, no body etc " is nice to write on a chat forum. But its limited. It's a point on a spectrum and both common sense and my experience tells me that is not practical for real life events. (it's pretty annoying for me, too. 99% of times it does not add anything meaningful to conversations) This approach can be useful, no doubt, to get a certain distance and relativity to events in life. Like in mathematics, how they call it? Limes? You might approach this point where you just "live the illusion" - but emotional and physical pain just seem to me too "hardwired" as a human to constantly transcend it in extreme events.