Key Elements

Awesome spiritual song that I love and could do active exercises with it...☺

Hmm..what I just said reminds me of an old relative. He was retired and wasn't interested in enlightenment - complained of boredom, calls ppl names like "atheist," wonders why ppl get divorced, etc etc etc...the list goes on and on. I'd say if he was interested in enlightenment, he wouldn't have bothered about all these things. He might have done something like - did a life purpose that produced more peace in this world - cause that's basically what enlightenment is about - peace, but it goes very deep. I'm only talking practical here.

@99th_monkey "enlightenment doesn't exist." If you're totally right on that, everyone wouldn't be here talking about it or "arguing" over it. Everyone would have been convinced by now rationally if that was the truth. It would have been easy if you're right. Things would have been "perfect." Everyone would have known their life purpose and everything else would have fallen into place without any challenge. Everyone would have been the same. But, it's not like that in our practical world, is it? We're not ants or monkey. For example, we have the hardest time finding our actual life purpose and stopping all our "bad habits." It's not so easy doing everything in such a "practical" and "realistic" manner throughout life, is it? Too routine. Then, we wonder what is life about anyway?

To me, what would be more convincing is not making a video criticizing others, it's making a video or writing a book of your own direct experiences. Then, people could relate to it better, esp to another with direct experience. Like...(For example)...something out of the ordinary happened in my life, and I just "passed it off as a dream." I didn't think it was anything special at first, and I wasn't convinced by my experience. Then, this happened and that happened, etc etc etc...and made life more meaningful. It gave me a direction because etc etc etc...That would be more convincing if you could really say it (without any dogmas, of course). If you could say what was it that convinced you to stay on this journey to others, then ppl could relate more. (It will not be a short/simple story.) There's a saying, "Don't judge my path if you haven't walked my journey." The audience tend to judge cause they can't relate. But, the person writing the book or making the video has to really ask himself/herself, why is my story really for real? And, get rid of any dogmas.

@Vytas I agree, but there's a difference between advice, anger, and ridicule. Truth sounds bitter because truth hurts.

There's a saying, "There are always 2 sides to the same coin." This is a very one-sided video. He has no direct experience, and sounds like he didn't do any research of others.

That's your wish. There are no right and wrong answers here. It's what works for you. Everyone is different. Gurus / teachers / whatever you call them are meant to be guides to help you find your own light. In the end, it's up to you to find your own light. You wrote a lot. Enlightenment isn't some complicated "rocket science" where you have to do a lot of analyzing. Make it simple for yourself. Hint : If something doesn't work for you, it's time to move on.

@Elzhi Elzhi, I would like to say something here please, if you're interested in enlightenment. Just stay calm and be yourself. In the meantime, work on a life purpose that you love. What do you love to do? Put that in your life purpose. Also, work on a life purpose geared towards peace. That's the main thing about enlightenment. Peace. Meditate and do self-inquiry. It helps. I don't find many people talking about it, but I find that Karma counts. What goes around comes around. It's a lot deeper than that, but you get the point. And, don't be too hard on yourself. As you work on your life purpose, eventually, the full-blown enlightenment may come one day with bits and pieces of little enlightenments. Nothing is as you expect it, so acceptance is necessary. In the end, if enlightenment does come, congrats. If not, congrats too cause you'll be having an outstanding life purpose.

@Parki Parki, think about it. They are just ordinary people with some experiences of the no-self (and some mystical experiences). They learned of some wisdom. Not everyone will come to know each other, but some do and become friends. (Of course, acceptance has to be there to be friends.)

So far, this is what I understand... A great situation for a couple (let's say) would be... Both have a life purpose, both understand what's detachment, and both accept each other for who they are. Of course, this works in other relationships.

@Prabhaker It's going off topic. Non-duality has no gender. Teachers make mistakes. No one is perfect. It's your choice to believe in whatever you want. The map is not the territory.

Hmm..interesting. We talk a lot about non-duality, but yet gender comes up. Gender is very dualistic. Looks like we have to deal a lot with relative truths as well as absolute truth (infinite). We still have to live out our lives here as best we can. What happens next? Phenomenon or infinite consciousness? After all, there is infinite possibilities. We have to understand both-relative truths & non-dual, absolute truth. They say that couples who apply non-dual truths, like detachment, are more successful in their relationship. Non-dual truths applied in other areas, well, it gets deep.

This part I find very interesting. I think for both men and women, in order to take serious action in spirituality & enlightenment, one must connect this to the life purpose. Then, you have something to work on, on daily basis. It's not easy coming home from work without a life purpose, and then make yourself do meditation and self-inquiry. Self-inquiry for what? How to make more money? There has to be a much better reason.

I think it has always been like that throughout history - "unisex." Have a look at Leo's Graves model clip. The reason why it's different now is because stage blue has become very unpopular throughout the world. A lot of people now don't like to brute force themselves into rigid thinking.

I highly doubt it's because they were just women. They took a lot of selfless risks and sacrifices. Some ppl don't mind sacrificing their lives for others, not because they were women. It's just because they were themselves.

There are other enlightenment groups, like Teal and Ralph, where women may express their enlightenment experiences. Or, they find good friends or others (with or without enlightenment experiences) who will guide them correctly, keeping an open mind and not accepting things blindly. But, in general, ppl do not want to talk about it because it gets criticized in the wrong ways - "shedding the wrong light."

@Ayla This... And...This is me!

Yeah, I know.

Oh ok...I was referring to the 5-meo response. We did not take any substances for our enlightenment experiences.

Yours is not? I'm not judging here.

Ours are natural.

@Leo Gura Leo, it all started because you mentioned seeing "a few hairs of the ox" in one of your enlightenment clips when you were at a retreat. Of course, I had to look it up to see what that meant. I found Shinzen Young's clips and he described footprints to ox's tail to Riding the Ox Backwards. When I found out about Riding the Ox Backwards, it reminded me of a "dream" I had when I was 1 yr old. Basically, to make the story short, I was the no-self ( nothingness ). Then, I became a sphere with stars all around me in blackness. Then, it was space. Then, I went through a black hole facing backwards into my 1 yr old body. I was this massive, massive light going into my body. I felt the divine love - extreme bliss - after I awoke. Long story though... I always wondered why I was facing backwards and not forwards. Then, I thought, we are only embodied throughout life, either in a human body or a soul or whatever. What we actually are is nothing/everything = the peace consciousness. That's why I realized that our ego (emotions) are all fiction. I lost a brother when he was 18 - died of brain cancer. I saw him again in a "dream" a few days later. I thought he came back to life. I talked to him and said that I was going to see him again. Of course, there are a lot more details in all of these. But, the thing I noticed in these two experiences is that I was also the observing self. When I was the sphere in space, I was observing myself as the no-self ( not embodied in anything ) at a different angle. I was the observing self when witnessing the massive, massive light going into my body. And, I was also the observing self when talking to my Bro. I witnessed myself talking to him. There were a lot of ah-ha moments (and little experiences) after seeing all your enlightenment clips. Thanks for being very articulate and clear in your clips, Leo. I find that these experiences also interconnect with my life purpose. (Karma) Note: Before, I thought the sky is the limit when working on my startup. Now, it's a life purpose toward world peace due to your world peace clip, enlightenment clips, etc. Those are the best ones! Best of luck in your enlightenment journey, esp when it comes to taking substances. And, I'm not here to judge, but please stay safe.