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@Dragallur Thanks, will do. @Steph1988 Nice one. Yeah realizing that money doesn't exist was a HUGE watershed moment for me. It's like how language is an illusory substrate that the ego can swim in on an individual level money is the language of the cultural ego. Money and value are two different things. Yes, in order for businesses to make money the population needs money to spend on the goods that have been produced by the automation that has put them out of work. They currently get this in the form of credit that banks pull out of thin air and loan to them at a set interest rate, which is why people are working and consuming goods and in debt all at the same time. This system also allows people higher up the chain of circulation to purchase goods at a lower price than the general population when new money is printed. (see the documentary below at 19:40) I grew up in Zimbabwe and I know that it's a first class shit hole now. I can see how the exact same mechanism that destroyed Zimbabwe is now seeping into to the democratic systems of the first world and it scares me. It's just moving slower because people are educated and comfortable so the heat has to be turned up slowly. I wanted to add a bit on the potential for crypto-currency to change our current methods of exchange because they are quantifiable unique bits of information that overcome many of the previous challenges of gold but it would have made things too complicated I think. This documentary is really insightful if you have the time to watch it. I like the analysis of the life cycle of empires and the reference to the things we see happening today right at the beginning:

Hey, I've been having similar experiences over the past few months, also in public at unexpected times. Here are some videos I found where people discuss it a little more. I don't really know much about it, but it seems like it is normal and the best thing to do is to just keep moving forward and not to get too swept up in the sensations and mental states that can arise. Overall I think it is a positive thing. Shinzen Young: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9AHh9MvgyQ Adyashanti (from his book The end of your world) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SXAuNf80_E Mooji (in a recent satsang) Mooji talks about this a lot throughout his videos. He begins talking about it at 17 mins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgYczPNxn5I

I've been looking into long distance running/hiking as a means for spiritual growth and I found out about this. It's called the self transcendence race. It's the longest foot race in the world. All of the participants are advanced mediators. What these people go through is incredible. This race is arguably harder than what the marathon monks do, they complete more distance, in half the time, during a New York summer. The participants have 52 days to complete 3100 miles. They have to do MORE than an ultra-marathon each day for 52 consecutive days to complete the race. The fastest time is 41 days. There is one woman who has completed 13 consecutive races.

That's life (that's life) that's what people say You're riding high in April Shot down in May But I know I'm gonna change that tune When I'm back on top, back on top in June I said, that's life (that's life) and as funny as it may seem Some people get their kicks Stompin' on a dream But I don't let it, let it get me down 'Cause this fine old world it keeps spinnin' around I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate A poet, a pawn and a king I've been up and down and over and out And I know one thing Each time I find myself flat on my face I pick myself up and get back in the race That's life (that's life) I tell ya, I can't deny it I thought of quitting, baby But my heart just ain't gonna buy it And if I didn't think it was worth one single try I'd jump right on a big bird and then I'd fly I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate A poet, a pawn and a king I've been up and down and over and out And I know one thing Each time I find myself layin' flat on my face I just pick myself up and get back in the race That's life (that's life) that's life And I can't deny it Many times I thought of cuttin' out but my heart won't buy it But if there's nothing shakin' come here this July I'm gonna roll myself up in a big ball and die My, my

I felt like sharing these. These short tracks have had the most profound effect on my contemplative life than anything else I have ever encountered so far. The first time I read the Tao Te Ching I was completely transfixed, I had absolutely no idea what the words meant but I could not stop reading. I made these to capture what I believed to be the most potent parts of the text. I have listened to them on a weekly basis since. Whenever I feel sad or confused they really help to ground me. The audio quality is quite poor because I haven’t updated them in almost a decade. I also made a few spelling mistakes in my text to speech conversion, they are quite funny. I still am realizing just how deep these insights go. Every time I hear them they are as fresh as the first time I laid eyes on them. I know that they will continue to reveal more and more to me as my perception becomes clearer. I hope that other people might find value in them too.

I have been experiencing some stuff that I want to write about. This could prove to be useful for others. I have been continuing my sds but I have just recently started to do cold water immersion in conjunction with my sitting everyday for the last 2 weeks. I have posted my setup in the Wim Hof method thread here: I have been stuck with some massive energy blocks for the last 2-3 months. Previously I would never have used the terms “energy block” because I had associated it with negative connotations but this is real for me right now. “Energy” is the perfect term for what I have been experiencing. If I throwback to the beginning of this journal where I wrote down some of the positive and negative experiences I had in my first few weeks I would now classify many of these as “energetic experiences”. Many of these same energetic experiences have been reoccurring for me along with some new ones. Before I write about them I want to make a brief note about doing daily ice water immersion. Dropping into freezing cold water is an instant induction into the present moment for me. All my petty egoic thought patterns are annihilated within a few seconds as my body goes into survival mode making it especially suitable for enlightenment work. In this environment, there is a total silence and all the entropy of life seems to reverse for a few moments as I return to the still source that permeates all. Once my mind touches this place the opportunity to consolidate my “energetic hang ups” is greatly enhanced because my critical thinking has all but been turned off. I can stop getting in my own way. I believe that this combination of factors has allowed me to open the floodgates and let whatever energetic imbalances I have find their expression in my body and release themselves. This started in my first few dives where I would go under and sit perfectly motionless for about 1-2minutes underwater. After that my body would erupt into a frenzy of vigorous physical movements with all kinds of twisting and gyrating usually accompanied with some screaming before I surface for more air. If you could picture an aggravated electric eel in a bucket you would have a good image of me during this process. I then go under again and repeat this process until the cold has drawn out all of my strength and dissipated all my excess energy. This is another aspect of the cold that has really helped with this energy work. It doesn’t matter how much pent up energy I have the cold water can absorb all of it and embrace me. It probably sounds strange to personify freezing cold water like this, but that’s what it feels like. It feels like I am being embraced by my mother as she strips me of all my burdens and allows me to rest. I think dying of hypothermia would be a very peaceful. It just feels like you are being gently put to sleep in a safe cosy place away from all the world. When I get out of the water I am completely still within myself and this permeates into the rest of my day and especially my meditation. I have occasional outburst of energy release as move through my day almost like I have Tourette’s outbursts where I will randomly contract and squeeze muscles throughout my body and then relax them outside of my conscious control. I also have noticed some significant changes to my voice and speaking. Occasionally I will begin speaking and it feels like the sound is being generated in my stomach and vibrating its way up my body to my mouth. When this happens, it feels very pleasant. This isn’t my normal mode of speaking though, it only happens about 1-2% of the time, but I can intuitively sense that this will become more and more natural as I continue. I still sleep on the floor and I go to sleep on my back, meditating until I lose consciousness. During this time I experience some extra energetic releases. I keep my body completely relaxed and allow my body to do whatever it wants to do. Some of the things I have consistently experienced, individually and in combination: My mouth will open and stretch fully while my head throws itself back lifting my shoulders up off the floor. My chest will expand up off the floor while I arch my back and relax very rapidly. Exactly like this but MUCH faster and with MUCH more force. My entire body will begin shaking violently like I have the bends or like I’m having an epileptic fit. My head will nod up and down rapidly, like it’s trying to make a milkshake out of my brain. My teeth will chatter to the point it feels like they’re buzzing. My abdominal muscles will contract violently. My breath will begin to take control of itself and rapidly pump air in and out of me and then stop and relax, then repeat. I will sometimes begin speaking in gibberish during inhalation. My tongue will press itself up into the roof of my mouth as my mouth goes through a series of movements. I am NOT doing any of this consciously. It just emerges out of me. It was scary in the beginning because it felt like I was being possessed but I know that I maintain full control as this happens and I can stop it whenever I want. Although it sound demonic it feels very natural and spontaneous and when it is over I feel AMAZING. I go to sleep in a full non-dual state sometimes. When I wake up I am directly conscious of the emptiness inherent in all things i feel like a person in one of these zen paintings, and I can feel the same form present in everyone I interact with. Anyway, that’s all I want to write about for now. If anyone else has had similar experiences let me know, I am interested to learn about energy and “energy-work”. Also, I think that cold immersion should NOT be underestimated as a tool for spiritual development. I feel like I have make a quantum leap in progress since I started doing it.

Interesting quotes. I’ve been thinking about this for a while. As my own awareness has raised so has my sense of responsibility. I am frightened by how inept we are as a species in executing our so-called values and higher selves. I would categorize having a conscience with this same line of thought. I don’t think having a conscience does much to limit most people’s behavior. In fact, most people don’t even realize why they believe in what they believe or why they have come to believe some actions are good and some are bad. I like this experiment. It shows that about 65% of ordinary people can kill another human being with little in the way of conscience stopping them. About 85% are capable of inflicting incredible amounts of pain to another. The problem isn’t a lack of conscience, it’s a lack of consciousness. This is the root of humanities current problems, both on an individual and global level. The damages caused by sociopaths are negligible compared to the atrocities ordinary people can commit under the right circumstances. https://vimeo.com/89396290

@khalifa Cool, I didn’t know that was a thing. I would save my money though. Temperature /= Heat. Water will conduct heat away from your body much faster than air because it has a much higher specific heat capacity and higher thermal conductivity. Also, the thermoreceptors on your skin sense heat loss/gain not temperature. That’s why a glass of 25C water feels colder that the 25C room it is sitting in. So that cryochamber and my water tank would probably feel the same and have the same effect on the body. Mine is very cheap though. (free actually)

My set up is ready. I’ve cut the top off a 1000L IBC tank that I have put into this industrial freezer. I call it the ice cube. I have filled it with water and a few bags of salt. There is also some chlorine to keep it sterile. The temperature varies from 0.2-1.5C (~32-35F) (measured over 3 days). I have only done 3 dives into it but I can say without a doubt that this is going to take my equanimity to the next level. I'm going to incorporate it into my daily meditation cycle. I thought I was going to be cool and calm the first time I got in but my body just surged with pure adrenaline as the water closed in around me. For the first minute my entire system is just screaming NO! But that graduates into an uber-cool Zen like dive into subconscious space after that. I haven't stayed in much longer than 4 minutes because that's when I stop shivering. Things could get dangerous after that. Time to become superhuman! #stoked #whosclarkkent

Yeah, it's strange he died though. In his past life he got plenty of practice:

@quantum You know, you could do an exchange while you are at university. Check to see if yours has any study abroad or exchange programs. Most universities have study abroad programs with universities in other countries that swap students. You can go in 2nd or 3rd year I think. Then you could travel while you study! You can say to your parents:

I can relate somewhat. For me it’s not so much about social interaction though. I don’t have social anxiety and I’m comfortable alone, much more so than most people anyway. I have always been driven to achieve something greater. So it’s always been “climb that mountain”, “run that marathon”, “ace that test”, “build that thing” etc. My ego had huge investments in accomplishments or goals I was always working towards. I recognized this after my first few enlightenment experiences and so I stopped everything and locked myself in a cupboard to meditate; very challenging thing for me to do. Of course, I became goal orientated with my meditation habit and that turned into a bit of a lucky conundrum. The longer and harder I sat the more I realized that I was sitting to avoid myself until I finally blew up. Now I’m picking up the pieces. My translation of what you said is “All accomplishments belong to time” “Even the pyramids of Egypt will soon be dust in the wind” “All these people running around working towards something are so unconscious, all of their goals are societal constructs! Especially these self-help junkies, they’re the biggest idiots of them all! They’re being told to chase their true dreams as they are being fed new bullshit ones!” But really that’s just my spiritual ego saying that I shouldn’t pursue anything. Partly because I’m afraid of failure, partly because I’m afraid I will get entangled in outcomes. I should just stay in this room and raise my consciousness alone. Whatever that means. This summarizes the root of spiritual ego problems: Did you ever see what happened to wile e coyote after he caught the roadrunner? I know his pain. Jesus probably had something good to say about all this. Something along the lines of “be in the world but not of it”

Awesome, I want to see some titanic action in there

@Frode I like to watch these much more when you aren't trying so hard to stick to a script and you just follow some bullet points. You sound more energetic and human. Even if you make mistakes and forget what you were going to say, it's still better. Good job. I actually want to read this.

non-dual guitarist:

maturity = perspective + experience

I found a new master for everyone to learn from. The more I watch it the more profound it becomes. ... this doesn't really belong in the joke section. #hotmessexpress #realnessexperience

WB Ditto to pretty much all of this. ^ Over the last 4 months or so it’s really sunk in that it’s time to be an “adult” – whatever that means. I just turned 23. Nobody really gives you the memo, I think it’s something that sneaks up on you. I’ve realised that I’m extremely lucky that this process of "maturation" is something that I get to consciously reconcile. For most people the momentum of life out of high school and college just catapults them into a blur of activity. People end up doing “adult stuff” without really knowing how or why and end up being really “busy”, as you say, without having come to any stable ground within and without getting their bearings in the outside world. I was on the same trajectory myself but I’ve had to seriously reconsider my sources of motivation and the direction they are likely to take me in. Do you need a purpose? Do you need to have an IMPACT? Do you need to go about life in any particular way? Certainly not, but at least if you do want to do these things you can step forward from a place of inner balance and grounded strength, rather than inner turmoil and insecurity. Also, I’m sure you’ll appreciate this. Chorus: I've got a feeling That this won't ever change We're gonna keep on getting older It's gonna keep on feeling strange ... bai bai adolescence.

The hypnotic state is just that, another state. Discovery of the no-self goes beyond entering a new state, so I would be cautious to say that you can (it might be possible). You could definitely use self-hypnosis to get yourself to practice mediation, self-inquiry and mindfulness much more aggressively.

@WaveInTheOcean This album: My favorite track is "That Silence" That Technicolor reminded me of this:

Come with me And you'll be In a world of pure imagination Take a look And you'll see Into your imagination We'll begin With a spin Traveling in The world of my creation What we'll see Will defy Explanation If you want to view paradise Simply look around and view it Anything you want to, do it Want to change the world? There's nothing to it There is no Life I know To compare with pure imagination Living there You'll be free If you truly wish to be If you want to see magic lands Close your eyes and you will see one Want to be a dreamer, be one Anytime you please and please save me one Come with me And you'll be In a world of pure imagination Take a look And you'll see Into your imagination There is no Place to go To compare with your imagination So go there To be free If you truly wish to be Living there You'll be free If you truly wish to be

@Siim Land I just got his 10 week course and there is a bit more to it than the breathing. He explains how cold immersion is actually a necessary part of gaining better control of the body, it's not a cool trick that you can do once you've done the breathing. Right! I will change my approach to do more regular ice baths. I agree, I haven't gotten that deep into it myself but during his retreats it sounds like some people go through deep subconscious purification (I've linked to the part where they talk about that)

It is, and the subject is much more interesting to explore.

When you're an advanced meditator and your girlfriend wants you to go on the "scary" ride with her: (It's funny if you compare their faces throughout)