Dodo

As the title suggests, this is about one of Leo's list of important books - "Mastery" by George Leonard. It explains how on the road to mastery in anything we absolutely must experience what's called a plateau - when we don't feel like much progress is made and it might seem our efforts are not getting us any closer to the desired mastery. Then if one sticks to it and continues, a spurt of growth will happen before the next period of plateau until eventually mastery is reached. Obviously this should also apply to mastery of meditation and mastery of any yoga be it hatha, jnana, raja etc.. Self inquiry too. Here's one of the best exerpts from the book for me so far: Perhaps loving the plateau, where we feel nothing really is happening and our spiritual efforts are useless, is the enlightenment itself is what this text suggests. Because everyone can be happy when noticeable progress is being made and there are results of one's effort, but when we have to do something that doesnt bring immediate fruit, we feel like crying (at least I do). So if you're stuck in a rut with your spiritual practice, don't be so quick to give up the meditations and inquiry, but perhaps look at this resultlessness as a sure sign that you are on the path to mastery. Keep going and love when there is no result and no spiritual experience as much as when there are resuls and there are spiritual experiences. Definitely this book is a page turner and extremely important. PS: Could it also be possible.. just possible that using psychedelics is an attempt to speedrun the advertised plateau? I.e. a way to get continuous growth without having to deal with the stagnant periods that are there when we want to master anything in life?

Thanks actually very helpful

well to be honest, the best energetic practice that exists is to sit in a state of no-thought and just be still without applying control. Let the energies do the work, no need to manipulate your experience to make the energies transform you into a God, the energies will flow naturally when you stop trying to control them and sit in stillness. #Raja yoga

You are the absolute best. I had this last night when I went home and just sat to meditate without even placing a timer. Just sat there, still and just allowed everything, all effort disappeared as it was just being that was there, and effort is a layer on top created by the thinking. I felt an energy on the tip of my head. Just allowing the energies to flow and using Leo 's techniques on letting go to drop all resistance reach that state of merging with all of reality, rather than just a small entity inside a body, or the body. ? Leo and this forum are the best way to find Truth. Better than psychedelics!!

its not only about retaining but you also have to do some energetic work / different types of yoga to help move the energies about, otherwise it will just go stagnant. I'm a newbie just started, but I can already see the positive effects and the difference when I relapse in energy level is significant.

yeah and what I mean by writing all these is perhaps that only my waking ego can take a psychedelic, both of which don't really exist in reality, but just in the waking state appearance which is where I guess your small print comes into play lol

I gather from Advaita Vedanta that during the waking I am this bodymind just as much as when I'm in a dream I am the dream bodymind. But we know that the only reality in a dream is the consciousness/awareness that the dream appears to (you). So why not the same for the waking state? Just as during the dream we see it as real until we gain lucidity/wake up, and we see our identification with the dream bodymind as something self evident... We later see that it was just a case of wrong identification due to ignorance. The waking, dream and sleep states appear to me. Using language is OK here, it might appear as dualistic, but it's really not. This is because the only real "thing" in all the states is that which unifies them - Me/ the Self/Atman. When I say the states are appearing to me, I am not saying that there are these things here called "The states" and there is another thing here called me that is separate and looking at those states, because there is only one real thing there, the unchanging one. Just some contemplations

I've had strange experiences as a kid such as one time I became an entire mountain range, I was the mountains. Have only a distant memory now but maybe that was psychedelics within? idk how real this memory is, but its also not the only one about stuff like that. I just didn't really understand as a kid so I didn't really talk about it with anyone If I pop acid, I wouldnt see psychedelics within (because its from the outside?) . Although yeah, it is within my awareness before I pop it. But then why even pop it, if its already within me before I put it in the body. lol

Never taken, only mild "psychedelic" called weed

@Anon212 @bobbyward Semen retention + Raja (do nothing in no thought) + Hatha (good posture) + Jnana (aware of awareness / knowing knowing) yoga = unlock psychedelics within

This is not for anyone advanced but perhaps for those who are confused a bit about what this awareness "thing" is and where it resides. In any case I think this contemplation brings a certain clarity and helps with self inquiry. To be honest, they do say that having a beginner's mindset is very important, so perhaps this is for everyone. We all know we are humans in time, with different stories and whatnot.. With past and future. A materialist might say this. I agree from one perspective that is the case. But ok now, that's not interesting, let's go into another dimension now, rather than the horizontal dimension of time. Lets go further and deeper into this moment right now, the vertical dimension, to see what we actually are at this moment and not what we are in the story of time. Here, now, we can see that there are different sensations, perceptions, feelings, thoughts, sounds, sights, etc etc... All subjective objects of experience. All of those different objects have something in common, right? They might be completely different - sound and thought, sight and touch.. But they are all happening to you, correct? All happening in the field of your awareness, otherwise you wouldn't know about them, So the common thing in all objects of experience is you. You are that unifying thing. What could this be? Inquiring into that self which unifies all objects of experience now is what true self inquiry is. If you are doing self inquiry, but at the same time look at yourself as the human in time, your self inquiry will yield wrong results, since all stories and all time are just another one of those subjective objects that appear to you (as the unifying awareness) Now. Not sure this makes sense to others but I see in this a lot of clarity and I was able to get my friend who is fanatical about time and very egoic to see for the first time that I am not talking just crap when I speak about the true self, but there is really something interesting there to investigate. It was a real breakthrough, so it might help someone else who is stuck also. Ps: I noticed that acknowledging his worldview is correct in one perspective helped for him to be open to entertain something else. Perhaps this thread can also be about how best to share and present nonduality to people who are worshipping duality and wouldn't even hear it.

Yeah but to be honest logic is not necessarily correct always. Only a sith deals in absolutes ? so I'm learning to ease up on that ultimate truth thing, cause this attitude can put people off the truth, since if I present it in an annoying way which denies their deeply held beliefs, they will run away from it, cause they don't want to give me the satisfaction of being right.

But he's also saying "And so what?" "Why is this important? What have you achieved?" etc etc like because he's seeing it from the ego perspective, he is immediately looking for what has your ego gotten out of this present moment shite He;s telling me that I can believe anything I want and he has his own beliefs. When I tell him I am not believing this because there is evidence in direct experience so I know it, I don't believe it. I tell him that I don't like beliefs, because belief means you admit you don't know. But since I am doing jnana yoga (of knowledge) and I am after the Truth, not after the Belief, this is not just my point of view, but the ultimate. But this just prompts him to make his belief bigger because now he wants to match my certainty of the present moment and make his beliefs just as big if not bigger. Because thats what ego does. Wants to be the highest in the room.

@Someone here I think you need to find someone stage red to push your buttons a bit like this guy did, cause we still have a spiritual ego and since we strongly see the present moment as something ultimate and true, I get really triggered when someone challenges that "ultimate" point of view. I'm learning now to be able to hold two opposing points of view (such as time and timeless) as both true at the same time. Because the illusion of time is an illusion doesn't mean illusions are not real in their own way.

I'm absolutely with this, it's like you are me talking to me. I do talk to him a lot about these stuff, but have seen that I have been too narrow as well in my way of expressing this.

Yeah one time he was thinking in his mind about something in the past, then when he "came back" he said - Sorry, I was in the past. I told him no bro, you are in the present and a thought about past appeared now. But he would say that he is never in the present, because he's always thinking about past and future. Then I asked him "BRO! Are you here or not right now??" He said something like "Yes, but when I say something it's already in the past" bla bla just mind doing its thing. He is saying time is everything and ego is very important. Then I tell him "OFcourse ego is very important, that's because your ego is saying it "

Also I dont think it's very balanced if we push the present moment as a hard fact, because i've done it just like you're doing, but this looks from the side to be a bit arrogant. Some people don't take direct experience to be the highest form of evidence like you and me perhaps. Some value their beliefs more than direct experience.

Well you gotta speak with my friend who is in stage red and we've had countless discussions and he really believes in time, no matter how much I say things similar to what you're saying here. You don't have to tell me about the Now, I am clearly on the same page But if you have to talk with someone who believes in time, then they will think you're an idiot and will not really follow your pointings. That's why last night for the first time I was able to point out to my friend this space that connects all experience. First I had to acknowledge his worldview is "correct" from one point of view, but lets just go deeper into what is here now, rather than that time-bound self that has a story.

@Godhead you've inspired me

Obviously bro, but this post is for those who find it harder to find the present moment and live in the belief that time goes from past to present and goes towards a future. Or for those who might feel confused a bit. This acknowledgement of the relative time-bound self (the human) is imo very important in order to be able to speak with someone who is stuck in that paradigm.

For me the best book on the subject has got to be Charlie Morley's Dreams of Awakening. The book is a mix between Buddhism and Lucid dreaming. It's perfect for anyone on this forum. I've used it with success. It delves into the different cycles during sleep and has many practices one can do. The best results come when you wake up 2 hours before you originally would, write down any dreams you remember, if you remember and then fall back asleep. As you fall asleep your REM cycle will start straight away and the chance of you becoming lucid or having really vivid dreams is great. Reality checks are important too- the best one for me was the hand ✋ check. Look at your hand from both sides, and keep flippening it. If it turns into something else or disappears, you will know you're dreaming. After you achieve lucidity, it's best to respect the dream as this is your subconscious in direct communication with you.. Ih yeah and don't try to control the dream. Let your subconscious do the music, you can just guided it in a certain direction. Anyway, to each their own! You may experiment. Good luck

I had an idea. What if we replace I with O. I implies 1, Someone. O implies 0, noone. Om going to meditate. O feel very excited

am gonna tell you this when I reach the stage turquoise

I really want to share this, because it might help someone. I really like the energy of this guy here and he talks about Ramana Maharshi, energy, Law of attraction etc... This is not necessarily about chicks, but about transmuting energy for something more productive, rather than wasting it for the instant gratification. In the words of Gabe Dawg - "There's godliness in your nuts, bro" This guy is very down to earth, really like the way he explains these things in a very clear way. Check it out, seriously - can't recommend enough. I did have experience with this already as I've been somewhat addicted to ejaculation for a long time. I met with one special girl and since I've met her I had a natural nofap because I don't desire meaningless release before even seeing this channel. I really did see this effect in place as there was another girl who wanted to get in my pants out of the blue (even tho I don't have feelings for her)... She started dressing really revealing and lied about having 2 boyfriends in order to get me more interested It's crazy because I've doubted LoA before, but this is different, since it is not just mental stuff, but the result of retaining life force energy. PS: If this is supposed to be in dating and relationship section, please move it, but I think this is more of a spiritual content. PSS: Here's a nice screenshot

In the case Semen vs Kleenex we deem the defendant guilty of all discharges