Joel3102

-Zen -Tantra -Daoism -Sufism

@ZX_man Usually temporary.

I'd be careful about jumping to the conclusion that you're experiencing depersonalisation just because the world is starting to seem a little less real. I've dealt with DP and it's really not related to spirituality as much as some think imo, it's a dissociative symptom in response to anxiety. Do you have any anxiety issues? If it is depersonalisation, don't worry about it because ruminating over the feeling will just allow it to persist.

I loved the rawness of the nightly retreat reports

Depersonlisation and enlightenment are very different things. DPD is an anxiety and dissociative disorder where you feel cut-off from the world and your body, to me it's almost an opposite feeling to enlightenment its subsequnt feelings of oneness. DP is literally a defence mechanism triggered by anxiety inducing situations. I understand that they have similarities, such as the feeling of unreality of this world, but don't confuse DP with the Truth.

I would like a breakdown on the different facets of spirituality. This would include enlightenment, and some of the paranormal phenomena that you've touched upon. Also the difference between spiritual purification and enlightenment. Is it possible to have a direct knowledge of Truth, yet still have miles of spiritual purification left? Or visa versa? Could one still be primarily living in monkey mind but still be enlightened? Also, are there enough free hours in the week to make serious progress working a 9-5?

My current thinking is to dinstinguish between: Low consciousness hermits - who can't socialise, play video games all day and have no direction in life High consciousness hermits - people who've trancesnded excessive socialising/partying ect I used to be more the first, then for a few years I was way too into partying/socialising/popularity, but it was kind of needed to up my social skills. Now I'm more and more interested in spending time in meditation or just being. People think I'm boring now lol.

Sounds good, I haven't done much of it but I've found when I do my awareness skyrockets

How does self enquiry in particular help, more than meditation?

https://stronglifts.com/5x5/ If you stick with this you will get great results, it's not easy though

It's just a whole bunch of ad hominem and strawman attacks. It's not enough to just demonise and poke fun at hippies/psychedelics without actually doing the work yourself!

I made it last night, it's nice!

This was extremely helpful to me.

Lol, I've tried its not easy. Show them a video by a teacher that's very grounded and they can't just dismiss as new age/religious... eg Leo, Peter Ralston, Ken Wilber

@Rider I used to be really keen on learning pickup but since getting into non-duality it's really subsided. Do you think it's still worth having a period where you learn game skills for overall personal development? Part of me still wants to do it and I'm trying to find a legitimate justification for doing game that's not just ego-boosting.

I'm an Aussie but might be travelling to NYC at some point in the mid year

Out of the blue I've had really bad insomnia the last few days. Like 3 hours of sleep a night, and it's starting to freak me out because I don't cope well with no sleep. Feel like a zombie, can't focus or do anything, yet I don't really feel tired as much as wired out. Trying to work out what could be causing this, nothing in my life has really changed, I'm not stressed or anything. My only current theory is that I've been going heavy with Leo's concentration technique recently, and made some pretty gains in my awareness. Could this be a side effect of my mind rewriting itself? If anyone has any insomnia tips would be much appreciated.

@Evilwave Heddy I try to use it only for sleep. I have yellow light on my phone at night. I generally don't meditate before bed. @Tibor Interesting, if it persists I might check out that supplement

Happened to me as well. Fapping, porn and sex just don't have the same pull over me, it's quite liberating.

@TeamBills It's extremely obvious once you have an enlightenment experience.

I have trouble myself reconciling the non existence of matter which is pretty obvious to me at this point, but the existence of other minds. How could I ever verify in my direct experience they exist?

Watching this right now. You might find it interesting it touches on some paranormal

Lol this guy strikes me as what Leo would call a zen devil. He's probably right though

I feel you can have an "ego" that you still operate through. But an enlightened person person directly recognised that ego is not what they are existentiallly. I'm not sure though, I feel an enlightened individual may live in constant non duality whilst their body-mind retains some elements of ego. Happy to be corrected by any fully enlightened people here.