UnbornTao

The difference between what's experienced and what's conceptualized is a useful metric. Of course, we may eventually discover that everything we call 'experience' is itself a mental fabrication, which doesn't help much. But at least it gives us a starting point. Yeah - fantasy. Bullshit. It's just a belief. There is such a thing as fantasy, and it's everywhere in spiritual circles. Most spirituality is fantasy. To entertain some of it, your existence itself may be sort of an illusion. So everything based on the persistence of that self is inevitably fabricated.

Again, too abstract. In your experience, you already likely consider this notion as nonsense - you just don't want to appear assertive or be honest about it. It's not grounded in your everyday reality, so to speak. It's the same with notions such as "no-self" and the rest, which are BS for pretty much everyone, because they do in fact experience themselves as the central element of their experience, and that goes way beyond any affectation or adopted notion.

Not at all. Why do you entertain such a notion in the first place, apart from the fact that it's purely hearsay and second-hand, entertaining stories? It's like you claiming you can fly, and me pointing out that you obviously can't. Don't place those two statements on the same footing. Who's the one committed to wishful thinking here, all in the name of "openness"? We don't even know what life is, let alone what happens after death. Any kind of subjective state can be imagined and believed in by humans - but that doesn't make it true. They're essentially just stories.

Go live with one of those guys for a week and see if they can actually function without sleep. Just a week. Again, I acknowledge that in some specific cases, one might go without food for quite some time. I have no problem with that, even though I find it unnecessary and dysfunctional. My concern is more with the claims about sleep and water.

Right. See how long you can go without sleep. Don't actually do that, by the way.

If your body is imaginary, then the idea that you could survive for years without water, food, or sleep is a massive hallucination.

Die and come chat, then. The point that's being made is that the person is dead, and it is believed that they can function after death because they were perceived as "conscious" individuals. Your notion of openness is superficial and merely intellectual. I suggest your questioning should go the other way: what the fuck are the people who believe that up to? You don't even believe it in your own experience. It's just a fancy philosophical diversion.

Where did you even learn that notion and term from? Give it an Indian name, and so-called spiritual people will pretty much eat it up indiscriminately, as long as it satisfies their inclinations.

Well, from my current point of view, it's basically an impossibility rooted in wishful thinking. Even going a couple of days without sleep is extremely difficult. And it's a scientific fact that humans can't survive more than 3 to 7 days without water. Claiming you can go for years is objectively wrong. Openness doesn't mean pretentiousness or "anything goes." It's easy to be abstractly impartial, but things work a certain way, not the way we wish they did. Asking to be open to the possibility that 2 + 2 might equal 7 is absurd.

Gautama actually didn't intend to facilitate others initially. It was only after a man asked him to teach what he became conscious of, on the premise that someone might get it. His initial response was something like, "Why? Nobody will get it." Mahasamadhi is a fantasy, too.

"Someone might get it."

With food, you're obviously always going to feel a frequent urge to eat. So why establish an antagonistic attitude toward that impulse? Occasionally practicing controlled fasting for half a day, or trying time-restricted eating, might help you manage your eating habits. I don't see a problem with eating sweets or snacking in moderation, like on weekends; it doesn't sound like a major issue, as you said. Perhaps the real issue is feeling guilt from pleasure, thinking that you aren't worthy, or something along those lines. As for music, again, what's the problem? You could limit it to certain hours, but I see it as mostly beneficial. It's generally not considered an addiction or harmful habit unless it starts interfering with your daily life.

You can't even go three sleepless days without starting to experience cognitive impairment and mental instability, let alone years. This doesn't include the need for water and food. Some people have survived without food for a year or so in extreme cases (apparently), but that is not the same as claiming to live without food, water, and sleep for years. What are some of you guys smoking?

Try going to outer space without an astronaut suit. If you have anything that's real in a grounded sense, it is your body, not fantastical concepts.