FirstglimpseOMG

The mystic, Alan Watts, quoting from biophysicist Erwin Schrodinger's book 'My View Of The World', in his own book; 'The Book On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are'... "It is not possible that this unity of knowledge, feeling and choice which you call your own should have sprung into being from nothingness at a given moment not so long ago; rather this knowledge, feeling and choice are essentially eternal and unchangeable and numerically one in all men, nay in all sensitive beings. But not in this sense - that you are a part, a piece, of an eternal, infinite being, an aspect or modification of it, as in Spinoza's pantheism. For we should have the same baffling question: which part, which aspect are you? What, objectively, differentiates it from the others? No, but inconcievable as it seems to ordinary reason, you - and all other conscious beings as such are all in all. Hence this life of yours which you are living is not merely a piece of the entire existence, but is in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance." Alan: The universe implies the organism, and each single organism implies the universe - only the "single glance" of our spotlight, narrowed attention, which has been taught to confuse it's glimpses as separate "things" must somehow be opened to the full vision, which Schrodinger goes on to suggest: "Thus you can throw yourself flat on the ground, stretched out on Mother Earth, with the certain conviction that you are one with her and she with you. You are as firmly established, as invulnerable as she, indeed a thousand times firmer and more invulnerable. As surely as she will engulf you tomorrow, so surely will she bring you forth anew to new striving and suffering. And not merely 'some day': now, today, every day she is bringing you forth, not once but thousands upon thousands of times, just as every day she engulfs you a thousand times over. For eternally and always there is only now, one and the same now; the present is the only thing that has no end"

I seem to be much happier lately. I don't know if that's the same thing as 'less troubled' but I think so. It's really nice. I haven't been this excited in... well, I guess since I was a kid. I'm excited to be making a little headway with the consciousness work, and experiencing the joy of life like never before. Being in such an awesome mood lately, rather than being all wary of the ego, or all bunged up because I'm so egoic, I just seem to have fun with it when I notice myself being my little self. The self-talk itself is a lot lighter, a lot more often. If I walk into another room and immediately forget what I went into the room for, it often goes like this.. "Well dipshiticus half-witicus, what did we come in here for.. do we need to retrace our steps now to remember again & maybe hold the intent for a little longer than 2 or 3 seconds this time, waddya think?" Or, "Well isn't that special (after slagging some old perceived enemy in my head instead of being at all present), here we are all 'on the path' & can't seem to remember to be mindful and practice loving kindness for more than 8 seconds at a time. Beautiful.. just brilliant, halfwiticus." Despite the elevated mood and lighter attitude toward the little me, I'm trying to reconcile knowing how ego-centric I am and feeling better treating it lightly rather than beating myself up, with the knowledge that any identification with the mind and ego is just more foolishness and illusion. This is all so very strange.

I'm finding out that Love, Kindness, Appreciation without the intrusion of thought, and 'hard to contain' JOY, is pretty much all that's left when you start peeling off all the illusory, muddy crap, like layers of an onion. I don't think you need to try and 'add' anything, I think it's a removal process and a reveal. Keep going, keep going! Just TRY to contain all that light and Truth and majesty once you start realizing your true nature. (Good luck with that lol.) You. Are. LOVE.

Absolutely! Of course, it's the bitch you just can't stop thinking about & can't stay away from once you've had a little taste. That wasn't supposed to sound dirty.

@John Flores Hey there. It took me a good while to understand what the ego is, & I still wrestle with everything, almost constantly. For a good while, mindfulness seemed like a lot of very conscious work. With a good line of 'aha' moments though, and a recent understanding of how to create a positive feedback loop of mindfulness/growth/incremental progress/incremental results/immediate benefits of the work/the benefits enhancing the process and making it easier... it DOES get easier & more natural. There's so much realization and insight going on in the mind. And then my ego thinks it's doing well, and I want to do the 'fist pump' triumphant, jubilant, "I'm making progress!" thang. My illusory self is all happy when I get closer and closer to realizing it's not at all what I thought I knew it was, and then that same self wants to chide itself for being as prominent as it was/is.. I know, I know, the ego shrinks a little and the core nothing/everything that I AM is slowly waking up & recognizing ego-centric thought for the constant self-centered jumble of confusion, & madness that it is.. but it sure is easy to get lost along the way. Ha! I guess 'less and less lost' ..is progress. (It sure takes some getting used to to make a little progress but deny that 'I'm so clever' thang when you do!) @abrakamowse My pleasure. I'm elated to be realizing this work is all so genuinely exciting when you start, even just start, to get it closer & closer to Truth. Thanks for being part of the cure.

...or whatever page I read that on, d'oh!

When the light bulb went **fizzz** up above I cracked up.

Hiya. Wow. I think it's a little mind-boggling that a discussion of this nature and magnitude is only a few clicks away for the curious. This is all spreading like wildfire. The species and planet might have a chance in hell after all.

Oh, and if you get ahold of 'The Untethered Soul - a journey beyond the self', by Michael A. Singer ..you are holding pure light. I've bought it twice so far and given it away. Gotta get a few more copies, my house is just not the same without that book laying around.

'The Power Of Now' by Eckhart Tolle slayed me, just slayed me. I read his 'A New Earth' first, and it is light and beauty and majesty on every page, but 'The Power Of Now' is, to me, wisdom beyond just about anything I've ever read. Man, I got to the end of that book... and something huge had shifted. Just sayin' ? I sure read a ton of references towards 'A Course In Miracles' in the whack of spiritual, self help/transformation books I've read recently. From all angles a bunch of authors seem to have a great respect, gratitude and appreciation for the truths they've found in there. It is likely worth investigating in my opinion. I imagine I will own a copy at some point in the future, and have the opportunity to find out for myself. Right now I'm too busy inhaling the last of Dr. Joe Dispenza's 'Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself'. Something about the way he ties quantum mechanics, spirituality and neuroscience together is reaching me almost as deeply as good ol' Eckhart. Highly, highly recommended. Oh, and in my opinion, Leo and Eckhart are saying the same thing. Both beautifully and effectively. Leo's just a little more... in your face. Big smile.

Hi Leo, thanks again. I'll remember for the next time. @jse Hi there. Oh man, I'm not smart enough to get all messianic. Plus, when I realized that I AM, it follows naturally that YOU ARE TOO.

...Sounds like a sexy topic if ya can get a whole video out of it. Thanks.

It's all in the microtubules, ask Stuart Hameroff. It turns out the brain is considerably more intricate and incredible than the A.I. theorists have an inkling of. Microtubules within the neurons are where Hameroff amd Sir Penrose come together with the ORC -OR theory. This quantum stuff all meshes with all the enlightenment stuff with beautiful harmony. Oh yeah, and the math works too. Anyhoo, in my opinion Hameroff is spot on.

We all know 'em, we all love 'em; the exaggerated funny faces Leo captures for his video title frames. Maybe rather than naming and describing them only, linking to the particular vid page at actualized.org is cool and probably gets Leo some clicks or 'hits' that way too. https://actualized.org/articles/why-am-i-depressed. ....is one of my favourites.

Darn, I guess you can't edit the title of a Thread. Sorry for the lower-case 'L' bud.

Nice. Mooji is lovely and so thoroughly interesting to watch and listen to, found him through your mention in a thread. The Toolkit one I think.

Gotta love results like that eh? Very cool. I've only just begun to meditate, so I only have a few impressions to share; I love it. My first session I set the timer for 20 minutes, was just getting into it and the beeper went off. What? Actually had to check to make sure I hadn't mistakenly set it for 2 minutes. So I did another 20 minute session immediately. I need to work on making it into a habit though, big time.

@Darren93 Maybe point us in the direction to find and experience your music when the time comes that you realize and release some of it. Enjoy the process. (I know I don't have to tell you that lol.)

Agreed, discovering Leo and Actualized.org videos changed my life profoundly. I will do what I can to pay it forward, thank you Leo.

Nice, thank you.

I was in the kitchen making coffee and thinking about time. And thinking about the word 'timeless'. Oh yeah, I was thinking about the word 'infinite' as well. I just got on it because the phrase 'timeless and infinite' has sort of settled into my vocabulary lately. Who thinks about the real meaning of these words? Before, even when I tried watching pretty dumbed-down science documentaries on time and space on Youtube, the time thing just seemed foreign the way they talked about it and I couldn't grasp most of it and I couldn't tie it in with some of the other cosmos type of stuff that I did 'get' for the most part. This time though, I was standing at the kitchen sink, frozen with a coffee cup in one hand, puzzling out time by saying the words over and over to myself and trying to attach meaning to them. Infinite...............infinite..............infinite........ ........timeless............... timeless...............timeless. So I started with the language thing by definition. 'Timeless' Without time. ....Trying to live in the moment or concieve how you can practically be more and more in the moment has me wanting to understand what I am manipulating my perception of, to be more in the moment. I am so new at advancing my perception of time. 'Timeless' Without time. Right? If I am clueless I am without a clue, if I am helpless, I am without help, if I am timeless I am without time. The proper, exact opposite of 'timeless' is 'with time'. Now, if I am 'within time' at all in my perception, not my 'true nature' basic awareness, I am not without time. So I see that it truly is down to increments of time. The further apart you perceive these false increments of time, the less 'in the moment' you are, and subsequently less aware of every subsequent solitary reality that is in fact, incrementless. Or the perceived increments have gotten so tiny... 9 or 10 days aqo I wouldn't have been thinking about this, let alone following a logic stream effortlessly to a conclusion in this natural manner. My ego was totally aghast. Ha haaa, me standing in the kitchen with an empty coffee cup in hand going from the 'Full Picard face palm' to the 'girl gasps as her hand flies to cover her mouth' actions. My mind is already expanding somewhat. Certainly somewhat remarkably for me, holee. Can you tell I'm having fun?

In my experience, the more work you do to recognize your ego for what it is, the more uptight and antsy it gets. If that takes hold you are basically fighting with yourself. That inner conflict may be the misunderstood, core reason for your recent flare-up of neurotic thoughts and feelings. I imagine it my be a good sign. What if during your enlightenment work you kissed the ego's ass a bit. All affected by a neorotic episode? Maybe try paying your ego some respect. Even talk to your self (ego), out loud or silently, but with conviction. Recognize that the ego is a powerful, effective, crafty, ruthless force to be reckoned with, and tell it so, and mean it, understand that you're not even faking it and falsely stroking your ego, you really are in awe of how it messes you up when your guard is down. The whole point is you let your human BEing off the hook for goofy, neurotic thoughts and feelings, while seeing how the ego does it's job so well...naturally and automatically and in the most effective, all-consuming way... and the higher self in your BEing may just get a break from the ego demanding recognition and respect by demonstrating it's innate ability to mess you up.

What are the chances that you might work on detaching a little and viewing people's negative, self-centered, angry crap as entertainment, not anything that is likely to affect you in reality, or deter you from carrying on with your awesome day after the show is over. Yeah, detachment like that takes a little practice, but there's not much that's funnier than watching adults throw tantrums or wallow themselves into a big ol' pool of victim goo.

This is certainly interesting. I have views on all of this 'keep your hands off your dick' stuff. I shall list a few; First of all, it's my dick, and I'll play with it if I want, you do what you like with yours. The 'shoulds' and 'shouldn'ts' in this thread are hilarious, so funny and weak that it's not even annoying, (but pretty entertaining). The only time I have ever purposely not masturbated it was likely for about 3 days, and that was just to get the orgasm intensity back up to that, 'God I'm horny and if I so much as look at it too long I'm going to pop.' feeling. Sometimes I've noticed that a masturbation session is more of a distraction than a healthy release, and I crank one off anyway. Doesn't feel as good, but it sure ain't bad. The only disappointment, regret, or negative thing about masturbation for me personally is if it's a before bed session and I fall asleep before I finish. The next morning it's like "Man, ... again?" (Well, it's going to be a fun morning.) My personal belief is that good porn, like anything else, is pretty awesome, in moderation like anything else. Someone above mentioned learning about intimacy and sensuality through porn. No you didn't. The last thing most mainstream pornography is about is intimacy, sensuality or the art and joy of sex. Most mainstream porn is a crass, pathetic, transparently commercial, poorly acted farce masquerading as titillation for the masses. I have better things to do (and watch) than a pair of actors concentrating mostly on the most minimal skin contact in order for the viewer to see the body parts in action without a person getting in the way. My impression of much of the amateur video available on those free upload sites, is that it is much more authentic and genuine, therefore for me more interesting and arousing. My personal view on the 'get more girls and have more sex by not enjoying your own body' thang? ..Ugh, if you are so weak and inhibited socially that the only way you get off your ass and out of fantasyland and go interact with the opposite sex to see what it's all about, maybe bet lucky or at least learn something, is when you are so sexually repressed and desperate that you can barely think of anything else? Well, firstly, how's that working for you, and secondly, you certainly have my sympathy. 'How's my way working for me then, smartypants?', you ask? Well, I just sent the neighbour home with her panties in her purse, a big smile on her face, and the thought, 'I hope there's a 'next time'! And yes, it's all going into the wank bank.

Trying to keep the blinders off. Striving to remain awake and aware. Trying to notice when 'unpacking my experience' = 'constructing concepts and feeling that they are right, or pretty close.' = very close to very complete illusion. I say very close to very complete illusion because I saw the illusion for what it was. I don't, and could not, forget that, but I am a fucking MASTER of distraction. Oh man, if only the paycheque was based on how fully and completely and quickly I am able to distract myself from my real nature.