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@AlwaysBeNice Yea according to Jan Esmann she's the most enlightened being on the planet. He said she's in a permanent state of what he calls Shiva Consciousness (completely merged with the Blue Being). He also said that when he went to hug her, her love was so strong and 'thick' that it felt like you could cut it with a knife.

Yea this weeks episode has definitely cleared a few things up. I realised i've been falling into the trap of skipping through things that I assume i'm not that strongly identified with, which may be one of the reasons the process was becoming mechanical. Need to be more thorough in my approach I think. I actually had a pretty intense mushroom trip a few days ago, but I can't say it helped me with my inquiry in any direct way. It was more of a deep emotional release. I'll definitely be working with AL-LAD and 5-Meo in the coming months though. I did do a week long Mahasi retreat about 2 weeks ago. Wasn't focused on self-inquiry though, of course. I assume you're recommending doing a retreat specifically for self-inquiry/observation?

When I say 2 hours a day I mean do two 1 hour sessions of concentration, or 4 sessions of 30 minutes if you find that easier. You can break it up however you want really, but doing just 1 minute a day isn't going to get you anywhere. What Leo reccommended is definitely a good approach, but I wouldn't start with 1 minute. I'd start with atleast 10 minutes, maybe more. The whole point of concentration is to just keep bringing your attention back to the object again and again and again. The longer you spend doing that the better.

Hey Leo, Recently my self-observation feels very stale, repetitive and quite mechanical. For the first 6-9 months of the practice it seemed like I was making a lot of progress, having small insights all the time and genuinely really enjoying it. The process felt quite easy and was rarely the same from day to day. But recently I feel like I’ve hit a wall and the same questions and thoughts keep coming up. It’s like I’m just going through the motions, even when I really try to move away from it. I don’t know if this is good sign or not, but it’s having an effect on my motivation to keep practicing. I do still put aside atleast 45 mins to an hour a day, which is much less than I used to do. It’s tough going and there’s a lot of resistance. Any advice?

@Ilya If you really want to improve your concentration you're gonna have to do more than 1 minute a day. Try doing 2 hours a day for a year. You've also got to throw out any ideas of what you think is 'progress'. Give up any ideas of what you think 'good' concentration is, because otherwise you'll just be judging your meditation and likely give up when it isn't going the way you think it should. Also give up any desire to not have any thoughts, or for the mind to wander during your concentration practise. Realise that it is completely natural for this to happen, and it will happen a lot. It will take many many hundreds of hours of focused practise to get to a point where thoughts don't distract you. Don't criticise yourself in any way when your 'focus feels random'. Just accept it and re-focus back onto the meditation. See it as an inevitable part of the process. You may want to try a different meditation object as well (for concentration). The sensations of the breath at the nose, the sensations of the abdomen or the sound of your breath are all good objects. The metronome works well too. Find what is easiest for you and stay with that object like a rabid dog.

Well said!

Never thought i'd see a video about both body building and 5-Meo. Only from Frank Yang!

Hehe. Leo has answered this objection soo many times, both in his videos and here on the forum. I don't understand how people can't wrap their heads around it. Yes, everything is meaningless, and yes there is no good and evil. But you still gotta' live your life! You've still got to play by the rules! Would you rather spend the rest of your life living your LP or a crap job that brings no fulfilment to you or to others? Both are meaningless, but I know which one i'd prefer.

Well i'm not really qualified to answer. But from a personal point of view I wouldn't consider things like bread junk food. Although some cheap white breads and pastas may as well be. I eat bread every day but try to get the best bread I can. Here in the UK we always have a pretty good selection of freshly made wholemeal loafs. With dairy, again i'm not too knowledgable to be honest. But personally I don't eat cheese and drink v little milk.

@Elephant Sure, I understand your concerns. It's good that you're thinking about the risks and i'm sure you'll do thorough research to ensure they don't occur. But as Leo talked about in his recent video, psychedelics taken safely and in the correct doses are probably no more harmful than alcohol or tobacco. You need to realise there's just as much, if not more chance of being in a car crash tomorrow, breaking your neck and becoming paralysed for the rest of your life, than there is of having serious adverse effects from these substances.

@Elephant Just think about how many people take LSD every year - tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands. And how many cases of what you've described have you heard of or have even been accounted for? Then think about all of the hundreds of thousands of people getting killed and injured from alcohol related causes. If anything, drinking alcohol seems fucking retarded.

@MarkusR I'd say certainly give it a go if you feel capable, but understand that meditating for 12 hours with only short breaks will be very challenging to say the least. I often find myself overestimating the amount of meditation that I think I will be able to do and you may be falling into the same trap. Or maybe not, I don't know. It's very easy to think about doing a lot of meditation, and in your mind you feel like you'll be able to do it, but when it comes to actually doing it it's a whole different story. Expect a lot of resistance and be mindful of all the tempting excuses your mind will come up with to make you give up and go home.

3 options. 1 - Discuss the issues with your manager and/or other people at work. A professional work environment should not be a place where you feel physically threatened by other people. It's completely unacceptable. 2 - Leave the job and find a different one. 3 - If the previous two are not possible, do your best to completely ignore the bullying. People bully or threaten other people to get a response from them and to make themselves feel more powerfull/superior etc. If you don't respond in any way, and I mean any way at all, then they have no reason to continue. Easier said than done of course, but it works.

@Sukhpaal Personally i'd avoid doing mushrooms when there's a chance that you might be disturbed or seen by other people. You want to be able to forget about everything and just focus on the trip. I once tripped at home when my parents were out but they were coming back very late that evening. Just knowing that they might have come back early and found me tripping balls sent me into a spiral of paranoia and anxiety. I dread to think how it would have been if my parents had been in the house the whole time!! Up to you though of course. Maybe wait till you've got the house to yourself?

@username I read the article. Very interesting stuff. But i'm slightly confused. Is he saying that there is some sort of 'true' reality and that because of self-survival we just can't perceive it, or we only perceive part of? He says, "Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. They guide adaptive behaviours. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know. And that’s pretty much all of reality, whatever reality might be." So what is all this stuff that we don't need to know? What is the "file itself or anything in the computer" in his desktop blue icon metaphor?

@Visionary I've also been diving into those videos over the past few days. I haven't watched them all though. I thought the discussion with Michael Shermer was interesting, but of course neither him or Graham were even remotely willing to be open to the others ideas and comments. I thought the heated arguments were surprising seeing as, despite the evidence, Graham's ideas are all still quite speculative. I mean, who really knows what happened? Very interesting stuff though. Did you hear that Graham had a massive stroke shortly after the JRE 961 with Michael Shermer? Apparently he had a barrage of hate in the comments section which he says had a big effect on him.

@SuperLuigi Depends very much on the quality of the meditation. Someone doing 15 minutes of really focused, clear and intentional meditation may grow more than someone who does an hour of sloppy meditation. It also depends on just how good you are at meditating. If you're not the strongest meditator, more time may be required. Some people do well on just an hour or even 30 minutes a day, other people require more (2-3+ hours). It varies from person to person so you have to kinda' figure it out for yourself.

@Pure Imagination I think Awakening is much more possible to achieve than you or other people actually believe. The reason the 'numbers' might seem so low is that most people on the spiritual path aren't trying hard enough, nor, as Leo said, do they want it bad enough. Most people that meditate in the West are not trying to wake up. So awakening or enlightenment gets talked about as some far off unattainable goal. But who says that's true?? If you've got a solid daily practise, and are attending retreats etc, you've got just as much chance.

@key I'd say four things are key to implementing a meditation habit: 1) Start now and commit to never miss a day. Easier said than done of course, but very important. Missing a day here and there isn't really going to affect your meditation in any way, but unless you're really committed to it skipping even once will then give you a reason to be able to skip another day and another day etc. So do it every day, even if its just 15 minutes. 2) Weave it into your daily routine. Routine is key! Like most people, i'm sure you have a fairly standard daily routine. So commit to doing your meditation at a particular time of the day, every day. Eventually it becomes part of your routine and there's a lot less resistance. I would generally advise to do it in the morning because you're more alert/fresh, there's less distractions and you're less likely to procrastinate etc. You can also motivate yourself more by saying "I can't or won't do X and Y until i've meditated this morning". So then you're more likely to just get it done. But do it whenever you want. 3) Interest and desire to become more conscious and aware. Cultivate a genuine interest in spirituality and discovering yourself. 4) Finally, as other people have commented, you've just got to do it. This is where the rubber meets the road. You've got to push through the resistance. No one's gonna do it for you.

@ThirdEyeSees You should go to one of Jan Esmann's Shaktipat retreats (http://lovebliss.eu/index.html). That'll really get your Kundalini going! Also, if you have a reeeally open-mind, seeing as your Kundalini is active, you should try his Shaktipat video Transmission. As crazy as it sounds, I have met people who said this works.

Thought i'd share this great little video clip of Shinzen. He sums up his 'note all' mindfulness technique, the process of self-inquiry, and how they compliment each other in such a concise and clear way. It's only a short video, but thought it was worth posting. Enjoy!

@Xonnas Do whatever works and feels right. There are no strict rules. You could stay on one object for the whole mediation if you wanted.

@Lauritz 2 weeks on your own in complete darkness and silence?! Sounds terrifying. I'm sure it'll be a very powerfull retreat though. Good luck!

@Serazer It's quite simple really. 'Evil' is just a concept that you have created. It's a thought, an idea. It's not inherent in the 'external' world in any way. Think about it, would there be any evil if no humans existed? Nothing is inherently evil, or good, or anything for that matter. 'Good' and 'evil' are just concepts created for your self-survival. But, this obviously doesn't mean that it's ok to just go and murder or rape someone. These 'rules' still apply of course, and always will. But from the bigger perspective, murder and rape have no value or meaning, they are neither bad nor good.

@caelanb If you're trying to recover from an eating disorder I wouldn't worry too much about sticking to a plant based diet. Your focus should just be to eat good quality whole foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts) and good quality, organic meats and fish. And of course cut out as much junk food as possible. However it's important to realise that plant-based diets are not a fad, and there's plenty of extremely fit and healthy people who eat plant-based (See Rich Roll on Youtube for example). I mean, plant-based diets have been shown to cure serious health issues and diseases! There's a lot of very interesting research.