Nahm

@DrewNows It’s a deeply beautiful thing, these revealing ‘failsafes’ of love & reality. Who’da thunk.

@andyjohnsonman Infinite religions and spiritualities do not hold a candle to the life & reality altering power of a single kenshō.

Cool. Just gonna...leave this...right here..... Our Deepest Fear By Marianne Williamson Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness That most frightens us. We ask ourselves Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small Does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking So that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, As children do. We were born to make manifest The glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; It's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others.

Welcome to Conundrumville. The question I am droppning here may be too "basic" for most of you, so I honestly appreciate your time to help me out. Basic yes, but this is perhaps the most important, most fundamental contemplation one could undertake. Good for you man. Enjoy the coming metadventure. I'm actually struggling to make a distinction between brain activity and consciousness. As I’m sure you’re aware, that’s because it is the brain, or rather the duality of thinking, which is trying to assess itself. That can get loopy. A thought can not think a thought, much like a sensation can not sense a sensation, and perception can not perceive a perceiver. Contemplating those can bring some realizations about, of direct experience vs indirect ‘experience’ - actuality vs ‘sneakery’. With a daily meditation practice, those three facets become calm and quiet, and the space ‘in between’ the thoughts and activities of the body begins to be directly experienced and realized as ‘prior to’. A thought about this will not do, as ‘this’ is prior to thought (prior to duality). There definitely is ‘experience’ - without thought activity, referred to typically as, being, or knowing. The way I see it, injuries or drugs, for example, have a remarkable impact on the brain and our whole perception of reality, so, undoubtedly, there is correlation (yet not necessarily causation). But when the brain shuts down (when we are deeply asleep or even dead), conciousness stops, there's no more perceptions, no more reality. It doesn't matter if it's 8 hours or 5 minutes, you cease to be aware. That is a very convincing and understandable perspective, but it’s not entirely accurate ime. Your post cuts right to the heart of the personal and impersonal nature of absolute. I would begin to be very critical in questioning anything and everything, with the strict filer of direct experience. As in, if you have not directly experienced death, nor been without thought activity, just notice anything about it, is a belief and or assumption. Ultimately, this is critically important to not only continuing your self exploration, reaching the ultimate satisfaction, but also to knowing the actuality of reality. Some would say that when every belief is inspected - they disappear, and all that can remain without belief - is the actual truth. Wether you actually want to know it, is something to do a serious gut check about. I am also very triggered by that emotion occasionally, to the point where I even loose my mind whewn thinking about my non-existence. I has hit me really, really hard sometimes, 8 times or so in my life (I'm 23), and is unchained as easily as watching a movie. The rest of the day I am OK with my own mortality, so I just can not grasp the singificance this rare and uncommon psychotic attacks. Sensation within you is like an infinitely intelligent guide, the ‘higher self’, or, ‘inner being’. It’s important to tune into sensation, and to listen to it, above all thinking. Sensation is nondual, one, a direct ‘link’ to the source of all that is. Thinking is twoness; the same one, but diluted by duality. In a way, Thinking is like a paper thin smokescreen, covering up the actuality of reality. Psychosis is, roughly speaking, the inability to distinguish a thought accurate of what has or is transpiring, and a thought which is not indicative of what has or is transpiring. Without alignment with sensation, that can be a rabbit hole I’d wish on nobody. I’ve worked with people heavy lost in psychosis, and I’ll just say, it is rough. The reason you are having those ‘psychotic attacks’, is because sensation is saying, to your thinking of non-existence...”that’s not true!”. But, you are ignoring the sensation, believing your thinking, and then essentially mislabeling sensation - the very ‘thing’ which is guiding you to truth. Do the counter logical thing here, and tune into the sensation, not away from it - assuming you have to suffer because you’ll die one day, or cease to exist. Take notice of the very word - non-existence. It actually points to - that which does not actually exist. So, there simply is no such thing, as, non-existence. It’s initially hard to grasp, but, look for the humor of this, and you will find the relief undoubtably. Feel for the actuality, the truth of this, in your heart, in your bones, in your very being. Let it really wash over the body, releasing a lot of past misconceptions you’re holding. Choose - set the intention - to know this truth, and to let thoughts about go. Feel the ‘answer’ which arises from deep in the body, not the ‘head’ / thought. On the other hand, I have seen the "Why brains do not exist", but I just can not see through. Conceptually, I feel like I'm missing some essencial point. No offense, I say this in love and and helpfulness...but it’s like you are standing in Peru, talking about the top of Mt. Everest. There’s a very big slice of humble pie we all eat when we get on the path. The realization that everything we think we know, is, pretty much, well, entirely, not true, or, not grounded in what is actual. It feels like we got duped, and there’s no one to blame. It’s difficult, but imo, most worthwhile. Absolutely worthwhile. I think the following video explains, more or less, my point of view (just don't watch the whole thing, from 4:50 - 6:35 is enough). So the quiestion arises... Doesn't that brain-conciousness relation prove that? Doesn't consciousness emerge from matter? That’s the greatest question there is. This is going to take (most likely) a lot of meditation, contemplation, and self exploration. I like to frame this up as the metadventure - regular life being the adventure, the journey - and the metadventure being the simultaneous undertaking of discovering the real, actual, truth. At times these jive perfectly, and at other times the meta can basically blow up your life. Again though, most worthwhile imo. Some suggestionS of what you might contemplate, to begin opening up the mind to the actuality... I’d use a pad of paper, just to jot down realizations that arise, which are felt - beyond just thought. This helps ‘tune in’ to being, to sensation, and to life’s greatest delight, the intuition. This is later known as and referred to as that ineffable childlike nature & joy, we all seem to have lost along the way.... What, in your direct experience, has ever occurred - outside of - your own consciousness / awareness? Make a list of ‘things’, “matter”, ‘objects’ - which you, or any human being ever, has found to be outside of, and more specifically, prior to - consciousness. Find the actual proof - that consciousness is separate, in any way. Find the actual proof, that consciousness arises from your brain, in your direct experience. Contemplate and write down, a list, in order, of how you think the population prioritizes the expereince of being human. What is valued the most, what is valued the least, etc. Research, contemplate, research, contemplate, etc....the substrate of matter, quantum mechanics, and the intimate & most personal implications of the findings. Be open minded, very open minded, so much so, that you allow for the possibility that you might discover a truth, which reveals that pretty much everyone on the planet, is “wrong” about matter & consciousness. Also, because I get the sense you are pretty serious in your investigation, going straight to the heart of the ‘matter’, just some recommendation...as a scientist and teacher of these “matters”, @Serotoninluv Is arguably one of the best people on earth to help you bridge the ‘gap’. If and when you ‘don’t like’ what @Leo Gura says, when it stirs you up emotionally - stop everything - and listen to what he’s saying, and listen to your sensation - not your thinking. A lot of whacky stuff gets said in his regard by a lot of whacky folks, unfortunately, but imo, you will not find a more knowledgeable, nor more honest person on earth to help you in your endeavor. And again, you’re the ultimate filter & authority, direct experience is always king, but at the same time, you can take pretty much anything @ajasatya says straight to the bank. When the well being, health & nutrition comes up, @Michael569 is a living wealth of knowledge and kindness. And for the energy work, the tuning in, that Uber refinement stage... @pluto can’t be topped. (Sorry for the singling out peeps )

@Eu Sint ?

@dimitri I have a daughter too. I’ll pray for you. I’d say you’re right on, in that there is no memory, no direct experience, of one’s own birth. Remembering & forgetting are funny, and insightful. Not sure how old yours is... but do you see how there are some ‘facets’, some personality traits if you will, which we / she seems to have ‘come here’ with...and then there is a sort of intrinsic automatic acquisition, a ‘learning who I am’ relative to environment and experience, taking place - essentially, based on, or, “filling the hole of” - that forgetting?

@Homo Lucens Being sort of argumentative for fun and the sake of the convo....I’d offer that I have directly ‘experienced’ (been / and am) consciousness during sleep, without anything at all serving as something to be conscious of , and that his reference to consciousness basically equating to reflection, or the knowing of knowledge, specifically involving the brain - that consciousness requires something to be conscious of - is missing a deeper dive into the fundamental self, and the heart of nonduality. It strikes me as there’s a possibility there is ‘scientist’ bias at play.

@dimitri That sounds very in tune man. You’ve obviously contemplated the nature of thoughts & creation. Something to question, along the lines of the thread...what differences can you see, between the experience of your birth, and of seeing / experiencing other people being born?

?...and there was but one set of footprints. I once meditated so deeply into consciousness, that I became a wolf.

@Recursoinominado That’s what she said.

Start with what you can directly experience. Look at your hand, and notice “your hand” is a thought (conceptual). Then look at “that”, understanding that “my hand” is a thought. What is that?

Because you are not-two. Ditto.

@Homo Lucens Welcome to Crazytown. What kind of differences did you guys come up with?

@dimitri What was that thought, the one which was outside of you - separate of you - clearly, not you ? The one which was - a ‘part’?

If you like it, definitely check out their channel. Gem ridden. ♥️

@dimitri Nice kite. And what is a thought, really ?

@dimitri That’s a great one. Also, do you see how a flying kite...is really the wind. Ice, is really, water. Right? Make sense?

@SidBySide It’s not a riddle. You are the sneakiest being that has ever been. Literally. There has never been anyone as sneaky as you. There is not even a close, or distant second place. The world does not cause your thoughts, your perspective, nor your feelings. You choose your perspective. When it does not feel good, when your inner being tells you it is not true, rather than listening to the sensation, you use the entire world to justify the continuation of - choosing your same, “right & accurate”, perspective.

@dimitri What’s an example of something which you call one thing (a name / label / word), but you know it’s actually something else, something underlying?

@dimitri ♥️ indeed!

@dimitri Infinite intelligence is more efficient than that (op). You don’t need to imagine you were born, you only need to believe you are not the thought, “my birth was imaginary”. You are that thought.

@dimitri Why are you believing your birth was imaginary?

“I’ll pay no mind to taunts or advances...I’ll take my chances on; good love fight for; - everyday.”

Siddhartha did not become The Enlightened One. The Enlightened One was never really ”Siddhartha“.

Infinite Humor.