Echoes

@Ex Astris Scientia I can use everything that gives me a little perspective or impression of how other people dealt with similar situations. I think the feeling of "taking things into my own hands" is very important, because right now every day is the same and I keep thinking that tomorrow comes the great idea that will change everything in a miraculous way. I know that this idea will never come, but I also don't know where I can start taking action. @jse This is my biggest worry. My father had similarities with your friend, and I often have the anxiety to also develop in this direction. I really hope I can still turn my life around, I just can't let this become reality. Everyday I tell myself I should figure out now exactly what I need to do and then just do it, but of course I never figure out what I need to do. The days keep passing away and everyday I feel like I am a day closer to the example of your friend or of my father. I never thought about traveling. Do you really think it is a smart decision? I'm already behind in everything and with traveling I would lose even more time. What if I don't figure it all out by travelling? Am I thinking too much in terms of "At this age you should be at this stage in your life"? But normal people already have their degree and started their career, they can afford to do things like travelling or keep trying different things without having to worry that much of a wrong choice. Me on the other hand wasted so much time already. altough I don't think that someone really ever regretted a good travelling experience. Thanks for your replies!

@Leo Gura Thank you! So the experience of the lamp IS what the lamp is? that there must be some real thing (the lamp) which I am aware OF is also just a misleading expectation of the mind? So is the NOW like a hologram? and that hologram is me? but why does everybody in the room sees the same lamp if there is no lamp there. @PureExp I rather meant the different realizations of enlightenment. Things like: There is no me; time does not exist; Outer world and inner world is the same; I am consciousness and not the body are realizations which are present for everyone at any time; only that thoughts and believes veil this realizations. But there are other things who seem to be more "deep" or "far-out-there" realizations like infinity; or that I am god. All that stuff that Leo mentioned in his 5-MeO Video. Those seem like things which are not in your ordinary every day consciousness in plain sight and only because of conditioning not recognized. These things seem to require a deeper or altered state of consciousness, and not just a shift in perspective.

I have a question that keeps coming up from time to time: Is there any difference between ordinary every day experience and full enlightenment? because it is one thing to see that there is no "me" and that all believes and thoughts are not real, and that the "outside" world is consciousness. But how is the realization of gods infinite being always available to us? Because it doesn't sound like 5-meo is like "oh,how couldn't I have seen this earlier? how obvious!" but more like a special twisted mindfuck. The question occurs because of the different approach of teachers. The one side says that you are already enlightened and that there is nothing to do; that it is the most obvious thing and it's not hard. The other side says it's requires decades of deep and hard work and only then will a few sages reach the full realization.

Sometimes I have similar thoughts, but then I see so many people who are miserable their whole life and it never gets any better. What you imply is that there waits an happy end for everyone. But there are alot people in this world who had lifes full of suffering, without ever getting anything positive. No happy end at all. So our lifes could easily become horrible Game of Thrones episodes with a tragic ending where we are never becoming what we think we wanted, or even be granted the possibility to see through our illusions.

You should look deep into the feeling of guilt. After some time, if you hold in long enough, you should notice that there are certain unconscious beliefstructures and thoughts hidden in this feeling. Look what believe of the world you find on the bottom. there is always a belief that supports/triggers a feeling

Hey, I just wanted to share an interesting text about the question "What can we really know?" written by Shunyamurti. It explores if it's really true that we can't know anything for sure, and how enlightenment is different from other types of knowledge. http://www.satyogainstitute.org/the-status-of-knowledge/

procrastination

you never experienced your own face or your own eyes. you never experienced an eyeball watching at an object. I meant "perceived" with "experienced". So right now you think you are the perceiver (eyes), perceiving the perceived (object). But actually the three are the same. There is no perceiver and no perceived. only perception/experience. You think there is a you watching at an object.

"I can see objects from my eyes" Have you considered that your eyes and even your face is just thought story? The whole thing that there is a face with eyes watching objects in a distance. <- question this. maybe there is no "experiencer" and no "experienced" but just experience itself

nobody started this topic. reality "created" the experience of opening this topic, but nobody experienced it. reality experienced it itself. like a movie without a watcher. the movie is watching itself

I see what you mean. Still, it seems that this "external" reality has a very limited rule set. I rarely see people flying like superman or shapeshift into giant dinosaurs. But maybe this could happen if the collective dream changes? who knows

Why can't I bend the rules and choose to create a flying saucer barn in the "real" world, while I can do this in lucid dreaming for example?

Check out the book "breaking the habit of being yourself" by Joe Dispenza. the whole book is about changing your identity and about why it usually fails to maintain lasting change if you're not doing it correctly and only superficially

Hey, since a few months when I had a LSD trip I get glimpses in meditation that we are like tiny bubbles of experience, floating around in a vast infinite ocean of consciousness/nothingness. Anyone esle had this? Has it any truth? Or is it just a meaningless image that pops up from time to time

@Scholar I think this is the human energy field

this is indeed very good. the "fingerprint of god" left me the most fascinated

very good conversation about this topic imo

Ultimately there is only the ocean. And the ocean "dreams up" these "individual" bubbles. Atleast this was my interpretation so far. I try to do that. But sometimes those experiences or images pop up (I don't really know what to call them, guess this is the limit of language) So they are all meaningless? I had the shift of perception a week ago, where I realized that I have literally no face (or that the face is only a thought/another sensation) and that im thus everything but also no-thing, just empty awareness or the "things" itself, because there was no difference anymore between the perceived and the perceiver. Do you mean this with Nothingness? It seemed to match the description. When I have an insight like this, my mind always tends to assume "this is it! you got it, there is nothing more to discover" of course, I don't believe my mind anymore. It's still very confusing for me, because there is one fraction that says "enlightenment is the simplest thing in the world, and you are already enlightened, it's directly in your face" this matches with the "experience" or shift of perception that I had. But then there is the other fraction that says it takes decades or lifetimes and only a few sages get it. There was also not the direct realization of infinity or that I'm god

I think you're right. It's hard sometimes though for me to figure out what may just be an distorted mental experience and what has actually truth in it. Yea, the seperation thing also came to my mind. But I would say that the ocean is the "thing" in which we are all connected (Brahman) and the bubble, or the "I am" experience (Atman) is the individual part of it. Of course, the bubble is also the ocean, so there is no real seperation. You are correct, clinging to mental images is a problem and can actually hinder the progress. I had to learn this in the past. If it's not NOW in my experience it doesn't matter I guess.

meaning/meaningless. existence does matter/existence doesn't matter. both are ultimately just dualistic concepts. both are not reality. both are false

Watched it now, but I am still confused about the topic. Why is he seperating the ego from nature? Isn't the ego a product/force of nature. When he says "does this mean that you're just slacking & eating chips while watching tv? no! you don't become a victim, the most enlightened masters are not victims" But becoming a victim is also something chosen by the puppet master/nature. You have no control how you will interpret the revelation of no free will -> the puppet master interprets it as "fuck this shit, let's eat meat while watching a glorification movie of donald trump on my 4k$ tv build by children in a third world country" isn't this also embracing no free will? So one can literally sit at home and do this while saying "it's not my fault, the puppet master did this" blaming the puppet master is also not his choice. Leo also said in another video that what is should be. so global warming and the destruction and ignorance of humans should happen. You labeling it "bad" is not the problem of reality. If I am against destruction of nature, I can try to change it. But blaming others for not caring is my personal judgement of reality that they 'should' do what I value. I'm not saying I'm against protecting nature. I love nature and this planet. I just notice (apparent) contradictions when on the one hand it is said that "everything should be as it is" "you have no free will" and on the other hand "global warming is bad" "do something against it!" "dont ignore future generations!" he compared it with watching a movie. and that it would be insane to try to change the movie while sitting in a theatre. So this earth is like watching 2012 or something by Roland Emmerich.

Will do. maybe I am a little confused about this "free will" topic.

We have no free will to do anything. just let god do what "he" wants. maybe he wants to see this infinitely small dust corn earth burn in hell. Like a child that destroys his own LEGO tower. god loves rape/child abuse/war/torture/destruction as much as he loves beauty/health/friendship/wisdom