Viking

@Afonso cool, then I think you will experience immense growth just if you will be able to meditate normally with it. strong determination sitting could be challenging as fuck with that. if you succeed, great spiritual gains i guess.

@Wes Thoughts any meditation works really. im doing that. If you feel like you're skipping then do enlightenment, just to get rid of that feeling. I also kinda feel that enlightenment is really the first thing to do because after realizing yourself all of your ideas about life will change and also goals will, so stuff like life purpose, for me, doesnt resonate at the moment. people misunderstand what is meant by free will. i find it easy to think that way: there is no "you" that can choose stuff, because you are consciousness, therefore no REAL free will. however, your brain acts based on information, and if it sees that it has no free will, it will absorb that information and do something with it. your brain is the thing that does the decisions. because we're identified with it, in other words with beliefs, emotions and thoughts, we think "we" do the choices. but the choices simply happen based on information. it's ok if you dont understand, YOU DONT HAVE TO AT THIS POINT. drop all that free will and all advanced stuff bullshit and just meditate and study. there's stuff u simply cant understand right now and it's ok. the enlightenment course doesnt bring you concepts you dont understand until later on, only then you will understand them, so just do that for now and later you will look back and maybe get it then.

what do you mean by energy? wouldnt energy distract you when you meditate, being restless?

you dont have a memory of it, all there is is only the present moment, all else is thoughts, memory is thought, past and future are thoughts. your consciousness is always the same but mind stuff is clouding it. by mind stuff i mean everything that's in your head, in other words your whole life, thoughts, feelings, senses, everything is in your brain and it's clouding consciousness. when you take substances they affect the brain, making it less cloudy. again, doesnt affect consciousness, affects the brain and what "you" perceive. the "you", as you probably know is also mind stuff. it's what consciousness perceives. on other note, how could matter create consciousness? think about it, if there's an objective world with only matter in it, how could there possibly be consciousness? it's kind of a mental jump to assume that. think about it in terms of instead objective world and in it consciousness, first comes consciousness and creates your world, everything will make much more sense then. if you will see from that point of view much more stuff will make sense, and that will make you more convinced than you are right now. https://www.trinfinityacademy.com/ i suggest look at the courses in this site. they're free and will clear a lot of stuff for you.

of course it's not special, it's all there is, but WHY is it more exciting than family, love, cookies, fun video games, sex, etc.? I get that all of those things are a part of being when it's their "turn", but lets say im doing nothing right now, why is that more fulfilling than all of those emotions that are pleasant to me when i get the things i love? i kinda understand that i have to experience it to know it really, but i think an explanation might progress me there.

@MiracleMan I think you lack structure, https://www.trinfinityacademy.com/ is a a bunch of structured courses that bring you to what you want. if there comes a time when you feel fear the "trick" you were looking for is like you said- surrender, means that you just accept whatever happens and not try to deny that there's fear or try to correct it. but I think it's pretty hard to surrender right into enlightenment on the spot, requires practice.

@Wormon Blatburm thank you very much, you broadened my view.

A common misconception is that good feelings give happiness. When the ego realizes that good feelings are finite, after some time he thinks "oh, that's it?", which then creates a depressive mood. imagine your best possible feeling, that is finite and if repeated will get boring with time, so you will want more. what the ego really wants is constant satisfaction. So my questions are: can an ego achieve constant satisfaction? or at least almost constant satisfaction? Does infinity(or enlightenment, whatever) give us that satisfaction we seek, since all finite things are not enough? Do we by becoming desireless, fulfill the absolute desire? (because there are no desires to fulfill, all of them are fulfilled - 0 desires) I think the "motivation" for getting enlightened, is that theres nothing else to do, because everything is finite, so not worth pursuing. basically EVERY desire is finite and therefore not worth pursuing, so what is there else to do in life but "just to live". you "just live" by removing the source of the desires, and by removing the source of the desires you remove the desire to remove the source of the desires. what are your thoughts about this? note- the post might look a bit messy because in the middle of writing it i realized desire is a thing of the ego.

@Kazman I didnt read all of it, just the day 3 part and I think i experienced the same, on psychedelics though, exactly as you describe it, but a little less intense than you described it, just peaceful. just pure acceptance of what is, surrender and the obviousness, after extreme fear. you managed to describe it much better than I did. https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/13882-what-did-i-experience/

is it an exponential growth of effectiveness with time from your own experience? is there a sweet spot?

@Joseph Maynor did you have any no self experiences? do you experience joy or bliss on a daily basis and do negative emotions affect you at all?

@Empty well why bother self actualizing at all if you can say that all of it is a projection of your mind. this question was more to get a better theoretical grip of presence in order to know how to experience it more clearly.

I see this statement everywhere, and i dont know if to agree because its just a belief, what are your thoughts about it?

@Wormon Blatburm right, that's exactly what I think, it's just that in some teachings they say that the one wants to express himself, maybe thats just a way to visualize and understand conceptually whats happening as to give a temporary purpose to those who are on the path.

@Martin123 well nvm this topic is as fruitful as milking a table. i guess ill have to see for myself

@Martin123 what i meant was is there supposed to be purpose at all? cant it just exist? is it beneficial to the realization in any way to hear that that's the "purpose"?

does enlightenment affect one's "presentness"? they usually go hand in hand but is that case necessary?

I think getting a glimpse of what you can be like would be beneficial. if natural curiosity doesnt arise you can experiment with psychedelics and see for yourself what a tiny bit of it's like.

@Wes Thoughts When I took LSA not long ago (first psychedelic i ever did) I felt my consciousness rising, meaning i notice every thought that comes into my mind and its really easy to listen to your "hidden" thoughts. I felt like a fucking genius, ideas were popping into my head so effortlessly I didnt have to do anything, thats intuition. I think it comes automatically with meditation, since it naturally raises your consciousness in other words you're on a natural psychedelic.

@Wes Thoughts notice what he says in that lesson, that you might not understand. That is good! dont hold anything as belief until you experience it yourself, you dont have to agree, some stuff was just thrown in there in the introduction course that would just plant a seed and that's all.

decisions are everyday "normal" activities which you make using thoughts, no other way is possible to make them because a decision is a thought. you should continue your life like usual, the only difference is you dont try to "disidentify" from your thoughts, but just look at them, by looking at them you disidentify automatically. be wary that there might be thoughts so "deep" that you might not notice, like "oh, I dis-identified from that thought!" but that's another thought and you identify with it, just something to be aware of. now, dont be anxious about having to look at the thoughts, just do your daily meditation and try to get a habit of looking at the thoughts, you cant just start forcing yourself to be mindful, it comes with practice and a lot of time naturally. what you're describing is a pretty advanced stage where you just go about your life but you're in the moment 100% of the time, in other words looking at your thoughts all the time. this is automatic with practice and you shouldnt try to do it, it will only lead to frustration. as I said, just remind yourself here and there to be in the moment if you really want that. I think you're pretty confused about it all because in leo's vids there's no solid structure as by which to abide, it's more a bunch of information and "use it as you please" kinda setting. i recommend you to do https://www.trinfinityacademy.com/ courses because it's very nicely structured and you will have less chaos in your head. also, you're thinking about using intuition, which cant be done manually because it's automatic, no free will.

dont misunderstand, I do A LOT of stuff in a bunch of different subjects that range from playing instruments to studying physics, but i have never done a SINGLE thing in my life that brought me true joy. yeah, i enjoy physics sometimes. i enjoy discovering new stuff sometimes(that's why i slightly like tv and video games for example), but nothing of these i REALLY enjoyed, all the things i ever did were average to me, its like i dont give a shit about anything i do, i have never felt truly passionate in my entire life i think. the only vision i have that brings me joy is spirituality.

@Erlend K that's kinda what im doing right now, thanks

i am planning to buy the course in the future because i see a lot of people having great successes with it, but currently i simply dont have the physical money to buy it. how do i generally find my life purpose, for the meantime?

@Real Eyes wouldnt it be less risky to find a life purpose and do that while practicing and doing retreats occasionally?