Forestluv

@Nirvanalight You are every sage that has lived. You are The Source that all sages tapped into.

This thread has run its course.

Here, it doesn't seem like there is direct realization that all is God (including YOU). Consider the statement "our suffering was also due to the will of god". This has a "me" that is suffering and an external god that has a will. . . It doesn't matter if one throws in an "all is god". The orientation is a "me" and an separate external god that has a will. Being oriented toward perceiving an external god and saying "all is god" will create confusion because it is conflating absolute and relative. It's like saying "All is god. Why can't I know god's will"? . . If you want to work with a construct of an external god, do so. Yet mixing absolute and relative will muddy the waters and cause confusion.

Great points. I love running for the mystical ISness of simply running in nature - with no agenda or goal. . . Sometimes people ask me why I run. "Do you run to lose weight? To get in shape? To build endurance? Lower cholesterol levels?". . . I found this confusing and funny. It wold be like asking "Why do you breath?". . . Just because that's what I do. . .

I wonder how common this dynamic is. . . . A person may have some underlying predispositions to magic, yet they are conditioned with hardcore atheism and rationalism that blocks/masks the underlying potential.

I think it can be a legit "spiritual practice". Imagine having a master spiritual running monk, like the running monks of Mt. Hiei. . .

"What if I questioned enlightenment in enlightenment itself?" You would enter an inter-dimensional cosmic strange loop maze. As you pass the Gift of Quantum Vacuum, tell Space Kangaroo that S-Luv says "Hi".

Threads merged. Please do not start multiple threads on this topic. Post thoughts on this topic here. Thank you.

Different people are likely to have different pre-dispositions and abilities yet those that have spiritually gifted have not always lived charmed, magical lives. To me, that sounds like a Hollywood movie script. Regarding "paranormal" abilities, it does seem that some people are more sensitive to their environment since they were children, yet others can develop it. As well, "paranormal" abilities are just one aspect of reality. Sure, they are sexy - yet that's not "it" - its within "it". As well, some people are more in tune with certain practices. I went to buddhist/meditation groups for over 20 years and sucked at it. People around me were having mystical experiences within a year or two. I kept thinking there was something wrong with me and I wasn't doing it right. I remember esoteric Dharma talks about the ineffable transcendent nature of no-self. Huh???? They would say things like "When the person drinks the tea, it is not the person drinking the tea". Then the group would smile and nod. Someone else would say "Yes, and the tea drinks the tea". And people would nod approvingly. I'd be like "Can someone please just speak in normal English and tell me what tf this is all about?". I just didn't have a pre-disposition for meditation. And I don't have a pre-disposition for Yoga. . .Or Kundalini energy. The closet I got was running solo in nature. That was my strongest resonance but I never explored it spiritually, because it didn't count as a spiritual practice. That's what people told me. . . I actually had many mild mystical experiences while running and dismissed them as "runners high". I would enter a mystical space running in nature, return home to my cushion and sit - hoping for a mystical experience. . . And the first time I took a psychedelic, it was full-on resonance - mystical experiences, insights and the paranormal. Yet other people don't resonate with psychedelics, just like I didn't resonate with "the tea drinks the tea" dharma talk. Perhaps I have predispositons to psychedelics, yet not meditation. Different people resonate differently with reality. I was an average kid with no special abilities, yet people told me I was an "old soul" a lot. I didn't even know what that meant and thought it was kinda stupid. Perhaps their souls saw something. Who knows?

@Annonymous Entering nondual states can be uncomfortable at first. You may have pre-dispositions that allow nondual entry. I would not turn it into a big dramatic story. The ego loves to over-dramatize. . . Get curious. It's not a bad thing. Explore. Get into nature, let go and let it happen. . . Rather than repress it, learn to work with it. If you are driving a car, you obviously don't want to enter a full nondual state. Learn how to dial it down a bit. . . As well, the body has wisdom If the ego dissolves, it's not like the body is going to strip down naked, run around outside screaming and jump into a cold lake. The body is capable of operating fine without the ego playing a cowbell in the background.

@The Don Some people find setting an intention to be helpful. Yet it's important to do it in a humble, genuine manner - without any agenda or expectation. If the ego tries to control the trip, it can be a rough ride. For example, an intention might be "Universe, please show me what love is during this trip". As well, if you spend 1-2 weeks prior to the trip contemplating and self-inquirying love - it can orient the energetics toward love. This doesn't guarantee the trip theme will be about love, yet it increases the chances. As well, there could be some tough love lessons as well as feel-good love lessons. It is good you are open to difficult lessons, yet also be open to blissful lessons as well. . The three main factors you have control of heading into a trip are dosage, setting and mindset. Set yourself up for a positive trip and then let go and surrender to it.

This is still an overstatement: "I can't know for sure what is going to happen when I have my first Psychedelic trip" A more accurate statement would be "I have no freaking clue what is going to happen when I have my first Psychedelic trip". For all you know, it will be the most blissful experience of your life. . . Yet if you keep repeating the mantra that it will be a "bad experience" over and over again, you will increase the chance it will be a "bad experience" - not because of the problematic childhood, but because of the mantra you keep repeating. It is a LOA thing.

I think you make a really good point here. Many minds get immerse in concepts and those concepts get transcended. In a sense those concepts are "dropped" and that is a deep spiritual teaching. Once one reaches the shore, drop the boat. If you see buddha on the road, kill him. . . Yet in another context, concepts can still have value as form. There just isn't the same attachment / identification to the concepts anymore. The other thing this brings up for me is the idea of "arriving". "Now that I have arrived, I can drop the concepts that allowed me to arrive here". This gets tricky, because in a sense it's true - yet in another sense it can be a contraction in a new transcendent area. At the human level, growth is unlimited and concepts serve as maps. The map is not the territory, yet maps are territory and are useful. We may have a map that helps us to get to New York City. Once we have arrived, we can discard the map and be in the NYC territory. Yet this doesn't mean that maps no longer have value. There are maps of New York City that are helpful. As well, NYC is just one city (facet). There are maps to other facets such as Chicago, Prague, Rome, Melbourne etc. that are helpful.

If a construct of "enlightenment" means "a someone with a lack of materialism and orgies", then no. If a construct of "enlightenment" allows for materialism and orgies, then you betcha.

You can create any definition you want for "nice guy". Based on your definition of "nice guy", it sounds very unpleasant to be a "nice guy". I have created a different definition of "nice guy" than you and it is much more pleasant.

Yes, that is great direct experience. Importantly, the insight wasn't in a nihillistic sense either. That is key. Nihilism is a half-baked realization and your experience was more thoroughly baked. For me, the experience is like an absence of meaning rather than meaningless. It feels like the experience comes prior to me assigning meaning. What is there prior to me assigning meaning? It's just ISness happening. . . And the absence of meaning in ISness makes it so darn meaningful to me. . . These are the paradoxes that are maddeningly beautiful. Duality often gets a bad rap because it is associated with so much human suffering. Yet duality is so freaking beautiful as well. Duality allows contrast - it allows form in formless, it allows Alive-ness. It's magical and beautiful.

Of course. . . Notice how you said "whether the concept of karma is true or not". This sets up a duality in which karma must be "true or false". The mind is conditioned to see in opposites and believes a "thing" like karma must be either "true" or "false". Yet it gets much more nuanced. Karma can have aspects of truth and falsity. Karma/reincarnation can be both true and false. . . As well, there are many ways that we can define karma and reincarnation. By holding a view that karma/reincarnation must be either true or false forces the mind into fully accepting or fully rejecting karma / reincarnation. This will prevent a mind from expanding and exploring nuances. I agree with you that there are stories of karma / reincarnation that egos use to rationalize their own devilish behavior. Yet this is true for everything - the ego will use stories of science, psychology, god, the weather, history etc. to further it's own selfish agenda. This gets into the relativity of meaning. All meaning is relative. Assigning meaning can provide grounding for a person and it can be helpful for the person to survive and live a healthy life. Yet at a deeper existential level, meaning is relative. The duality between meaning vs. meaningless breaks down. Meaning = Meaningless. . . This can seem very groundless to a person and cause distress - yet it is also liberating and beautiful.

4-Aco-dmt is very similar to mushrooms. It's a great psychedelic for beginners. I would start off with a relatively low dose like 10-15mg to test your sensitivity - it will also be easier to integrate insights. For newbies, it is generally better to be underwhelmed than overwhelmed. If you want to explore psychedelics, the most important thing is to actually get started in a safe, responsible manner. 4-aco-dmt is a good starter psychedelic at a low/medium dose.

@WisdomSeeker There are many different ways to look at this is a relative context. The tendency is to try and find the one relative story that is objectively true. Imo, this will lead to a lot of confusion. If we look from different perspectives, contradictory stories will arise and there will be paradoxes. This used to frustrate me and I'd throw up my hands and say "Well, they both can't be true. Which story is true?". Yet as dualities dissolve, there is an ok-ness with contradiction and paradox. The frustration of paradox becomes beautiful freedom. One perspective to your question is the perspective of reincarnation and karma. Perhaps the people that are living in servitude and religious dogma are living out karmic pasts. Perhaps their purpose in this lifetime is not to fully awaken, yet rather to work through some karma such that in the next lifetime the being has a better chance of fully awakening. It is sorrowful that a person is living in such a negative karmic state and it is also beautiful that this being is so loving that they are working through this karmic resistance to pass on purer karmic energy to the future life. . . This is just one perspective. Perhaps it has some truth to it. Some beings might resonate with this perspective and explore it further. Other beings will not resonate with this perspective and will dismiss it.

The perfect gift for that hard-to-shop-for loved one that is part M.I.T. scientist, part country fair hippy and part nondual brahman.

@Nak Khid Wow, he really is integral. He is integrating physics with crystals. . . and lucky us . . . he happens to have a gift shop! ?

If someone is genuinely ready for nonduality, I would recommend a psychedelic. It has a very high probability of inducing a direct nondual experience and will teach them more about nonduality in 6 hours than you could in 6 months. Imagine going back in time 300 years and trying to explain electricity to someone. One approach is to spend months trying to explain it through concepts and having them self inquire “what is electricity?”. Another approach is to turn on a lightbulb and stick their finger in an electrical outlet.

Why surrender an absolute for a relative? Absolute includes both relative opposites. Calling absolute Truth “not truth” is misleading. Absolute Truth cannot get reduced to the opposite of a relative because it is absolute. Absolute Truth is both “truth” and “not truth”. Self is both “self” and “not self”.

I would first explore "what is existence?". I would start here, because if one does not have an understanding of existence, then asking "why does existence exist?" becomes counter-productive. For example, if I ask "why does druvqid exist?", I could spend years wasting time before realizing "What a minute. . . what the heck is druvqid?".

Citing theory from others is good, yet I would also use your own direct experiences as well - you understand these reasons better and it will come across as genuine. . . . In your own experience, what makes learning about consciousness harder than anything else? Ime, some of the difficulties I've faced learning about consciousness are: 1) Paradoxes. Once I started learning about consciousness paradoxes arose. Something could be both true and false. Something could be partially true and partially false. Stuff like: "Form = Formless", "The journey is the destination", "There is experience yet no experiencer". These types of lessons were very difficult to wrap my mind around. 2) Post-intellectual learning. How can I learn about something that is ineffable? 3) Transcending my current level of consciousness. Imagine being a character in one of your dreams. Let's call him "John". So. . . within the dream, John is doing a school project on dreams and is researching dreams. He goes on internet forums, reads lots of books etc. - this is all within the dream. For John to rise up a conscious level, YOU would need to wake up and realize John was just a dream character. This is extraordinarily difficult for John to do. Some say it is impossible for John to do. That's how hard it is. Nearly impossible. 4) Learning about something less than my level of consciousness is relatively easy. For example, learning about childhood development. I can imagine being a child and the process of developing self awareness and cognitive abilities. It is much harder to learn about higher conscious levels. A dog would have a very difficult time learning about childhood development. 5) There is no mind state that is altered. 6) Working through insanity zones.