Forestluv

@Merch Gravity seems to exist in Mario World as well.

Imo, it is easier to explore and get direct experience with nondual oneness and developing clear contrast of nondual oneness vs. dual separation. My sense is that you are conflating the two, which causes confusion. Once enough nondual direct experience is present, nonduality can be integrated with duality. Yet, I think it's really hard to do it prior to embodying nondual and dual states of consciousness. Notice how you are conflating the absolute and relative. You say "we are all one (absolute level), but we still have as human beings different experiences (relative level)". I think a better question is "We are all One. . . what is the One Dream that is present?". The answer is to be found within a higher, collective consciousness. Another way to think about it. . . Imagine you are dreaming. Let's call your dream character Paul. . . Paul travels to New York to visit friends. To have the experience of Paul, you must create distinctions. There is the taxi, the taxi driver, your friends, the Starbucks you hang out in, and so on. Yet all of those characters and things are within one higher consciousness (the real you that is dreaming). Yet, Paul has no idea he is dreaming. It all appears so real. Similarly, all the characters and things you see in your waking life are all within a higher consciousness. You just haven't awoken to this higher consciousness, so it all seems very real to you. Just like Paul's reality seems very real to him.

Eventually the mind will surrender it's efforts to explain it and own it.

I would say a good time to explore no free will is once a mind has reached the "observer + object" stage. Before this, the mind is immersed within egoic and will resist, intellectualize and debate. This can be counter-productive as it can reinforce an ego's delusion of free will. This is one of the most threatening realizations to the ego along the development path. Once at the "observer + object" stage, the realization process is simple - yet can be uncomfortable and it can take some time to loosen attachments and identifications. The no free will realization is extremely threatening to an ego and is the doorway to entering deeper levels. . . One simply needs to observe their thoughts from a detached observer center of consciousness. Then observe "from where did the thought arise"? . . . It won't take long to see that thoughts arise from some mysterious ether. Simply put "I am not the author of my thoughts". Once the ego surrenders to it not being the author of it's thoughts, it will retreat and regroup it's army and hunker down in the "I am the chooser" defensive posture. That is: "Well, I might not be writing my thoughts, but I am choosing between thoughts. For example, during meditation thoughts may arise whether or not I should check the timer to see how much time is left. Some thoughts say "check the timer" other thoughts say "don't check the timer". I get to choose whether I check the timer or not". . . Ime, the "no chooser" realization was quite challenging. I spent a lot of time meditating, observing and searching for a "chooser". It took a while before my mind became exhausted and surrendered to actuality that there is no chooser. It's common to have partial realizations with the ego later trying to regain control. This would pop up over and over along my path. A sneaky ego reclaiming authorship of thoughts and being a chooser. Ime, I couldn't develop into deeper realms without the above two realizations. On the SD scale, this would be evolving from tier 1 to tier 2. Regarding Yellow, most people focus on the intellectual developmental line of Yellow and neglect the spiritual developmental line to Yellow. Awareness of the delusional nature of egoic free will and an egoic chooser is super important for spiritual Yellow, imo. And it is a necessity for Turquoise. However. . . once Turquoise is reached, a new form of Free Will is revealed. Yet, it is a trans-egoic manifestation of Free Will and, ime, a mind cannot explore this realm through direct experience without the embodiment of the above two egoic realizations. A psychological dynamic of egoic free will exists. It is the interpretation of it that is delusional. Similar to a mirage in a desert. The mirage exists, yet not how the mind thinks it exists.

Again, which rule book are you using to determine what officially counts as "proof" and what is officially "pudding"? How are you determining what is proof and pudding? And what is "something"? These are all cloudy, ambiguous terms. Human minds are conditioned to make assumptions about terms. Self inquiry about what those terms mean is really important. Underlying assumptions give the ego a sense of stability and comfort. The ego will resist non-intellectual self inquiry and contemplation, because it must surrender partial control of the narrative. Yet without it, the ego is just chasing a tail over and over again. If you self inquire and contemplate "what is proof?" and "what is pudding?", you may be surprised by what you uncover. Psychedelics would completely dissolve this psychological dynamic playing out in the mind. The ego would have to completely surrender all control. Thus, the mind would be exposed to a post-egoic state of consciousness. It is waking up from an egoic reality and exposure to an entirely different reality. Another assumption you are making is that the egoic state of mind is the "real" reality and the psychedelic state of mind is an "unreal" altered reality. The mind does this because it is conditioned to assume it's conditioned, habitual, familiar reality is the "real" one. With enough experience, the mind gets exposed to various states of consciousness and there is the realization that they are all equally real in a sense. This is another huge power of psychedelics, yet it can be very destabalizing and it's mind-body dependent. Some mind-body's will not respond well to this process and will resist and reject. Imo, for psychedelics to be an effective tool, a mind needs a certain baseline conscious level. For example, advanced Green on the SD scale.

@Tony 845 Which enlightenment rule book are you using to determine if someone is officially enlightened?

Of course. You seem to have contracted views on sexuality and love. Expansion in this area is so beautiful.

@CreamCat We are talking about unconditional Love, not rape. And love goes way beyond physical intercourse. Once a certain conscious level is reached, a mind-body can have direct experience with aspects of homosexual love without physical intercourse. There are deeply intimate states of love that don’t engage intercourse.

I’m referring to temporary death of the entire egoic structure. At one level, all personal stories and beliefs die. More importantly, the ego surrenders all control of the mental narrative . Zero control. Ime, it’s hard to reach this state with meditation or yoga, because there is a subconscious knowing the ego can regain control if it wants to, so the ego hasn’t fully surrendered. I’ve met many people that think they have gone through ego death with meditation, yet its at a surface level. With psychedelics there is no chance of the ego regaining control. It surrenders the keys to the car and there is no way it’s getting them back. I’ve reached this state with and without psychedelics and have worked through massive egoic resistance. On another level, the mind further surrenders all meaning, language, images. This can be hard for the ego to surrender as well. An even deeper level is the loss of all the senses - sight, hearing etc. At this point, the ego has burned away and there isn’t any resistance.

There is something grandeur here. It’s like being your own neuro-surgeon or being an ego-artist. For example, in my mind-body a trans-personal consciousness is developing the capacity to delete, edit and write memories. Some of them are as real as the “real” memories. Yet, the conditioned ego mind can still sniff out the new ones and tries to reject them. If the mind is still attached to the personal story, it will get scared and fight back. The first 10 or so ego deaths were some rough waters. Yet the ego lost some power each time. Once a mind goes through enough ego deaths, a higher consciousness may arise that can mold, shape and transform internal egoic dynamics. I’m not gonna wait 100 years for the methods and technologies to be developed, I’m going for it now. A human ego grants it’s host brain abilities and powers an ant doesn’t have because the himan conscious level is so much higher. Raise the human conscious level higher and new abilities and piwers appear.

Sometimes it's nice to talk to a casual friend outside one's inner friend circle. As long as she knows you aren't interested in a rebound relationship, it sounds like you could become better friends.

The awakening process can be uncomfortable and a struggle. Yet once consciousness has reached the re-creation level, some fun and amazing things appear

@Aakash Great insights. I’d just be aware of the mind’s desire to call and claim a thing as “enlightenment” ( A thing being any term, image, concept or experience).

It seems fundamental Buddhism has a Blue flavor to it. Similiar to a Blue-centered military.

Holding a lotus posture for over ten minutes would be an extreme Yin Yoga posture and duration. I rarely do one posture for over five minutes. It sounds like you may be at the other extreme for leg flexibity. How long are you holding leg stretch postures? Are you fully relaxing into the pose and allowing gravity to extend your edge over a few minutes? Or are you actively engaging and applying force to the pose?

@Belay kelemework Ask yourself the same questions for heterosexuality and see if you come up with the same answers. If not, contemplate the differences and ask yourself why they arose in your mind.

@MM1988 I would first challenge and examine your assumptions.

Of course. From a rational mindset, both the irrational and post-rational will appear similiar and be unsatisfying. Imagine going to a circus to have a rational discussion on tax policies. Of course you would be unsatisfied. I often got frustrated during discussions in my Buddhist group. At times, I would get exasperated and ask “Can you please explain it in plain straightforward English?” Then someone would say “Well, it’s kinda like. . . “ and several others would start nodding their heads as if what he said made sense.

@Manjushri It’s not just time. Openmindedness, sincerity, humbleness and willingness are keys.

@Aakash I’m just playin’ with ya ?

I would ask “who is it that desires attention and a response?”

A sensory deprivation tank may give a little taste of weightless meditation. I’ve gone to some places in the tank

@Lynnel The worst mindspaces for me is being trapped in "I can't make it stop". When I catch wind of that coming on, my mind tries to avoid that rabbit hole the best it can.

@GafaRassaDaba For me, it's key to relax the mind while maintaining awareness. One can relax the mind by escaping through drinking alcohol, sex, video games, movies, napping etc. Nothing wrong with that, yet they are just temporary relief. I've found things like walking in nature, running and yoga better at relaxing my mind.

Without mindfulness, how would you know what subconscious programs to change? You would have no idea it even exists.