Forestluv

I like the genuine, chill exploratory vibe of your videos. A few thoughts that arose in my mind: 1. When an "insight" arises, my mind has a tendency to adopt the new opposing view. For example, after my first few glimpses of nonduality, duality became "wrong" and nonduality became "right". After direct experience with no-self, the self became "wrong" and no-self became "right". After attaching to a new opposing view, it often takes my mind a while to open up again and think "Wait a minute, could both nonduality and duality exist"? 2. I like how you talked about how new observations and interconnectedness can arise in a mind without attachments and identification. For example, seeing how scientists and buddhists have similar seeking energy toward the truth or flow states in basketball players. I use flow states to let students know they already have direct experience with nonduality. Every student has experienced flow during sports, playing a music or artwork. For some students it's a major revelation. Is well, I think being struck by awe by the beauty of nature is a glimpse. Or, moments of deeply connected love in which one loses sense of their self and time. 3. I liked how you talked about what is true being fluid. I remember reading and discussing the heart sutra in buddhist groups and feeling comfortable I had an understanding of it. After direct experience with Mu, I tried to explain it to someone and she recommended I read the heart sutra. I initially brushed it off thinking "yea, yea. I already know the heart sutra. This is different". Yet, when I read it again I had very different meaning. I was like "yea, they got it. They know." It was super cool to feel that connection with beings that lived over a thousand years ago.

This is a question for those with direct experience with kriya yoga and chakra energy flow. I am new to the chapter on identifying Chakras. Stevens seems to use somewhat vague and abstract instructions about how to locate them. There are pictures of the location centers along the brain/spinal cord as well as peripheral reference points. Yet, then he pretty much says to chant OM (as if Ong) and to go in there and find them. Locating these energy points seems really abstract to me. I do all the preparatory breathing exercises and 3rd eye meditation. While chanting Ong, my mind is at rest and awareness is present. I direct my attention to a chakra site, yet it seems like I'm just paying attention to a part of my body, like my abdomen, yet nothing else. A couple times there were vague images of energy flow along the spine and a general sense of well-being. Yet, I don't know if that's a good sign or just my mind making stuff up. Is there some type of description that may be helpful? A sensation or feeling that may be revealed? Psychedelics and shamanic breathing hit me like a ton of bricks. Is getting in tune with chakras more subtle? How does one tell if they are making progress?

I would agree Joe's default level is below Yellow. However, I think Joe is very open-minded and curious. So yellow-level guests are able to pull Joe up to entry level Yellow. Joe generally doesn't try to debate from an Orange level. He is so curious he will explore with the yellow level guest. As well, Joe has experience with psychedelics which has likely dissolved a lot of attachment to Orange level rationalism. And, he has likely had yellow and turquoise level psychedelic experiences. His interview with Steven Kotler is a good example. Joe is very curious about altered states of consciousness such as flow states and the conversation flows into Yellow at several points. Kotler is at a higher conscious level and pulls Joe up. Spending time within a higher conscious group will accelerate one's evolution. If you want to evolve from green to yellow start hanging out with yellow people/groups - with an open, willing and curious mind.

Novice level: 65 principles for a good life Advanced level: 10 OX Images

Nice. I hope you give us trip reports on the forum

@solr It can be upsetting and tiresome, especially for people that are emphatic. Sometimes it's like my body absorbs the negativity. Like they punched me in the gut. There have been semesters I put my heart and soul into my course material and worked overtime to help students. At semester end, there is always at least one student that will write a negative evaluation with a personal attack about something trivial. Usually a student that didn't show up to class and performed poorly. Yet sometimes, I internalize it and can't shake it. Even if all the rest of the evaluations are positive, it is that one negative eval. with the personal attack that dominates. Regarding youtube channels, is it possible to "ignore" or "ban" trolls?

@SoonHei It's so cool watching you have all these direct experience insights. Thank you for sharing them. I would say "it's so obvious" is a common reaction to having direct experience with things that once seemed so elusive. Consider your avatar. I see two black faces, yet people tell me it is actually a white vase. I search and search for the vase. I try to figure out where the vase is. I get frustrated. I give up and then return. People tell me to relax and the vase will be revealed. Yet no vase. How do I know the vase is real? How do I know the "vase-seeing people" aren't full of crap? Then, one day it appears. I catch a glimpse of the vase. OMG!!! There is the vase!!! There is amazement. Yet, now that I can see it - it's totally obvious. It's nothing special at all. I forget about how elusive the white vase was. I may assume everyone can see the vase. It's so obvious and simple. Similarly, I've had many amazing insights that become "it's so simple and obvious" humdrum stuff, including: the I AM, nonlinear thinking, relativism, pure being emptiness, post-rational thinking, social fields of consciousness etc. It's easy to forget how many years of practice and study came prior to these revelations. And I often find myself assuming it's nothing special and obvious to everyone.

@Arhattobe There is no need to make it personal and become combative. It’s an impersonal observation and was not linked to your username. Relativism is a yellow stage mode of being, while objectivism is an Orange stage mode of being. Selectively pointing this out occasionally within threads can help Green stage readers get a feel for the difference as they evolve into Yellow. Yet, this comes at the expense of triggering some Orange stage readers.

Human minds are conditioned and immersed into relativity. Be mindful of the mind’s tendency to grasp relativity as objective truth.

@Igor82 Also, be aware if any of the solute is sticking to the syringe. If so, adding a small amount of lube to the water is helpful.

@kev014 @outlandish I was active in a Shambhala group in the U.S. for several years. I would say the community was solid healthy green free of religious dogma that occasionally touched Turquoise. Yet I was green centered at the time and would not have been highly conscious of Turquoise presence. My impression was that my Shambhala group was old school and that mainstream Shambhala across the country is getting westernized/bastardized into practical and feel good groups to appeal to a broader audience and have greater financial success.

@Emanyalpsid Its all good. ♥️ ?

I'd say my mind-body is in a fluid flow ranging from Green to Turquoise along various lines (intellectual, emotional, spiritual etc). For a while, I was firmly centered in Green. The strongest hurdle I had to get over was the deeply emotional connections with humanity - especially with people that are disadvantaged, marginalized and ostracized. People in poverty, the homeless, abused children, domestic violence victims, the mentally ill etc. Yellow seemed so cold to me and I thought I would stop caring for others if I evolved into Yellow. I'd say that the biggest change from tier1 to tier2 is an energetic shift from seeking for personal needs (tier 1) to seeking to experience the magnificence of life. Tier2 is transpersonal. There is a very different relationship with the person in the mind-body. I'd say psychedelics played a big role in transitioning to tier2. They gave me many yellow and turquoise level experiences. I was already centered in Green and within striking distance of tier2. Psychedelics boosted me into yellow and turquoise. When I returned to my Green level baseline consciousness, I was able to integrate these lessons and perspectives through meditation, yoga, journaling etc. Imo, psychedelics aren't a particularly effective spiritual tool until the Green stage. Jumping from blue/orange to yellow/turquoise is a really big jump and I can't imagine integrating it. For example, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what "nonlinear" and "post-logical" thinking is. Psychedelics showed with absolute clarity what this is. After a while, direct experience and lessons become embodied. There was a shift from thinking about it to being it. At first, my default thinking mode was logical and it took effort to think post-logically. Yet my brain has been rewired and the default is post-logical thinking. Thinking logically and rationally takes work now. And I find it boring and tiresome. . . I don't use psychedelics often anymore and small doses have a big effect on me. It's like those yellow and turquoise conscious states now arise even in a "sober" mind. As if the software of the brain was updated to a higher conscious level.

Nice work. I think overcoming debating is a huge deal. During my Orange stage, I was super analytical and got into lots of debates. These days, I don't find debates helpful for growth. Usually, both sides double-down on their opinion and try to be right and "win". Then, I noticed I was debating less and exploring more. Exploration is so much better for learning and growth. And so much more relaxing and fun. It seems limitless. How amazing is that?

@Emanyalpsid What is being pointed to is not being revealed at this time. It may reveal itself at another time or within another context.

@How to be wise You seem to have evolved quite a bit during the last year. Nice work.

This is one of the subtle beliefs I was referring to. You seem to be at peace expressing that you have completed the final journey. Are you equally at peace expressing that you have not completed the final journey?

I think trying to answer these questions would be a distraction at this time. It seems like you are exploring, inquiring, processing and integrating at deeper levels and I don't want to distract from that.

From a relative perspective, there is correct and incorrect. This is the perspective the mind is conditioned for. This is the perspective the mind becomes attached to and identified with. The process is not to destroy relative perspectives and adopt new beliefs that relative perspectives don't exist. The process is to dissolve the attachment and identification to relative perspectives. When a mind gets glimpses of absolute, it's tendency is to contextualize it in relativity - that is what the mind is conditioned to do. Or, the mind may try to embrace the absolute is true and reject the relative. In my journey, I embraced the absolute and sought to further experience nonduality. I began talking in nondual terms and challenging everyone speaking in relative terms. This was quite awkward and annoying to people. So, I isolated myself in my free time. Mediation, yoga and spending time in nature. This helped to embody the essence of presence/stillness/emptiness and gave contrast to relativity. As well, psychedelics helped because they created nondual realities and revealed lessons about distinctions. Eventually nondual be-ingness with and without psychedelics became as real as the conventional relative world. One of Leo's videos (I think the 10 Ox one), revealed the next stage in which the absolute and the relative become a unified whole. Absolute is Relative. Relative is Absolute.

From an absolute perspective, there is no true or false. From a relative perceptive, there is true and false. When those two perspectives are unified there is true/false and there isn't true false. Human minds are highly conditioned into the relative. At first, I think it's best to break that attachment and get as much direct experience in the absolute. Yet due to conditioning the mind will continually try to make relative sense of glimpses into the absolute. I've found when the mind is at peace in the absolute, a new perspective of the relative emerges. For a long time, I felt like I was "dancing between two worlds". My perception seemed to flip between the absolute and relative. Then, the two began to emerge as a unified whole. Part of the process is to let go of the mind's desire to grasp the relative.

Sure, we can call the dream real. We can also call it takishfet, yugoshoo and mikatalifunote. Real is Unreal and Real is not Unreal. There is no way to step outside of nothing/everything and objectively categorize some parts as being "real" and other parts as being "not real".

My sense is that there are some deep concepts being revealed. My sense is that there is a dynamic that is taking "ownership" of these concepts and believes they are true. Attachment to this cognitive dynamic evaporates with direct experience and embodiment. What you write (and I write) is no more true than a leaf falling from a tree. It is no more true than anything else written on this forum. Yet, I don't sense peace within that. I sense an attachment and belief that what you are writing is true.

Sure, finding "actual truths" can also be a fun game, depending on how it's played. It can also be a frustrating game. It's all within a dream. What is "actual" and "not actual" in Mario's World?

Of course. Yet, I sense attachment to subtle distinctions. There are hints of subtle beliefs.

Well sure, yet that is just a game. There are plenty of games with different rules and concepts. Yet it's all relative. There is no "particular moment", there is no "something", there is no "case". Those are all assumptions we make to make sense of things and communicate. At the end of the day, one cannot describe prior to meaning with meaning. That's just a fun game. In thousands of years, human consciousness will evolve to levels of consciousness we cannot currently imagine. Our current minds will seem so rudimentary and primitive. The current level of human awareness will seem like that of a dog to those future beings. Would our best explanation be valid to those highly advanced minds that laugh at our current puny minds? It's like a dog trying to figure out the nature of reality. It's just a humorous fun game.