Carl-Richard

What the guy says makes sense, but to be honest, the Infinite Gods video is probably the only video of Leo I don't understand. I thought it was superfluous. "An infinity of Gods" or "one infinite God" is the same to me. Maybe I missed something.

The most annoying thing about hanging out with a group of stoned people is not just how paranoid they are about normal scenarios, but how low volume they talk

That could be wise if you're young like me That is my current strategy as well. 25. I was 19 when I started meditating and had my first sober non-dual glimpse. I've had the so-called solipsism realization of "there is only me; other people are just me", and it's of course a scary realization, because it literally feels like "there is nobody home" when you're looking at someone. But even so, I don't draw the conclusion that they're just pixels on my screen of perception and that they're not themselves having an individualized experience. Instead, what really happened is that I was the one who lost my sense of an individualized experience (or some sense of it), and therefore as a result, I can no longer recognize it in others the same way I used to. Other people still experience it, just like I did two seconds ago, and it still matters to them. You can still feel their pain and happiness, and you'll still want to interact with them in a humane way.

If you want to be very technical about it, the term "psychedelic" is reserved to the serotonergic psychedelics, but some of the effects can be experienced through other receptor systems as well, as there is sometimes significant overlap, and that certainly applies to the cannabinoid system. Think about it this way: cannabinoids are involved in regulating certain habits like eating, which means they're naturally released during these activities. Now, what happens at the dinner table with say your family? As everybody takes the first bite of their food, everybody calms down — maybe it's even quiet for a while — and after that, you're in a better mood and more talkative. So there is a calming and centering effect, and an increase in mood and a dropping of social inhibitions (a "boundary dissolving" effect). Also, eating food is a very sensual activity, so there is some sharpening of the senses going on. If you've ever tried eating while in severe cannabis withdrawal, you'll know exactly what I mean. Even if you're eating the best food in the world, it tastes, smells and looks disgusting, and eating it becomes hard work. So there is a sharpening (or maybe an "augmenting") of the senses going on, but not in a fight-or-flight kind of way, as it's happening in parallel with the calming and boundary dissolving effect. That produces something akin to a psychedelic effect.

But instead of celebrating that, you went "but have you heard about Jesus?". I'm not saying that's invalid, but it felt to me like it could've come from an unhealthy place. If that's a false assessment, then that's fine. I'm only saying that not everybody is ready to leave their life as a person behind.

I don't know Leo personally If you're active and able to follow the guildelines, that's really all you need to become a mod. Long story short, I became hooked on spirituality and meditated for 1000 hours over the course of 3 years, then this happened: Then I had to spend another 2-3 years to "undo" that (it's really more about coping than undoing anything). I've experimented a lot, but the main techniques I use today is of course not meditating, constantly distracting myself, sleeping on my stomach, eating regular and big meals (slightly overeating), sitting/standing/walking with a sub-optimal posture, and slightly tightening the left side of my abdomen. Even when I do this, it's still not fully back to normal. My everyday life is ok, but I sometimes enter no-mind in novel situations where I'm physically relaxed but have to pay attention, like in a meeting or watching a movie, which is annoying. Other than that, it has certainly had positive effects on my life.

I'm showing how personal growth leads to less suffering instead of reducing everything to spiritual growth.

@Sincerity Unless you're fully enlightened, you'll have thoughts reminding you about things you need to do. If you do those things, those particular thoughts will subside. It doesn't matter if it's taking out the trash or getting laid. The more particular thoughts you ignore, the more chaotic your mind becomes. Having not done two things instead of one is twice the load on your mind. Also, the more you do what you need to do, the more you'll actually grow. It's only when you've exhausted most of the things you need to do that seeking ego dissolution becomes the appropriate step.

As someone who has experienced this process but spent 3 years forcing myself out if it, I can give you the blue pill or the red pill. The blue pill: I'll teach you how to return to a more ordinary sense of existence. There is more suffering involved, but you'll not have to overcome your fear of death, insanity, isolation. The red pill: I'll do as Axiom here and help you close off the last subtle hiding spots your mind uses to perpetuate itself. I feel hesitant doing this as I know the seriousness of such a decision.

If it's growth, some of it will never pass. He won't ever have the thought of "I'm a loser virgin" ever again.

Your writing style is easily recognizable. The fake Leo account was obvious within a few posts It's almost like the guy is arguing against the idea of following the guidelines. Visionary ?

Having a large scale community centered around proper traditions and institutions is very beneficial for general safety and mental health. Individualistic spirituality doesn't have a good safety net for inexperienced or unstable people. There aren't many people you can go to for guidance, and it leaves you vulnerable to spiraling out into your own world of delusions. And of course, it makes you prone to... joining cults. That is why spirituality needs to be re-integrated into society the way that religion was originally intended to be.

to be a survivor of a cult*

and don't forget that they're hanging up posters inside the cafe about how they have both coffee AND pizza ;D They're also not running a pedophile ring, but they might in the future ;D AND they're spiking the pepperonis with speed. I think internet anonymity makes these analogies a bit ridiculous lol.

Maybe it's just something about Actualized.org and their offshoots ;D I would like to actually study the beliefs of these people.

Yep. You've seen my threads about this. I'm not saying it's likely. I'm saying you should be cautious. I'm also not saying that the cult risk is the main reason for shutting it down. It's mainly the splintering of the community. When I created my spy account, I saw how people were talking in there (). The thing about internet anonymity is that if you don't have at least a minimum way of creating cohesion, the place turns into a toxic cesspool. Not allowing cliques to gossip outside moderated spaces is just one solution to that. You can suggest a better solution if you have one.

I guess. It's more like "I just created another cafe, and only I can decide who enters or not. I'm going to put up posters inside the walls of this cafe advertising my cafe, and I'll slip some meth in the coffee to keep them hooked. This cafe is shit. I only come here to lol at the people in it."

Ok. We can qualify what that means. In what way is this place a cult?

Maybe. But if the forum is such a garbage platform as it's portrayed to be, like a sort of glorified snail mail, then that is exactly what makes it less prone to many of the cult dynamics that I've talked about. In a way, your point is like saying that when the larger society shames people for creating cults, that's a cult dynamic. Sure, depending on how far you want to stretch the concept, that could be true, but society at large is more open, less isolated, less cohesive and less enticing than an actual cult. The main thing that makes cults appealing is what makes Discords appealing: tight-knit social communities.

You get more easily isolated from other influences, and the idiosyncratic beliefs get amplified and are less likely to be challenged due to the tighter social dynamics (invite-based membership, high-speed chat system, subtle dynamics through voice chat, etc.). The beliefs start out innocent, but with the right person in charge, they can turn wacky real fast without you even noticing it. And even if you retain a level of self-awareness and distance from the whole thing, your beliefs can still be affected (I experienced this first-hand). The main thing to watch out for is when the leader is deeply searching for some deeper truth like the ultimate enlightenment, and when they start developing their own views based on those experiences. While that might not look like it's the case with thisintegrated for now, the aforementioned dynamics within a New-Agey context, especially when it was spawned as a sort of self-proclaimed superior option to some other place, can still have a damaging effect on people's psyches. As for the point about Heaven's Gate, that cult consisted of highly educated, intellectually curious and spiritually open people. When people kill themselves based on spiritual ideas (like have happened here), and when discords turn into cults (like also have happened here), it's not such a wild possibility really.

Not if you believed it. True. There is not much that keeps even this place from devolving into a cult. A discord is the next step.

About the cult thing, I'm drawing conclusions and recommending caution, but about the splintering community thing, you can already clearly see the negative effects. Even if the discord keeps running, at least the people will have what I've said in mind, which in itself will make it less likely to happen. That's one thing I learned from being in a cult: beliefs sneak in through the back door And even if it has the opposite effect and they rebel against being nannied, if it does eventually turn into a cult, the lesson will hit twice as hard

But not based on what conversations might happen in the future. Rali's discord started out exactly like this one. The madness built up slowly over time as the community isolated itself and became more cohesive. The only important difference I can think of is that Rali was way more charismatic, way smarter and way more ambitious than thisintegrated. He was a bit like Leo, but without the wisdom. However, like I've said, even if 10% of what happened to Rali's discord were to ever happen again, it would be very bad. But that applies to anything, your statements or mine.

Based on what? Wisdom is availability heuristics ? (largely)