Carl-Richard

These are the people who use the word "enlightenment" in the first place, so I'll naturally use something that is in alignment with their definition of it. Leo seems to have drifted away from that crowd a lot, even to the point where he is no longer interested in the concept of abiding in an elevated baseline state. So to re-iterate, my definition of enlightenment is when you abide in a state of non-duality; non-duality as a baseline state. It's a "baseline state" and not a "permanent state", because there will always be fluctuations in your state, e.g. due to something as mundane as blood sugar levels, or various egoic challenges. It's also any "form" of non-duality, as long as you're abiding in it. You can of course divide the realization of non-duality into different levels, or you can add highly expansive God states in the mix and make it all very complicated, but if you're abiding in something that you would describe as non-duality, I would call that enlightenment. There is a reason why Leo says "God-realization", or "Absolute Solipsism". It's because the word "enlightenment" doesn't really vibe with him anymore, and it makes sense, because he seems to be talking about something else. EDIT: I could also add some nuance to the definition based on my own experiences, as I'm someone who in the last 3-4 years has had countless run-ins with non-dual states, only to be interrupted by my terrorizing fear of them and not being able to let go into them. In fact, it feels like it's actually more natural for me to have non-duality as my baseline state, but I'm consciously resisting it with every inch of my will. And for this very reason, I would not call myself enlightened despite being strongly inclined (forced) to have it as a baseline state, because there is some type of resistance that is keeping me away from it. What is maybe special for me is that I'm largely conscious of the resistance. If I get into a non-dual state, I know exactly how to contract myself back into a more normal state, and it hurts, physically and mentally (I use both physical and mental means). Then over time, when I let the controlled contraction run for too long (days, weeks), I get used to it, and I start experiencing it as automatized. Then eventually, I become largely unconscious of it, and I have to consciously engage in controlled "uncontraction" or quick meditative techniques for it to relax again (or it may relax spontaneously in some special circumstances). For most people, the resistance is largely unconscious, and they're unaware of how they're creating it, and they're often unwilling or unable to use the right techniques that make them more aware of it (e.g. meditation). The more I become aware of the fact that I am willfully creating my own resistance, the more see it as a fiction, and then it starts slipping away like sand between my fingers. I rarely get to that point nowadays, but it's a frightening experience when all your coping mechanisms are taken away from you and you just have to pray to God for mercy. So for the definition, the added nuance would be the amount of resistance you have to most importantly the non-dual state itself and of course life in general. So to me, enlightenment is when you have non-duality as a baseline state with no resistance to the state itself and minimal resistance to various life challenges that can pull you out of that state. Now, you could technically say that the resistance that is making me afraid of the non-dual state and making me choose to engage in "conscious resistance", fundamentally boils down to a type of life challenge (and an unconscious contraction that can be dissolved by living life), which makes them effectively the same thing, but for me they're experienced quite differently (one I feel I can control, the other I cannot), so I think the distinction is useful. EDIT2: I just came up with a cool book title: "the boy who didn't want to become enlightened - the experiences of a young man who woke up too soon". I actually think that could be a cool book I could write: pretty niche, sort of original (I know of only one person who has written about the same thing), could be helpful to some people. I could also give my "religion > spirituality" spiel (about how hyper-individualistic spirituality exacerbates these kinds of problems and that we need better social safety nets for people who get into spirituality).

My definition of enlightenment is to abide in isness, or to clearly see that isn'tness is just isness in disguise, pretending to be something it isn't

@DefinitelyNotARobot Interesting. Do you have any family history of psychosis? I tend to get something similar to the word interpretation thing, but it's very minor, and it's almost like I can control it. It tends to happen with random sounds like the bathroom fan. The fact that you were high on weed and that you were scared of being caught might definitely have contributed to that experience. Weed paranoia makes you do (and think) the weirdest things lol. I also get the thing where if you see something ambiguous in the dark, you can sometimes project weird stuff onto it (e.g. a tree becoming Slender Man). I'm curious because my dad has bipolar type 1, and my little brother sometimes get hypomanic for short periods of time if he gets little sleep or experiences stress. Me on the other hand don't have any of these things (although I have experienced the hypomanic thing a few times in my life, and I did have a drug-fuelled near-mental breakdown in my late teens where I became slightly psychotic, e.g. feeling like song lyrics where commenting very accurately on my life, difficulty speaking and concentrating, thoughts racing, being absorbed in my own mental story). If I were to diagnose myself with anything, it would be a weak type of schizotypal personality "disorder".

What happens specifically when you experience those states?

He helped me so much with re-integrating my rational and scientific mind after my mystical experiences. Questions like "if consciousness is not made by the brain, then what does the brain do?", or making fine distinctions between things like perception and consciousness, etc. His work is very useful.

Ever since I was little, I had a strong intuition that this kind of blind discipline is not only highly unappealing, but also dangerous. In fact, the very word "discipline" always gave me a bad taste in my mouth every time I heard it. If you're not plugged in to some higher principle or underlying impetus for doing something, or you're not listening to the control mechanisms of your various mental faculties, you're not just flying blind, but you don't know where you're going; you're flying on no fuel, and you have no idea if there will suddenly not be air under your wings, or that where you'll be arriving will not be empty as air itself. I always struggled with cultivating "discipline", but what I discovered was that true discipline unfolds spontaneously when you have your priorities right. It also cannot be dictated from the outside (although it partially always will be that, but a large part of it has to be an internal drive, or else it's just not sustainable). And this kind of more spontaneous discipline is more in line with your general sense and ability to feel out where you're going, so you'll not become this neurotic mess and slave-like drone to whatever superficial conditioning you happened to be indoctrinated with.

Lions can be very fierce and violent.

I watched the whole thing. I gotta say (and I've said it in various ways before), although my values don't perfectly align with him, Tate is definitely a specimen of a human being. It's no accident that he has become as famous as he is. He is a bit like a lion mauling a prey: ferocious, capable, majestic, terrifying. And he is tapping into something, despite his faults. You can't speak that fluently and passionately without being "plugged in" some way. And he speaks a lot from life experience, which you can learn a lot from (even if he interprets the lessons through his own value system and it's different from yours, with some discernment). Although I also get the feeling he is a master bullshitter for so many reasons (but that too would make him a specimen of a human being, because as Leo would say: humans are the bullshitting animal ?).

Isness is Absolute Truth.

You know how it is when somebody is making fun of the prophet

Your writing reminds me of my first college essay

@nuwu Why is your post structured like a ChatGPT answer? ?

You can drop them at some point, but then you have to truly see their insignificance at a deep level. I don't believe there is such a thing as dropping something before you reach that point. Before that, you can only delude yourself that you've dropped it, but in reality you're dragging it behind you and letting it wear you down. You should rather pick it up and carry it with pride until you see the finish line. And before that happens, it's possible to carry both ideals and desires at the same time. You just need to balance them.

26 (13 fear + 13 avoidance). I would've probably scored 60+ a few years ago.

He literally said to me while dying of laughter: "I literally became a window, and I had this peculiar feeling that "today is the day where windows are to be sold!'"". You can't make this shit up ?

This is good that you're becoming aware of your desires, but there is no reason to hate them, even though they're not obviously in alignment with your higher values. In a sense, becoming more conscious is about becoming more aware of yourself and ultimately being OK with who you are. That doesn't mean you can't have aspirations or future plans, or growth or change. Those are also aspects of yourself that you should accept if you want to become more conscious. This to me seems like a sign of growth, and growth isn't always a linear upward trajectory. Growth sometimes entails coming to terms with something you've been neglecting and having to re-adjust course, and it can look like a loss in the short-term, but it will ultimately be a win in the long-term.

My friend tried Salvia and woke up in an alternate reality where he became a window on sale.

Nice.

The way you put it in the title seemed like you were reducing consciousness to the quantum field, which is not necessarily the same as saying they're the same thing (as one could be more fundamental than the other). But I could understand why you would like to say they're the same thing.

It's not getting much engagement, so I figured I would ask some of you guys (and by the way, it's my very first post on there, so trust me, I've yet to be completely swallowed by the Destiny cult, I swear! ).

The quantum field is that which's excitations are physical particles. Consciousness is that which's excitations are experiences. What is a physical particle but an experience in a physicists mind?

My dude, this is the entertainment section of the forum. You don't go here to get enlightened. Besides, this hyper-puritan mentality isn't good for anyone. Don't get too caught up in the personalities and focus on the issues that are being discussed.

I know. It was just oddly specific

Having a grandiose self-image or low levels of empathy doesn't necessarily mean your primary values are strength, loyalty, respect, courage, etc. For example, I think MrGirl (a once relevant internet personality) is a good example of somebody who is pretty narcissistic but also has Green-Yellow values (or at least proports to have them, or is at least able to engage with them cognitively). But the thing about especially narcissists is that they're very good at manipulating people around them to serve their selfish needs, so they can construct a mask of being a highly virtuous person with an advanced set of values, which in reality is masking their real low level values. So you can argue there is some overlap with lower value systems, but narcissism and sociopathy are of course much more nefarious than merely being simpleminded.

Lol my fake UFO video is 10x better than that ? https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJQym3ab/