Matt8800

@ThrowAway Ian Stevenson studied this topic extensively and released his findings. The study indicated that reincarnation is most likely true. If you google it, you can find more information.

@DavidK both forgive them and cut them loose

@11modal11 A dying ego can be scary and painful. Let it die and accept that the old meanings and values mean nothing any more. It will make room for something very beautiful to take its place. I went through everything that you described and it is a necessary process. To see the stage you are in described in better detail, see https://alohadharma.com/2011/06/12/the-dark-night/

@Tropic Love Whether a government decides that murder is "bad" depends on the government and what the reason was for the murder. Consider Nazi Germany or any of the other similar governments. Only consciousness can attribute a value to anything and consciousness is pure subjectivity. Therefore, the idea of objective morality is an oxymoron.

@Socrates Ive tried a lot of psychedelics. LSD is amazing in its own way but if you want to have a life changing experience, DMT generally has the most power to awaken IMO. DMT was the one that first "woke" me up and it was a powerful awakening.

@Tony 845 Theravada Buddhism says that everyone will go through the dark night/kundalini awakening. Its a natural stage. I went through it and came out the other side. Its severity and flavor is different for everyone, however. Below is a more detailed explanation according to the Theravada enlightenment model, and how to get through it: https://alohadharma.com/2011/06/12/the-dark-night/ Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Ingram also does a good job of explaining the stages.

@Revolutionary Think Evolution never ends. Even when the sun explodes and destroys the earth, "you" will be aware and continue to evolve.

That is completely unsubstantiated. There are many religious myths in the world and there is no reason to think that isnt one of them.

@MM1988 I bought his book "Mystics Musings". It was so full of obviously made up bullshit, I threw it away.

@pluto That is exactly the kind of reasoning that religious people use to justify why their religious books are 100% true. For some reason, if people that lived a long time ago make unsubstantiated claims, it must be true.

@Cudin Cannabis was invaluable in my spiritual growth. I like a long flowering sativa, which is great for creativity, for both Samatha (concentration) and Vipassana (insight) meditation.

@Shanmugam Well presented. I investigated Sadhguru and came to the same conclusion. I bought Mystic's Musings and it was pretty clear he was talking out of his ass about things that had no relation to enlightenment. It had the questions in the books as asked by his followers and I thought they sounded pretty pathetic with how much they worshiped him; like a deity. If he told them the sky was green, they would have believed him. Gullible fools will have difficulty making much progress in my opinion. When I looked into Kriya Yoga, Lahiri was quoted as saying something along the lines of, "Follow your inner guru". I took his advice to heart and was some of the most important advice Ive received.

@VikingYou are simply feeling what you always feel but now with awareness. Usually, when people feel cravings, they are to escape the underlying unsatisfactoriness. Now you are simply aware of it without the automatic reaction to use distraction to escape. Allow yourself to feel the cravings and use it as an object of meditation to investigate. It may not seem like it but you are going through a critical and necessary transition in your spiritual development.

@Primentex The nature of the universe is to evolve. Suicide thwarts that nature.

@kingroboto Marijuana has been very good for/to me. You can judge the tree by the fruit on it. Decide and think for yourself.

@Nadosa In Theravada Buddhism, they call your stage "the dark night" (english translation). Its all explained in Daniel Ingram's Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, along with how to get through it to the next stage on the path. I went through the stage exactly how you are describing, and how the book described, and I got through it exactly like it instructed to.

@fireworld That is how an orange would understand green. That is exactly how I would have thought when I was in orange.

@Max_V That is the basis of the inherent suffering Buddhism and Hinduism talk about. It is possible to detach from that suffering, which is one of the attributes of enlightenment.

@Sartanion Nutmeg is not in the ballpark of DMT. Might want to do some looking around on the dark web. There are places that are pretty reliable.

@Shakazulu I have experimented with combining various psychedelics and meditation and the ones I found the most useful were DMT and Ketamine.

I smoked some DMT for the first time. I realized that suffering was an illusion, I wasnt my ego and that being present was the only way to truly experience life and be happy. I also realized in a new way that I needed to meditate. I searched for meditation instructional videos, found Leo's and have been meditating every day ever since (about 2.5 years ago).

@StretchMany traditions say a lot of different things. That doesnt mean its true. There is no reason to believe that celibacy is required in all instances of enlightenment. If you believe the dogma that has evolved over thousands of years, you'll end up chasing your tail. As Lahiri said, "follow your own inner guru to know whats true".

@Stretch In Yoga, its called Kundalini Awakening. In Theravada Buddhism, its called the Arising and Passing. After Arising and Passing, the "Dark Night" phase inevitably comes. In Yoga, they acknowledge that a difficult time can come after a Kundalini Awakening. Here is a detailed explanation of the characteristics of the Dark Night phase - https://alohadharma.com/2011/06/12/the-dark-night/ Daniel Ingram does a great job in his book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha of explaining how to transition out of this phase and into the next one. Many people get stuck there for many years or their whole life.

@cle103 That is why Lahiri Mahasaya said one should follow their inner guru. How do you know that a "teacher" is actually enlightened? Popular opinion? How would someone who has never taken psychedelics be qualified in any way to comment on them? Even if someone is enlightened, why is it assumed that they know everything about everything? Why would you take anyone's advice that has never had experience with them? We must take responsibility for our own spiritual growth. I rarely quote bible verses but my favorite is "You can judge the tree by the fruit on them." For me, psychedelics take a lot of credit for my progress.

@Victor Mgazi If you have already experienced an Arising and Passing/Kundalini Awakening, you might be in the Dark Night stage. Its a difficult stage and knowledge on how to handle it is critical to move past it.