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Really like what? ❤ All that's happening is what's happening.... there's no big mystery to what's going on. Either you believe you are a separate individual or you have awakened to the realization you are Oneness... simple as that ... Everything else is incomprehensible boundless freedom with no meaning purpose or value whatsoever. It's Freedom it's Paradise it's heaven on Earth it's what's happening...

@LfcCharlie4 Well, there are no real problems, that's just the separate self's projection that what IS, isn't good enough or isn't IT... there also is no such thing as an incomplete teaching because there isn't a complete teaching or you could say every teaching is complete & incomplete... there isn't a one-way anything should be... that's again another projection of the separate self. Non-Duality is simply what's happening, whether you believe you are a separate individual or not. It sounds like you're projecting your definition of Neo advaita as an incomplete Awakening experience and stirring them up together in an attempt to discredit other teaching( the good old shoot the messenger so I don't have to take seriously the implications of the message) Here is what I found: Neo-Advaita, also called the Satsang-movement and Nondualism, is a New Religious Movement, emphasizing the direct recognition of the non-existence of the "I" or "ego," without the need of preparatory practice. We've already agreed in other threads that there isn't any prerequisites to Awakening... sometimes practices are apparently involved and sometimes they are not... the interesting thing about Awakening is when it happens there's no telling exactly what caused it. Great video bro... I like how Rupert explains it's an apparent feeling of separation. Basically he's explaining when your viewing things from a dualistic viewpoint, things apparently appear as separate... When Awakening occurs and the separate self is recognized to be illusory and apparently falls away, the line between dualism and non dualism blur's... it's simultaneously recognized there never was a separate experiencer ... you are the experience itself.( Rupert is just describing someone who may have not had this full recognition) Experience doesn't have an agenda, it just experiences, it's not a do-gooder spiritual ego that needs to go out and achieve achieve achieve. That's basically saying God has an agenda and a need to accomplish certain things in this existence to feel accomplished and validated.(that's ego running the train) I love Rupert he's a great guy I have unconditional love for him he just takes 25 minutes to explain one basic thing that takes other awakened individuals 10 seconds to explain. Rupert also takes himself way too seriously in my opinion... you can tell he's up holding some kind of persona about himself. On the other hand Jim is a blast to listen to(my opinion) he's funny as hell... He definitely walks the walk and there absolutely isn't anything there for the individual in his communication.

The oneself or the higher self as some like to call it, is still just Maya the illusion of self. The ego has convinced them they have awakened and are now the new higher self or true self lol. This is simply a sneaky tactic of the ego to preserve itself undercover as the new true self so it can still Control the organism and perpetuate it's illusory belief in itself. They call that the spiritual ego sometimes..(note: the spiritual ego now does loving spiritual work to help humanities hopeless situation) What is left after true Awakening occurs does not have an agenda, life purpose or opinion on what should or shouldn't be taking place. Its complete wild radical freedom without an agenda, its liberation, its THIS ❤

@remember How so? Why does it seem to you like I'm talking about a concept and not about actuality? Can you share with me something about the actuality of time that would appeal to an awakened mind? (without saying it's an Illusion and there is only now) How and why does change occur?

@ivankiss but you must understand the difference between the concept of it and what it then really is. i guess that’s what the critique here is about your concept of time. it misses the accuracy to appeal to an awakened mind in relativity.

Social 'privilege' is a cognitive bias shared by enough of a populace that it creates a dynamic in society where there is accepted different treatment of different groups. It doesn't have to rise to be written into law for it to effectively act as 'institutional', either. It takes a sufficiently 'awakened' populace to transcend this discriminatory behavior among it's different groups in all forms and currently it doesn't seem like there are very many places in the world where this exists let alone is probable to happen.

@jimwell Psychopaths live in grand illusion and are driven by 'a god' of the false self. Awakened live in grand reality without egoic delusions, and egoic delusions is what creates mental illness that psychopaths suffer from.

While there certainly is a difference between awakened and unawakened beings, it has nothing to do with the term enlightenment, it is more about how the awakening changes the way that person moves through and navigates life. Enlightenment isn’t actually about knowing yourself as god. If you still have the need to know yourself as god, or proclaim it in any way, it is a rather immature and unintegrated stage of awakening that can be a huge sticking point. Thats for a couple of reasons. firstly, only something ‘other than god’ would need to proclaim itself as being god. Why would god need to say ‘I’m god’,.. I mean... should I write it in my resume now that I’m enlightened? Do I get a free parking spot at selected restaurants that says ‘reserved for god’? Secondly, If you’re proclaiming that you are god, you can only say that to god. I mean think about it, why would you need to say ‘I am god’ and by the way, I won’t even say that you’re speaking to yourself, because that’s another trap the ego likes to hide in, but it just simply implies that you consider the person you’re proclaiming it to something other than god. Such energy can only perpetuate arrogance and entitlement, which are sticking points of ego, not enlightenment. tldr: saying ‘I am god’ is the most unenlightened thing you can ever say, you’d be probably much more spiritually aligned by sharing about how much you love bagels, as opposed to how deeply you know yourself as the divine. ps: bagels are amazing I haven’t come from an American culture and didn’t know how much I was missing out.

@ElvisN wouldn’t call it Semantics, none of the people you mentioned are Fully Self-Realized, it’s not like a 1=1 scenario where all awakenings are of the same depth and understanding. This is emphasised pretty clearly by Neo-Advaitans and teachers who haven’t awakened to love. these teachers may be awake, but have they had the 10th Ox Herding picture kind of awakening? Most haven’t. again not doubting these people have all had awakenings, and probably incredible experiences on Psyches and they’ve helped them so much, but they are not at the depth of True masters such as Ramana and Nisgardatta. If you want to see an embodiment of true western masters, go read/ watch Rupert Spira and Francis Lucille.

My hunch is thats an intellectual construct for you. If you had awakened and embodied the singularity of experience, you probably wouldn’t be on the forum asking if its ok. You could do an experiment: dedicate the next three months of your life being permanently high on substances and see how it goes.

I awakened already, and being dis-identified with ego, living with no attachments and knowing Truth doesn't automatically give you the best subjective experience of life. I think you live your best life when you are doing and experiencing things you personally value the most.

Haven't awakened in one fell swoop on psychedelics, but have accessed mystical states that have opened my mind in ways I didn't think were possible and have been a huge catalyst into personal growth and deeper inquiry into the nature of reality. The psychedelics didn't do it alone for me, its all about intention and what your mind is open to, how deeply you question, the understanding you already have. You need some context into non-duality as a roadmap and not be locked into any limiting paradigm.

Youre wrong in that you think psychedelics are a useless tool/technology absolutely, but youre right in that it can make some people just go back to baseline. Shamans (and other spiritual traditions like yogis) have been using these tools for healing since the dawn of time. They do work. But its not guaranteed it will work. You need to put in just as much effort as the psychedelic is. The point of psychedelics isn't to significantly increase your baseline. Thats a point you're getting completely wrong. Its to get you(temporarily) in touch with your deepest self so that you know how to increase your baseline. Its to show you states of consciousness that are so bizzare that your mind opens and it unlocks blind spots, things that have been getting you stuck in your journey. Its a tool to boost the process you use to increase the baseline, but it does not increase the baseline itself. Thats why the work is still needed. You won't find anyone who got awakened through psychedelics because thats not their role. Their role is more fundamental then that. Their role simply replaces the role of having a guru or listening to a teacher. With psychedelics you can channel your own teacher who is perfect for you. Who asks: has anyone gotten enlightened by their guru? Like seriously guys come on, no one gets enlightened by spiritual teachers. Therefore spiritual teachers and gurus are a waste of time, ineffective. Dont listen to them kids.

I have never seen someone awaken from psychedelics. All I observe is Ups and Downs to the baseline, its like they are on a traboline What suprise me though is people *understanding* the whole universe and absolute love being defensive and calling people that are not aligned with their ideas clowns. People are actually defensive about their psychedelic path! I also think that mystics are not completely irrelevant, they expertise is spiritual dimensions, which they are constantly on, if I were you i would consider their concerns. Now as far as this being a technology, as I said in the beginning i dont see anyone here awakened. It's funny actually, people taking psychedelics for years without a significant change in their baseline consciousness although with significant peaks, and if you doubt them they are very capable of getting angry.. personally I can't see the technology. If you were to take from them all substances forever how close would they be to surrendering themselves. I dont know guys do you really want to be needing constantly something from outside to be spiritual? If it were to stay okey! But it seems it doesn't. And again if every substance is taken from you, has anything changed in your experience significantly? If yes, sorry ignore the post Cars make you experience speed that alone could never reach, but they will never make you a faster person. Of course I might be missing something, these are just observations I made over time in this community, and also I'm not heavily into the spiritual path, so please dont expect me to get triggered and answer every little post and forgive me if I'm naive.

I want to offer you an opportunity to expand your view and understanding of the idea of co-creation and multidimensional interaction. Throughout your awakening you might have become aware of the fact that you are one with reality. You might have also realized that not everyone is experiencing the same version of reality. I do not know how far in you are, but chances are, somewhere along your journey; the question has or will come up; "am I alone? Are there others? Is there anyone else here?" In a certain phase of awakening everything is being questioned. How can you tell if there are others? How can you really know? All you have is your direct, subjective experience of the eternal continuum. You cannot prove nor disprove others are "real". Right? A confused mind that has not yet matured fully can easily misinterpret a realization or two and unintentionally create a limiting belief that can cause quite a lot of struggle. The realization of your Divine Godly nature does not exclude the existence of "others". Nor does it exclude the idea of there being a "you". Or an "I". However, for that realization to dawn; you must go through a certain period of living an awakened life, as well as interacting with others - consciously. "I am God. I am all that has ever been and ever will be. There is no other." - That part of awakening is like having your one eye opened, only. In other words; it is not the whole picture. Not the end of the road. There are no ends. There is only infinite expansion and creation. The One who has been seeking God becomes the One God comes back as, once God has been realized. The seeker becomes an expression of God. An expression that has a specific purpose and meaning. What that is, is known by it only. There are countless expressions of God. Extensions; if you will. All of which are unique and irreplaceable. Without even one of those expressions - the eternal, multidimensional and multifaceted crystal NOW would not exist. Everything in existence has it's place. And it's all crucial and necessary. Which brings us to the idea of "others" ; It is not that "others are not real". It is only that everything you experience, including others is made of your own energy. Other beings are constantly, continuously communicating with you. And not as you might be thinking. The communication is vibrational. However; in order for you to make sense of what they're trying to communicate and decode their messages - you must replicate the frequency they're sending out within your own being, out of your own energy. It can be no other way. There is nothing else you can work with or create from. So when you hear another person talking to you - you ultimately communicate to yourself what they're trying to tell you. When someone touches your hand - you create the sensation within your being based on the frequency they're sending out. Even the image of another standing before you is created out of your own energy. Yet... that does not mean they do not exist. How come? Ask God. Wink wink. Each and every one of us is experiencing a unique version of reality. In that sense we are all living in our own world. In our own holographic Matrix. But because of the multidimensional nature of the multifaceted crystal and because of our interconnectedness we inevitably co-create a third reality in which we come together and interact with one-another. Experience each-other. Infinity. God. It is mind-blowingly awesome and beautiful. There is no other way for perspectives to share their point of view. We are all gazing at the same picture. The same Light. But we do that from different standpoints. Through different lenses. From different dimensions. And we all have different opinions and ideas about it. That is precisely what we are communicating to ourselves and everyone in the entire Universe through our every action, through our every move. That is why and how we co-create. So in case you've adopted negative, limiting, misaligned beliefs about reality; I now invite you to see through those and leave them behind if that seems like an appropriate choice for you to make. God does not want to trick you. God wants to be you, through you and be seen by another as you. To see you in another. May you all enjoy yourselves. Love and peace.

@GreenWoods To me it just seems like you're trying to make some sort of equation or science out of behavior post-awakening which I don't think is really possible. Can I ask; have you had an awakening? And do you 'live in Non-Duality'? Basically, that's a fancy way of saying are you stabilized in absolute Peace and Happiness and have you recognized the truth of your being. When you truly awaken to love and realize The Absolute/Self is all that exists, and you abide and live the understanding, yes you will of course act from a place of love and truth. This is why I don't believe people like Mooji/ Betinho have had full awakenings, how could you manipulate and abuse Women sexually if you know you're only abusing yourself. I also see your point about Veganism, but I'm not sure many Non-Dual teachers have actually investigated this deeply, so could genuinely be ignorant about it. The Separate Entity doesn't exist so it's not a matter of whether free will exists, the question doesn't need to be asked. From the point of view of a separate self it SEEMS we have Free-Will, so if you add a belief, 'There's no Free-Will' that's just another belief, not the truth based on an investigation into your own being. You could say all is God's will or The Absolutes will. People often wonder well how do I take action if there is no Free-Will or No Entity, well you now actually have The Universe/Absolute as the power behind your actions, not merely a separate self that didn't ever exist to begin with. If by Altruistic, you mean the more loving you become in general then yes. But, love isn't simply just donating all your money and feeding the poor, it can be, but doesn't HAVE to be. Holding the door open for someone is love, treating all others as if they are your very self is love, even these simple acts are acts of love, it doesn't have to be grand gestures and huge donations. I really wish I could link you a Satsang but it's paid content and I'm not allowed, I might PM you the link and it's down to you if you wanna purchase it. Love has no end to how deep it can go, God=Love=Consciousness, love is literally reality. Teachers who haven't had an awakening into love haven't gone deep enough. However, awakening doesn't mean you have to live a life of poverty or donate all of your money, as I have said you can be awakened and manifest your dream 'life' simultaneously, and act more loving. You don't have to choose Wealth (or any other form of 'Worldly Success') or Awakening, @Nahm has a thread on this I believe. My best piece of advice would be stop creating beliefs and idealizations of how Awakened beings have to act and behave, have true, deep awakenings, Realize the nature of your being and the nature of reality, Abide as that understanding and then find out yourself. Also remember, this understanding is expressed uniquely in each being, as each body/mind is unique, while we are simultaneously all one. Another fun paradox. I posted this on another thread, and it may help

Great post brother!! I think one of the easiest ways to identify whether something is ego-driven or from an awakened heart is to watch the feelings that arise when this motivated action is NOT carried out. If feelings of guilt or the diminishment of one's sense of self worth arises, it was most likely an egoic motivation tied to social conditioning. For example my wife gave a homeless man a cheeseburger and told me later that it made her day and made her feel good. Now its true this is a win-win situation as in my wife felt better and the homeless man got a meal. But if you look deep into the actual motivation behind her action you will find something quite startling... I will leave that for another discussion. Before awakening I remember walking past a homeless man asking for change one time. I just continued walking and the guilt got so bad that I actually turned around and gave him like five bucks or something. I remember feeling like an uncompassionate human and my sense of self-worth felt diminished in that moment. When your sense of self-worth depends on a certain outcome, action or inaction, you're tied to social conditioning and caught in The Matrix as I like to describe it. True self Love or Unconditional Love has no conditions. When this Unconditional Love is fully embodied and the ego has fallen away, a sort of disentangling from social conditioning occurs and it's recognized that actually nothing needs to be done... but why not do something? The paradoxical nature of existence reflects perfection on every level... but then a question arises within THIS perfection. But why not make the world a better place? See you simply cannot go wrong in whatever THIS IS. ❤ Great post brother I thoroughly enjoyed reading have a good day my friend ?

There is no such thing as an Enlightened person, how can a person become enlightened when all there is is The Absolute/ Natural Pure Awareness/ The Self. Awareness simply recognizes itself. Also, teachers/ awakened beings don't NEED people to awaken, but they can see the suffering in so-called 'others' (Themselves), and from a place of Love wish to assist others in ending their suffering. However, you can't Awaken someone, you can assist in their journey and 'help' but in reality, teachers are there to help on someone's journey. Anyone who says they are an 'Enlightened Person' still have a LONG way to go until full realizsation. This video from 8 Mins in covers this so well 'We are all the light of this being, in some cases, it is veiled by our own thoughts and feelings.' 'I see you all as The One light of being. I don't have a mission to enlighten anybody.' Rupert is amazing 'I have no sense of being an 'Enlightened Person', the nature of my being is just clear to me.' 'In some cases, being is still veiled more or less thinly by a veneer of thoughts and feelings. Hence the need for these retreats, meditations, contemplations and conversations.' Everyone is The Self/ The Absolute/ God/ Love whatever you want to call it, but many just don't recognize this or know this consciously yet. If I was to emulate a teacher, Rupert is the perfect embodiment of this understanding. However, I feel working 1-1 with 'Students' can help them realize the light of their own being in an easier manner, as we always forget each person has a unique path, with unique questions and stumbling blocks on the path to Self-Realization and noticing their own being. I will always be in debt to my teacher, I remember 'getting it' and just smiling on the Skype call, realizing This is it, it was a beautiful 'experience.'

@VeganAwake I get you, but how would relatively speaking, anything ever progress with this mindset? Everything is perfect, and nothing needs to be done, yes! But does that mean we should just let wars carry on, people starve and people live in poverty etc? Sorry, but I will never be on board with using The Absolute as a form of Spiritual Bypassing. From The Absolute perspective I 100% agree with you- Everything is perfect as it is! But, then let's say you're homeless, would you just never fix it? If you're overweight would you not go and lose weight? Do you see my point, I'm speaking from a 'Relative' perspective. And, I wasn't talking about coming from a place of lack or Ego, more Post-Awakening once one is at peace, happy and fulfilled and then felt as if they wanted to devote their life or participate in humanitarian work, maybe that's their LP, my points before were we're FREE to do as we choose post-awakening, I think we're on similar lines, in terms of not needing to do anything at all to be Fulfilled, but if someone chooses to, I'm sorry I don't agree that's coming from lack. I think motivation/ Desire can come from different places, and it may simply come from a place of love to want to help people, and not from a place of Ego. But, of course, at the same time, it could come from a place of Spiritual Ego, it completely depends! Another example closer to your heart might be Spiritual Teachers, truly awakened ones aren't doing it from a place of Ego and wanting to save people or redeem them, but from a place of love and wanting to help people awaken. Is Tony Parsons acting from a place of Ego? Was Ramana Maharshi etc? I'll be honest, you'll say this is just ego, but I often feel you sometimes come from a place of Spiritual Bypassing, and use awakening as an excuse not to act in certain areas of life as it's 'Ego.' Maybe I'm wrong, and I'm open to being wrong, but that's just the vibe I get, and it's the same vibe I get from Neo-Advaitans as well. Everything is perfect as it is, and THIS as it is is completely perfect as it is, where only The Absolute exists. But, on a relative level, if people are starving, wars are going on, Corona Viruses are spreading (!) then action needs to be taken. Or, on a personal level you lose your job, or you are overweight and have health issues, then that is what is happening NOW in THIS and you aren't going to just leave it are you? This short passage slightly explains what I mean- 'As October's tune-up, I have decided to write about the joy of Presence and being Present. Seekers and even awakened persons have the belief from somewhere that you have to become present in order to experience Presence. In fact, the opposite is true! We ARE Presence. The more we recognize this Presence that we are, the more Present we become. This process can be effortless even exhilarating. What you see is that the effort of “trying to become present” masks the obvious – we are Presence now! We are fully experiencing our Feeling of Being here and now. Without the pure Sense of Existing, nothing else is possible! Life begins with Presence. No need to look for it. You cannot avoid it! Now, let’s ask why it matters? Why does being Present in the Now matters? First of all, this knowingness automatically brings us into our bodies and into our immediate experience. However, for many people, the “real now right now” in their life is unpleasant. Then the need for habitual mental escape surfaces. Anything that looks remotely painful or unpleasant or ugly gets rejected without a second look. However, as we emphasize over and over, YOU CANNOT GO ANYWHERE! So when you deny and attempt to escape your “Real Now Here” you end up in a phony “nowhere land.” In fact, you have not escaped at all. Instead, you have become, in the immortal words of Pink Floyd, “comfortably numb.” You cannot attempt to escape life as it is moment after moment day after day and then expect to feel fully and wonderfully alive. This is called “spiritual bypassing.” It simply does not work! The sooner you lovingly approve, accept and embrace your arisings just as they are in this moment, the sooner you will in actuality transcend them truly and completely. THE WAY IS THROUGH! Move towards what you are afraid of. You will discover it is just a shadow! This being Present as Presence – fully approving of what is as it is now – is the key to unlocking and allowing the all-important shift from the small struggling “I am little separate me” into the vast, vibrant and increasingly awake sense of who we really ARE! Presence is that which is 100% okay with THIS! Listen now as I repeat our message. It is that important! What are we saying? We are saying that you WILL have to move towards, into and through WHATEVER experience life is presenting you right now in this moment and in your life as a whole. This is regardless of the positive, negative or neutral meaning that you may be giving it. In fact, the meaning that you are giving your experience IS the value that you are going to get from it. YOU create the meaning of your experiences! When you gently remind yourself to simply BE with whatever comes up, when you allow simple awareness of the emotional state you are in, Presence will become obvious! Am I happy? Am I sad? Do I know what I feel? Most do not know what their existential now feeling IS! Our conditioning has created an internal false judgment system which assumes that our now experience is NOT okay. It is flawed or broken or not good enough. What is now is not okay. Therefore, just being with WHAT IS now is not okay either! When we let this BS go, when we are finally able to allow, approve, embrace and just be with it... whatever it is... this is when the shift may occur! We will naturally become aware of our vastness. This leads to the natural interconnected knowing of the great love that we are too. Love, Interconnectedness, Presence then become more that mere words! The sweetness of the moment AS IT IS can now surface effortlessly! It creates the knowingness of that inner freedom to arise within us. At first one may get glimpses. The more this is practiced, the more it opens up to us. This is why I work so hard on the actual existential daily activity in my students lives. I want to draw attention to what IS going on vs. the various meaningless concepts we accumulate. This is why I often bring the focus to your character and your tendencies and your Enneagram type. My goal is to make sure that nothing is swept under the carpet. To make sure that all will be exposed. Nothing will remain hidden. This is the way to elevate, release, and embrace your super-intelligent exquisite Big Self in an authentic deeply integrated and very real life positive spiritual awakening!'

Yes, but you've seen me in full force. Should I just let that go without judgment? There's definitely time in that thought. I'm perhaps projecting that what happened in the past might occur in the future. I rely on other people for emotional support and I believe that I should be independent, above this. The recent example of this was that I realized that I never stopped needing emotional support from my mother. When I awakened, that problem was fixed but I also consciously realized that I could never go to her again for emotional support for the real challenges I was facing, the ego backlash that came on the heels of a mystical experience or awakening. I was alone. I mourned my real life relationships, even though on the outside, they were great. I saw then that the connection I sought from them and always hoped to get would never be found. Out of the nonacceptance or that, or needing to integrate that over time I became reliant on other people here, projecting my need for emotional support on them. The need to be "seen" persisted, but now it was projected onto people who I thought of as awake, people here on the forum, teachers. It is hard to accept that no one will ever see me. No one will ever love me. I am not. I am already. I am love. The form, the programming wants to throw all the monkey wrenches it possibly can to avoid facing this. And yet, it's all it ever really wanted all along, actualized. @LastThursday

I'm sick, with a bad cough and my thoughts just sucked today so I focused on connecting with belly breathing when I was driving to get my daughter. A thought came up about a comment I was considering and I thought of a connection to it. "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." "CLOSE, but no cigar." Back to breathing. I thought about how good it felt to focus on my stomach and I thought of the accidental boob on the dream board and Ramana Mararshi's analogy of being like nursing babe. Then *CLICK*. I've been looking for my mother outside of myself. Soooo... many connections. Recently something about the "mother wound" came up and I was like, "I don't have that, my Mom is perfect!" She is though. That's the thing. I'm a spoiled brat. Where was I driving today? To get homemade turkey soup from Mom's because I'm sick. I'm 31. Last year, my Grandmother was dying and my Mom was not the perfect Mom anymore. She was distracted and wasn't there for me at all. I was having a horrible time for a lot of reasons and called her a lot looking for emotional support and it wasn't there. I ended up awakening shortly after Grammie died. My dependence on Mommy for all my emotional support was gone. I was empowered and when I wasn't, well...who could I talk to about this? Not my actual mother. I thought about this. I considered it and I mourned it. Some. I've been making projections about people on the forum since before I even awakened. It's an emotional attachment, a need. Looking outside for my connection with source.

@crab12 This was kind of what I was trying to say, but I guess it kind of came across as fighting fir Stage Orange, which it wasn't meant to. More a healthy integration of Orange and an ability to enjoy duality in a healthy way. Say an awakened being wants a nice car, maybe they will opt for environmentally friendly cars such as Tesla (Example I don't know exact specs) instead of a Diesel car, and maybe they want a large home but will opt for a Stage Yellow self sustainable house that generates it's own energy using renewable sources, and has a vegtable garden and stuff like that, as this would be more beneficial and utilize less resources, it doesn't have to be as simple as Spending Money/ Desiring Things = Bad. But, I can see why, consumerism in excess causes lots and lots of issues, so it's all about finding that balance where we can enjoy things 'Guilt Free' without causing too much damage and actively trying to help the situation. In my case I went Vegan after seeing animal agriculture videos, but wasn't into spirituality at the time, and still don't think this makes me superior or more enlightened at all, I just don't want to support the animal agriculture industry and it happens you can live in optimal health with a Whole Foods Plant Based lifestyle. So, I can still enjoy the occasional treat 'Guilt Free' so to speak. Yeah, in terms of the Hermit approach I take a more 'Tantric' outlook in that we can experience all of life and duality in it's greatness in a conscious manner and don't need to become hermits. I often believe many of these hermits are trying to deny the 'ugly world out there' and haven't embraced the world as the very Buddha Planet, and The True Heaven, so are still potentially subtly rejecting duality! This also happens with Cellibacy a LOT, There is 'natural cellibacy' where the Sex Drive drops away naturally e.g. Ramana Maharshi and then forced celibacy that leads to nothing but repression and shadow issues....Priests beeing pedophiles for example? In my opinion, we should never deny something that is as natural as our sex drive, but of course we can make it more conscious and loving- like anything! Just to be clear I LOVE helping people, but I don't see to expense my own wellbeing as a result, I think that's BS to be honest, why not have both? Maybe that's greedy, but I feel we should be able to have our cake and eat it too Be able to enjoy basking in pure joy of The Self/ Non-Dual Honeymoon, while also enjoying the 'Duality' of human experience and embracing being a human and a unique one at that that has a personality and interests and things they love, what fun would it be if we were all a whitewash of awareness? Pretty boring.

@GreenWoods Yeah you can't embody The Absolute perfectly or you'd literally have no experience of a Human, just Infinite Awareness (which is absolutely what we are) bit that alone, with no body, human experience etc. Unless you plan on dropping the body, you will have to play the game of Survival, of course it can be done more consciously Post-Awakening, I thought I made that quite clear in my post. I'll go through each point numerically from your first point. 1) Survival isn't merely a survival of the body, have you watched Leo's videos? That is beyond reductionist. Survival means your relationships, human psyche, personality and on on and on and on. It encompasses far more than just the body. Just because one has a desire for financial abundance does not necessarily mean they are 'Selfish', of course many Businessmen/women are, but that's another story. You can be an unselfish millionaire, just because you create wealth for yourself doesn't instantly mean Selfish, it should also be emphasized one person cannot save humanity by themselves in terms of altruism. Of course, we should donate to good causes, but just look at the Bill Gates foundation, throwing money at problems isn't the solution. These issues run way deeper and are far more systemic and require complex and nuanced solutions. 2) You can never perfectly express oneness, that is a ridiculous idea. Otherwise, you'd never eat as your prioritizing your needs over someone else's. I'm not even sure what you're suggesting wth this comment, but it is impossible to perfectly embody oneness, I thought that was obvious? You are of course going to have to favour yourself slightly in situations, otherwise you would give up all your possessions to those less fortunate and go and live on the streets, that's not very practical is it? This is literally the kind of survival I'm talking about, to survive means you will cause issues elsewhere, it's about doing the best we can. A full awakening actually realizes the humanity of oneself, a lot of early awakenings subtly reject duality, I did for a long time. To me this is the easy way out and allows for spiritual bypassing in so many areas of life, and actually prevents shadow work and integration which can be tough at times. So, yes, sometimes you will make decisions that benefits you/ closest to you- If you buy a house it means someone else who was interested in it can't have it, if you eat food, it means someone else can't eat it. 3) Not once did I say altruism = emotionless robot. What I said is that those who don't embody their humanity can become like a robot, some spiritual circles actually say having no feelings and thoughts 24/7 is the highest state, it's complete bullshit and literally the definition of Psychopathy to have a lack/ no emotions lol. Being Altruistic tends to involve duality funnily enough (even though as I said Duality= Non-Duality but for purpose of this I will separate the 2) as you are helping 'others' who are yourself but you get my point. 4) Never heard of spiritual ego then I see? Someone who gives away their possessions for the reason of being able to say, I gave away my possessions I'm so spiritual is as much ego as the Rapper boasting about how much money they make, it's all trying to act superior. Of course if one wishes to give away all possessions that' VERY different and that is just what they wish to do, however, it doesn't make one 'more spiritual' to do so. No, if one buys themselves luxury goods because they enjoy them and they are useful, why shouldn't they be allowed to? To me, this just seems like you have ideas of how Awakened beings must behave, but it just isn't the case, if an enlightened being wants a nice house does this suddenly mean they aren't awake? Again, I go back to that's basically saying if you eat that's saying this body is superior to others. Also, someone who doesn't buy nice things just because they're spiritual could also be operating from a Spiritual Ego standpoint as I said. And, sorry to break it to you a lot of 'Enlightened People' (don't actually exist, but at early stages of awakening they are often referred to) there is often a superiority complex of 'I'm enlightened, you're not' which can lead to issues. Look at the issues of Mooji and Bentino Massano to see this first hand. 5) It is an ever-deepening process, but while you are alive you can never embody it 100% it's near impossible as we have both already discussed. However, love can be deepened in many different ways and not just through Philanthropy/ Donations. For example, any billionaire can give away a few million, but can they stop work for a week and spend good quality time with their Kids and Grankids, for them that would be a deeper example of embodying love. And, yes an awakening to love is a key part of a true awakening which many don't have. Love will then express itself naturally in one's life as we embody this, but that doesn't necessarily mean we give up all our possessions and spend all of our days feeding the poor, it can be expressed in a number of ways. Always doing the best we can in any situation and always deepening our love, this never ends. Awakening is only the beginning of life. 6) As I have just mentioned, a Body/Mind can only do it's best in any situation and love is an ever-deepening process, we can't be perfect but we can always deepen love further, it literally has no end. 7) Here I guess you're suggesting all profits should be donated/ spent in an altruistic manner. However, I feel differently. I believe, if one creates a profitable business that is built on helping people and providing value, why shouldn't one enjoy the fruits of this in terms of material benefit. Of course, I am not saying to NEVER be philanthropic or donate, but I'm just saying you don't have to give away 100% of the profits to be 'Spiritual.' That is a complete fallacy in my eyes. In terms of my plans, yes I own my own businesses and yes I wish to create complete financial freedom for myself (sorry) and no I don't believe this makes me less spiritual or suddenly less awake lol. I will be very generous with my money of course and have plans to help my family very much so financially speaking, as well as eventually raise children and a family in a happy, healthy environment. Of course, I will also donate to charities and great causes, and may eventually even look to personally help causes I believe strongly in, or who knows to start my own. But, I will not deny money sorry. The Buddha actually has some good teachings on prosperity for 'Laymen' and says those who aren't monks should actually go out and earn as much as they can! Of course he also advocated being generous with this money, and also being sensible in terms of saving and investing. Maybe the Buddha knew that money is simply energy hey I just want to make it clear, I believe embodying love and kindness and altruism to the greatest of our abilities is a huge key on our journeys, and being generous with money is also essential (counter-intuitively this creates more abundance in one's life) and receiving for the sake of sharing is something I live my life by, without sharing what would life be? Whenever something happens, we want to share it as much as possible. Just because one creates abundance does not been they are instantly 'Selfish' in fact it could be the very opposite, that you get there by helping people, how is that in any way selfish? Philanthropy isn't the only way to show love, but is, of course, an incredible way. I just don't agree that you can't be both wealthy and 'spiritual' I have tried to answer your questions in as much detail as possible, but if you have any more please do ask and I'd be happy to answer Also, I would be really careful to not create money issues that end up in your shadow by conflating selfishness and greed with Money, this will actually prevent you truly understanding the energy of money and abundance and lead to more issues further down the line. I have just read all your other responses also, and yes I agree with The Self itself is the Guiding principle post-awakening and integration, and this pretty much means you live from a place of love and truth, although nobody is perfect. However, it doesn't mean you have to give away all of the money that you don't need always, it means you live a life full of giving and helping 'others' when in reality you are only ever helping, talking or seeing yourself. Therefore, knowing everyone to be your brother and sister how could you then act in any other way? Why would you want to hurt yourself? Also, in terms of giving away money, I agree hoarding beyond a protective amount is pointless. But, you could also invest money in a conscious way to help businesses/ things you believe in grow and in return create even more value for the world. While I agree that philanthropy is important, I feel you're looking at things in quite a reductionist manner in terms of how we can express love and The Self, there is an infinite amount of ways we can embody infinite love. In regards to your stage orange comment YES! That is the issue, I am literally saying to create a business FIRST that is built on helping people, not a stage orange Profit only business, these are the sorts of businesses that will also outlive Stage Orange, that's my point and are actually benefiting humanity!

Lately it seems like when old patterns of "Oh my god, this is a disaster" come up, or "asking" happens, the solution is swift at its heals (heels, funny "mis"spelling there). The past couple days after the fit I threw in front of my husband about being a terrible mother have been great weather, meaning I get the kids out to play, feel like a great mom and get my outdoor meditation fix as well. It amazes me how quickly I can get things to turn around when I feel overwhelmed by them. Last night and this morning just through watching music videos a desire came up to have a female friend, (or be that friend I don't know) who is always pushing the limits, always in the vortex. My two best friends both moved away this past summer. Then today I talked to my sister and sort of awakened to what incredible potential we have to work together in so many ways, but because we're sisters there's lots of "stuff" there that keeps us from connecting and communicating. Over the years as we grow that stuff falls away. She told me today that she wants to talk about our childhood and compare our perceptions of it, I thought that could be really interesting. I "came out" to her about my youtube channel and shared it with her. I've been talking with her about the law of attraction. She is a personal trainer, extremely motivated with her yoga business, also teaches tai chi and does intensive courses to train people to be yoga teachers. She is finishing her degree now and taking psychology courses, and has realized that she needed trauma training to teach people as intensively as she does because it "bubbles up". I've always perceived us to be like opposites in a way, but always similar. I've always turned inward, been the introvert, she's the extrovert, over achiever. Those opposites no longer seem real to me. She no longer seems other than me. I don't know exactly what will come out of it, but I do see that I over looked and avoided something really wonderful here.

Its probably the breath of fire that makes you feel that way. Continue until you feel energy doing weird stuff in your Body, this strange energy awakened my Kundalini. You can also try the Wim Hoff method, its even stronger than the breath of fire.