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I don't understand this part.... does this mean that all those awakened monks and yogis we see are just imagination? Does this mean that the only entity that has to awaken is myself? But isn't Consciousness divided into infinite probes who have to awaken on their own? As you said in the "meaning of life" video.

There is also the Gaia hypothesis: That's a bit different than what I have in mind. I'm thinking of the whole planet earth as a collective conscious being. I will call it the Awakening of Gaia! The Great Awakening. Then it can be made consistent with the Gaia hypothesis which then describes the unawakened earth, while the awakened Gaia is where we humans become one with the whole earth as a living planetary organism. Gaia is also the "victorious one" in the Bible: Jesus Christ will also give the victorious one the morning star, which means some kind of planetary relationship between Earth and Venus.

Something to contemplate Why couldn't I accept enlightenment? I had the opportunity to embody the truth itself, being completely untangled and remaining in nonduality. Why did I imagine my life again? The truth was too great to accept in one go. I wasn't prepared. I felt so powerful that I became fearful. I couldn't let it sink in. What happened? I died. All of a sudden time was dead still, and there was no self reference whatsoever. Ego death didn't happen, it already was. There wasn't a problem of letting go or surrendering, no.. it was already so. But as I came to that self realisation, feeling like I'm being born for the very first time, eternity dawned and I panicked. I got scared. All that power, all that freedom, all that wholeness without a strand of lack, scared the little sense that was left in me. And so, out of desperation as if grasping for air, I started imagining. I remembered life and who i am. By the time everything was back to normal after I had woken up from that enlightening dream, I felt a fading pressure at the middle of my eyebrows. Something was happening in my deep sleep. And I suspect that if I had simply accepted the truth I would have woken up fully awakened. How will I be ready? I don't know how one can prepare to, not only die, but live forever as God. I guess the trick is.. to realize that I'm already doing it. And so I'll just have to see it now, realize how already alone I am and how this has all been self love. There's nothing to fear but yourself.

it is a zero sum game but from the limited and identified human pov it does not seem so. try expanding ur perspective. it is definitely a zero sum game from the ultimate perspective. every thing is changing all the time yet its all still the same b cuz its one. form is ever changing yet formlessness is always the same and it cant be otherwise. if u think life is not a zero sum game then u havent truly awakened to oneness and ur still operating from ego

Except there are many different levels of consciousness. There is an extraordinary range. Has nothing to do with specialness. There are some markers, although they can only be really understood once one has awakened pretty deeply. Even that is tricky because people understand love in different ways. But I generally agree that Love is a very distinctive level of awakening which many lack. It's also possible they don't talk about it so that you can discover it on your own because love can be a very misleading notion for the ego-mind. Talking about love makes people think love is a personal feeling or something like that.

@Leo Gura Very true, although I feel there's obvious markers. The easiest one is those teachers who clearly haven't awakened to love. Even then it is a guess. But, I think you'll agree in regards to Love, many teachers either don't talk about it/ neglect it, usually as they haven't awakened to it themselves.

@apparentlynoself Personally, I feel you don't lose your spiritual progress if you become truly awake, but ultimately is there a way to know? If there is I'd love to check out some resources on this! I know people who have claimed to contact/ channel awakened beings like Ramana, Nisgardatta etc, but could of course be BS so who knows!

@traveler Not at all, some people are genuinely awakened more deeply, and know their being more clearly. Watch a Tony Parsons video, and then go and watch a Francis Lucille/ Ramana Maharishi video you’ll notice subtle differences. @Jahmaine I think Leo has certainly had many many awakenings on his trips and what not, but I’m not at all convinced he abides there in his sober/ natural state, could be wrong. im not sure “why”, I would include Dalai Lama, hut again like Sadhguru, he has to dumb most the teachings down as he’s such a mainstream figure. I also imagine being a monk for that long can create several shadow issues, such as sex. In regards to Eckhart I love him, I used to watch him everyday a couple of years ago and read all his books time after time, power of now was like my bible ? However, I do not feel hes as deeply awakened as say Francis and Rupert from what he says and what not. Those 2 go way deeper than Eckhart and kind of go beyond his message. Although I think he’s the perfect bridge into this work for the mainstream.

I'm glad he's closing down conspiracy threads because they are everywhere, and more contagious than COVID 19. I went down the conspiracy rabbit hole at one point a few years ago, until I realised that there are about as much critical thinking and actual evidence based claims as evangelical Christianity or Scientology. I have watched dear green friends become Trump supporters as COVID 19 has disrupted society, usually because they are anti-vaxxers and he's doing things like freezing funding to WHO. They are posting rubbish youtube conspiracy video's all over facebook and other platforms and all critical thinking or looking at alternative evidence has disappeared. In discussion with other green/yellow friends, we see it as a dark cult that has taken the minds of so many into an endless rabbit hole where helplessness and hopelessness pervade. It is certainly NOT a healthy place to be, or an awakened place to be, as so many of them claim. So thank you Leo for helping this become a place where this nonsense is not tolerated.

@Leo Gura You generally (and zen masters too) talk about awakening as the liberation from the illusion of the "videogame character". In this discussion you say that you are still trapped in a body, and that's absolutely true, but.... Doesn't an enlightened person perceive its ego and body as just a videogame character that they are playing? I'm not saying that an awakened being has no bodily desires. I'm sure zen masters have desires. What I'm saying is.... does the zen master recognize that he is just a videogame character and that he is actually the videogame creator? This should create some sort of separation from the egoic desires and his own awareness. Of course he feels the needs, but... aren't those needs perceived as a videogame roleplaying? So what's the point of awakening then?

@electroBeam You do you man. Awakening and embodiment is the end of so called “suffering” at least in my experience. Of course painful sensations and what not exist, however, with complete acceptance and appreciation of each and every moment these are no longer seen as a problem whatsoever. “I” am already completely happy and at peace. In regards to Sex Scandals, this is due to not being fully awakened/ no awakening to love/ The Self being all, you don’t see the likes of Ramana, Rupert, Francis etc participating in sex scandals. Awakening has depths, it isn’t black and white. If you wish to pursue the life you are after go for it, but in my view spirituality has transmuted to the west for a reason. It’s time to embody the teachings in daily life and in all areas of life, and actually begin to create a “world” based on this understanding, and not based on fear, lack and greed. Of course absolutely speaking it doesn’t matter either way. But, relatively speaking living life based on this will have huge implications, and gradually we will see these structures and societies fall and be replaced. Society changes one individual at a time. As more people “wake up” they aren’t going to accept what we have going on right now (relatively speaking) I also understand why monks and yogis practice celibacy in the seeking stage, however, after true awakening it isn’t really necessary, unless it happens naturally, same as with what you are talking about. I wish you luck on your journey

Some say that they have been around on the planet since the beginning. But it's not like UFO or that they abduct people. Many shamans from Siberia (and possibly many others from around the globe) think that human life emerged from aliens. They say that aliens can communicate only with those evolved enough, like shamans or awakened beings. But it could be just another BS. Who knows.. It might be true, too.

@Leo Gura It's not about being not being humble enough or something. It's not about not being confident either. It's more like saying joking about myself to humiliate myself, not to show myself as a smart person, just to fit in, as I described in a post. I am 100% honest here - my problem is not being too cocky, I already got that covered. @Natasha @LastThursday What you are saying here is really interesting. I developed a huge spiritual ego and I right now I'm at the stage of my life, where my priorities and values turned upside down. I went through dark night of the soul process and I am basically an awakened being. That left me somehow empty, I could just sit all day, playing video games or become a monk in the mountains, but that is boring as fuck. I want to conquer the world now.

A glimpse of ego death Awakening Last night I awakened to a grand truth and that is.. I am consciousness. To know how I got there you can check out my journal, I want to keep this post short. This is so profound and just amazing to realize. And this is very true for me, I had gone from being aware of the fabric of reality to being the fabric of reality. Now, not only do I know that consciousness is the substance of reality, I know that that very fabric is me.. this field is my body. Everything happening within me, I am the canvas in which stories and expressions are told. Consciousness is my true body, not the physical! The Transition This awakening got so deep that at some point I was dead. Literally, I was gone. I can only describe the experience as being peaceful and powerful. But I tapped out. Oh My Soul ?‍♂️ The reason I say that it's a glimpse is because I couldn't let it settle, I couldn't let the transition of my state of consciousness reach equilibrium, I couldn't accept the truth. What you realise when you die is that you were never alive to begin with, life is a story. What you realise is that you've always been dead,.. ETERNITY Dawns! SELFLESSNESS Dawns! GOD Dawns. And it was too much. I couldn't accept it. It was too grand to let it settle in one fell swoop. I can't describe the transition as a sense of fading away, no. It started with me being gone, I had disappeared, I was already dead. It's the realising of the Truth that gets you. I was observing what was going on and when it started to make sense I tapped out. Didn't let it sink in. It was a glimpse of ego death. Know I know what ego is, and I don't mean conceptually, I mean I'm aware of what ego is. It's the self. Guys, there is no self in truth! I promise you there isn't a self, self is completely imagined. There is no self at all, no false self, no lower self or higher self, no true self, there's no self! There only thing there is unity, it's wholeness. And you feel it, I swear to God you feel that wholeness to the core. Typing this right now, I feel scarred.. that realisation left a mark on my ego. Sitting here, I know that it's a lie, I know that I'm a fat lie. I don't exist. And to top it off, you realise that nothing exists, existence is not real. Why because truth is nondual and therefore nothing must exist and can exist. Existence is imaginary, it's imagination. It's A Glimpse This realisation was just a taste of ego death, a taste of nonduality, a taste of freedom. And I'm utterly grateful for this experience because I now know what to expect from this work. I can now integrate and start forgetting myself. P.S. I'm not going to lie and say it was a beautiful experience, realising that you're God is not a beautiful experience. It's peaceful and meaningless and immensely powerful, that's it. Feel free to comment and leave any advice as to how I can go forward with this. For now, I'm just going to take time off and just appreciate this illusion. Peace ?

So I already had awakened that I'am everything, but yesterday this insight was so deep that I could actually "see" myself in everything. And that shit shook me so much. But that's Truth. The hardest thing is to accept it, but it's quite difficult since I have been living in this illusion quite a while now. It's hard to go back "home". The biggest thing led to realizing this was imagining some item in just outer space. Then I realized that the object and the place it is in is One. There is no separation. And to awaken to it and see it for the first time with you own eyes. Not just to get the insight of Oneness is absolutely radical. I guess this goes way way deeper.

Last night I had a glimpse of ego death or the transition of it. It left me speechless for a good 15 - 20 minutes. The transition was amazing but more terrifying than so. Being Mindful It was in the early evening when I decided I was going to spend the rest of the night meditating. As the night settled in it was already raining and I was on my bed, sitting cross legged and just being in the present. The rain got heavier, and I struggled to hear my breathing. Then, instead of focusing on my breath, I decided to close my eyes and focus on the sound of the rain. This gradually led me to focus my attention on the entire auditory field, and before I even knew it I was completely absorbed by the present moment. Grounded in the present, I was observing everything there was to observe of sound. I was completely immersed in June listening and listening alone. This was me for the next hours and hours. During this session I really became aware of the impermanence of reality, listening to every change, every end and every beginning of rhythm, melodies and what I imagined to be the voices of nature. And there more I deepened my awareness the broader my attentiveness became, I could hear things that I knew were coming from afar. Completely in the present, absorbed by the auditory field, with my attention feeling on max, I could feel my body expanding. All of a sudden I wasn't hearing the sounds anymore, I was making them. They were no longer happening out there anymore, I was observing them within me. My body was no longer localized, instead of listening to this field I became the field. My body became the consciousness in which everything appears/transpires. I didn't think this, I just know it, and I was in awe. But just when I thought things were starting to get weird, I wasn't thinking anymore, thoughts were happenings in me. The sound of my thoughts couldn't be differentiated from the sounds of the auditory field which was now my body. With my body being consciousness, I became hyper aware of reality, I began to notice the smog of illusion that filled existence, I became aware of infinity. There was no such thing as finite, finite was imaginary. There was no ending of things because there was no beginning of anything. Everything was unified, there was just existence and no existing thing other than that being imagined. All this just dawned on me during the session. But the more I realised stuff the more thoughts began to arise and fall, rise and fall, everything that occurred.. happenings, resembled a wave. And thoughts just kept on coming and I just observed, and before I even knew it - I could see. The Glimpse There was sight, a whole entire different view even, it was still the sight of my room. The scene had changed suddenly and things were gone, the rain was gone, sounds were gone, thoughts were gone, and sudden as the struck of thunder.. I was gone. The view was there, as it would normally be, with the sight of a body perspective. But I was not the body, I mean I was but not localized, the body was just a part of me. I was everything, I was all of it. Turning and looking around, I wasn't turning and looking around.. all of that was a happening inside of me. I was the canvas, the field, I was the nothingness of it - and I was dead. The moving picture was me, it was all just a unit, a unified happening. There was no self-orientated thought, no self-referent thought, no I. And it was amazing, it was peaceful because it all meant nothing.. it was meaningless. But as amazing as that was, it terrified me, the meaninglessness of it struck terror in the little peace of what was left of me in the scene. I started kicking in, I realized that I wasn't breathing, I realized the dead silence of existence and I panicked. I thought, I thought as much as I could, started imagining a me, a self in the scene. I imagined as hard as I could, making mental noise as much as possible, until I finally appeared. But it was still clear that my appearance was phantom. It didn't matter, I hung on desperately to that illusion and believed it was me.. I did that until it became real. I woke up. I opened my eyes and the first thing I noticed was me. I had fallen asleep, it was just a dream. My world was back, the sounds, the sight, the sensations and thoughts, they were all back. But that dream... What kind of a dream was it? It seemed like a casual dream but also felt like that one if a deep sleep, like it was dreamless. I looked at the time and it wasn't even 11pm yet, it was still around 22h00 and I had only slept for what I suspect to be a minute or two. I had had a dream that felt like it lasted for eternity only to wake up and find out I had drifted off from my meditation for a good minute or so. That dream... Although it was just a dream it felt like the truth. I had felt one with everything, like everything was my body. I couldn't even see a thing there, it was all just one thing, a unity.. it was whole and it was me. Like I said, it was amazing and beautiful, but too much to accept on one fell swoop. It was a glimpse. A transition that didn't reach it's end. Just thinking about what could have happened if I had just accepted the truth on one big go.. leaves me speechless. What if I had died in that dream? What if I had never woken up again? But what if I had woken up and I had woken up awakened? It was just too great to accept at one go, alright! That's all it was. You get terrified because there's nothing you can attach yourself to, and because of that.. it dawn's that your entire life was nothing but a story, a figment of your imagination. And just like that, it dawn's to you that you were never alive, ETERNITY Dawns. That's some heavy shit to accept on one go, you'll resist, and that's what happened.. I resisted. But I'm grateful for this experience because now, for the first time ever, I have an idea of what to expect from this work.

Reality is beginning to feel more and more like a dream. The impermanent and illusory nature of reality is becoming a lot more clear now. Any possible integrations I could be making with this? I've been practicing mindfulness meditation and been grounding myself in the present moment for quite some time now. And in these past months I've been noticing significant changes in my consciousness. It's been amazing, I've really come a long way. I'm more aware of myself and everything and everyone around me. It feels like most of my life I've been sleep walking... and it's only now that I'm becoming aware of what's been actually going on. Reality is so dreamlike and it's starting to feel ridiculous. When I wake up from sleep it feels like I'm waking into another dream, because during sleep I'm almost always aware that I'm dreaming because of how impermanent things are in there but now this experience is beginning to expand on to the real world.. or what I imagined to be the real world. Rather than living my life I've been doing that less and observing it more. It's weird because I can't help but sort of feel outraged by this. I feel outraged or cheated in a sense that if I was watching a dramatic performance but I'm not buying into the story because the acting isn't convincing then I can't help but feel robbed. But that's the feeling that I don't get because I wasn't expecting to feel like this knowing I'd become more conscious. I was expecting to feel something more.. I don't know, more uplifting. Like the kind of feeling you get when you watch a magic trick and then later on you realise by yourself how the magician tricked you. I thought I'd be feeling a more 'I'm winning' sort of feeling. Why is this happening? Why do I feel that feeling you would get when you feel like complaining? It's not like I didn't know that this is what I was to achieve. This is very strange ? Instead of feeling enlightened/awakened I feel something else which feels rather unsettling, it's as if I'm being constantly lied to and not only am I not buying it I'm also getting sick of it. This is very strange. Why is this happening? Should I be integrating somethings that I'm not and it's leading me to feel this way? Or should I be noticing something spiritual that I'm not noticing? Nowadays I don't even feel like sleeping. I just want to sit down and look, observe the unfolding of things, watch just how what I'd known to be true was nothing but an illusion. I'm even seeing just how the mind keeps trying to get me to fall asleep again but I keep catching this and redirecting my focus and beholding reality's greatest secret.. it's all imaginary. Any thoughts?

Yes, those symptoms are caused by the increased flow of energy and effects of increased electromagnetism in nerve clusters. Sometimes there are involuntary movements, spasms, kriyas (spontaneous yogic poses) as well as whatever effects an increased flow of energy may generate, such as heat and vibration. If you don't want to experience a Kundalini Awakening, you should probably stop meditating. If you continue, your Kundalini will eventually awaken and there will be serious side-effects, that much I can pretty much guarantee. However, if you can find an awakened Guru or Master to teach you, those effects can be lessened signficantly.

A Surreal Reality Reality is beginning to feel more and more like a dream. The impermanent and illusory nature of reality is becoming a lot more clear now. I've been practicing mindfulness meditation and been grounding myself in the present moment for quite some time now. And in these past months I've been noticing significant changes in my consciousness. It's been amazing, I've really come a long way. I'm more aware of myself and everything and everyone around me. It feels like most of my life I've been sleep walking... and it's only now that I'm becoming aware of what's been actually going on. Reality is so dreamlike and it's starting to feel ridiculous. When I wake up from sleep it feels like I'm waking into another dream, because during sleep I'm almost always aware that I'm dreaming because of how impermanent things are in there but now this experience is beginning to expand on to the real world.. or what I imagined to be the real world. Rather than living my life I've been doing that less and observing it more. It's weird because I can't help but sort of feel outraged by this. I feel outraged or cheated in a sense that if I was watching a dramatic performance but I'm not buying into the story because the acting isn't convincing then I can't help but feel robbed. But that's the feeling that I don't get because I wasn't expecting to feel like this knowing I'd become more conscious. I was expecting to feel something more.. I don't know, more uplifting. Like the kind of feeling you get when you watch a magic trick and then later on you realise by yourself how the magician tricked you. I thought I'd be feeling a more 'I'm winning' sort of feeling. Why is this happening? It's not like I didn't know that this is what I was to achieve. This is very strange ? Instead of feeling enlightened/awakened I feel something else which feels rather unsettling, it's as if I'm being constantly lied to and not only am I not buying it I'm also getting sick of it. This is very strange. Why is this happening? Should I be integrating somethings that I'm not and it's leading me to feel this way? Or should I be noticing something spiritual that I'm not noticing? Nowadays I don't even feel like sleeping. I just want to sit down and look, observe the unfolding of things, watch just how what I'd known to be true was nothing but an illusion. I'm even seeing just how the mind keeps trying to get me to fall asleep again but I keep catching this and redirecting my focus and beholding reality's greatest secret.. it's all imaginary.

Maybe you just activated or awakened a part of yourself that was a little asleep previously, and this unlocked some energy within you. I can't imagine you won't settle down automatically, maybe at a slightly higher baseline? idk

Total awakening would be what they call "enlightenment", I assume. But to answer one of your questions.. yes, there degrees in which you awaken, same as there are degrees in which you can become conscious. Total should mean that it's a complete realisation, and that you've grasped all there is to grasp about that truth. When you're pure consciousness, as in aware without any adjuncts in your awareness, then that's it.. you're already infinite consciousness aware of infinity itself - or should I say yourself. At least that's how I understand it. Awakening is waking up to a truth about reality, such as reality is imaginary or reality's substance is consciousness. There more conscious you become there more awakened you become. Total awakening can either mean a complete realisation of what is.. or can mean enlightenment.

@actualizing25 sorry for derailing the thread slightly, to answer your question this is what was most effective for me (aside from the basics people have mentioned already) Working 1-1 with an awakened being through any blockages/ issues/ struggles you are having on your path. Transmissions- Silence is always the highest teaching, as the truth can only be found in silence, any words we speak are simply a modulation of the truth, but of course necessary in most cases and helpful. If you can and are ready, I would certainly recommend working with a teacher 1-1, it, to me, is far more effective than attending Satsangs (which has its uses as well!), watching videos& reading books (again have their uses) Its like being taught sport in a group setting or 1-1, when 1-1 you can focus more diligently on your own issues and where exactly you are going wrong etc. Was extremely helpful for me!

It is humorous how often "awakened" individuals use their "awakening" as the subject of their ego, and the forum as the platform

Greatest appreciation for the awakened master @Inliytened1

Wow. So beautiful that it's truly infinite and can do that. Yet also so baffling that existence prevailed, even though it's possible to discover it being inevitable by design. I'v awakened to the idea that nothing and infinity are the same, yet no-matter how total the understanding becomes, there is this lingering mystery. For example, there is this burning desire to remember the moment when I imagined water, I want to know that moment intimately, the same way I know this moment. I want to get a familiar sense of the mechanics of creation, as I feel I was once conscious when I created everything. Even if I saw every nook and cranny of infinity I would still ask (as this ego) why is it natural for nothingness to be aware? What allows awareness to be? Does infinite intelligence work in a comprehensible way? It's clearly working, we are here, so there must be a "how" to how it's working, maybe it's too epic to grasp, but It can't not have a "way' it must be doing it in a certain fashion right? There must be some strange process that can be comprehensible at least to the infinitely intelligent itself. Although Leo did say, "It doesn't know how it's doing it", has anyone here ever felt what creating feels like?