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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.

Because if you want to play the game of survival you need money? Awakening doesn't mean you stop living, the opposite in fact. It's when you truly start living. Before enlightenment chop wood and carry water; After enlightenment chop wood and carry water. People like to think when they awaken they will become 'above human' 'superhuman' or some other absolute BS. In fact, a true awakening is when you become more human than ever before. You realize that while you live as The Self, you still live as a unique expression of The Self as a human. And, as that human, you will have a personality, interests, likes, family, friends, a job probably etc and will be completely unique to anyone else. Awakening allows you to realize what you truly are is Natural Pure Awareness, The Absolute, God, whatever you want to call it and yes you abide as this. However, you are awareness experiencing itself as a unique human, so if you deny this you are literally denying life. If you try to become an emotionless robot who has no interests and no personality you are simply rejecting Duality. (In reality Duality and Non-Duality are literally the same thing but that's for another post) So, this whole money BS is basically people projecting that Enlightened people either are or see themselves as superior, which isn't the case, well some teachers do like to see themselves as superior. In reality, NOBODY is ever enlightened because a person can't become enlightened, and those that say they are, may well be, but are not fully Self-Realized. In reality, EVERYONE is merely The Absolute, however, 99.9% of people have no idea of this and are completely oblivious to it. You are not superior because you're awake, in fact, a true awakening is very humbling, as you realize literally everyone and everything is your very self, how could you be superior? Therefore, yes you are also still having a human experience, and unless you don't want to live in the society you will need money to function. It's also such a backward question, wouldn't you rather conscious, good people became millionaires/ billionaires by actually creating true value and weren't exploiting people, instead of the many unconscious wealthy individuals we have. The problem is a lot of awakened beings often ditch society and I don't blame them, however, it means those in power are far from awake or conscious and look what we have created. Imagine conscious people in politics, business, in normal jobs, sports, etc imagine how much better things would be. So, to answer your question after that rant, you could simply say, Awakening doesn't make me/someone special, in fact it shows how all humans are merely God/ The Absolute/ The Self, and it doesn't mean I'm no longer (Insert Name) or no longer a Human. I still have a personality and have what makes me human. However, it means I abide and operate from a place of truth and love, and from this place, I would be much more conscious in my actions and wouldn't con people out of money. Wouldn't it be better if we had, good and loving people who wanted to push humanity forward in charge of big businesses and in important positions instead of the corrupt, greedy and power-hungry people we see today?' Also, please don't demonize money on your journey, all you will do is create a shadow issue around money that will prevent you from making money and create blockages in your life. Money is simply an energy, just because those that have the most are usually quite corrupt doesn't mean money itself is evil. Money is a tool that can be used for the greatest reasons or for the worst reasons. Be conscious earning and spending money, and always be grateful for what you have, when you buy something, and when you earn money, this helps create a welcoming environment where you can become wealthy. (you'll still have to work for it, I'm not saying you can simply magic up billions) Sorry for the long post, but this is a common issue and one that affected me for a while, I thought I couldn't be spiritual and run a business, it's complete BS!

Yes I agree he is a great teacher and explains things very well. I used to believe it was important that I helped people wake up... like it was the destiny of the human race to all become awakened. I no longer hold these beliefs... if Awakening occurs it occurs if it doesn't it doesn't either way it does not matter whatsoever, there's no meaning purpose or value in it at all, but simultaneously if someone wants to help make the world a better place or help awaken people that's what is happening...why not. The neo-advaitist's as everyone else is calling them, are saying that you cannot awaken the separate individual because the separate individual is an illusion and any attempt to awaken it is futile and ridiculous. Awakening is the disidentification with the illusion. In my experience once I turned my seeking energy 180 degrees within I recognized the ME that I thought I was was the illusion itself. When this energy and illusion fell away, it was simultaneously recognized it never existed, the line dividing duality and non-duality, subject and object was completely recognized to have been simply an illusion all along. The oneness that's always been the case was clearly revealed. "The separation never occurred" - A Course in Miracles Have a good day my friend take care talk to you soon ?

@Nahm ”I’ve never actually faced any criticism from friends & family. We just missed, in the heat of a moment, that where each of us is at on our path, is precisely where we “should” be...it is what is...maybe we expected otherwise, and maybe we kinda of ‘paid the price’ for that misunderstanding”. i feel anger. I feel that I have been criticised unfairly by my narcissistic parents. ”Maybe I’m taking where someone else is at, and where people I know are at, and where I’m at...and expecting things to be other than they are, as if there was a “right way”, a “right teaching”, a “correct objective view”, etc. This leaves me feeling some kind of worry, as if I need to figure out which is the “right”, or “rational way”, or “correct way”. Yes I definitely feel my mind trying to moralise things. I feel pressure to follow Leo’s teachings. “I don’t want to suffer like the people I keep coming across in my life. It is a fate worse than death to be ordinary and live a consumeristic lifestyle. For me it is the definition of hell. determination. All the people around me I see are blind to the ways they hurt themselves. “I don’t want to talk about over thinking, nor self referential thinking. I don’t like when people talk about that”. i overthink a lot myself. So I guess the emotion I feel is denial. I want to stop overthinking but I feel like my mind is stuck in a permanent state of overthinking. It is a mechanism to cope with my problems. “I notice sometimes I am so moved & inspired, that I end up frustrated when others don’t accept my understanding”. I don’t feel frustrated by it. But I do feel dejected for a brief moment. I accept that they won’t understand because the understanding only occurred for me because of a few lucky circumstances and the right mindset. ”I sometimes notice that I see people through a lens of sameness, but also sometimes through a lens of labeling them, or pigeonholing them, or, differences”. yes, I often get a sense of superiority when I look at people around me. I see them as the same, caught in the matrix of daily human life, even though I was there not long ago. ”My understanding of why stage blue is often offended by stage green, is really clear. I enjoy the feeling of harmony I experience with my understanding of spiral dynamics. I’m so glad I took the time to better understand myself and others, and how we are all connected”. yes. I feel a sense of relief that I discovered spiral dynamics. I have a sense of clarity that I’ve never experienced before and it is beautiful. It gives me structure as well because I have an end goal of moving up the spiral . ”Occasionally, I expect people to change to be like me, but then I remember we’re all the same, and we choose different thoughts, and I have a hearty relieving laugh about it all”. i don’t recognise people as the same. I tend to put them down in my mind. It’s something I need to work on. Fundamentally I know we are all the same, but I often forget. ”No one will ever be able to relate to awakening, who has not yet awakened”. i haven’t awakened, so I can’t really say how I feel about this. But I think I would tend to agree. ”I relish in putting how I feel, before anything I think or say. The effortlessness of life has been revealed to me, and it is pure joy”. i am still dominated by my mind but over the past year I have really let go of expressing things in ideas and often frame things in terms of emotions, yet because of past trauma, I have not fully opened up yet. ”If I had the last brownie on earth, and couldn’t share it with anyone - I’d eat it, and enjoy the heck out of it, with a big smile on my face”. I would feel guilty and feel sad that the other person could not share it with me. I woud give them the whole thing.

@Mongu9719 This is going to initially sound odd, but how do you feel when reading these statements? Some might not resonate, and even feel off-putting. If there’s any “triggering” experience, what is the emotion which arises? ”I’ve never actually faced any criticism from friends & family. We just missed, in the heat of a moment, that where each of us is at on our path, is precisely where we “should” be...it is what is...maybe we expected otherwise, and maybe we kinda of ‘paid the price’ for that misunderstanding”. ”Maybe I’m taking where someone else is at, and where people I know are at, and where I’m at...and expecting things to be other than they are, as if there was a “right way”, a “right teaching”, a “correct objective view”, etc. This leaves me feeling some kind of worry, as if I need to figure out which is the “right”, or “rational way”, or “correct way”. “I don’t want to suffer like the people I keep coming across in my life”. “I don’t want to talk about over thinking, nor self referential thinking. I don’t like when people talk about that”. “I notice sometimes I am so moved & inspired, that I end up frustrated when others don’t accept my understanding”. ”I sometimes notice that I see people through a lens of sameness, but also sometimes through a lens of labeling them, or pigeonholing them, or, differences”. ”My understanding of why stage blue is often offended by stage green, is really clear. I enjoy the feeling of harmony I experience with my understanding of spiral dynamics. I’m so glad I took the time to better understand myself and others, and how we are all connected”. ”Occasionally, I expect people to change to be like me, but then I remember we’re all the same, and we choose different thoughts, and I have a hearty relieving laugh about it all”. ”No one will ever be able to relate to awakening, who has not yet awakened”. ”I relish in putting how I feel, before anything I think or say. The effortlessness of life has been revealed to me, and it is pure joy”. ”If I had the last brownie on earth, and couldn’t share it with anyone - I’d eat it, and enjoy the heck out of it, with a big smile on my face”.

So, it's been some time since I've posted on my journal. So much has happened. My main theme is divine masculine and divine feminine. I finally understand. By embodying both, we really see things in such a different light. Females understand men more then men do lol. So let me share something, Little by little I've become more and more masculine. True yang. Fire. I've embodied it to the extreme. I've felt like a true man. If that makes sense to the person reading. The divine masculine resists the divine feminine. Once someone awakens their divine feminine you are in balance with oneself. As long as we stop resistance. And example of what I'm talking about is acting like a girl while being a "male" so let me restart. Yesterday I chatted with my best friend, But he would always trigger me. For no reason I would get triggered and we realized that it's when he embodies his divine feminine. My divine masculine would resist so much. The more masculine I became I would resist him more and more. I would never want to talk or when we did talk I would get triggered. We discovered that whenever he embodies his divine feminine I would feel this resistance come from my soul. The place in between my heart and solar plexus. I felt this "fire" there. I could feel the degrees in which he embodied more of his yin nature. His natual chart showed his masculine and feminine at both 5 while my masculine was at 8 and feminine at 2. Long story short. We talked and since we figured it out he switched to embodying his masculine side. I would no longer get triggered by anything he said and I felt fine chatting with him. I then discovered or felt like I had a twin flame. It's been a theme that's been coming up a lot in my life. I never understood them till now. The girl I loved would always feel resistance when I used to embody my divine feminine and chase her. Then I switched and unconsciously switched to more of a divine masculine nature and stoped caring. I no longer cared and the roles switched (I still don't fully understand this, since online they say you can only be divine feminine or divine masculine. It just feels right to call her my twin flame if that makes sense? Maybe it's another connection that I'm just associating as twin flame.) This is only understood by people who have awakened both inside of them. Anyone who has awakened both can switch between the two and have different degrees. I became a girl, literally. I saw from a girls perspective. I emoboided the divine feminine. Yin to the extreme is such a good listener. We both realized soooo much about both of our natures. I finally tapped into both. he has delt with this his whole life. Saying as a kid he never understood his feminine side and would resist it so much. I never understood until yesterday. Girls understand guys so much better then we understand ourselves. Like we created all these amazing analogies. And example of one was that divine masculine is like a sun, Shining brightly. While the divine feminine is very cold and doesn't care about the shining masculine. Another one was a divine masculine when angry is like touch me and you will burn while the divine feminine is you look at me you burn. I've never been angry while in my feminine state as I've only fully embodied it yesterday, but that is the example he gave me. It fit so much for the masculine side that I'm sharing it here. He also shared a lot of the insigts he has gotten since he was a child, which really helped me understand this feminine side. Femine is very caring. Like a mature women. It was such an eye opener. I realized so much and when I finally embodied/ switched from a divine masculine to the divine feminine I cried. There was soooo much that happened yesterday that I would have to use pages of words to explain what happened. I can now tap into both divine masculine and feminine. Different degrees. Use and switch to solve problems. I have grown once again. Also, if anyone has had the chance to awaken to both their divine energies I would love to hear about it oh yeah, I no longer get triggered by his femine side since I've experienced the divine feminine side. Oh some of my own insigts are: when I embodied the femine side I contemplated and I realized that sex no longer means the same thing. It's about connection. I also had zero drive for goals and saw that I stoped caring about sex. I had all this sexual energy before and once I became a "girl" I stoped unconsciously seeking it. Wow, this is truly amazing. My whole perspective on life has changed. I realized that the divine masculine has all these judgements about the feminine and the feminine is so kind. I just wanna go on and on about my insigts. Like, the divine feminine is such a good listener. She doesn't look at you while she listens but she actually wants to hear what you have to say. while the divine masculine is always trying to talk over someone or share what they just thought. He wants eye contact and all this extra stuff. Oh and when I'm in the divine masculine state my body is more "open" like my arms are open and my legs are not so close together. But in the divine feminine state all my body parts are touching each other. It feels nice to curl up. if anyone relates then I would love to listen.

My theory is that some people have a more or less inherent ability to awareness and consciousness through introspection but not having awakened those abilities becomes tools that instead of helping transcending ones problems actually work as excavating tools, digging the hole one is in deeper in every possible way. At some point the bubble of ignorance is popped - typically through crisis - and you suddenly gain a lot of clarity as a result of all that contemplation work you've done without realizing it. Other people have little or no ability to introspect and are externally focused around their problems and it makes it very hard as no solution is found "out there". ...it's a theory, that matches my experience.

I think you often think I'm then talking about separation or some form of an individual that gets enlightened, I'm really not. What I'm saying is the first glimpse of truth, The experience of No-Self is the beginning, not the end. I stated that the separate Self is an illusion, the Little me is a fiction, and all that exists is The Absolute, the 'world' is simply The Absolute, the world as we know it doesn't actually exist as anything except Presence, The Absolute or whatever you want to call it. 'To move from the belief, I am something, to the understanding that I am nothing is a path of exclusion - I am not this, not this, not this. To move from the understanding that I am nothing to the all-embracing feeling-understanding that I am everything is a path of inclusion - I am this, I am this, I am this. The first is a path of understanding, the second a path of love.' Rupert puts it well. No Self, is the path of exclusion, and not the end of the path, but the beginning. True Advaita/ Non-Duality takes us to Absolute Peace and Happiness without any cause. I like you @VeganAwake but honestly, a lot of what you say sounds very much like Neo-Advaita, 6:27 - As he says it's fine for people who are already at peace and happiness, however telling people who believe there is a Personal Entity that there is 'nothing to do' is such a shitty teaching, for starters that belief needs to rid off, there is something to do! As I said this is about the seeing through of separation and the separate entity, and the recognition of the true nature of our beings that brings this absolute peace and happiness. These teachers are speaking from the 'other side' and most listeners are not there, therefore, the teachings simply are not helpful in most cases. So, if someone is unhappy and there is nothing they can do is that just it? Does this person not deserve happiness then, as there's nothing they can do about their unhappiness? I always say the deepest teaching is that of a transmission of presence and being in the presence of awakened beings. However, when that is not possible, and even on top of that, practices are very beneficial for a number of reasons. Most of the people listening to Neo-Advaita teachers are NOT happy, are NOT at peace and have Zero/Little experiential understanding, therefore, saying there is 'nothing' one can do is literally a pointless teaching in MOST Cases. Of course, in some cases, it is the EXACT teaching they need if they've been seeking for decades and are still stuck, but as a blanket teaching, it is very unhelpful. This article by Rupert is beautiful and a great reminder for those on the path, I forget how eloquent his writing is https://non-duality.rupertspira.com/read/the_disentanglement_of_the_self

I'll get pushbacks for this, but to me, they say this because they only have partial awakenings, they're definitely awakened and have had awakenings but tend to get stuck at the whole 'No-Self' rap, however, they help a lot of people and that's what matters most. To me, you could say these guys are the League 2 of Spiritual Teachers, and teachers like Francis Lucille, Rupert Spira, Adyashanti, Ramana Maharshi and Nisgardatta Maharaj are the Premier League. Shit analogy but can't think of a better one really. The funny thing is if they actually truly practiced Self-Inquiry they'd realize No-Self is simply not the final answer, and is in fact the I-Thought clinging onto a new Identity that very subtly rejects 'Duality.' 'There is nobody there, nothing to do' is a great teacher in certain situations and for certain people, but when used as a blanket message is hugely reductionist. That said seeing through the illusion of self is a HUGE step on the path, and one many won't take, and as I said IS a genuine awakening but stopping here is like running in an 800M race and deciding the finish line is only after 200M. Basically your selling yourself short. Once you start to teach, you also rarely develop further and 'crystalize' (Leo seems a rare exception but he's not exactly a full time touring speaker and is more focused on his own growth) Like I said all teachers are amazing in that they are trying to help people awaken and that is beautiful. But, this doesn't mean all teachers are created equal, although saying someone has had a deeper awakening is like a crime in some circles of Non-Duality. Also, saying practices aren't worthwhile is reductionist. In some cases people may benefit from dropping certain practices, as Practices in a Non-Dual sense are meant to take you into the silence and experience the truth for yourself. (Ramana literally invented Self-Inquiry for this purpose) But, practices can have other benefits for people- Meditation/ Breathwork can help with sleep, anxiety, healing etc, much of this isn't necessarily related to Non-Duality but clearly practices benefit many people. Then you also have the issue of past lives, (if you believe in past lives/ karma) you could look into these guys past lives and see decades or lifetime of spiritual practices for example to prepare them for awakening, and most would have done some form in this lifetime, they may not benefit them now but that doesn't mean they never have. For example, those who had spontaneous awakenings could have had lifetimes of practice e.g. Ramana and Eckhart Tolle, or they're just super lucky. Practices may not benefit everyone, but benefit many and help many realize the True nature of reality. Neo-Advaita is actually quite dangerous imo, when embodied as a belief system it can be very toxic and confusing, they are talking from a place of understanding but their listeners are unlikely to actually get it experientially so may go home and tell their children 'There's nobody here to take care of you anymore' etc, extreme example but we have to be careful of the ramifications these things can have. Many more developed teachers have written on the modern issue of Neo-Advaita, so I'll link some articles below. All I'll say is take what you can from these teachers, but don't become dogmatic about the message, they never really talk about Love, The Absolute, The Self etc and to me miss many facets of awakening. Also, suggesting no work needs to be done is incredibly appealing right? What would you rather do, be told there's no work to do, or actually put in the effort to grow yourself and work on your shadow. Even if there is a spontaneous awakening, there is still embodiment and shadow work to be done, which these teachers forever miss out on. The neglection of teachers like Adya and Rupert could be as realizing deeper truths would involve deep inquiry and put their current livelihoods at risk, we have to remember awakened beings aren't always free of self-bias. I personally went through this crisis as was an Eckhart Tolle addict, and realizing his teachings weren't the be-all and end all was hard for my 17 year old self to take! You could say they are at the Neti, Neti Stage (Not This, No Self, Nobody here) but have failed to embrace the path of Inclusion in that I am everything, I am love, I am The Absolute, which is a much more complete teaching. This is it, as it is right now, but not in the Neo-Advaita use of the word. I used to love Rupert Spira and read most of his books and posts, he for one wrote on this subject: https://non-duality.rupertspira.com/read/suicide_and_awakened_behaviour230 https://non-duality.rupertspira.com/watch/suffering-and-neo-advaita

@LfcCharlie4 Thanks for the shout out man, it means a lot. I think we have a responsibility as people on the path to go out in the world and be successful and make money etc. The world would be a better place if awakened beings were at the highest levels of government, business etc. I plan on making a lot of money and having a lot of influence as i grow. But the difference is I will do it with a high level of consciousness and with the intention to help others.

Ask and ye shall receive...❤ thanks When I read this it completely reminded me of Osho... although I'm aware he was big on meditation. Anyone in tier-2 would recognize that Awakening can occur in traditional advaita, neo advaita and everything all encompassing... there's no prerequisites it's just something that apparently happens. Tony Parsons mentioned a drunk bum that awakened after a long night of partying and doing drugs. (of course you could say the drugs were a practice in itself) Anyone taking a left to right movement in these non dual descriptions would just be limiting themselves to one option. I've had a couple drinky-poo so I hope that makes sense? ?

@Nahm I can’t believe you guys don’t kick out people like him. He asks me why I haven’t done psychedelics, I tell him why, then he proceeds to call me names and make wrong stereotypical judgements. Then he tells you his intent to make me feel bad lol. All this because I don’t want to take psychedelics at this stage of my life. Keep in mind he claims he is awakened. What a joke! If this isn’t bullshit I don’t know what is! You have too many bullshiters who don’t know how to keep the discussion civil. On top of that, you don’t even enforce the guidelines properly. Makes me not want to come on this forum again. Too many bullshiters.

I was dreaming of spring (this time of year I always dream of tropical beaches and spring and this year I just allow it and it's pure enjoyment without the weight of time) and thought about lilacs. I was so enchanted with the memory of last year's lilacs that I thought to write it on my dream board. There is one gift a boy gave me that I remember more fondly than ever. It was the same one who annoyed me sometimes, who I already journaled about who drew me as his wife on the calendar page, but one spring day he brought me and the other girls in our class lilacs that he had picked waiting before the bus came. I'd never really seen or smelled lilacs before that. Not only did he bring me flowers, but the first knowledge/experience of something I would love my entire life. I can feel my face start to get red, at the embarrassment of letting myself be drawn into pure fantasy and romance, and then tears flow down with the realization that that's exactly what I came to do. I see that love, romance, fantasy and gifts can be freely accepted without remorse, shame, guilt or fear. Too good to be true? It is. Why would I create Dr.P to come through as a persona and a literal real life awakened past "being", with a book he had written about a story that broke the duality between fantasy and reality. As much as I had loved Jesus, and as much as I had loved Harry Potter, Dr.P was where the duality between "actual past" and "fictional fantasy" came to die. And I had come to love him before I even knew about him. I had come to be obsessed with that spot on the river, where I went just to appreciate the beauty of nature and my beautiful kids playing in it. It consumed me and I couldn't understand it. Then the stroller rolling away in the cemetery, the joke of the poison nightshade growing on a herbal healers grave, the lost and found again mittens, the impulse to read the book, and then finding the remains of his house, and that they had overlooked the spot on the river the entire time. He came through my love of the "past" and nature to give me gifts, insights and such a strong force of love to overcome my assumptions about reality. It's complete, beautifully written fantasy. So is my path, my existence, my entire life. It's consuming itself in an act of Love. I have played a damsel in distress, but in doing so I am the dragon who threatens her. I have created a fantasy of a knight in shining armor who rescues me from my self imposed bleak prison of existence. Why do I create so many spiritual warrior heros? I am a psychological whore of the heart mind. Oh the spiritual "teachers" I have I loved and let in. Jesus, John, Harry Potter, C.S.Lewis, Leo, Ekhart Tolle, D.P and so many others. Because I am them too. And no one is responsible for any of it. "Responsibility and desire just butt heads, they don't really do well together." -Esther Perell Ohhhh.. shit. She says at the end "Merry Valentine's" It was posted on Valentine's Day. I shared this in the dating section without realizing this synchronicity. What did you tell him about responsibility on Valentine's Day? What day did you join the forum on 4 years ago? What have you dug up Mandy, what are you doing? Are you holding a shovel right now? No? Then no one is digging anything up. This is so embarrassing! Why am I on a forum full of intelligent practical men talking about love, romance and little girl's fantasies? You mean to ask, "who is responsible for that? "

If you're able to- Work 1-1 with a teacher and receive Transmissions. Ramana Maharshi- “Silence is truth. Silence is bliss. Silence is peace. And hence Silence is the Self.” Read this- http://nomindsland.blogspot.com/2016/06/sri-ramana-maharshi-silence-is-most.html Silence is and always has been the highest teaching. Words are amazing when necessary, but eventually all concepts must be let go. Self Inquiry was 'invented' by Ramana Maharshi for those not ready for the power of silence, to help them get to that silence and rest there, in the stillness you will then find God/ Absolute/ The Self. Transmissions from an awakened being could be compared to this silence on steroids, it's a bit of a shit analogy but I can't think of a better one! And, just to add once you arrive at the ultimate silence, then thoughts, feelings, the play of life ceases to have the same effects it had on you before as you are no longer identified with it. So, you will still have thoughts, emotions, things happen etc, but these will be felt, thought, lived in the now and then pass through you, the resistance and 'stickiness' is what changes. You could then say Non-Duality and Duality merge in one 'explosion' and the rest in this peace is beyond beautiful.

Looks like I misunderstood your intention. I thought you were asking for proof from awakened teachers that psychedelics are effective. I don’t know of any teachers, other than Leo, that provide guidance on how to use psychedelics effectively on a spiritual path. It seems more like hundreds of scattered trip reports across the internet. I think in the future there will be more teachers that specifically teach psychedelic methods - similar to how many teachers today that give guidance on meditation methods. The people I listed have used psychedelics on their path, yet don’t talk much about it or give best usage instructions.

@4201 You are citing spiritual teachers that have no psychedelic experience. Of course they won’t advocate for psychedelics, since that wasn’t their path. And awakened beings are not just people that lead retreats, ashrams and give talks with a vase of flowers by their side. There are plenty of awakened beings that do not lead conspicuous lives, especially about their psychedelic use. There are awakened beings that have used psychedelics as part of their path. People like Leo, Martin Ball, Lisa Cairns, Ananta Kranti - and people on this forum. As well, go travel through Peru. I met dozens of awakened being engaging in Ayahuasca ceremonies. And native Americans have been using psychedelics for mysticism for centuries. Yet other awakened beings like Ram Dass didn’t resonate with psychedelics. Noone can give you a 100% guarantee of their effectiveness or ineffectiveness. On a scale of 1-10, perhaps the value of psychedelics for you would be 2, or maybe an 8. The only way to find out is try it for yourself through direct experimentation. At a personal level, I don’t resonate with anyone that is 100% pro-psychedelics as the one and only cure all or anyone that is 100% anti-psychedelics. Both are immature, ignorant positions contracted into partial truths.

My answer to you is, because not everyone gets this chance. You have been given the chance to fully realise what you truly are, your true nature. Some people live their entire lives without even the slightest inkling that they aren’t a person riding around in their heads, being attached to “positive” things, and averse to “negative” things. But you have, somehow, by chance, stumbled onto your true nature, or at least got a whiff of it. Now, this should be your new meaning of life, to realise what you truly are. You can still live your life, have goals, have a girlfriend, get a good job, make mistakes, own a house, have kids, or not, and along the way lots of things will change, you might not achieve those goals you had set for yourself, but then you will realise they were only an expression of your ego, so it will be easy to let go of them and continue. But, you can also find psycho-technologies to assist you in getting what you want by changing who you are on the surface. But, what you really are will not change. If you really want to get down in the dumps go read some Nietzsche, that will depress the shit out of you, I mean real despair. But, if you have awakened, even despair wont bother you, it will be observed, and then you will get back to things in your life which give some meaning, like friends, family, hobbies, etc, and those dark times won’t seem so dark. Good luck. You are still so young, and to be at this stage at your age is surprising to me, it took me 15 more years to get to this point, and I feel I am only just beginning in this journey to nowhere.

The more awakened version of the free will question resolves as there not being a difference between free will and not free will, since that is a duality. It's very tricky. The universe's will is in control, but you are also the universe. In the end, everything is God's will, but you are also God. So you sit right in the nexus of the matter.

Yeah why isn't this so called awakened person at a healthy weight? is she still eating McDonalds?

Any 'insights' we have are merely our own perception of our experience, it's not any type of universal 'map' that everyone can follow. We can share our insights to find others who resonate with similar imagery and concepts but to suggest one perception is absolute truth and another is illusion can lead to people seeking the imagery of conceptualization instead of the experience of being present. As we awaken to the experience of being present our imagery and conceptualization will evolve with it so to focus too much on just one marker of our own personal path and teaching it as an absolute truth isn't awakened to the oneness of all marks and all paths. We don't all share the exact same perception in experience so don't share the exact same imagery, concepts or paths even though we share in the exact same oneness.

That's like saying, what if a man and woman are the exactly same thing, expect the man has a dick. That's a pretty important difference. The awakened person realizes he is God. The derealized person does not. There is no glass between the awakened person and the world, the awakened person IS the whole world. And the awakened person has surrendered to it.