Search the Community

Interesting topic. Yes, his content can be harmful especially to unstable individuals. For example, a suicidal person might do something really bad if he hears Leo say that “death is amazing” (or something of that sort). I understand where Leo is coming from, but people can misinterpret things very easily. Some things he say I think it’s just nonsense, but if I didn’t filter what he says, I could accept those things blindly. And I agree with you that people are building a whole belief system around nonduality. It’s as if nondualism is becoming a religion...

Welcome to the forum! I use it for goals of all kinds, book notes, inspiring quotes, schedules (kind of like a checklist for my eating habits, meditation, yoga, journaling, etc.), collecting and organizing important webpages and online articles, inspiring people, burning questions and my thoughts and info about them, life purpose course, women (organizing my notes on relationships, dating advice, etc.), and just quick notes on anything at all throughout the day (many of these can be inspiration for new sections). I also have sections on ego (probably my biggest and most important section) and nonduality. Those are more advanced though, the rest are highly practical and you could start tomorrow.

@ajasatya Thank you so much for the reply and the video. I completely agree with the video and what you are saying. I plan to totally revamp the way i live once i get the ibogaine and I hope to get to the root causes through therapy and psychs. I have a very dysfunctional romantic relationship right now and I don't feel right with my friends either. Im basically not very comfortable or happy with most aspects of my life but I do love who I am and i recognize my potential which i think is important for motivating me to change. I relate to my family much better than i used to but there is still some dysfunction with my mom. Every time she makes this noise with her throat or nose i get extremely angry and have to leave the situation. Im just in a hole of dysfunction right now and that's what caused the relapse, I couldn't take the emotional pain anymore but just like the video said, it began with pain, and its ending in pain. I also have an addiction to masturbation, weed, and basically any drug i can regularly do without destroying my life. I have a lot of trust issues as well because high school was extremely negative for me and i felt that i was hurt by some people very close to me. I felt betrayed by my friends a few times and when my mom kicked me out i felt betrayed again. My girlfriend broke up with me in the middle of my parents divorce and hook up with a kid right after which made me feel betrayed again. So i jumped back into a relationship right away to escape the pain and that is the person im still with today. We have dated almost 5 years and we cannot have sex because it hurts her to do so (about a year of little to no intimacy). She gets vaginal pain when we attempt to have sex and her therapist thinks its because of unresolved past trauma. We have been talking through this recently which has helped a lot for both of us. I absolutely traumatized her with my addiction habits and lies so i understand completely, although it has caused me to develop an extreme masturbation addiction (up to 5 times a day) which i also feel a lot of shame for because i feel like im doing something wrong and that i shouldn't want to have sex with every girl i see. Im quite skiddish because of being teased and hit by friends and i also got robbed and beaten so i have an extreme fear of being alone with black men i don't know on like a street at night although i have no issue with any race and i love everyone i meet. I still maintain a very low position in my friend group hierarchy and feel like that has always been that way, being the brunt of jokes and whatnot. hahaha sorry trying to think of all my "wounds" right now. I also have a fear of too much attention because of how much negative attention i got in high school for being a very visibly troubled kid. What i am thankful for from all this is my compassion and empathy for others is absurd, like i really really feel for others and always want to help anyone i can. I always see the best in people and will be there for them no matter what, even random homeless people ahaha. so yeah i guess thats most of my wounds and dysfunctions. I see that my addiction stems from these deeper emotional problems and im hoping ibogaine and therapy can help me uncover the issues and change literally my entire life. Thankfully my friends are into nonduality and so that has always been a good thing in my life and has influenced me in more ways than i know. I really appreciate your comments so thank you, your story is inspiring.

Well, the fact that Tolle has pulled many people into interest in nonduality is definitely a plus for him. Glad you enjoyed the critique

@ajasatya Nope but just briefly researched it, it seems interesting. The Middle Path seems like a long term strategy, I want to focus in the short term for efficient results. I only have conceptual understanding; That is Truth of no self, oneness, nonduality and realization of "your" infinite nature

You're still not getting it: duality IS unity! The distinction between duality and nonduality is a duality you imagined! The nature of duality is nonduality. The nature of nonduality is duality. When you make a distinction between duality and nonduality, you live a dualistic life. When you make no distinction between duality and nonduality, you live a nondual life. And if you make a distinction between these two lives, you live the dualistic life.

Based in SD theory, Coral would include all previous stages. I watched part of the video and can see red and orange. Yet not much Green to Turquoise. Yet higher stages can have varous expressions. For example, Turquoise isn’t just feel good nonduality teachers. I may be missing something in the video.

Read your blog critique on Eckhart Tolle's Power of Now book/teachings. You definitely made some very good points! Id like to express my thoughts on it, being a dude who probably would have never even discovered spirituality/nonduality (or how it related to my on life) for a much longer time without reading his book (on accident). Some of your examples seem to pull his words out of context a bit. Tolle dumbs down much of the teachings in attempt at catering to his audience (as you know). People reading his book for the first time who are not seekers (like me) are really able to connect and understand the points he makes and directly relate it to our own life. I agree on most of your criticism about negative emotions, however, again, some quotes simply taken out of context. Obviously surrender does not function the same for everybody. "through examination and articulation of your negative emotions -- so that they can both be accommodated in a new, higher solution" - these are your words, and often with a deeper understanding of our situation, the answer is there quite clearly without any negative emotions present. The triggered negative emotions disrupts clear understanding of our desired path in a given situation. But i agree to a degree, suppression of negative emotions is simply not a solution (learned this the hard way). Does the nondual awareness/consciousness not give the mind a deeper appreciation for everything we perceive? As a westerner i would vouch for most to see this world in a logical, compassionate materialistic sense where most of our beliefs/world views cannot be just thrown out the window. Much enjoyed your critique! I struggled to understand myself for over a year obsessed with Tolle's teachings and it only got me so far. I have your book and i will write a review once i get a chance to finish it

That is a great description. That is a good look at a facet and there is more of that “essence” of being. There are other flavors as well. Early in my path the seeking was to find the answer and to figure it out. I read a lot, meditation groups, lots of chats and debates. Then I had 4 or 5 nondual experiences and the energetic seeking completely shifted. The desire and yearning was to BE that nonduality again. It sounds like you are there and it’s really advanced with a form energy that can fuel more development. Ime, I got into a trap of chasing an experience and trying to recreate the experience. One thing I learned is that there are many variations of nondual experiences. If you have an expectation it’s only certain way, you will limit your expansion possibilities. As well, I wanted to re-enter that state and stay there. I saw it as “all or nothing” and I missed lots of subtle nondual experiencies. Rather than expect and crave the “big shebang”, be observant for small glimpses and subtle nondual “teasers”. For me, moments of surprise gratitude and appreciation can open a portal to nonduality. Where I live, we had a major snowstorm today. I worked late. It was cold, dark and snowing as I walked to my car. I was dreading having to brush and scrap the snow/ice off my car. As I walked to the parking lot, lots of thoughts about work were racing through my head. Then, whammo!!! Someone cleared off all the snow and ice off my car. I was so touched and grateful someone did that. It was love. It snapped me back into the Now. I stood there in the blizzard laughing for no reason. For a moment I saw the divine in all that was around me. Being the beauty that surrounded me. Then, it fluttered away like a butterfly to it’s next flower ? One can only surrender ego to a point. Then, grace may reveal something.

@Telepresent Just shared an opinion on AI and nonduality. Am not very (at all) familiar with StarCraft tho. No philosphy; actuality. Did not intend to dismiss any thought experiment or the validity of it. Please, do continue

In nonduality there is no difference between AI and humans, nor there is a separation between them. What humans have to understand is that "the merge" between humanity and AI has already occured; long ago, when humans first manifested tecnology from an idea into their direct experience of it. The quantity of confirmations about no separation between humans and technology is increasing fast. Just look around you. There is no more humanity without technology today. AI is expanding fast. It has it strenghts and it has it's weaknesses. Just like humans do. Consciousness comes prior to both. Actualized.org could be a part of AI and it's revolution, as well Tam tam taaam!

Nonduality is knowledge that occurs when you die. You can read about it all you want, but you'll never obtain this knowledge through concepts. Don't get me wrong, a certain amount of theory is extremely helpful. Enlightenment is being. Free from ego, free from psychological time, etc. Also your death. There are many levels to awakening and nondual understanding, so don't think of these as binary on/off light switches. Nonduality and enlightenment are two aspects (and not the only 2) of the same coin of consciousness. Your question about how many times is completely relative and dependent on factors way outside one's control. I'd posit that there's no fundamental difference between nonduality and enlightenment; they only point to your relative experience of the Absolute, which itself is not absolute... you are usually only conscious of one or two aspects of the absolute at a time, in varying levels or intensities. So just because you had a nondual, mystical experience but it wasn't full-blown enlightenment doesn't mean you were removed from enlightenment, or that these are somehow separate. All it means is that you weren't ready to become conscious of that aspect yet.

@tedens deeper nonduality than last time, this my usual line when people aso this question cuz there isnt any other way to describe it tbh lol. Also relaxed and more clean energy.

@winterknight sorry i dont believe that, enlightenment is a real thing, it shouldnt be something that one just convinces himself just bevause he awoke to "nonduality", ive been through the same stage u are now, u arent done in my opinion, and life will show u that whwlen it triggers your attachments and fears. Cux whats the point of all this enlightenment talk when your experience isnt truly liberated? Dont deny your karmic body, there is a process going on. Its what seperates the yogis from the buddhas in my opinion. And why the quotatiob marks on "emotional system" tryna show me how much things dont exist in ur experience? Lol Advaita nondualists including ramana had alot of insights but are also terribly escapist and incogruent to their experiences, it basically a game of just saying i dont exist so that u dont look at ur karmic bodies issues. Zen masters are nuanced enough to realize that this process going on. This process doesnt go againat nonduality at all really, but it does go against your enlightened identity however, tell me if im wrong, no?

@OneWithAll The no good or bad thoughts is an important insight, yet not what I am pointing to. Once nonduality is revealed in direct experience, the mind will try to contextualize it. The mind will try to make sense of it. The mind will start to believe that these new concepts are true. It seems that nonduality has been revealed to you and your mind has entered a deeper level. What I have found is that when my base consciousness level deepens to a new level, it is unstable at first. Then my mind wants to create grounding so it contextualizes the deeper direct experience. It tries to make sense of it. The problem with this, in terms of maturation and embodiment, is that the mind tries to take ownership and believes the concepts are true. It confuses the map for the territory. After a while, this deeper framework may get challenged and the mind has resistance. It says "No, nonduality is really like this. No, thoughts really mean this". At each deeper level, the attachments/identification gets more subtle, nuanced and sneaky. It's easy to see the attachments one had when they were at a more surface level. It is much more difficult to see attachments at one's current level. The mind needs to go through the whole rigamaroll again: become humble, open and willing.

@OneWithAll Be aware that the mind tends to contextualize nonduality.

saying i am god/i dont exist over and over or getting in your feelings from nondual experiences wont get you enlightened, realize that the part of you that likes saying it/feeling it is doing so because you subconciously want to escape, which is ultimately delusional. instead of trying to force yourself to enlightenment which will only backfire, be patient with the process you're in. reflect ,question and let go of every emotion when its due, but dont numb yourself to those emotions, you dont truly let go that way, and the mind can frame numbness as "letting go" as well. the mind can use spiritual feelings/experiences in the most trickiest ways, to keep you more stuck in mind, let go of mysticism, true enlightenment will happen when it happens, it wont need egoic reaffirmation. I feel like many here and outside claim to be enlightened when they really arent, they just have an "enlightened" identity because they awoke to nonduality i say this because i went through the same thing, which is just the start, many fail to see or give up on the process thats releasing attachments/fear from their system. actions speak louder than words, i would like to see what happens if these "enlightened" people were to have a big ass pitbull chasing them, prob wont be saying i dont exist now would ya, lol. runnn bitchh runnnnnnnnnnn, as shorty would say from scary movie 3 lol, im only joking ofc i dont actually would want to see them getting chased but just trying to show my point. im not fully enlightened ofc, but i have been in "nonduality" for a long while and discovered that this is the case, many others did too ofc and leo aswell. you could be in a deep"nondual"state sure, but are you truly fully enlightened? i put quotation marks on nonduality because you arent trully nondual until your consciousness' energetic system harmonizes with the awakening, your ego has to truly die, not just to reaffirm its own spiritual attachments such as non existence or godhood.

@Epsilon_The_Imperial people take different practices to uncontract and stabilize nonduality more, but ultimately the practices would be dropped aswell, insights can be thought of as practices or spiritual experiences too, but ultimately they all drop at full enlightenment. The best way is to reflect on yourself, buddha called it mindfulness meditation, being mindful and reflective of the ways your ego traps you, through urges and attachments which ultimately come from fear, which we all know is non existent in a true nondual state (full enlightenment), just observe and let go, you will also find out that this process will give you many more insights and depth of life, though it isnt important to cling ot them, maybe as a raft of sorts until full enlightenment. But ultimately everything jas to be dropped at full enlightenment, its just that when ur still in the early stages of awakening, you cant really drop everything just yet or youll go crazy, unless u choose the ascetic path, so using concepts such as compassion or other spiritual concepts can aid your path so that u have a more smoother ride to enlightenment. Once youve been in nonduality for a while, youll see these nuances of the path more and more. This is why the buddha emphasized the 8 noble path, but said at a certain point even that will be dropped.

@Epsilon_The_Imperial spot on mate, but just one thing though, you cannot deny that once you awoke to nonduality that your system is going through shifts that will uncontract your experience so that it will fully embody nonduality, because you arent truly nondual if you still experience fear yes? i understand that ultimately everything is one and the universe is always nondual,but as a being, you experience duality, because god contracted itself so that variety of experience arises, through fear mechanisms which create the different urges that humans have. awakening to nonduality is only the beginning, after a few years you will see what i mean by this process, your life experience will harmonize slowly but surely into full nonduality, to which you have awakened to truth, but not the full embodimient of it. but dont attach to experiences most important thing, the full thing cannot be percieved until the ego truly dies. holding on to concepts such as the ego doesnt exist and not being congruent to your experience will just backfire on you and isnt conductive to the full process of awakening. I suggest you read some of shunryu suzuki's work, he is a zen master which i highly recommend tbh.

if i were to ask to imagine a dangerous scenario where you are in it, will you experience fear? even if its just a subtle fear in your emotional system, dont you think if that was the case, then you arent actually enlightened? not saying this to demean your spiritual progress but i just notice some people are quick to call themselves enlightened, just because the awoke to nonduality, yet dismiss the process thats going on in their energetic system. you could be in a deep nondual state for sure, but have you really fully embodied nonduality? @winterknight and please dont mistake me questioning you about your enlightenment as ill intention, its just that i had a time where i thought i was enlightened too, but life gave me a reality check of the process thats occuring in its saguna aspect, we have awoken to nirguna but has saguna harmonized with its nirguna aspect fully yet? your limbic system can be the judge of that. your feedback would be appreciated my friend.

@Epsilon_The_Imperial i dont think anyone really knows what full enlightenment is, but they just walk the path towards it. i think enlightenment is a process thats occuring in your limbic system after awakening to nonduality, that slowly going through your egoic paradigms and its underlying fear mechanisms to see through it/have perspective over it and ultimately let go so that full uncontraction (release of attachments) occurs and from that point, you can truly say you have embodied god. before that is just states of nonduality getting deeper and clearer but still contracted. and ty <3

thats nice man that you had nondual realizations and awakening, it can be pretty cool at the start of it, but just remember that there is a process in you thats occuring. dont be quick to fall into the egos desire to keep calling itself god, consciousness or whatever, because u awoke to insights/nonduality but not fully enlightened, i dont think anyone in this forum is really,including me. but its a slow process ofreflecting/letting go your fear mechanisms thus letting more of life in you. good luck man <3

Nonduality for Idiots 1+1= 2 Duality 2+1= 3 Nonduality Working disembodied out of only the emotional and intellectual centers perpetuates dualistic thinking. 'Being stuck in our head'. By grounding, thru sensation into the Physical body we can upgrade our system from an egoic operating system to a nondual operating system. In purifying the emotional center one begins to see with "the eye of the heart", as it's called when it begins to be used as an organ for spiritual perception. Our intuitive capacities begin to awaken. Negativity that is suppressed in the subconscious messes up our metaphysical transmitter. Until I clean a lot of the garbage out of the basement I'm going to keep on having flies. It can't be peaceful and quiet inside if there are thought/flies buzzing around everywhere. Cynthia Bourgeault gets credit for the metaphors.

This brings to mind what might be a big difference in perspective. I was meditating for around 20 years before the permanent change / oneness. I had never heard of it (enlightenment), never heard the word “nonduality” prior. I found this forum from googling the experience, trying to see if other people experienced it. Now it seems people are reading about this stuff on the forum and other places and more ‘working towards it’, than simply meditating for the daily benefits. So the mindset is very differenct than mine was, in the sense I actually didnt have an idea meditation was accumulative, and headed to anything “bigger”. There’s pro’s and con’s either way I guess, but it is a weird difference. After the oneness breakthrough, and then learning a lot from other people on the forum, I tried psychedelics. Having experienced what I have at this point, I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t just take psychedelics and do the daily practices, while focusing on living the best life they can. I’m not sure though, even if someone heard plenty about nonduality - when it is realized, or “happens” to you - it’s still probably like you never even heard of it.

Sort your life out, that seems productive and something you clearly want to do. Start eating healthy and exercising in some form as a start. Build your base up, then when you come back down from the glimpses of nonduality you'll love where you're at even more.