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That's not true awakening, awakening is about balance. What you're doing is just being a radical, due to over-practicing intellectual spiritual techniques. I suggest working on your heart chakra and opening yourself up. You've gone too far in the opposite direction. You have to balance consciousness with unconsciousness. That's a judgement that is coming from the mind. Drop it. I suspect that you have an image in your mind of an awakened person who has no desires. You might as well not want to eat or drink. You see how backwards that is? I also suspect that you have some fears slightly below the conscious, which makes them even harder to spot.

Why is that people like Sadhguru keep making claims about how it is possible to do epic changes like change your genes, cure any disease, manifest bodies of goddesses, go into different dimensions but at the end of the day it's just talking. The same guru that has the power to change their genes needs donations to save the forests, the same guru that can cure any disease is balding or aging, the same guru who can manifest goddesses can't manifest the trees he's looking to plant. Where are the buddhas with the holographic dharmakaya, where are the immortal taoists flying in the clouds, where are the awakened ones who are omniscient and omnipotent and can give the answer to any questions there is and solve any problem there is? Where are the vivekanandas who can read a 700 page book in an instant by just touching it? I keep hearing about these magical stories but they aren't to be seen anywhere. It seems like it's just a scam and even though spirituality tells us we are infinite beings and gods and bla bla bla, my experience shows that we are incredibly limited beings to the point that it's actually doubtful if we can even do anything. It looks like we are walking corpses who are the slaves of this reality and the only thing we can do is to rest in awareness as a sort of sanctuary while life carves us and devours us and then kills us in some brutal way. Where are these magics I am asking? Is there anyone at all that can prove what they are talking is true? Is there anyone who can walk the walk? I'm doubtful... I will be happy to accept once I see it or experience it but no one is there to show me.

What’s your take on Leo’s comment about you? Thought it’d be fair that you knew about this, if you didn’t already He made a video explaining his awakening to this. It’s 48 minutes long, but I think it’s worth your time watching since this is making a lot of people confused on here (I say confused because the Absolute Love topic has 200+ posts in less than a week). Leo’s claim is that becoming awakened to your true nature is just one out of many facets of this work to become conscious of, and that you’re not fully awake until you are. Do you care to explore about this “Absolute Love”? Does it matter to you that you’re supposedly “not fully awake”?

Not sure what you are talking about. There was definitely a "god" belief way before Gautama Buddha was born. Moses dates back way before the Buddha and all the sages. There were also many gods in India as well. Buddha dismissed all of these as nonsense. He was very specific about how beliefs obscure reality. This should be the first step for anyone on the spiritual path. Beliefs fall into the same category with Hopes, Wishful thinking, Wanting reality to be other than what it is etc. I am actually shocked by how many people on this forum consider themselves awakened and preach that people should believe in x or z. As Lao Tzu said, “The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to yin and yang. Yin and yang give birth to all things.” There is a Tao without One or Yin/Yang, but no One without a Yin/Yang, nor a Yin/Yang without a One, just as there is no Brahman without the illusion or magic show of maya. Oneness is Aristotelian nonsense; a prison of sorts, so distractional in its delusion, that bodhicitta is near totally obscured, and not even considered. To better understand the difference between the Alaya Consciousness of Buddhism (which is actually beyond consciousness) and the Brahman Consciousness of Advaita (which implies “not two”), the following humorous story was said to be told in the Kevatta (Kevaddha) Sutta, as translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. “Where do the four elements cease without remainder?” Through meditation the monk reached the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, who did not know the answer. Next he went to the thirty three gods in a higher Desire Realm heaven, but none of these rulers knew either. He then asked King Sakka (Indra), the king of these gods, but Sakka did not know the answer. Up and up he went asking all sorts of gods at each and every higher level. Finally he came to Great Brahma, the Creator, Uncreated, Knower of All. When the monk finally achieved an audience with Great Brahma, Brahma appeared in all his majesty and glory announcing, “I am Great Brahma, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be.” The monk then humbly and respectfully asked his question, but all Great Brahma did was repeat, “I am Great Brahma, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be.” The monk eventually got frustrated and said, “I know you are “Great Brahma, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be,” but I asked you a question about where the four elements cease without remainder. The Great Brahma replied, “Listen little monk, don’t embarrass me. All these other gods are listening and think I know everything. If you want to know the answer to a question like that, don’t ask me. I don’t know the answer. For a question like that, you have to go ask the Buddha. Our monk gets up from his meditation and finds the Buddha nearby, asking him where the four elements cease without remainder. The Buddha tells him that he’s thinking of the question incorrectly, and should ask where do the four elements have no foothold…”

This may be a hold up of a more experienced or aware practitioner..... One awakened master says one thing and another says another thing, whos to say who is correct, both are saying they are awake and have students that claim they are awake.....but are saying radically different things. Or by what authority other then your own can you say that your awake and know what your talking about, and don't give me that you'll have to see it for yourself B.S, because if your honest about the first question, then that kinda answer won't fly, since there are two recognized claimed awake people that don't see the same thing....

nothing with fear as far as I am concerned. for me. it's the knowing of what I am and then acting out of that knowing. with that, there is never when one isn't in the present moment... there is ONLY the present moment, so the question of being in the moment becomes crazy talk so acting out of the understanding gives birth to the experience / unfolding which is in-line with the understanding of our true position. if it can be said this way... there are bad/evil/egoic/selfish/conditioned/devil thoughts and then there are unconditioned/good/intuitive thoughts/loving/spontaneous/angel thoughts neither are ME but ONE is in-line with the TRUTH and the other is not. both are just the mind battling itself. but when the true position is known, there is functioning from the good thoughts actions only. the higher-awakened mind.

The question comes from a misconception of what awakening is (same wrong assumptions as your prior questions). Awakening is the realization that you are not the mind, not the person at all. There is no "you." Alzheimer's cannot affect that. Actually there are no awakened beings, in fact. There is only awakening.

I chant a mantra for about 5 minutes in the morning. You don't need to do self-inquiry any more when you know who you are. Do you need to keep asking yourself your own name? The conventional explanation is that someone like him -- if he is awakened -- would have done all that in previous lives.

Does this apply to an awakened being as well (even though they found what they were searching for)? Is self-inquiry meaningless to them at that stage?

@tedens If I may weigh in, I'd raise two points: 1. In an absolute sense, we are already enlightened - since we are part of Infinite Consciousness, which by definition is fully awakened, then it means that we, too, are by definition fully awakened. 2. On a more relative sense, I'd say it's possible for humanity to develop genetically and socially so that, in a few thousand year's time, we create a society that allows everybody to reach full awakening and embody it within just a few years, although being born enlightened might be a stretch. I get the impression that this may be the situation that some current extra-terrestrial civilisations are at, having gone through similar struggles of collective evolution that we are going through now. This is just my impression though, and it may be inaccurate.

@AlldayLoop Yes, what is it "love of" the answer is consciousness and god. a fully awakened being would resort to less harmful methods, such as destroying your ego. But really, they could be disconnected in no-self enlightenment and therefore it's not even them doing it the killing. Its just the human which has remnants of ego, left in the enlightened being.

As Leo has pointed out before, even someone who awakens to their true nature can still go out and kill others and do other “horrible” things. Are these awakened beings doing this out of pure Love too?

How about other humans that don’t become enlightened? Does it really matter in the end if they discover their true nature or not? If it doesn’t, then why help others become conscious of this Truth? Why do awakened masters or even yourself feel a need to help others awaken as well? By the way, I’m not saying that as an insult to what you are doing. I’m actually really thankful that you’re here.

You just have to be careful with how terms can have different meanings. "Self-consciousness" is a mainstream cultural term, not a technical term from spirituality. Mainstream culture does not understand what the self or what consciousness is. So understanding that, when ordinary folks say "self-conscious" they are not talking about spirituality or awakening or Truth. They simply mean: a neurotic sense of social anxiety and self-judgment. Don't be fooled by the surface similarity of terms. Just because two words look the same or sound the same does not mean they have the same meaning. Of course the problem is not self-consciousness per se, the problem is an obsessive anxiety over one's self-image in social situations. In a sense, the awakened person is not self-conscious when he acts. He's not thinking of his self-image, he acts spontaneously. The self-conscious person self-obsesses and is stuck in monkey mind.

Hello everyone. This topic is not posted for the simple reason that I miss my childhood and want to watch Disney films. I recently came across this song: So I am already not in the greatest state (sad moods and stuff) and I am really loving this song and other, funky songs? I am planning to do psychedelics soon and was wondering what experienced psychonauts think of using psychedelics on music like this. A mixture of the famous Alice in Wonderland and instrumental sounds. In general, watching Alice in Wonderland while tripping on LSD would already be a big journey right? Again I am planning to do this during my FIRST trip, considering I don’t think I will get enlightened or awakened at all.

Regarding psychedelics, there's a lot of controversy around them to say the least, with critiques ranging from various generally well-respected gurus dismissing them as experiences or inducing states that may seem similar to but which ultimately aren't enlightenment to even critiques from experienced psychedelic users, many of whom are in stabilized nondual states, who also dismiss them in favor of a 'sober path'. The obvious response is to go by direct experience rather than accepting any authority, whether they're enlightened or not. However, this advice alone may not make everything so clear cut to seekers. After all, there are people who contemplate, do various forms of consciousness work, yet they still draw different conclusions from others after having taken psychedelics. That being said, I think it would be great for you to discuss the various pitfalls in using psychedelics and explore why people arrive at different conclusions, looking at the epistemic nuances and practical factors. On a similar note, it'd be nice to see some discussion on the wide-ranging social implications of mystical experience and higher states becoming more normalized. While a more highly conscious and awake population doesn't suffer as much from certain issues, new complications arise with awakening and on a large scale especially things can become complex and hard to navigate. For instance, how people should deal with: -Sectarian and personal bias between awakened people and exploring what are important differences and nuances in traditions, approaches, and conclusions vs. cultural baggage,dogma, etc. and being able to learn and benefit from the many current and future sources with both a lot of beneficial wisdom and various limitations and flaws. -Future science and various academic fields becoming more open to account for metaphysics, paranormal, etc., and the general problem of people needing to communicate and arrive at consensus models of reality. Being able to account for insights from various reports of direct experiences of the nature of reality is much more tricky business than conducting an experiment to verify that the Earth is spherical. Some more examples under the same topic/principle (it's driving the same point home, but I think perhaps the examples might help illustrate.) Ex 1: As people develop spiritually, it is somewhat common to have a much broader field of perception, however, the way this develops varies between different people in drastically different ways. It can be difficult considering the various perspectives they bring to the table, especially since you can often learn things from them but can't get in their head and share their exact experience. What's your take on how people should discuss the huge variety of spiritual experiences and take them into consideration when it's not necessarily possible for every individual or even most individuals to verify all of these things in their own direct experience. Some people seem to just be wired in different ways and have legitimate experiences of different things that other people can't-- being understanding of them, their experience, and what to make of it can be quite difficult. Ex 2: When spiritual growth is considered a universal and essential part of human development rather than just something people like do for comfort, fun, or whatever purpose, the topic of mental health, sanity, etc. becomes drastically more complicated. What kind of infrastructure should be established and what changes in society's approach to mental health should take place to accommodate for this? Someone going through a difficult stretch in their path can simultaneously be growing a ton while seeming horribly unstable, nonsensical, and all-around poorly functioning. I ended up getting more into the large scale/macro-issues/ societal stuff, which I'm not quite sure is on topic.

@winterknight Is it possible for someone to fully awaken to their true nature (enlightenement), but still have suicidal thoughts — or even to commit/die by suicide? I pondered upon this question several times because I assume that serious mental health conditions are similar to that of diseases like cancer or diabetes, in that one cannot simply get rid of that human condition simply by just knowing their true nature. Or is it still plausible to say that once one is awakened, the thought or action of suicide becomes completely irrelevant to them and it would be impossible to happen?

This is utter bs Dépend how you practice a lot & No practice = nothing Both needed. If you got an awakened master it goes quick

Careful. I know extroverts who are awakened and do spiritual practice. And obviously many extroverts make a killing in creativity, business, art. There's more than one way to skin a cat. One should only be a lone wolf if that's what one is called to do. It's not necessary for success. With that said, personally I love lone wolfing life. But that's just me. People here must find whatever kind of lifestyle resonates with them. This is a highly individualized thing.

@cetus56 you're clearly the least awakened moderator on this forum. You don't recognise an enlightened master when you see him? ???

Hearing constant news of people and even in music of the change of era that is coming, and more and more spiritual people and Spiritual music talk about a gradual awakening of more and more people and finally all of humans living in an absolute awakened state. The change of era is supposed to be going from era of pisces (fish) to the era of acuarius. And this is supposed to bring immense developments in medicine and also worldwide peace. Moreover I hear about talks of an ascenscion from 3d to 5d. Basically apart from these assumptions is life under a divine plan or is it happening totally randomly? If there is a plan who would chime in on these ideas above mentioned?

@Gili Trawangan yes there are still traps after enlightenment. One must continually deepen their enlightenment. The awakened must never stray from spirituality. For it is within spirituality that the enlightened one can find their higher life purpose - or divine purpose. Not the individual egoic life purpose but the collective one. This is fueled from a love for reality, and the burning desire to advance mankind and the entire universe forward. To elevate the collective consciousness of all of mankind. This could be through teaching, creating, politics, etc. That is the highest purpose of the enlightened - and the highest trap is yielding to the relentless pull of the ego away from this goal.

@Shaun When I was about your age I did see several therapists. The therapy didn’t help in this case, no transference, more offerings of Amway schemes , but the choosing to stop blaming other people, videos, what have you, was a major paradigm shift, resulting in a major “breakdown” / “transference to Nothing”, in which I lost my name. In a nutshell, it was a big step closer to what I needed, along with other efforts in accountability for my own well being, resulting in realizing I needed to chose radical responsibility, over complaining. Best I can remember (24 yrs ago) I don’t think I was aware I was almost constantly blaming & complaining, thus creating the very perspective in which I was experiencing the suffering, just like you are creating now. The perspective creates the suffering, the suffering is fear, the fear prevents the inspect of the creation of the perspectives. A circle I would not wish upon anyone. There’s a paradox which is tough to swallow, but when the fear & protective mechanics of survival are inspected and addressed properly by inspecting the creation of your perspectives, the paradox dissolves revealing the love it was all along. If you had awareness you are creating your reality, you would of course not relive the past, nor use it to filter your creating of now. Notice no one awakened plays the victim role, and try to make that connection. In a hindsight clarity, you’d be well aware you were deeply asleep, and were not aware you were creating. Notice - you can not rationally deny, all of your choices have led you to this exact here now. You can not both be in a thought story of self / past, and present here now creating. Because in actuality, there is no you in the thought story’s (though it is insanely convincing there is) there is no you to resolve anything in such thought stories. The opportunity for resolution is always present, you must not continue running from it. Here now presence is the “resolution”, to leaving to the past or future via thought stories. Face it, see what it is, now. You are one, not both of those “you’s”, if you will. Create the reality where you let the past go, actually, then you see, then your trajectory of realization is pointed to Wholeness. You are the understanding, that’s why it feels so good and releases falsities. The understanding of the fragmentation you’re creating is itself the recognition of you true being as what was formerly referred to as the fragmentation. It is worthwhile. Taking all the help and resources available to you is the key. Humbleness, humility and peace - “more of true being / self” - are always found within this, wether the methods per se “helped” or not, it’s about you seizing this life of yours. It’s about the choice to move forward in admitting the fear. Anything inspected amply dissolves, fear is not exceptional at all - you’re creating it. You can stop in any given moment, though I acknowledge it is easier said than done, it is away’s nonetheless the truth. Trauma creates a greater void, literally, between thought story you, and The Light You (pls forgive the linguistic of separation). You can forget who you really are, but you can not actually not be who you really are. To pretend you can, is suffering. The you that you think you are has no creating power at all. It a thought, just like the thought ‘toaster’. It’s not a toaster, it’s a thought. Actual you is present indeed, right now, you are just aware of this. As such, you are The Creator, and you can forget this, but you can not not be The Creator in actuality. The painful, painful, painful! Paradox you’re choosing to dance with is the denial you are experience exactly how you’re choosing to perceive. This literally expands void, as all is ineffable truly, - imagaination, Mind, etc - your choices of self denial, God denial, your whole solipsism theory, the rejection of assistance and love from everyone, etc - you are painstakingly expanding the void. The only thing that will enable you to feel better, is to lesson your void, to admit for yourself you are indeed choosing your perspectives, and to begin choosing perspective which are authentic - aligned with your sensation, rather than against them. The practice is so fundemental and apparent, you’re missing it. Simply feel as you say something negative about yourself, and something positive. Notice how it feels, and listen to the sensation. Allow all of life to be so simple, cry out, punching bag out, run out, scream out - whatever our style - but let it out with certainty. Where you’re at is too much for one to bare and resolve alone, because your primary paint of your suffering is the topic of Alone. It’s toooo much. People can be helpful too you know. Perhaps that’s what you stand to discover so innocently. But we’re all here, and you are not alone. You are choosing the perspectives of this, because it seems the hurt is too much to revisit. That is a misunderstanding, which you could do without recreating anymore. If you’d like to chat lightly, nothing heavy introspective, just an experience of a different perspective, I’m up for that today. If not, at least consider why you would not accept the ear of one who lived through the hell. I created it too. I didn’t know either. Either way, thank you very much. I am most appreciative of you.

Jeffery Martin says it's about 1%, maybe he is wrong. Pretty much no awakened people are talking about what you are talking about so yes. Maybe if you want to access the deepest experiences and understanding you need to alter your neurotransmitters. However, this is one aspect of spirituality and most people doing spiritual work are into enlightenment AKA having persistent shifts that stick with you and will reduce your suffering even when you stop meditating. I know how amazing psychedelics and their afterglow feels but it always ends and we're back to the normal state of suffering and dissatisfaction. You just seem to have unusual goals as a spiritual seeker. I don't think there is the one right way to be spiritually, we can do whatever we want.

That is pretty funny cuz i also had an awakening experience to the no-self or in other words the nothingness doing just 2 days self-inquiry. If i manged to surrender to the nothingness i might became awakened.