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@Emerald from The Diamond Net on YouTube has an amazing life coaching program right now for people and wanted to leave a review as I think she’s an AMAZING resource for those of us on here who are motivated towards nonduality and spirituality but also maybe struggling in life in some way and can use some outside help. Most life coaches as we know are often super expensive and although some of us can afford to spend that money, not all of us can. Most life coaches are often over $100 per hour and don’t even understand the kind of stuff most of us on this forum are really motivated about so they lack that deeper understanding and often remain at Stage Orange. Emerald is offering a super affordable $32 for 1 hour sessions and I think it’s definitely worth more. I now have a better and more concrete plan of how to move towards my life purpose and now have a step-by-step plan on moving out from home, how I’m going to do so, have a plan on ways to work towards my own financial independence, have a well thought out process of how I’m going to access greater intuition in my life, and so on. Emerald is also very well educated and has great understanding of very important foundational psychology such as shadow work, the subconscious, trauma, and so on. This is really worth it and I hope you guys give this a shot if you’re skeptical about most life coaches who might not understand your motivations towards true spirituality and so on.

Now, I know what you must be thinking, "Why is a children's TV show (that aired on Nickelodeon no less) being recommended on this self-help forum? How could this possibly be appropriate? This guy must be crazy!" I know I have a tough sell, but please hear me out. Believe it or not, this wonderful show may be one of the most important tools for introducing children to nonduality teachings, Eastern culture and religions, respecting all life, spiritual transcendence, and the hero's journey. Not only can this be a wonderful teaching tool and bonding experience for families, but it's really a show for ALL ages. I saw it for the first time in my early 20's and it transformed my life. I've heard of people in their 50's and 60's and even older being moved to tears. I fully believe that the world would be a better place if more people watched this show. It's really the only show that I feel wholly appropriate to share with Actualized.org. So what is Avatar the Last Airbender? It's a 3-season, fully self-contained epic fantasy TV show that aired from 2005-2008. I don't want to spoil the plot, so I'll just say some interesting tidbits... The creators borrowed inspiration from ancient Chinese, Imperial Japanese, Indian, and even Native American culture. They also hired a real-life martial artist, Sifu Kisu, to choreograph and act out the fights, making for the most stunningly accurate and fluid animated fights you'll ever see. What's more, each of the 4 nations in this fantasy world (each able to "bend" one of the 4 elements) have their own fighting style that reflects the nature of their respective element. It's really quite remarkable. Balance is a key theme of the show. While the animation and fights are gorgeously produced, what makes this show so endearing are the characters and how they bond and grow. What do you think of when you think of the qualities of children's cartoon characters? Probably unbelievable characters, dumbed-down dialogue, lazy writing, inconsistencies, and various other silly actions. Does Avatar have silliness? Oh yeah, plenty of it! But the quirky and often witty and down-to-earth humor can be enjoyed by people of all ages. The rest of it? Hell no. Except for the first few episodes (where the creative team were trying to find their footing), the dialogue, writing, and general themes are EXCELLENT and mature. Pretty quickly, Avatar transcends everything you thought a kid's show could be. So all in all, I can't recommend Avatar the Last Airbender enough, especially to families that would like to have discussions about the topics of actualized.org. But no matter where you are at in your journey, if you haven't seen Avatar, please do. It is SO RARE to find a show in our popular culture that transcends all the boundaries. To teach the importance of friendship and how it can transcend lifetimes. To give an in-depth look at the horrors of war (that's family friendly!). To teach one to respect all life and consider multiple perspectives. To teach one of the inherent duality of our universe (Daoism and the Taijitu symbol are explained), and also of the true underlying nonduality of everything ("The greatest illusion of all is the illusion of separation."). Childbirth. Loss of loved ones. Meditation. The path of Liberation. It's all here, and presented in a way that a child could understand (idk, probably age 6-10), but also in a way that can touch even the oldest and most evolved soul. Here I'll link to a 10-minute video of the episode where the main character Aang meets a Guru in order to open his Chakras. Please note that this is a YouTube video edited to not break any copyright laws and meant for educational purposes only. This will you give you a taste of what to expect! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StrbppmsZJw Here is a link to the just-released complete series in Blu-Ray. It's only $35 for the 24-hour long show and tons of bonus content. https://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Last-Airbender-Complete-Blu-ray/dp/B07BC5STNG/ref=tmm_blu_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= I would love nothing more than for Leo to notice this post, watch the show, and shoot a video on it. Why? Because this whole community needs to know about Avatar! Our society is at a difficult point (a crossroads of destiny, if you will), of trying to evolve from stage Blue/Orange to Green. What can help make that shift? How do we teach our children about these deep and often misunderstood topics? I feel that this is quite a challenge for many of us... And I'm here to tell you that this medium of a TV show could be the perfect tool for doing just that! In every sense of the word, this remarkable work of animation is timeless.

i was recommended a book by Itzhak Benthov. Reading into him i saw that he helped build Israels first rocket for war in 48 and similar affiliations. He also did work in consciousness, nonduality, etc. I'm not sure if i'm being an ideologue/egoic in questioning his work because of his role in religious war. am i? how?

@FoxFoxFox I think we’re seeing this the same, really, and have very similar, if not the same, intentions. I can really appreciate what you said there. I do want to point out, (because you said “the rest of your writing”) and not to appear to take credit, that is not my writing. It’s from the SAND website. Mine was just an offering of an explanation, just an opinion of what the writer was conveying. It’s open to any interpretation of course. I don’t know that he / she would consider it a concession, though I’m in agreeance with you, consessions are problematic. I’d add their name btw, but there isn’t one on the site. I am thankful for your comment. It draws attention to the limiting nature of making a post like this with only one explanation of nonduality. I should probably add at least a few more. https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/about/nonduality/

@FoxFoxFox Good lookin out, thanks! I appreciate the vigilance, however, that is not my writing, but from... https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/about/nonduality/. In terms of the sentence you copied & pasted above, yes, of course. However, if we look at the author’s entire paragraph: “In the last century Western scientists are arriving at the same conclusion: The universe does indeed comprise of a single substance, presumably created during the Big Bang, and all sense of being – consciousness – subsequently arises from it. This realization has ontological implications for humanity: fundamentally we are individual expressions of a single entity, inextricably connected to one another, we are all drops of the same ocean.” Then we can see the initial reference is not to truth, nor the author’s sentiment, but to what “Western scientists are arriving at”. The author has used the word “presumably” before “created” in a reserved, humble manor - as an initial concession even - to convey a sense of respect to readers who’s knowing of self is limited to the rationale of “western scientists”, while simultaneously expressing to the reader there is a much deeper truth. (pre·sum·a·bly: Used to convey that what is asserted is very likely though not known for certain.) In understanding the subject of the paragraph thus far is what “Western scientists are arriving at” - then we can see he goes on to elaborate on that with western science coming to a realization the universe is “one substance”, and that “all sense of being - consciousness - subsequently arises from it” has ontological implications. By “ontological implications”, we are Invited to consider that there is a much deeper, relatively speaking - meta - truth of being. (on·to·log·i·cal: 1. Relating to the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.) In understanding the initial reference pertained to what “Western scientists are arriving at”, and acknowledging that is a presumption, the author points out the shortcoming of that presumption is limited: “all sense of being” . The writer then goes on to express the truth behind his implication (quite beautifully imo): “fundamentally we are individual expressions of a single entity, inextricably connected to one another, we are all drops of the same ocean.” So, the writing is not geared towards someone with your knowing, but perhaps towards a materialist with some interest in obtaining a deeper understanding of self & truth than western science has currently put forward.

it’s amazing how the standards dropp when he‘s not around - in the end it’s always on his cost - i wonder who’s ego death this really is! maybe he just wants to teach us that we don’t really know what suffering is - as we don’t understand the nonduality of suffering yet. i guess he really earned his new years solo retreat (just guessing) by talking agains walls of nothing all the time. guess it’s rather time to roll out the matt’s or set up the meditation cushion - time to recenter.

@Tony 845 To answer your question, if your thinking about telling them about enlightenment, it would probably confuse them and even if it didn't, the judgement and ridiculation they would take on from other kids at school and other social environments if they talked about nonduality, would probably cause them to either drop your philosophy or it would make them feel confused, misunderstood, afraid,shy.. which would be the opposite of what you intended, which was for them to be peaceful, mindful, secure,content and happy. I suggest you do it in a subtle way, one where you teach them to value truth, to be skeptical about their own beliefs and thoughts, to instill within them a curiosity to find out what they are. But before you do any of that first teach them to meditate

yes - i think at the age of twelve in shamanism they would find their totem animal, think it’s not wrong to have a healthy mystical world understanding before nonduality. in steiner schools they say it’s important even in the early ages - you can work with the spiral through the ages before you introduce nonduality. (you can teach them nonduality better in nature than with anime, don’t forget the ants so fast - my mom let me watch animals all the time it’s super helpful)

@Nadosa It may certainly seem like it is / was, but that was not an awakening. This is the opposite of being, or “deep in awakening and nonduality”. You should really consider addressing this psychologically, and or actually going much deeper into nonduality. If what you’re saying is true, then The Buddha was completely wrong. If you are claiming to have realized there is no self, then who has low self esteem? Who cares about the pedestal? Take action to find relief and happiness.

?? What insights could there be gained after 'hitting nonduality', there are no insights regarding 'the truth' afaik, except maybe to say that all is a perception Insights to me sound more like only being relevant to our personal life, like i.e. : 'oh shit, all this heroin I'm shooting is really messing up my life and that of my mom's, oh that's really not what I want'

I will provide a bit of background. I have been meditating around an hour per day since March 2014 at the age of 17. Since then I have changed much as a person. I went vegan in 2014 and have been raw vegan since 2015. I have done psychedelics including cannabis, LSD and mushrooms for purposes of nondual entheogenic exploration. As a result of my consistent meditations and mindfulness I have had a number of peak nondual experiences. I had a kundalini awakening event in June of 2017 a few days after consuming psilocybin for the first time in which during a meditation I felt a jolt of energy surge up my spine and explode in my head. Additionally I have read more books in the past 4 years than I have in the last 10. My mind has wondered and contemplated the infinite complexities of existence daily for years now. I also went through a deep dark depression with suicidal thoughts from 2016 to 2017. I have consciously been on the path of nonduality for 4 years now and I know that everything in existence is fundamentally ONE and that everything is GOD. I am well aware of the infinite fractal nature of reality and I see infinite universes in everything, not hallucinations but a deep knowing and feeling of energy from past profound experiences. Systems thinking is now my normal mode of thinking after absorbing as much information as I have. The feeling of my mind melting all started back in mid-April of 2018; Age 21. I began to notice small changes in my cognition. My memory had begun to slow and become slightly hazy. I began to behave less efficiently and complete tasks less effectively. I have spent much time writing over the past year and a half and I have always been a good writer. However since this phenomena arose in my experience I have struggled to be able to string together sentences and thoughts in writing. Thus conveying ideas through writing is growing increasingly difficult. Even writing this is proving to be quite difficult whereas a year ago a post of this length would have been no problem at all. As the months went on this feeling became more and more apparent I my life. The seeming collapse of everything that constitutes my worldview has resulted in massive amounts of confusion which are making the completion of basic daily performance decline. On my worst days there are times where I cannot even get out of bed because the feeling of absolute confusion is so immense. Focus has gone down the drain. I am frequently forgetting to eat meals due to the absolute insanity of my mind feeling like it’s melting down, and there have been countless days I the past few months where I am eating on average 800 calories per day whereas normally I would be consuming 2,100 calories per day. As a result my energy levels have tanked. I have grown very sensitive to sound to the point where loud noises can be physically painful to my ears. All sounds are louder and sharper. I have always been introverted but now I am so easily overwhelmed by modern life. Making a living feels like a burden. I feel like all of my concepts of life, reality, who I am and what life is are all melting down and basic function is becoming increasingly difficult. There is always a feeling of pressure in my mind. I am not experiencing physical pain in the brain, but a pressure of the mind. Let me give an example, typically after wake up or finishing meditation my mind feels cool and free flowing for lack of better terms. When I am having a busy day working etc my mind is being stimulated and feels warm and active for lack of better terms. Now with this meltdown/ reconfiguration happening my mind always feels hot. For the past 3 months or so my mind has felt like an overheated computer CPU. For most of my life I have functioned with one particular mental configuration. Now it feels as if that well established configuration is melting down into an unrecognizable liquid to be rebuilt into a new reconfiguration. Using an analogy; similar to the life cycle of a butterfly I have spent the entirety of my 21 years of life in mental configuration 1 analogous to the caterpillar stage of the lifecycle. I feel like this year I entered the chrysalis stage of development in which all of my concepts beliefs established patterns etc are all melting down and being “liquefied” to be reconfigured and transfigured into something new, configuration 2; analogous to the liquefication of a caterpillar in a chrysalis getting ready to enter the next stage of its life being the butterfly. Hopefully I enter into the next phase of this process sooner rather than later. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take. School and work have become massive sources of sometimes crippling anxiety. I do not want to completely meltdown and loose the majority of the external structure of my life (being job loss, school loss and loss of stability) but as my mind continues to melt performance is declining in all areas of my life. I think that I am going to collapse soon. I recently had a bad panic attack regarding all of the stress this is inducing. I see broken people everywhere I go and it is hard because I can feel the pain of people I am around and yet my mind is at a point where even forming simple sentences is proving increasingly difficult. Some days I wish I never unplugged myself from the matrix of reality and society. Some days I just want to be plugged back into the matrix. Recently even my dreams are not forming correctly. The appearance of the dreamscape is now grainy and torn in many places in most of my dreams now. I feel like my 400ug LSD trip in November of 2017 changed my epigenetics. I felt like a different person afterwards. It was the most powerful experience I have ever had. I have used various meditation methods over the years and thus I have tried them to see if they could help with this and all have been unable to help mitigate this. For the first time in 4 years meditation has become relatively ineffective for me. I know the ego is trying to control everything and I should probably sit with this experience and let it pass similar to a thought in meditation but that’s really hard to do when my mind and life are slowly falling apart in front t of me. In the past couple of months I have been experiencing muscle twitches and spasms particularly in the areas of the face, neck, back and hands. The only other times I have ever experienced ongoing random muscle spasms like these were right before my initial awakening in 2014 and after I did mushrooms the first time in 2017. In the past I have limited myself to doing psychedelics 3 or 4 times a year. So I am not a frequent user. And I have always used them in a meditative setting. I have taken nootropics in the past for mental boosts as well. But since around June of this year I have been very wary of taking any substances that are mind altering (psychedelics, nootropics, medications, etc.) due to my current mental state, however if anyone thinks that there are nootropics that would benefit me I would like to know. I have always had a low sex drive but since my mind has started going through these changes my sex drive has shot up. I used to sexually relieve myself once a week or less on average and sexual thoughts have never been prevalent in my mind to the point of them being almost not a factor. However now I am sexually relieving myself 3 times or more per week and my mind has sexual thoughts every single day. Not sure if this is relevant but my music tastes are changing too. I have been listening to primarily ambient music since 2012, however in the past 5 months or so, strangely I have been listening to increasing amounts of rap, metal and dubstep. So all in all I need some help figuring out what is going on with my mind. Is this a kundalini awakening gone wrong? Is my energy messed up? Am I nutrient deficient? Changed neuroplasticity? I do not know what is happening to me or why this is happening but I think I simply went too fast in these past 4 years with all of the meditation, books, psychedelics, lucid dreaming, raw veganism, calisthenics and my mind couldn’t keep up with the mental activity and changes that have been happening. Please, to anyone who read through all of this any advice or help you’d like to share would be greatly appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read through this post. Positive energy and high vibrations to you all.

@Nadosa To put it in some framework / model, you’re trying to start at the top of Maslow’s pyramid and go into nonduality. Start at the bottom instead. Get the foundation in place. Look into counseling / therapy. Check your diet and physical well being. When you come back to this pursuit it will be from a much healthier perspective.

A Mystic knows all the mysteries and dimensions of life inside out. He can basicly do anything. Travel through time and space or walk on water if he wants to. A sage is usually just a pleasent being who trancsended his identity and reached nonduality.

@Mu_ what lies beyond the known is a solo journey. I’m only pointing to the barrier that traps the inattentive mind. I’m not interested in all the god/absolutist stuff on here. Many people speak of god yet still meet moment to moment life with images(the past). Many people speak of god yet are still bound by the center as well. Many people speak of god/the absolute/nonduality, yet still carry over there chattering minds, such as dreaming. A reaction (recorded experiences that are not carried out and ended on the spot by undivided awareness). Those who speak of god still tend to live the same ol unwholly lives. It all goes much deeper than “god”..When ones head goes missing that is the sacred. And how we live day to day life determines whether the sacred comes to, or whether we can live a life of continual dynamic stillness from moment to moment. Anyway im not one to identify with anything including god. To be headless means to stay empty/nothing(whole-alone). All “things” of thought are ashes born of yesterday. The creative doesn’t carry over the past. Let go of what has been...stay empty/nothing-alone, or don’t

I couldn't agree more and I enjoy reading the Upanishads and the Gita as their explanations of God (Self, Brahman) are more straight-forward and to the point. But I also love to see how beautifully twisted the Bible can be in the hands of the ego-mind. Now that I can see the biblical teachings through the lens of nonduality, they are much more powerful and clear. Here is another beautiful quote from Job 33:6@Big Guru Balls "I am the same as you in God's sight."

He has fell into the trap of calling himself a master on his way to mastery. This dude embodies nonduality but lacks epistemic knowledge. Psychedelics would deeply humble him, so would yoga and meditation but he think he has got it all. I honestly appreciate everything he is doing despite my opinions of him. Besides, he is not for everybody to watch, you need a lot of maturity to read between his lines. His vibe, passion, and intention is what keeps me watching, also he talks to his viewers so Im studying the dude so I can offer him something of significant although he seems to be very close-minded. He forsurely falls into the same traps he tells others to avoid. I love mycellf

Nonduality INCLUDES the number 10, and everything else. That's similar to saying saying 1=10^(infinity). Yes, one is the first digit, but it is not equal. Further more. Mathematics is a man-made concept within nonduality. No mathematical equations will ever describe reality, just point to it or model it. The universe is not a number. "Infinity" is not a number. Within mathematics it can be manipulated like a number, and there's different sizes of infinity, so that should give you a hint at where math does not equal the territy.

Becoming lazy because of spiritual growth is healthy, even if seemingly counterintuitive. Healing wounds, having realizations, raising your vibration, it all leads to changes in behavior. It might seem like you're taking steps backwards, but it only seems that way. Like Emerald said, you having what you considered positive traits, were likely just the byproduct of low vibrational behavior. For instance if I was afraid my family would disown me if I don't live the life they wanted, I might choose to work hard towards achieving some low vibrational goal. For instance, accrue wealth for the sake of greed and fear of being disowned. You'd be industrious, but extremely inauthentic, and in turn unhealthy. Authenticity is what this life is about, and it's what healing and spirituality moves you towards. If you're not doing what feels the most right to you, it's inauthentic. As you raise in vibration you start peeling back layer after layer of inauthenticity. You'll even find instances where inauthenticity led to a certain behavior, then realize a second layer of inauthenticity brings you back to the same exact behavior you started with. It's fascinating how that works, and it's because it's all about intention. Where your intentions lie, is where your authenticity or inauthenticity lies, not in the behaviors you exhibit themselves. Fortunately this back and forth of behavior does end. You'll eventually reach your healthiest state, pure authenticity with no energetic blockages/baggage. Then there is no more layers to peel back. The peeling of these layers, completely healing, is actually quite more difficult than realizing enlightenment. That's why you see these beings pointing towards nonduality in a way that's in no way helpful to anyone. They've achieved enlightenment, but did not do the work of healing, which is necessary to be able to fully comprehend the magnitude of existence. Then they try to teach others about it, while not actually even able to understand what it is they're even saying. It's like a 5 year old recognizing calculus could somehow be useful, then trying to explain to others the point of it. This is all to point to the importance of healing, which is completely underrepresented in spiritual communities, ironically. My best advice on this topic is whenever you notice something is painful, you're likely getting an opportunity to heal some sort of wound. Don't turn away from it, don't avoid it, face it. Face it without judgment, without trying to push it away. That's how you embrace authenticity. Suffering is the mechanism the universe uses to push us towards unity and love. And you might have noticed, the more you turn away from your problems, or the more combative you get with them, the worse they get. It's because the mechanism of suffering is designed to increase in intensity the more you avoid it. And some people will avoid it for so long that the intensity is increased to the point it literally kills them. Think cancer, heart attacks, autoimmune diseases. Those are just physical manifestations of the suffering an individual experiences and has never properly dealt with. People are so afraid to face their pain, they'd literally rather die. Hopefully in the upcoming generations, it will become common knowledge how disease manifests, and how to properly heal from our wounds.

Marcus Aurelius is a very healthy embodiment of Blue. Even if you read Meditations you can see how he takes deep nondual understanding of God, nonduality, and Consciousness into a healthy blue perspective (which is all that Spiral Dynamics is mapping). This is not a knock on Marcus Aurelius at all. He is a very good example of strong healthy Blue in a time that was pretty much Red. You can have deep full nondual understanding and still be lower on the spiral. Remember, Orange, Green, Yellow hadn't even emerged yet. These are very new developments in perspective, world view, motives, and values (which is all Spiral Dynamics is tracking). Stoicism itself is a very healthy Blue (kinda Orange) philosophy which really values things such as: Honor Self-restraint Dignity That sense of being the upstanding valiant one Moral & emotional composure Submission of one's self-interest to one's state (country, land, territory, government, etc.) So on and so forth. Marcus Aurelius and his Meditations is a great piece to go back and work on remnants of positive Blue that people might not have fully worked through. I definitely wouldn't put Marcus Aurelius or even maybe people like The Buddha at Turquoise. Nondual understanding of all of reality doesn't really make you Turquoise. Turquoise is world-centric and people take for granted that there were still things such as slavery involved in that time. People completely take that for granted just to put these people on a pedestal. That's not to take away from The Buddha or any sages of that era and to say he was evil or bad. No. That was their time. That was the world view, perspective, etc. and full blown enlightenment doesn't really change that (more often than not). There was no Turquoise at that time because the world wasn't as connected as it is now where our society today is more all encompassing. Thus we have greater perspectives. Full blown enlightenment, understanding, and even embodiment DOESN'T automatically = Turquoise. The manner in which you embody God and the lens in which you view God depends upon one's level and stage in Growing Up, as Ken Wilber put's it. Sure there's correlation between deep non-dual understanding and mastery and Turquoise (or I should say, Turquoise has some apparent correlation to deep non-dual understanding) but as it's even said in science, correlation doesn't = causation.

It might just be the phrasing tripping me up, but both "Father" and "them" seem to point to something separate from the speaker... Anyways I'm glad you see it as nonduality, I'll ponder it more.

@Mikael89 Ya. Doesn’t matter when the “results” are observed, but it does matter if they are. Have you thought about the implication of the double slit, quantum erasure, “relativity”, nonduality and the law of attraction / no assertion? (In the cumulative sense) @Arthur Great post!

@stevegan928 Some of this might be useful. https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/17747-nonduality-meditations/

No statement can ever be absolutely true. All statements are dualistic and at best relatively and partially true. Absolute Truth is not a statement or an idea. It is what is actual. The entire actual universe and much more! Some aspects of solipsism point at one or two facets of the Absolute Truth, but Absolute Truth is way more grand and radical than solipsism would have you believe. Nonduality is a much better term than solipsism. But it is true that you are the only thing that exists. But NOT in the way you imagine.

In the universe, "things" have a "nature". For example, stars, black holes, molecules, atoms, photons, sound, etc all behave in certain ways according to their nature. Furthermore, things behave differently as they evolve. Stars behave one way but once they are black holes, they behave another way. Enlightened individuals behave they way they individually behave according to their nature simply because that is the way it is. Why does light travel at its relative velocity? Because that is just the way it is. Nonduality is true. Duality is also true but at a different level. That is the paradox.

@tsuki I didn't mean that they would have free will after enlightenment. I was saying that, even though we don't have free will we make choices (which actually are illusory) depending on our belief system. But since on enlightenment one realizes nonduality of the world and there is no 'good' and 'evil' anymore than how do they decide what to do, since each thing is equally good. Either you hit your head at wall continuously or sit at one place continuously or go have sex with many men/women or go kill your nieghbour, they are all supposed to be equally good, because there is no duality. (They are all different arrangement of atoms in this universe caused by physical laws) SO, why don't they do 'evil' things ? Because for normal people its social conditioning, fear of jail, morality etc, but enlightened person is beyond the thought based things.