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That’s cool. They can be quite intense when I have them, it’s only during sleep paralysis I have them. I’ve thought to myself how it’s like energy being “worked on”, like the energy body is going through some transformation

Does your variable spiritual definitions change the phrase 'that sounds about right' to 'that doesn't sound right'? You replied as if it had. I'm certainly aware that everything changes, including the self, the ego and the paradigm that the mind has. It is the sense of self that provides a constant feel to something that is changing. It seems to me, it's only the most oblivious or stubborn that would suggest we don't change, even though the evidence of evolution and transformation is abundantly apparent. Change is the only constant. Metamorphosis is the only lock. Variable spiritual definitions...the only thing that doesn't change on this forum.

Welcome to my Journal! You are reading a 40 day journal of my journey of quitting smoking cigarettes. I am glad that you cared enough to start giving this a read. It is gonna be fun for you all and me I suppose. Day 1 - I had been thinking about quitting smoking for a while now. And yesterday a new Vision of what life I can design for myself came into my mind. So to actualize that vision, the first challenge I am willing to go through is quitting smoking. I have been a moderate to heavy smoker from past 4 years. From smoking a pack per day to stopping smoking to again smoking 5 cigs per day to QUITTING SMOKING DEFINITIVELY. This is going to be fun. I am already enjoying the thrill of the idea of fighting cravings-having self awareness-maintaining integrity with my decision-living to my max. The reason for why I am quitting smoking- Because this is not Who I Am. This is not What I choose to be. I am a non-smoker. So here's something inspiring which I wrote to help me and others who want to quit smoking. Quitting Smoking is Easy. Here's how: Remember the thousands of times you have already quitted smoking cigarettes. Whenever you take your last puff of the cigarette, you have quitted smoking. See. It's that simple. I was telling you. Whenever you are not smoking you have quitted smoking. And it is certainly more number of hours than while engaged in smoking. Smoking is hard, quitting is easy. Infact starting to smoke is hard. The first cigarette you smoked, remember how hard it was. You were pressured by your peers, right? Maybe not directly but indirectly. You smoke whenever you are stressed out or bad mood. So starting to smoke is a difficult process. But notice while smoking when do you get the most pleasure? When you are taking in the puff or when you are exhaling out the smoke? It's nothing a game of contrast we are playing with ourselves. First we do a hard thing- which is start smoking. Then to find relief we quit smoking. Quitting Smoking is cool. Smoking is hot. Here's how: Don't we feel burning sensation while we inhale the smoke? A slight throat irritation. Then how come anyone thinks smoking is cool? Quitting is what is actually cool. When you quit smoking, you become cool. Thoughts are settled. Then we function in a cool way rather than with stress and pressure. Cigarettes smoking is neither bad nor good. It is what it is. It just depends on what you want. Quitting smoking attracts women/healthy relationships/desires. Here's how: Firstly you have more money to spend on dates, buying her gifts, or on your desires etc. Secondly we spend more time with them rather than cigarettes. It's like breaking up with a less fulfilling to a more fulfilling relationship. We dont smell bad when we quit smoking. Also after quitting, no secretly wondering whether she is ok with smoking or not. Quitting smoking makes you rich. Here's how: More time for work. More productivity due to improved health. More productive work=more money. So it's been 6 hours since I last smoked and I am doing fine. That's it for now. Thanks for reading. Your view is acting as a support to me. Keep actualizing!

If you want transformation, you need a long-term and consistent spiritual practice. The psychedlic journey is a tool that makes it easier to go inside and do inner work and is done when called for within the context of your practice.

I've been using psychedelics off and on for many years, but it's not until the last three years that they've caused a lasting transformation in myself. It was when I finally got a hold of 5-MeO-DMT that I discovered what's really possible via psychedelics. I suppose you could refer to the changes as "pleasant", but it's more along the lines of genuine and predictable spiritual transformation, when viewed through the teachings regarding repeated exposure to high-level states of consciousness that are described in the various wisdom traditions. Rather than retell the whole story here, I'll link to the long description I recently typed for anyone interested.

I agree with you that if we raise human consciousness to higher levels, then people won't be gravitated to porn anymore. But Krystal seems to be thinking about this in a completely different angle. She seems to be treating this as more than "just a need to be being fulfilled". And she is taking her involvement in the sex industry very seriously. It's not a joke to her. Maybe this is her life purpose? I don't know. haha Here are some quotes from Krystal that highlight this: - "I really started feeling that it's part of my mission to shine a light on the sex industry and given my position in the spiritual community that I'm the person to do this." - Krystal Aranyani "I think that it's better for us to come into these industries and into these spaces and share our magic and share what we've learned that has really helped us along our path in these spaces rather than separating ourselves from them. We can really bring in spirituality into everything and I think that's important with where we're going at this time on our planet rather than just staying in ashrams, which I did for many years and learning all of these incredible tools it's like okay now how can I go out into the world" - Krystal Aranyani - "You know there's a dark side to it and I just think that it can be evolved into something a lot more beautiful and I am passionate about that because I do see pornography as a beautiful art as I shared. " - Krystal Aranyani - "We're infiltrating the porn industry. We're Trojan horsing it, we're calling it Trojan unicorning it. So we're really bringing it in like when people aren't aware of it, and we're bringing the sacredness, the sacred sensuality, and we're awakening it from the core, from the inside out." - Krystal Aranyani - "I teach traditional tantra which is not sexualized tantra, but the tantric perspective in my opinion around this is all sex, all that we do is tantric. Tantra is really rejecting nothing in this existence and seeing it all as divine. There's many layers to that statement but regarding pornography and the adult industry, it doesn't matter if you see me having animalistic, wild sex, it doesn't matter if you see me having connected eye gazing with a partner. to me it is divine each partner I have is divine and it's all a practice of seeing the divine seeing God within each other " - Krystal Aranyani - "A part of my purpose is to share and shine a light on the sex industry because the thing with the sex industry is it's always going to exist" - Krystal Aranyani - "Other than that, sharing the negative detrimental effects that porn has, there's not any solutions. So what I'm doing and with others that I'm teaming up with is to provide solutions because it's not going anywhere. And I believe that this global awakening of consciousness, which is what we are absolutely experiencing at a heightened pace the past few years since the pandemic, especially brought stirred, stuff was stirring and it all brought that more to surface, woke a lot of people up. And with this awakening, learning how to release shame around our sexuality and our sexual energy is I believe one of the absolute most important parts of this and it's an industry that is ignored and shunned and hidden and we're not talking about this enough so that is why I am talking about it." - Krystal Aranyani - " I will be heavily judged, heavily shamed. I've missed opportunities now when people find out that I'm in the industry. My family is being put down, attacked as well. And why is this? Why do you think that this is? because sex is the most powerful energy in existence, and yet we fear it, we shame it, we suppress it until it explodes in dangerous and even violent ways. We pretend that this energy doesn't even exist. We pretend that the human body and the feminine body does not exist. We drink from our mother's nipples, sacred nipples, that give us life, And then at a certain age we're told those nipples don't exist. We're not allowed to post about them We're not allowed to talk about them. We're not allowed to look at them They no longer exist only in these shameful places like pornography. This is all so outdated and in this process you forget where you came from and in this process of Suppressing and hiding our bodies and our sexuality You forget where you came from, you forget about the mother, the sacredness of our mother, of the feminine. You disconnect and hide from the most sacred parts of yourself. You shame your desires and keep them hiding deep within, which creates disease, disease. You end up judging and separating yourself from others if they don't do the same. You forget who you are and you forget your own power, your power to create lives within and outside of you. And I don't just mean for women. We have the seed of life within us when we heal our trauma, judgment, pain and fears around ourselves, around our bodies, around especially the feminine body, the mother, the body of the mother that brought us into existence. When we release the shame, the trauma, the judgments around us, the suppression, the fear is when the world will transform and I deeply believe that. And the sex industry is a part of this transformation. It is a major player in this transformation. " - Krystal Aranyani

A few years ago I was going through some emotional pain and started getting into meditation through the meditation book “The Mind Illuminated”. I was also around stage Orange and Green in Spiral Dynamics. At the time meditation really helped me since I was going through a lot of a pain. Eventually after a few weeks I got over the pain and was still meditation for many months after that daily as a habit. I had the goal of spiritual enlightenment. I’m not really sure why that was my goal. I think it was because I was tired of emotional pain. After I started this meditation practice I started bing watching spiritual content, buddhist content and Actualized.org stuff. I was really inhaling Actualized.org content. Sometimes I would watch a video where Leo would say don’t take my word for it and I would actually get thrown off since I never even questioned the validity of what Leo said. And this goes for his videos, his blog and even the comments in the forum. I put him on a pedestal. I also put Owen Cook a self-help/ dating guru on a pedestal as well and believed everything he said. Not only that I felt like I had to follow bhuddist principles after reading and watching so much content on it. I was following a bhuddist meditation guide “The Mind Illuminated” so I felt like I had to take on the principles of the religion The truth about what was happening was this. I fell for the trap of spiritual bypassing. My life really wasn’t that good but I meditated a lot. I wasn’t a sad person but I wasn’t a happy person either. I had financial trouble. My dating life was practically non-existent and I had few friends and poor social skills. My life wasn’t progressing in any way besides my concentration and mindfulness which was getting sharper each month. That itself felt good. I ignored my crappy life and had the goal of spiritual enlightenment. I was using meditation to ignore other parts of my life and because of that it kept bugging me like a thorn in my side. I could have meditated while also improving my life but I didn’t and eventually I lost the desire for spiritual enlightenment and stopped meditating. I was spending a few years in New Zealand surrounded by a lot of Stage Green people. Eventually I had to face the fact that I have certain desires in life. I need to get my life back together. I need to fix my dating life and get a career going. I went back to Stage Orange and I no longer even resonated with Stage Green stuff anymore. Eventually when I would go back to consuming content from gurus like Owen Cook, Leo Gura and even celebrities, I no longer pedestalized them. Even now I look at these same gurus content now with some skepticism and I could see myself disagreeing with some of the things they say in their videos whereas in the past that would have never happened. I’ve started meditation again with the book “The Mind Illuminated” as a guide but I no longer feel like I have to follow an type of buddhist way of life or even subscribe to that philosophy at all. And I can now see the shadow side of buddhism. I’m now using meditation to keep me emotional centered when I have to face my fears and put myself in situations that would normally be emotionally painful. I’m prioritizing personal transformation over spirituality. And I’m using spirituality to help make the transformation of me as a person as well as my life easier

Stage Red "strongman" could be a legitimate leader in a specific chaotic Stage Red society, but that's not something suited in the context of American- or international political contexts. That's just pure regression. Majority of people globally and in America are somewhere between Blue and Orange, not Red. And again, like Leo said above, Trump would not even be an effective Stage Red dictator, even if there was a legitimacy for that in American context. I think USA, and in large part, the whole world is having a some sort of legitimation crisis. What America (and world) needs is a political transformation - more authentic (developed) leaders and cultural meaning-making systems. The world is chaotic right now, there are conflicts and environmental issues etc., but Trump is not the one who can provide wholeness to that chaos. Trump is just a ego-backlash to that legitimation crisis.

Transformation is part of any spiritual path. The “chasing enlightenment” seems to be a modern thing. In Ashtanga 8 limb yoga, samadhi is only one of the 8 limbs. The Yoga Sutras talks about transformation which Pantanjali calles “parinama”. Transformation (parinama) is produced by a sequence of steps (krama). YS 3.15 A “krama” is a step or a single action. You transform yourself by taking one step at a time. Have a consistent practice over a long period of time, practice consistently without gaps, and with enthusiasm and an attitude of service YS 1.14. This unleashes the full potential of the mind. YS 3.4

From my experience he is legit. Shambavi Mahamudra is the most powerful tool for transformation I have come across and the initation into the process felt like a psychedelic experience. I don't know what to tell you but everything he has accomplished, his unvavering integrity and devotion and the fact that his methods actually work is enough for me to follow him. That everything is imaginary is the same as saying everything is real because imagination is reality. Just because Sadhguru is talking in terms of the dream does not mean he doesn't know its a dream. He is playing within the dream to help people wake up from it

@Ero I haven’t learned much past those topics as of now. I am working on a paper for how to share resources more fairly using bachelor’s level mathematics, so I consider myself an amateur mathematician. You may have a point, but I’m not sure what you could teach on a black board that you couldn’t also teach in an online format. I don’t see how lectures on elliptic functions or singular cohomology couldn’t be taught online in the same way that arithmetic and topology are taught online. My guess is that the number of people who teach graduate level mathematics is low, and people who teach online and who specialize in higher level mathematics is incredibly rare, not that these topics couldn’t be taught in an online format in the future. You are correct about proof writing though, as that requires practice and someone to correct the work. My broader point is that math education should focus on what the math is even about first, then discuss the theorems and the proofs. For example, I had a weak understanding of linear algebra in uni. I knew that determinants could calculate the hypervolumes of parallelepipeds and that a matrix is invertibile iff its determinant was not 0, but I had no idea what these disjoint concepts had to do with one another. It wasn’t until 3B1B’s series on linear algebra where it became clear to me how matrices transform vector spaces in a way which is “linear”, and how the determinant tells you how much the matrix transforms the hypervolumes of unit hypercubes. So when the determinant is 0, that means the hypercubes are flattened, meaning the linear transformation is not one-to-one, meaning the matrix is not invertible. It would have taken my professor half an hour at most to explain this and it would have made every subsequent theorem and proof related to determinants make more sense. There is one class I took which I don’t consider a waste of time and money. It was a topology course I took in graduate school which utilized the Moore method. Essentially, the professor gave no lectures, we were not allowed to read any text books, or use online sources. All we had was a pamphlet which started with two axioms for topology, some definitions based on those axioms, and then statements based on those axioms and definitions. We were not told which statements were true and which were false, and it was up to us to either prove or disprove the statement. As the pamphlet progressed, more definitions and statements were added which were based on the axioms, definitions, and statements prior in the pamphlet. Lectures were essentially students presenting there results to the class. My only gripe with this class is that I would teach it backwards. It started with very abstract concepts and from them it built more tangible structures. For example, it started with topologies, then discussed the separation axioms 1-4, then it went to metric spaces, and finally got to the real number line. I would start with the more intuitive structures, and then chisel away at them until all that remained were the axioms of topology, as this is closer to how topology was created in the first place. This class encouraged critical, independent, and creative thinking, as well as strengthened my proof writing more than any lecture-homework-study-test-repeat style class, and its not even close. If more math classes were like this, I wouldn’t consider bachelor level’s mathematics courses a waste of time and money.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not denying that you might have had an authentic transformation away from being constantly lost in thought to living more peacefully. Nevertheless, that is not something Spiral Dynamics tracks, despite how popular a belief that is. The key feature of the transformation from Yellow to Turquoise is not less time spent on thinking. It's how you think. The idea that thinking is a waste of time is a religious idea you can put on and off like clothing. It doesn't have to reflect a deep transformation of cognition.

The idea that thinking is a waste of time is a religious idea you can put on and off like clothing. It doesn't have to reflect a deep transformation of cognition. As for the transformation from Yellow to Turquoise, the key feature is not less time spent on thinking. It's how you think.

googled now and it says: « The biblical meaning of your left eye twitching indicates a warning of impending bad luck or even death, but it can also symbolize spiritual awakening, transformation, or the need for deeper spiritual insight. Such occurrences might even prompt a call to forgive past grievances or to let go of the past and focus on the present.« anywho maybe it’s also parasites roaming around and having a good time around my eye or it’s probably just……. nothing

That's amazing! Hey before we think about degrees and stuff, are you interested in discussing what physics is? My favourite subject was physics too while I was in college. I didn't know why then but I guess now I know. I suggest we keep it simple and discuss examples as opposed to getting too technical and definitiony. Let's list three things in our surroundings that involves physics and it's concepts - 1. A rotating fan 2. Snapping of fingers 3. Motion of a fly You can choose your own list of three things. Now instead of contemplating ourselves, we are gonna take the help of Claude. Pasting our chat here.. "Hey Claude how's you! I wanna understand what's physics is at the most fundamental level. Please note that I said I want to 'understand' means it must hit me that oh yes ofcourse this is physics. I want to experience it. Rather than theorizing about it. So what I did is I chose three things in my surroundings that involves physics and its concepts - - A rotating fan - Snapping of fingers - Motion of a fly Through these examples, let's contemplate what why how physics fit into this. Basically what's the relationship between these three and physics?" "Claude - I appreciate your desire to truly understand and experience physics rather than just theorize about it. Let's explore these three examples to help you grasp the fundamental nature of physics. 1. A rotating fan: Physics is essentially about matter, energy, and their interactions. In a rotating fan, we see these principles in action: - Energy conversion: Electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy of motion. - Forces: The motor exerts a torque (rotational force) on the blades. - Angular momentum: The fan blades' rotation demonstrates conservation of angular momentum. - Air pressure: As the blades spin, they create areas of high and low pressure, moving air. When you observe the fan, notice how it starts slowly and speeds up, how the air moves around it, and how it gradually slows down when turned off. These are all physics principles at work. 2. Snapping of fingers: This quick action involves several physics concepts: - Friction: Your thumb slides rapidly across your middle finger, building up potential energy. - Elastic potential energy: Your skin briefly deforms, storing energy. - Energy release: The stored energy is suddenly released as your finger hits your palm. - Sound waves: The impact creates a pressure wave in the air - the snap sound you hear. - Speed: The entire process happens in a fraction of a second, demonstrating physics at high speeds. Next time you snap your fingers, pay attention to the force you apply, the brief resistance you feel, and the sharp sound produced. That's physics in action. 3. Motion of a fly: A fly's flight is a marvel of physics: - Forces: The fly generates lift to overcome gravity, and thrust to move forward. - Fluid dynamics: Air behaves as a fluid, and the fly's wings manipulate this fluid to fly. - Energy transformation: Chemical energy from food is converted into kinetic energy of motion. - Momentum: The fly's ability to change direction rapidly demonstrates conservation of momentum. - Vibrations: The buzzing sound comes from rapid wing oscillations, another physics principle. Watch a fly closely. Notice its erratic movements, how it hovers, and how it can land on any surface. Each action is a demonstration of physics principles. The relationship between these examples and physics is that physics describes and explains the fundamental principles governing their behavior. It's not just a set of equations, but a way of understanding how the universe works at its most basic level. By observing and contemplating these everyday phenomena, you're experiencing physics firsthand. The next step would be to start asking questions: Why does the fan create a breeze? How fast do your fingers move when snapping? How many times per second does a fly's wing beat? These questions lead to deeper understanding and are the essence of physics - curiosity about how the world around us works." So this is some juice we got through this chat - "Physics is a way of understanding how the universe works at its most basic level." "The essence of physics is curiosity about how the world around us works." Let's continue with its essence - curiosity about how the world around us works. Now this is something we humans have naturally. We have been curious since we were kids. This curiosity however tends to die out when we get answers to everything. Without seeing it/understanding it for ourselves. When we get paradigm locked. I feel so lucky to have this flame of curiosity still alive within me. If you too have this curiosity, please cherish it. Nurture it. Explore it. Live it. Also, if you have noticed yet, we already have gone beyond Phd in physics in a sense.. What? How? So just a few moments before we were curious about 'curiosity' itself. This is also physics. Who's to say what physics is and what it isn't? For me business is also physics..or rather application of physics. As we need to understand how market works, how mind works. So be open to the possibility that the things you are calling shallow might be even greater than the things you consider the highest. Ok I guess that's enough physics for the day. Or shall I say metaphysics 😊 Goodluck with your future brother! I trust that you'll get your shit together..and pursue truth in your own style, in your own physics. And when you do, you will rise above the ashes like a physics phoenix. ⚛️

Social skills coaching with an experienced coach is really valuable. No ammount of talk therapy or online coaching is as effective as infield training, but the 4k for 3 days is overpiced unless its 1 on 1 and you have cash to burn, and you are a hardcase newbie. And even then there is only so much transformation that can happen in 3 days. An experienced wing is even more valuable, but may be difficult to find a quality one. Where are you based? EU, US? Living in a good city is key for developing social skills. Do you have that going for you ?

8th session of kayaking this year Paddled for 8 km with my girlfriend yesterday. This was her first time kayaking. It was really nice, she really enjoyed it. I took a break from my meditation practice for a while. Somehow my focus shifted to exercise when I started kayaking again. Didn't kayak an awful lot this summer, only 8 times so far, but the kayaking triggered an interest in weight-lifting again, and I've been working with kettlebells for some time now. However my girllfriend and I went on a buddhist seminar 31st of August to 1st of September (saturday and sunday) in the tradition she has been practicing in - Nichirin Buddhism in the SGI tradition. They chant the Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo there, which is a celebration of and reflection on the Lotus Sutra. I felt really inspired about this practice, so I have been chanting this chant for at least 30 min per day since this seminar. Yesterday I discussed this practice with ChatGPT and I got some really interesting answers. This is what I asked: So I'm experimenting with SGI buddhism these days. Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. What benefits could this give me compared to the normal breath awareness / vipassana practice I usually do? This is what ChatGPT answered: Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, as practiced in SGI Buddhism, is centered around connecting with your inner potential and manifesting positive changes in life through vocalizing the chant. It’s a form of active meditation that can offer different benefits compared to breath awareness or Vipassana meditation. Here are some key distinctions and potential benefits: Focus on Transformation: Chanting in SGI Buddhism is seen as a practice of shifting your inner state and bringing about external change. The idea is that by chanting, you align with the fundamental law of life and activate the ability to overcome challenges. This could complement your breath awareness practice by introducing a more vocal, outwardly expressive form of cultivating inner change. Energy and Vibration: Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is rhythmic and vocal, which can generate a powerful energetic experience. The vibration of chanting might lead to a different kind of emotional release and stimulation compared to the silent, contemplative nature of Vipassana, where the emphasis is on observing sensations and thoughts without interference. Immediate Engagement: Chanting may help when you’re feeling distracted or agitated, as it provides an active focal point, making it easier to engage the mind compared to breath awareness practices that can feel more passive. The repetition can create a strong, immediate sense of concentration. Community Connection: SGI Buddhism often involves group chanting, which can provide a sense of community and collective support. This could be a contrast to the more solitary nature of Vipassana and might introduce a feeling of being part of something larger, which could influence your spiritual development differently. Affirmation of Goals and Desires: SGI Buddhism encourages chanting with a focus on manifesting concrete goals in life. This can be appealing if you’re looking to reinforce intentions or desires more explicitly, whereas Vipassana tends to focus on insight and acceptance without striving toward specific outcomes. Each approach offers unique paths toward personal growth. Experimenting with both might provide you with a balance of active, transformative energy through chanting and the grounded, mindful awareness from Vipassana.

ChatGPT- As someone committed to living truthfully, the tension between a concept like Qi and the desire for truth can be challenging, especially if you’re balancing personal experience with intellectual honesty. Here's how you can approach this, integrating both holistic and rational views without compromising your dedication to truth: ### 1. **Experiential Truth vs. Objective Truth** There are different forms of truth. Western science tends to focus on **objective truth**, which is measurable, repeatable, and quantifiable. Qi, on the other hand, often falls into the realm of **experiential truth**—subjective, personal, and felt on an individual level. If you experience sensations, healing, or transformation through Qigong, those experiences are *your truth*, even if they aren’t yet fully validated by scientific methods. Living truthfully here means honoring both your experience and recognizing the limitations of current scientific understanding. Instead of needing science to fully validate Qi, you can hold space for what’s personally true for you while remaining open to continued inquiry and exploration. ### 2. **Pragmatic Truth: Does It Work?** Another way to live truthfully is by focusing on **pragmatism**: does Qigong, and by extension, the concept of Qi, work in practice? If the practice helps you achieve balance, health, mental clarity, or emotional resilience, then it has value, regardless of whether Qi has been fully scientifically proven. In this sense, you live truthfully by recognizing the practical benefits of a system without needing to over-explain or justify it in terms that others might demand. Qi could be understood as a useful framework that helps you navigate your mind-body connection, whether it's literally "life force energy" or a powerful metaphor for physiological, psychological, or bioelectric processes that science is still uncovering. ### 3. **Integrative Approach: Embrace Both Eastern and Western Perspectives** To live truthfully, you don’t need to dismiss one system in favor of the other. You can hold both views simultaneously: - **Western Science**: Provides valuable insights into physiology, neurology, and biochemistry, explaining how the body functions in measurable ways. - **Eastern Wisdom**: Offers a broader, more holistic view that integrates the mind, body, emotions, and consciousness through concepts like Qi. You can acknowledge the power of scientific inquiry while also appreciating the intuitive, experiential insights offered by traditions like Qigong. Living truthfully here means recognizing that each system has strengths and weaknesses, and both contribute to a fuller understanding of life and health. ### 4. **Openness to Evolving Knowledge** Another important aspect of living truthfully is embracing uncertainty and openness. Just because Qi isn’t fully validated by Western science now doesn’t mean it’s false. Science evolves. There are many historical examples where traditional knowledge (e.g., acupuncture, meditation) was once dismissed and later supported by scientific research. Living truthfully means being open to the idea that there are aspects of life, health, and consciousness that science has yet to fully understand. You can maintain a sense of curiosity and inquiry, continuing to explore both the benefits of Qi and the growing research on how mind-body practices work. ### 5. **Mindful Skepticism** Living truthfully also involves avoiding dogma. Even within Qigong or Chinese medicine, it’s possible to be critical and discerning. Not every claim about Qi needs to be accepted blindly. Mindful skepticism allows you to explore the depth of these practices without becoming dogmatic or uncritical. You can question how Qi is described or applied in different contexts, and through that questioning, refine your understanding of what resonates as true for you. ### 6. **Seeing Qi as a Model or Metaphor** One way to reconcile Qi with a rational, truth-seeking mindset is to see it as a **model or metaphor** rather than a literal force. In science, models are used to simplify complex phenomena. Qi can be seen in this way—it's a model for understanding the body and mind as an interconnected system. It helps practitioners work with their bodies in ways that promote health, even if the exact mechanisms aren’t fully understood or explained in Western terms. Living truthfully in this case means appreciating Qi as a useful, functional framework without needing to commit to it as a literal "life force." It can represent the dynamic flow of energy, blood, neural impulses, or emotions, and you can interpret it in a way that feels grounded in both tradition and logic. ### 7. **Respecting Cultural and Personal Contexts** Truth isn't always universal in the same way across cultures. Traditional Chinese views of health and energy offer different insights than Western science, and living truthfully means respecting the cultural origins of these ideas. Instead of forcing a purely Western scientific explanation onto something like Qi, you can appreciate that different cultures have different ways of understanding life and the body, and both offer valid forms of truth in their respective contexts. ### Conclusion: To live truthfully in the context of Qi, you can take an **integrative approach** that honors your personal experiences, the practical benefits of Qigong, and the evolving nature of scientific understanding. You don't have to choose between accepting Qi as a mystical force or dismissing it because science hasn’t yet fully validated it. You can hold both perspectives in balance, continually exploring, questioning, and refining your understanding as both science and your personal practice evolve. By staying open to different forms of truth—experiential, pragmatic, and scientific—you can maintain a grounded, honest approach to your journey without being restricted by a single worldview.

Just make meta baseline and turn paradigms into everyday words like verbs Let every word be a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb simultaneously And then just replace all function words with them as you navigate Contextualize paradigms holistically and flow through them 😁 Most importantly: play around and have fun like: The metamorphic fabric of reality reflects the psyche that structures the experience in response to stimuli, which themselves are a higher-level metaphysical construct, at least practically speaking, across layers of interconnected holarchies, which dynamically evolve the very organism they are a part of in a give and take, emerging ever new structures in the creative act of self-transformation and optimization🥳 I'm mostly in the process of condensing hgher layer concepts, because there are so many. But then you wonder about the levels of depth and specificity, and how to maintain it. And then you wonder what is and isn't necessary and so you look at it like: Life, everything I said can be summarized with life Life is Metamorphisis, life is dynamic intelligence Life is evolution, life is self-structured Everything we study and are fascinated by is touched by it And then you can expand Life into 2 words, 3, 10, 100, 1000, 10000 And you wonder what is and isn't purposeful

There's definitely some truth to this. Those who are highly spiritually advanced and have already been through significant transformation can actually perceive the assimilation of sexual fluids into a type of fuel that powers a more sophisticated consciousness. This relates directly to kundalini and how it operates. The sexual use of this fuel has the predictable impact of temporarily lessening the potential for higher consciousness while it's restored. I'm not skilled enough to perceive this myself, but I have an enormous amount of faith that it's the case. I'm pretty sure, but I think it's less obvious than the male counterpart, with the way a vital fluid is suddenly and directly excreted. I don't see why the mechanisms wouldn't be similar or the same for females though.

If something is truly eternal, can it engage in creation or change? Creation inherently involves some form of transformation, which presupposes the existence of time. If an entity exists entirely outside the confines of time, any act of creation would require a transition from one state to another. This suggests that an eternal being might be fundamentally incapable of such actions. I would love to hear your thoughts on this, as I seek clarity and understanding. I genuinely want to know if what Leo is saying holds true, and I hope to avoid being misled.

Very cool, that feeling of contented indifference is likely a taste of the profound meditative equanimity described in Eastern religions. Like I mentioned once before, it appears you have a natural inclination towards the required skills of meditation. Funnily enough, what you're describing relates very much back to your previous thread regarding states of consciousness where white light is perceived. So here's the esoteric theory: As you approach the superconscious state, it's as if a valve is progressively opened that allows more and more spiritual energy to flood your system. Since this energy could be considered the essence of vitality itself, there's less need for the usual physiological functions that maintain your life, so breathing and heart rate can slow to a crawl. In all likelihood, this is the true reason that sleep is a requirement for restoration, as sleep can be considered unconscious meditation, and meditation can be considered conscious sleep. When a certain threshold of depth is reached, a very special event called kundalini is triggered. An explosion of energy occurs at the base of your spine and shoots upward to your brain. Kundalini could be thought of as a type of built-in spiritual purification and transformation mechanism, similar to the alchemists' notion of changing lead into gold. Your energetic physiology is saturated and cleansed of its residue, of which would have a close relationship to the accumulated traumas and the false sense of self that are created over a lifetime. Like echoes of the "past" that lessen your awareness of consciousness in the eternal present. All of this is extremely palpable in the moments it's occurring, but what really stands out is the state of consciousness produced as kundalini reaches your brain. The bridge is greatly widened between our existence as seemingly independent beings and the infinite energetic source of all things. This is where the discussion involving white light comes in, and the divine reality it represents. A full blooming of this state involves a radical shift in identity to an unfathomable degree, and all sense of individuality fades into a nondual realization. I posted a few reports in the other thread that offer more poetic and detailed descriptions. The transformation in consciousness that can be initiated from repeated full experiences of this type, if integrated, understood, and utilized properly, is on the level of actual enlightenment. A true revelation of reality. Well, that was quite a bit, sorry lol. But since you recently started two threads that drew in my attention with recognizable signs of this type of progress, I figured I'd fill in a few gaps. Hopefully it's more helpful than confusing. Here's another cool description. This whole documentary is amazing, but the relevant section is about 2 minutes long from where the video starts. I think there is some slight variation in the 5meo experience as compared to a natural inducing of nirvikalpa samadhi via meditation and kundalini activation. For one, 5meo seems to be able to stop your breathing while simultaneously increasing your heart rate. I can imagine a scenario where this would burn through your stored oxygen supply and cause suffocation, despite the fact that this should usually be protected against in samadhi. I guess if you ever get into 5meo, start the dose low and slowly increase as you feel comfortable. I've personally used it at least a hundred times without major issue.

Exactly. This is why the concept of creation makes no sense when applied to an unchanging, eternal God. Creation implies change, a before and after, but an eternal being exists beyond time and does not experience progression or transformation. How could something unchanging initiate anything new?

Instantaneous time collapses everything into the now. Transformation happens at different rates for different things in the world. So we can reconstruct a block time from the things in the world which haven't changed much - continuity. Or we can use logical reasoning to try and deduce that "things must have been that way for this to be true". We can look at an old house and say it was built in such and such a year and imagine its construction. Things stay consistent and logical, because transformation itself isn't random, it's orderly, but it is mostly uni-directional: sometimes it isn't possible to reconstruct a definite past. In effect what's happening is that events are smeared around space or affect the configuration of things, sometimes more and more as time passes, for example the butterfly effect. Memories are no different. If you clap in a cave you'll hear echoes for a long time. A memory is just like an echo, in effect it is part of the original event still happening.

I think there's two ways to think about time. The conventional way is "block time", where events are ordered in a linear way like on a calendar. The other is "instantaneous time", where reality changes moment to moment. The two are quite different. Eternity would then be an infinite extension of block time. Block time has the sense of being permanent and unchanging, once events have happened they are forever fixed and immutable. You could even imagine events in the future already being pre-determined as a consequence of events in the past. Instantaneous time would be like a very thin sliver of block time. Nothing is fixed or remembered, as soon as something happens it's forgotten and there is no pre-determined future. Since there is no block there is no past or future, just now. In a way the two are opposites of each other, block time is unchanging and eternal, instantaneous time is always changing and ephemeral. In my experience instantaneous time seems to be the correct interpretation and block time is a fantasy. Which if true, would mean that transformation is a feature of reality: time is presupposed from the existence of transformation.