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Contemplation on every topic has worked well for me, but I’m wondering now if I should just stay present more. One the one hand, contemplation seems necessary for a lot of insights. But on the other hand, maybe just being present will do more for me. I could have insights just from observing what is around me. What is a good balance? Or should I start to just focus more on mindfulness? I’m not sure, since contemplation seems like a really good method. If I could just focus on mindfulness for nonduality maybe I could just do that and reach infinity. Contemplation seems like a good method for that too though(neti neti). Which one would be better? Is just being in the moment the best way to go(mindfulness and also just being present)? If I’m seeing infinity in My everyday experience, should I continue to contemplate? Or just basque in the presence of it? I remember osho said he stopped reading books cuz it wasn’t raising his being. Maybe I could just focus on my being? How important will contemplation be after infinity is seen at all times? How much shadow work and personal development work is really needed at that level of consciousness? Wouldn’t a lot of it just naturally fizz out? And as you raise your being won’t you be able to reach the highest without contemplation? Lemme know what you guys think.

@Nahm Unbroken abidance in the Self is enlightenment. Don't care much about what nonduality means.

Somebody’s going to have to define enlightenment, and nonduality, objectively first. ?

And some people will just not be able to follow nonduality no matters how much they try. Does that mean the work itself is pointless? No. Yes there is potential such shadow work may just not 'work' but that doesn't imply its a waste of time for everyone. Its more accurate to say what intentions such shadow work can satisfy and for people to decide if those satisfactions are what they are after.

Actually mostly the opposite. The percentage of the population who are at a stage of development where they can pursue enlightenment is extremely low. Most people will require 10-20 years of ordinary personal dev work before they can seriously pursue enlightenment. Because they are not ripe for it. I am not a strict enlightenment teacher, and Actualized.org's goals go way beyond what people like Tolle or Mooji or Ramana taught. We have a much broader scope here, attempting to understand all dimensions of life: sexual, political, social, emotional, physical, philosophical, scientific, astral, religious, linguistic, motivational, business, leadership, ecology, art, etc. We do not stop or start with nonduality.

Lol By that logic we should not teach children math, or train dogs not to piss indoors, or teach anyone nonduality. If their karma is right, all of those things will happen spontaneously. ----- Be careful how you apply your absolute insights in the relative domain. Or such absurdities as above will result. To teach nonduality without shadow work is downright irresponsible. Every serious spiritual tradition has strong injunctions against Zen devilry. Making a better world is part of the package, not optional. No one wants to live with Nazis and criminals.

@Eo Ea Welcome to nonduality.

Martin Balls 'Being Human' (on Leo's book list) is a fantastic read-cuts straight to the point about how psychedelics should be used in a no bullshit manner. However, I have a few concerns over what he mentions. Subtle energies (Chakras) Do not exist are bullshit 1. On one of Leo's blog posts, he mentions that he was wrong about chakras and they do exist 2. Leo mentioned he was going to work on a video on chakras in his 'going Bhudda episode' 3. I have had an experience of my 'third eye' opening. After a meditation session, I sat down without a single thought in my mind, simply observing, utterly present. Suddenly, the centre of my forehead (where people say the third eye is located) starts to pulsate like a flashlight turning on and off on nearly empty batteries. Things start to become wavy, like I'm tripping on some psychedelic, then my vision abruptly goes dark. I could still feel my body but I could not see it. I felt as if there was something beyond this darkness, almost as if it were a veil, but every time I felt I got close to something my heart would beat and fear would take over-I dont even know what I feared! I wasn't scared of anything in particular, it was almost like a preset response... I shifted between this wavy vision and darkness for about 30 seconds until the experience just faded. Anyways, I'm not claiming I know chakras exist as I don't quite understand what I've experienced, but chakras do seem like the most likely explanation. Reading the book left me extremely confused to say the least. Also, as a side-note: martin mentions the notion of nothingness being the ultimate reality is false Could anyone explain what it could be if not nothingness? I'm 20 years old and have only begun my personal development journey for the last 2 years, only 1 of which have I known about non-duality. I have read 0 books on enlightenment/consciousness/nonduality (that will change to hundreds over the years) and mostly base my knowledge from Leos videos, so I apologise if this is a bit of shit question, its quite confusing to see read book titles such as 'god is nothingness' and hear contradictory things from someone like Martin Ball, both of which whom seem like trust able sources. Any clarification would be much appreciated.

@Finland3286 Watch my video: Guided Self Inquiry: Neti Neti Method. You are a thought. It is possible to stop thinking this thought. If you succeed in doing so, you will die. And that is nonduality. When you realize your birth was just an idea. What remains after your death is a nondual field of pure consciousness. You become the entire universe. The truth is, you have always been the entire universe. But you've managed to convince yourself otherwise with stories. Awakening is not an idea. And it is way more radical than lucid dreaming. It is a radical change in your perceptual system. See all my videos about enlightenment. There is an enlightenment category on my website.

He seems like a genuine fellow sharing his experience. He doesn't seem ideological, which can be a trap with psychedelic use. He acknowledges pros and cons and how the cons, for him, lead him to sobriety. A few points that jumped out to me: 1. Many of the dangers he cited are relevant to novices that hadn't done their research. For example, taking too high of a dose and "bad" trips. 2. Some dangers he cited are for novices that got in over-their-head. Psychedelics can take a person to a nondual reality that is so foreign it is terrifying. Yet it doesn't need to be this way. A person can start with baby doses, get some glimpses, and work their way up. As well, a person who has decades of meditation and personal development experience will likely have a different experience than a high school kid looking to have some fun. 3. He spoke how psychedelics didn't really help *me*. They didn't help improve *his* life. From my view, I have a personality WITHIN consciousness. I try to understand and have a more well balanced personality by learning about personality structures, seeking energy of the personality etc. This is all personality development. Psychedelics are beyond the personality. Nonduality doesn't care about my personality and all it's seeking and neurosis. I don't use them to create a better personality. They dissolve the personality and all it's beliefs and mental constructs. I don't understand someone using psychedelics for self-seeking motives. It's just not my experience. 4. He says trips go really well or really bad. This is so overly simplistic I wouldn't know where to begin. 5. He states that psychedelics are distractions. Yes, they can be. This is something I've tried to be aware of with myself. I'd say I've gotten "off track" with psychedelics at times. In particular, when I overly rely on psychedelics are I use them too much for fun. In my view psychedelics *can be* distracting to varying degrees. It's not so simple as psychedelics *are* distractions. 6. He states how he prefers other forms of spirituality like meditation. Again, it's not *all or nothing*. A person can have a daily practice of mediation, yoga and contemplative journal, attend a spiritual retreat once a month and have a spiritual psychedelic trip once every two months. I don't understand why so many people think psychedelics are all or nothing. They can be ONE component of a holistic spiritual life. Consider I spiritual program as a decathlon. The pole vault is just ONE event - there are other events like the long jump. Similarly, psychedelics are just ONE event in the spiritual decathlon. There are other events such as meditation and shamanic breathing. Imagine someone only training in the pole vault and complaining the pole vault sucks because their decathlon score was so low. Of course it was, they got zeros in all the other events! 7. He spoke about how much more empathetic he has become since quitting psychedelics. He suggests that psychedelics and empathy are exclusive. This is not my experience. I've experienced indescribable levels of empathy during trips. IME, empathy is a core feature of trips. Psychedelics dissolve the sense of a separate, finite self. That opens the door to a sense of oneness, unity and empathy for all.

Fair enough. You know I love ya, and I sure hope you know how much I love & appreciate ever word you type, I really, really do. Perhaps this maya appears critical, but also, perhaps not. What if, in self discovery, the mind could not possibly be too critical? What if loa encompasses materialism, and the paradigm of true / false, as does nonduality. Would desire not be an entirely different magnitude, than limited to thought of desiring material objects? Is there a stratosphere where thought and wisdom appear to take place, appearing in the actuality of only One? What if this can be “checked”, but only by a “checker” who desires to check, and what if upon “checking”, an otherwise unfathomable unification occurs, which encompasses true / not true, right and wrong, me and you, techniques & practices, desire / no desire, desire to love / denial that to love is desire and desire is love, any thing “internal” or “external” / no thing “internal” or “external” - and the “checker” is what’s checked? What if there is mistaking self appearing as “things” which could ever be a substitute for divine love, and there are no longer “things”, but all things are already self, divine love. Is it not always the eye of the beholder? Is there an off switch for the collapse? Is there not the possibility of the disappearance of anything external, revealing a ‘substitute’ was never a possibility, but only a thought? Is it not possible that you have created the entire universe, the appearance of “reality”, using only loa, and perhaps, through the simplicity of unchecked involuntary breathing, have maintained the appearance of a separate “me” person, from a “me” source? Is it a possibility, that there is no such thing, ultimately, as ‘surrender’, as you, are already, that which could be surrendered to - that which only in thought, could be “surrendered to”, as “surrender” transpires, in thought? Is it possible that there is no such thing as a “future”? That you are already manifesting all that is experienced - so effortlessly, so divinely, using only your divinity, that you could not even realize you are doing it? Is it possible, that you are so convincing in your appearance of reality, that though there appears to be a past & future, there is only you, now? What if loa was bigger, deeper, more powerful than thought of desire & materialism? What if every person was well aware, no longer asleep - creating their own reality? Would we see a society such as we currently do? The competing, the division, the appearance of separation - the ego? What if, the appearance of separation was understood, and accepted - a given - not on the thought, human, level - but on the reality level? What if each is not a person in appearance, but rather each is a reality in appearance? That would mean there is no objective reality. In every person being aware they are the one, every person aware they are the dreamer & the dreamt - would there still be anything left to fear? How could there be fear, when one is already that? Would a world without fear see desire as simplistically limited to materialism? Would the One then experience a new, unbounded experience of appearing realities unified in understanding that transcends even faith? Is that possible? What if loa is not the subject to be checked - but rather the mind which attempts to check it? Possibilities, that’s all I’m proposing. We are in love, and therefore we are in complete agreeance. From the depth of my heart man, I cherish such conversations in which we, together, come to know our self. Thank you Solace!

Joseph is offering a nondual perspective. Nonduality is very diffucult to communicate with words. For those unfamiliar with nonduality it can appear ridiculous and absurd. I tried to say the same thing in traditional dualistic terminology. I think you made your point about Mooji and the thread has turned into a cyclic distraction from doing self-actualuzation work.

For me, moderate to high doses are not about "me". The "me" dissolves. It becomes nondual and nonduality doesn't care about *my* life purpose. You may want to try microdoses or light doses. I've found that I still have presence of self, yet with a different viewpoint. My mind has a more holistic view and is better able to "connect the dots" of seemingly unrelated things.

In my opinion, yes. I think that psychedelics (especially 5meo) are capable of inducing long term shifts of perception, and even enlightenment. I have broken through on 5meo once, and it completely changed how I perceive reality. However, I wouldn’t go into taking psychedelics with that expectation. That’s the ego still trying to get somewhere, when the goal is to identify what the ego really is. What happened with me was I got this permanent shift in perception, but I still couldn’t make sense of it. My ego was still intact and in control. My body and mind needed time to integrate what I experienced during that trip. It’s been almost two years, and I’m still integrating that experience. I would approach taking psychedelics knowing that they will give you deep insights into nonduality; but don’t expect permanent enlightenment from them immediately (not saying it can’t happen though). These deep insights will probably require lots of integration, but they will for sure speed up your awakening process if you are openminded enough. I wouldn’t try to rush your awakening, your body, mind, and ego need time to process that shit

High consciousness = loving awareness , god consciousness, and muhahahaha nonduality, so no more fucking low Conscious shaming. lol

@Preetom Enlightenment is a dissolution of ego. If there is no ego to begin with, enlightenment is not needed. This is why you shouldn't try to teach nonduality to your cat. If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Saying it is me doesn't seem like a solid answer. "God is in the earth worm but the earth worm is far from God." I may be a part of this big mind, but to shout and say "I am God!" is a half truth. So speaking in the perspective that I am this mind. I could simply create life like humans in which they could never know the whole answer. See if I designed this body to never be able to have certainty that I designed it and to stray away from the actual truth by forcing other ideas to be logical and the actual truth to be nonsensical in the mind. So then I can see how I myself acts. Nonduality may imply duality is false, but does that mean we should resort to singularity as the answer? You might ask "What other way could it be?" and even if I answer "I don't know" that isn't actually solid proof that alternatives don't exist. If I designed myself to be deluded from the get go, isn't the actual Truth unknowable? And if this mind is a simulation of something bigger, is it possible to design it in such a way that it can't ever know it is a simulation? I haven't gone through your entire library of videos, so I didn't catch that. Much appreciated. Will watch/finish soon.

I have to organize my thoughts. What I am getting at is that morality doesn’t have the solid foundation that we think. Ought and should basically boil down to “I say so”. It’s incorrect to say that morality, values, don’t exist because they are constructs of the mind. By that logic you can say the same about knowledge, wisdom, nonduality, etc.. What really matters is whether they are rooted in anything that says why one ought to do so. The argument can be made that inherently there is no morality or values, and there is strong support (but it could be said that it has not been demonstrated in every case). However this doesn’t matter, since we don’t live objective lives no matter how hard we try. We act based on values, regardless of what they are. But what I am saying is that when you question the reasons behind the values you find what shaky ground they stand on. Saying something is good doesn’t tell my why it is so, same for bad. It’s definitely complicated. So while there isn’t (yet) “objective” good and bad, there is subjective and that’s all that really matters (or doesn’t depending on your stance). The same for values. The value of “self actualization” is the same thing. It’s not inherently better than anything else (and I’m not going to argue about it’s truth claims here).

Technically there is morality in a video game, that doesn't mean life is one. But nonduality is not nihilism though, for nondual has to assign meaning. Without meaning your videos don't have knowledge or wisdom (still don't actually, full of holes). Because there is no expanding the self and there is no self actualization. These are mere phantoms made by humans because we don't like feeling small so we craft these stories. Nonduality has to be the biggest one yet. I am not self actualizing myself because it's just reaching for what one believes that to be. We are relative creatures and the best we can hope for is agreeing on reality, and even that does not pan out. Despite what nondualists claim, they use a framework and concepts (even if they aren't words) to interpret experience. Otherwise you would have "noise" that leads you nowhere. However when they talk about it they act like they know, but to be honest one cannot be sure. Any magician will tell you personal experience isn't a good measure of truth. Any claim about seeing the Absolute is, imo, a lie.

Yup, nonduality = nihilism But it's not negative the way your mind is painting it out to be. There is no morality in a video game.

@hgill There is no difference between the one and the many. One = Many Many = One The Absolute reincarnates infinitely as EVERYTHING. That's nonduality. Not only that, you are ALL beings at all times right now! You just aren't conscious of it. There is no need to wait for an afterlife as you are ALL beings already right now. There is nowhere in the universe you can go where you are already not. You are the whole shebang!

You could just say you don't know. I don't really believe in nonduality. To me it's just another grab by humans in an attempt to be infinite. But reality is not evident it is assumed. You are not infinite, that is merely a guess. You are not reality, it would be accurate to say you are a brain. Things happen in and out of your awareness, they do all the time. Thing is you can't really make claims about reality from personal experience since you just make up a story to make sense of what you feel. Feeling nondual doesn't make you so. It's just a sense or feeling. There is something to be said about how it goes away when you stop believing in it. Nonduality probably isn't truth, it's just the result of a set of actions. I know because I turn it on and off. I thought my way to it, even though people say you can't. But personally I think it's a waste of time. There better things to me that it. Especially since you never really know if you are there or if it is the truth and not merely what we assume to be the truth. We assume stripping things away gets you truth, but what if it doesn't? Even the experience of others doesn't really tell us anything since 1. they can't describe it and 2. we cannot measure it. You can say you "get it" but you cannot be sure. Also to burst your "now" bubble, we are never in the now. We are always a little bit behind it. Technically we are continually a little in the past. Being is not truth, that is just an assumption. What is true is that you are a brain and the states of mind you speak of can be influenced by probing it.

@Nahm And whats to say this infinite and infinitely intelligent mind is not a simulation of something bigger that is then mentally creating what we experience? Whats to say a lot of nondual concepts hold some truth but aren't entirely true and its all one big path/possible outcome being simulated. The raw idea of duality vs nonduality is a matter in how the mind perceives. But what if there is an alternative answer beyond comprehension? We all rely on a few core principles to shape knowledge 1. Thought 2. Experience through mortal faculties. Both of which can be utterly false. Imagine a person utterly convinced duality makes perfect sense and is the truth. In general its about like that for mind to manifest us and project any idea it wants on its creation. Almost feels like some big cosmic joke mind can choose for us to be aware of or not, or even make us think we are aware of some false alternative. Also I am using nonduality very loosely than a very tight linguistic term. Consider it now all of the ideas of writings like the Kyballion or the more recent topics that Leo has taught. I'm talking about all the ideas that often come with nonduality paradigms. (I just often shortened it to nonduality for easy sake)

Logic and reasoning could only take me so far. . . For me concepts and direct experience go hand-in-hand. If I have a nondual experience without conceptual understanding, I will dismiss the the experience as being irrational and “whoo-whoo”. If I have conceptual understanding without direct experience I’m unaware I am dualistically conceptualizing nonduality. Nonduality cannot be explained through language. Every word or idea is dual - it is not another word or idea. Nonduality can only be pointed to. Imagine someone pointing in space. The arm and hand are words. Logical / rational thinking focuses on the arm and hand (words). That mindset will not “see” that which cannot be explained in space. It can’t take it’s attention of the arm/hand. I find nonduality really hard to talk about because evertime I say what nonduality IS, I would need to say it is also NOT that. Nonduality is oneness and not oneness. Nonduality is dual and nondual. Nonduality is form and formless. For me, once I started having glimpses into nondual experiences, I started to “get” what nondual speakers are trying to communicate. It just is. This is my best shot at describing no duality in a logical framework: We often say: X is Y. You can use whatever words you want for X and Y. . . Yet, how the heck can X be Y? The human mind becomes hyper focused on the X and Y. That is a dual mindset. The nonduality is the . . . IS. If you want to have direct experience on a dual mind in action, try this out. It helped me. . . For 5 minutes: everytime your mind tries to convine you X is Y, replace the thought with X IS X. Examples:: Orange juice (X) is my favorite drink (Y) becomes: Orange juice IS Orange Juice. A thought orange juice is my favorite drink IS a thought orange juice is my favorite drink. She is rude becomes: she IS she, rude IS rude and the thought she is rude IS the thought she is rude. Rudeness is disrespectful can become: the thought rudeness IS disrespectful IS the thought rudeness us disrespectful. The thought nonduality is illogical IS the thought nonduality is illogical. That sunset is beautiful-> That sunset IS that sunset. The thought that sunset is beautiful IS the thought that sunset is beautiful. For me, this exercise was unpalatable to my ego because it could not be fully dualustic. You will quickly see how dualistic your mind is. The exercise is not a nonduality. Rather it is a step away from duality. Look for yourself. For me, it became totally obvious that X IS X is true and X is Y isn’t true. The claim that X is Y is the biggest scam in human history. We fall for the scam because we get conditioned to believe X is Y when we are young children.

@Shadowraix You can trust that the mind creates the duality (“constantly morphs data and hallucinations”) but trust is only required for the job of getting you to be radically open minded, and to inquire into yourself - then trust is no longer needed, as awareness can observe the mind directly, just like being aware of a tree. Awareness is the only “thing” that ever “observes” the “mind” or “thought” or “tree”. The overall is not looking for a needle in a haystack, it’s looking for hay in a haystack. It’s the biggest picture, the whole enchilada, it’s the obviousness & the entirety that is the “proof”, there is no thing which is not the proof. So a total flip of perspective is what’s needed. Something arising in your mind, is not needed, as that (thoughts), is more maya. Don’t “trust” information, data, etc - anything you “observe”, don’t “trust” that, it’s maya. Everything in “reality” can always be linguistically convincing & proven, and so can it’s opposite - because it simply boils down - to you. You already have the Truth. You are already it. Every thing, everyone, every object, every thought, every emotion, every reaction - each of these happen in the same place, at the same time, in You in Now. In YOUR awareness, right now. “My” writing is not taking place in your awareness, is it? What you are actually aware of, are pixels in front of you on a screen, which you are assigning whatever meaning, value and sense to. In appearance, it’s a message from someone else, in actuality, it’s you. Because the inherent nature of all that you experience, is Duality (One appearing as Two) ....each meets The Truth, or, You (Two is only an appearance, appearing in reality - One - You.) When each ‘thing’ in duality meets up with The Truth (You), relativity is experienced, by You, because you are not finite duality (appearance/illusion), you are infinite (reality). (Relativity): If it doesn’t feel good (a perspective you’re holding in the Now) - that is because it (the understanding / perspective) isn’t true. It’s falsity. Most of these are bad feeling thoughts which try to apply a finite tag to your Self; “I am this, I am that.” “I am this kind of person” “I don’t know how to do X” “I always struggle with X” “I will never have X” If it does feel good (a perspective you’re holding in the Now) - that is because it (the understanding / perspective) Is True. Even if your honest “What I am” is - “I have no freakin idea what I am” - The fact that it is true, that you are being honest, that understanding / perspective, is true for You (The Truth), so naturally, it feels good. Much much better than finite thoughts & words about/against the self (which is infinite in actuality) Falsity is Maya and it does not feel good. Feels worse the more we pursue it, ignoring our own relativity, our own emotional sensory system, if you will. Truth is the ‘What Is-ness’ of Now, because wherever you are, the Truth already Is. The term Nonduality points at not two. It is a pointer, like neti-neti, not that, not this, not two. It is limited to being a statement of what you are not, by the nature of someone else is saying it to you, because only you can realize what you are, and your being-ness is always Truth, which perspectives are always being ‘bounced off’ of, resulting in the experience of relativity.