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Scientists are a very dogmatic bunch. Their loyalty is to the mind, not to Absolute Truth. Scientists balk at anything "mystical", paradoxical, or ineffable. 5-MeO-DMT will destroy the entire scientific paradigm. It's also very difficult to make sense of without having studied lots of philosophy, epistemology, and nonduality. 5-MeO-DMT literally kills you. It's not easy to convince anyone to go through that process when their entire life is designed around not dying. It's even hard to convince enlightened people to take 5-MeO. Realistically, you're never going to take 5-MeO unless you're a serious truth-seeker already. Hell, I rarely want to take it myself. It's just too big of a mind fuck for most people to handle. Psychedelics don't work on ignorant people. They require proper use and interpretation. An ignorant person will just use psychedelics in an ignorant way. Like a monkey trying to use a computer. Just by giving a monkey a computer doesn't make him Bill Gates. The Absolute Truth needs no interpretation in theory. But in practice, your mind will try to make sense of it somehow. How you make sense of it will vary widely by individual. And Absolute Truth isn't one thing. It has many layers to it. Very few people in the world have penetrated the deepest layers. Many so called "enlightened people" have really just scratched the surface. They have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes. And even 5-MeO doesn't go to the deepest levels from what I gather.

Prior to realization - which was nondual in nature, I really wasn't trying to get enlightenment. Ever since when I was a child, I was curious about the world and wanted to know the truth. I somehow sensed there was something more. So although I was not raised in any religion or faith, I became interested in spiritual topics in my later teens (much to the confusion of my parents). From about 1991 to 2004, I was a ravenous reader and spiritual seeker. I just wanted to know the truth...and it kept me going. In 2004, it seemed I hit my limit of reading and studying. Funny enough, I hadn't read anything about nonduality. But at that time, every new book I read seemed to just be saying something I had already read. So I gave up the search. I no longer really cared. A year later (November 2005), I happened to keep bumping into the name - Eckhart Tolle - and so decided just to watch a video of his to get a summary of his teaching. I watched the Flower of Human Consciousness and he gave an exercise on inhabiting the body and I truly became present for the first time (instead of thinking I was present). In that moment of silence of mind, there was realization. So it started out as a search for truth.

@Leo Gura 1. have you asked yourself yet, "what duality?" I find it a very powerful question to ask under any context or circumstance, and a question that can be easy to overlook. 2. I.e. "consciousness isn't thought" - what duality? "there are things which aren't experience" - what duality? hehe... "existence isn't dual" - what duality? sure, let's remind those with monkey mind that existence is consciousness is authenticity is nonduality. but let's also remind the sage that existence is dual. after all, what duality? 3. how often do you let loose?

Great news for all 5-meo aficionados..... Dr. Martin W. Ball has released his brand new book "Entheogenic Liberation: Unraveling the Enigma of Nonduality with 5-Meo-Dmt Energetic Therapy - The Worlds most Comprehensive work on 5-Meo-DMT and Nonduality" If you are interested in achieving non-dual liberation then the book is for you. For me personally I find the message of Mr. Ball very fascinating and penetrating with the powerful message of truth with a no-bullshit approach on enlightenment. I have aquired this substance but Im still working up to experiencing it and going deeper with the process of self-discovery and energetic liberation. For me, small amounts of magic fungi have opened my doors of perception and made me humble and dedicated to the path.

I'd rather use money / time differently than what most festivals would offer. In fact I wouldn't even go to some festivals named here if I was paid for it. There are some exceptions of course. Maybe some of the satsang festivals that are popping up in recent years in germany, maybe a yoga festival where there was some nice music, maybe something like science-and-nonduality, maybe even the "entheoscience"-festival here in germany. But I'd probably still take the money / time and do intensives and retreats.

@Sukhpaal Sympathy has been looked upon as a very valuable attribute. It means you become unhappy and show your sorrow on seeing some one else unhappy. It also means ‘to experience’, that is to experience along with another. But the person who experiences unhappiness when the other is unhappy does never experience happiness when the other is happy. You show your feelings of sorrow and unhappiness if anybody’s house catches fire, but you do not show happiness if some one else builds a big building. It is very important to understand this matter. What does this mean? This means sympathy is a kind of deception. That sympathy is genuine when you experience unhappiness in the miseries of others and experience joy and happiness in the happiness of others. But we are able to experience or show unhappiness in another’s unhappiness, though many a time we are unable to experience happiness in another’s happiness. That is why, it will not be correct to say we are able to show sorrow when another is unhappy’. If we are able to be happy in the happiness of others, then and then only, would it be proper to show our sorrow in their unhappiness. On the contrary, we derive some pleasure in the unhappiness of others. We take some pleasure in another’s difficulties. We become fully delighted in others’ miseries. So when you go to show your sorrow in others’ miseries, try to examine within you whether you derive some pleasure or not at that time. In such a situation. one interesting thing is that you feel you are the person showing sympathy and the other is in a position to receive it. When that another person comes into the position of receiving sympathy he becomes a beggar and you become the donor effortlessly. When That person comes into the state of receiving your sympathy, you come into a patronising position and he becomes an humble or low person. And if you check up within your heart, you will find the presence of a kind of pleasure in showing your sorrow for his condition. You are sure to get it. And if you don’t get it, you will be the person who can be completely happy in another’s happiness. We become jealous of another’s happiness, we are resentful. So, the other aspect of this matter tells us that we are unable to be unhappy in another’s unhappiness, but we have been naming it ‘sympathy’. I have been talking of this Kind of feeling which is generally known as sympathy. So I thought it proper to select another word empathy. ‘Sympathy’ is a false thing, it is deception And if we understand fully that if the sympathy of someone is genuine, that is, he experiences unhappiness in another’s unhappiness and experiences happiness in another’s happiness, even then it remains as violence, it cannot be nonviolence because as long as there is another, it cannot fulfil the conditions of nonviolence. Nonviolence is an experience of non-duality. It is the experience that apart from the other there is also I. It will certainly be violence if your experience of feeling unhappy on seeing another unhappy is false. And even if the feeling be true, I remain I and the other remains the other. The bridge between the two is not broken and there is no possibility of nonviolence. To know the other as the other is also violence. Why? Because I am living in ignorance as long as I consider the other as the other. In fact the other is not the other. Empathy does not mean knowing that the other is becoming unhappy but it means I myself have become miserable. It is not knowing that the other has become happy, but it means I myself have become happy. It is not like this, that the moon is shining in the sky; but it is I too have been shining. It is not that the sun is rising but that I have risen. It is not that flowers have blossomed but it is I who have blossomed. Empathy means nonduality. Empathy means oneness. Nonviolence is oneness. So, there are three states: one is false sympathy, which is violence, pure and simple; two, genuine sympathy which is a very subtle form of violence, and three, empathy which is nonviolence. It may be violence or a subtle form of violence; it may be genuine sympathy or false sympathy — all these are happenings at the mental level. Empathy is a spiritual happening. Source: Osho Book “The Perennial Path: The Art of Living”

Yes! that's why I've started to investigate all this. First I was shocked. I use to thing that it is some hocus pocus of the nonduality but now I just don't know.

@Mert Nonduality and souls are not necessarily mutually exclusive. No more so than nonduality and bodies are. It isn't hard to conceive that a human organism is constructed not only out of physical matter, but the organism is rooted much more deeply into the fabric of reality, at levels which sit below physical reality, or "our universe", or our current life, such that even if our entire universe is annihilated, remnants of the organism you currently think of as yourself may remain in some more fundamental substrata of reality. Yes, everything is nondual, but that doesn't really say jack about how reality is specifically structured and how organisms work. The most advanced and hardcore mystics -- people who've spent 10,000-50,000 hours in meditation -- talk about past lives. Are they just being cute? Are they just deluded? That's a rather arrogant and dismissive stance to take, IMO. In my experience, when a person like that tells you something about reality, you should consider it very seriously, even if it first sounds stupid. Which is not to say you should believe them blindly.

If you are the observer of the screen, there is duality. There is you and the screen. This is a problem if you believe in nonduality. (or have experienced it) It's my experience that we are the screen, and the screen is aware of itself. Or basically, we are reality/existence, and this existence is aware of itself. The thing that we truly are, that experiences our thoughts, or sight, our touch, our feelings. It does not have thoughts, it does not have sight, it does not have feelings. Who is to say what it truly is. In such a construction, there is no information flowing downstream into our human brains. It is impossible to even know with our human mind/brain if it can only see our physical bodies sight, smell, touch, feelings, thoughts. Perhaps this consciousness is aware of everything, and our human brain/perspective is only aware of its small part in it? You cannot experience it, you are it. When people ask "how can I experience it", they are asking the question from a perspective of the human experience. This is wrong, the human cannot experience reality. There is enlightenment or being, and there is the human. The human lives within the reality, the reality does not live within the human. Still, people search for lifetimes to find reality or enlightenment within themselves. You can only let go, and let reality exist as it is. There is nothing left to do, there is nothing to gain, nor anything to lose because you already are part of being. Like the waves are part of the ocean, a single wave has its perspective that is distinctive from another wave. But it's still just water. A wave can search all its life for water and never find it. But it is water within, and it is water all around, in fact, the wave's existence is the duality that is not real. Remove this duality, and there is only water, not even the ocean remains. It is my belief, and perhaps I have brushed against it briefly, seen the ox's tail. That there is no individuality, that reality and the experience of it, are one and the same.

Hugging Hitler is not showing Hitler love, there's no difference between hugging and stabbing in nonduality

Check out the Science and Non Duality (SAND) conference occurring October 19th- 22nd in San Jose California Featured Speakers include: Adyashanti Rupert spira Robert Lanza Plus +100 others The cool thing about conferences and seminars is that you can meet a lot of people who are super interested your topic of choosing. Apparently, you can save $100 if you register before July 15th. After that, tickets are $599. I'll be going, so let me know if you do too!

Don't blindly listen to any one teacher. Don't place any one teacher or teaching on a pedestal. Corrupt teachers are no problem when you are pulling from 100s of sources, as you should be doing if you care about Truth and understanding. And you understand the dangers of the epistemology. All schemes for quantifying consciousness are very limited. Don't take them too seriously. You cannot understand higher levels of consciousness without actually going there yourself. It's like trying to tell a blind man about the color red. Nothing can be said. It's a very complex and technical topic which would require a lot of detailed explanation. 1) No idea. Not a valid question. 2) Well, of course I am a teacher, because I teach stuff. Maybe in the future I will travel around more and do some live talks/meetups. But not right now. 3) I'm a lone wolf type guy. I don't like personal support from anyone. I like to do things myself, or not do them at all. 4) Not really, it's become just normalized. I don't really do the work for you, I do it for me. 5) I consider all the videos leading to sagehood for those who are serious about it. I'm not tied to the notion of being a sage. It's just naturally the direction I'm pulled. Actualized.org is the sage school. Doubt, as in thinking it's untrue? No. I've experienced beyond a shadow of a doubt now that nonduality is factually the case. Do I backslide into old bad habits and struggle with embodying nonduality? Of course. How could it be otherwise? That will only be fixed with decades of work. You gotta accept the backsliding and not beat yourself up over it. You can only grow so much so fast. Nope, no light. No, I doubt that. You're not going to trick the system. If there is reincarnation, it's there for a reason. You're not going to shortcut consciousness or trick the universe about your level of consciousness. It knows. Just because you died on a psychedelic high, your base level of consciousness was still very low. If you die on a psychedelic, you'll probably be reincarnated as a jackass Sure, anything could in theory be used for growth. But I wouldn't expect serious growth from a fiction book. That's be way to easy. I like to be conservative in my planning. Then I can be pleasantly surprised with any excess Sounds like it. I may need to take some time off to work more deeply on myself. But then I think I'd return. I like giving advice. But it does distract me from doing the deepest work on myself. That wouldn't happen for some years. Too much on my plate as it is. No, they tend to be toxin and unpleasant. I've got better stuff to try. 1) There's lots of nuanced and basics-type topics. 2) I covered many of them in my recent Paranormal Phenomena video. There's a lot of weird occult spiritual stuff to research. A lot of weird stuff within psychedelics. 3) The extent to which our society, marketplace, food industry, drug industry, media, marketing, business, government, education system, and politics is corrupted by capitalism, dogma, ego, and money. If people only knew... There would be a bloody revolution. Shinzen Young is really good at teaching that. A little, but mostly they don't care, so I keep it to myself. I don't think they watch my videos much. They live an ordinary, chimp-like existence.

You've realized the cosmic joke! It is funny!..then it just is. What is all of this? From my point of view (and Vedanta), it's all made of/created out of the substance-less substance which is you, pure awareness. How this is so, gets a bit tricky and too lengthy to write in a post. It's not something neo-advaita is going to explain to you. They just dismiss the world as not existing and call it a day. Have you heard of the wave and the ocean analogy? The ocean is you, pure awareness. The individual waves are "apparent" objects within and created from the ocean. Is the wave different then the ocean other then in appearance? No, they are both water. Does the wave depend upon the ocean for its apparent existence? Yes. Does the ocean depend upon the wave for its existence? No. They are one, water, there is no difference, therefore non-dual. There is no seperation between the ocean and the wave. However, nondifference (nonduality) does not means sameness. From the Self's point of view (pure awareness), there is no difference, but from the person's perspective (reflected awareness), there is difference. As there apparently appears to be duality. One is real (Satya), the other is just an appearance (Mithya-illusion). It exists, but isn't real. All analogies eventially break down as they are just pointers. Anyways, it was learning Vedanta from James Swartz and Ted Schmidt that finally answered my questions. The teaching needs to be unfolded in a certain way to make sense. James has a full 16 part Satsang series on youtube. He also has a website with tons of written email Satsangs, if you're interested. I've been emailing Ted for about 18 months with my questions, ect, but they do want you to have at least the basics of Vedanta before you email them. If that's something anyone is interested in.

@LetTheNewDayBegin Firstly, our universe is not the same as all of reality itself. Consider: what you know of as "our universe" is an infinitesimal part of reality. Secondly, that is not what is meant by infinity. Infinity is not a size thing. It's not a matter of measuring the universe's perimeter to discover whether the perimeter is or is not finite. Every physical thing is by definition finite, including the universe. What we mean by infinite is an "object" of actually infinite nature, which means it has no properties whatsoever, and therefore it isn't even an object, nor does it exist nor non-exist. It is Nothing. All of reality as a whole is an infinite non-object, object. Within that are found an infinite number of finite objects, including our universe. All of it neither exists nor doesn't exist. That's why it's called "nonduality". Everything is so ONE that even existence and non-existence collapse into one.

@Outer Public/private is a conceptual distinction which you invented. If the self/other distinction is conceptual and unreal, surely the public/private distinction is so. Meaning is something you also invented. Being has no meaning. That is nonduality. Meaning only exits for egos.

@Gneumatics Think about this now... It's very simple: Maybe you are the body, but if you are not the body, then you are mistaken about what you're taking the word "you" to refer to. See? So when you say, "Why do I follow it (the body) everywhere its ever been" what are you actually saying? What is following the body? If you're the body, as you insist, then there's nothing to follow the body. There's just the body being you. Nonduality doesn't say you follow the body. Nonduality says, You do not exist! The body just walks around like a zombie on its own. The problem is, it thinks there's someone inside it. You are like a robot who's been programmed to believe it's a human. When you think, "But I'm a real human." << that's just a program running. That program has no one behind it. In the same way that when you look at your computer, you don't think of it as having a "soul" in there somewhere. It's just a bunch of mechanics. What you REALLY are is the empty field of Nothingness within which the body walks around.

@Nichols Harvey this thread will make him well known in this forum... we see already that one person has searched for him and found his video.. Let people learn from him if they find his teachings useful. As I said, I am not against him and have no intention to put him in bad light. But in general, I see a problem in the followers or teachers of any guru... They blindly accept everything that is said, including the opinions of a teacher. And, they react emotionally to criticisms. If James thinks that Osho was not enlightened, that is just his opinion which I think is not correct. If he thinks Osho's teachings cannot help someone, then he is completely wrong as well.. Because I found Osho very helpful and I wouldn't have understood anything about nonduality without the help of Osho's teachings... If you find James helpful, then go ahead and learn from him. But don't expect to be correct all the time about other teachers or paths. I don't expect that from Osho either, sometimes he made very ridiculous assumptions about other people.

All these points arw valid and make sense, but only in the realm of mind aka from the human perspective. There seems to be a Good that transcends the good and bad of duality. When Barna is saying All is joke, I assume that he means, from the place of that Good, the good and bad duality and all other dualities are seen as jokes. With all is love, I guess he might be saying that from that place of Good without opposite, All is Love, because there is no opposite. But if someone cut their baby's throat or does anything else obviously negative in the realm of form in the name of nonduality or spirituality, that is labeled : Spiritual Bypassing. It's the mind trying to pretend it is awareness and trying to attain awarenesses qualities. But it cant, because mind lives in duality. Hence for the mind there should be right and wrong, and it's vital.

http://www.nondualitymagazine.org/nonduality_magazine.1.jamesswartz.htm This is an interview of James Swartz with nonduality magazine. He is who introduced me to Vedanta. He's been teaching Vedanta for 45 years. The 2nd question they ask him applies here. When the questioner says "awakening", it means the same as "Self realization". James changes the terminology half way through answering the question by saying "self realization/awakening". Here's the part- " NDM: What do you see as the distinction between Bodhi/awakening and moska/liberation? Ram: Awakening is an experience that happens to the mind, one that gives the individual some kind of understanding that there is something beyond the visible. It is not enlightenment although it is often thought of as enlightenment. Most modern teachers are simply awakened. The self is ‘the light.’ It never slept. It is not enlightened. Enlightenment is moksa, freedom from experience, including awakening, and the notion that the self is limited. It is the hard and fast knowledge “I am limitless non-dual ordinary actionless awareness…assuming that it renders all vasanas non-binding and cancels the sense of doership. Chapter 2 of my book deals with this topic in depth. There is a sub-heading in the chapter called Stages of Enlightenment. The second stage roughly represents self realization/awakening, where there is still an individual who has ‘realized’ i.e. experienced the self. There is still the sense of duality, a ‘me’ and the ‘self’ which appears as an object. It differs from the third stage, which is not a stage, called ‘enlightenment.’ The word enlightenment is not actually technically suitable because of its experiential connotations." ............. I'll have to get to the other aspects of your reply post in a bit.

That's wonderful Yes. Yes. That's pretty much what I said I am not clinging to any concept. What I said is just what I experienced before. It dosent mean I am attaching to the concept. And to be clear, I never, not even for a minute claim that a certain concept is the real and only TRUTH. Yes. What I wrote is a concept. How else would I express "Enlightenment" if not by theory/concept? I simply don't know any other way I could express it, if not by theory. ? Yes, that's also a theory. Isn't it ? Yeah. That's the dream state, the matrix, the shadows on the wall. Although I am not clinging to thoughts, I answered what you asked based on my direct experience and trying my best to express myself with words. Yes. I realize it. That's why I am not going around and thinking about it. My practices does not include "today I will spend the whole day thinking and finding a good theory for what is enlightenment" LOL. Well, It's in fact an interesting subject to discuss, however in my opinion there is really no point to discuss too long. That would be the same as going to the movies and enjoying it, and then spend hours and hours trying to "get" something more out of it. Now if asked, how does one reach a permanent state of nonduality, that's another long and interesting subject as well

@Nahm I'm definitely not a fan of nonduality. I don't accept duality either or the idea that one or the other has to be true (this is an example of a false choice fallacy). But I have had an ego-death experience in the sense that I no longer cling to a notion and feeling of myself as a thing, and I do practice being in nothingness, meditation, and watching/monitoring my thoughts. I do not believe all is one. And I don't think Leo's concept of enlightenment is possible. You can't lose your self entirely. That's a fiction. Maybe 85%, but not entirely. And I would never believe that or espouse that unless I experienced it directly and firsthand myself first. Otherwise it's a pipe-dream at worst and hypothesis at best. And I don't mistake hypotheses for truths. Until I experience the crack for myself, as Leo has referred to it as, I will continue to believe that Leo's concept of enlightenment is a fiction. Nobody else's testimony is really persuasive to me because I can't really climb into their mind and verify it for myself. But I still keep an open mind and welcome testimony, naturally. I never stop listening. To believe it, I must first see it for myself firsthand, especially with something as radical as Leo's concept of enlightenment.

You had a nonduality experience Now, I recommend you to drop everything your mind believes it's the Truth if you wanna go a step further into consciousness. A good starting point is to stop seeking a certain pleasure experience

The theory I have which I got from the nonduality community is that "everything is consciousness," and I find myself getting defensive when I, for example, read articles which argue against this theory. And, I find myself wasting meditation time trying to rationalize how everything could be consciousness. The theory has become like a security blanket, how can I take it off?

@Annica No problem. Carefully evaluate the pros and cons. For me it was a good strategic move to go to university for a number of different reasons (earning a degree not being even one of them, lol). It can be a good strategic move if: You don't need to pay for it (in my country higher education is entirely free of taxes for a limited number of people) If this is the case, you can use 10% of the time towards schoolwork and the rest to discover yourself, grow and learn to live independently (going directly into the workforce won't give you time to figure out what you really want and learn). I used these soon to be 3 years in order to get a headstart on life and figure out what I want from it and who I really am. I didn't party or do anything like that. Do this only if you or your parents don't have to pay for the education, but only for your expenses. This is the plan I followed in these 3 years: My parents couldn't bother and influence me and my decisions/mindset or changes I want to make in my life. Being alone in a different city helped with looking at things objectively I planned to become a knowledge sponge (read over 40-50 books on topics ranging from nonduality to business, to marketing, sales, mastering emotions, handling people etc.) --> aka getting a headstart in life. I started to study with a music career coach and guitar teacher in order to get my financial situation and professional career handled as soon as I step out into the real world I started doing self-improvement hardcore because this may be the only chance I get at a massive amount of free time before a 30-40 year career span. (you need to build the infrastructure for your future success and build a solid theoretical and practical foundation for your life) This includes: changing my diet/habits/self defeating mindsets entirely changing the way I approach life getting to know about how human psychology works etc. I started to distinguish fake friends and temporary friends from real friends I started to do a lot of exercises and courses to figure out what my strengths are, what my weaknesses are, what needs to be fixed, what doesn't, what my long term vision is, what my goals are, what I want my life to look like, what are my unconscious beliefs etc You get the big idea. This can be a huge chance to become one of the 1% of people who get to live life to it's highest potential if used wisely. But it's also context specific. Again, weigh the pros and the cons for YOU and not for the average psychology student or youngster or whatever.

In our own development, seeing life from 100's of different perspectives I think can give us a preview to our own hero's journey and help us expand our mind and our realm of possibility. Fiction books seem to help in this regard. What fiction books have struck a chord with you the most? What fiction books inspire you on your own hero's journey? What fiction books have increased your creativity and expanded your realm of possibility? My personal favorites: The Witcher Saga by Andrzej Sapkowski The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (a good intro to nonduality in my opinion) The Green Mile by Stephen King Hmm, I personally would include Autobiographies as well if we are looking at the fresh perspective standpoint, but still, that's not fiction.