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@Martin123 Ooooh thank god. I just get really tired. I see a trend where everybody that starts getting into no-self, spirituality and nonduality suddenly start twisting all common language around and just see ”ego here”, ”ego there” like a sniper when you're just trying to use common goddamn language. Like, to some people, I just tell them that ”I ate a chocolate” and they just start blabbering : ”There's no you to eat a chocolate. It's an illusion” and stuff like that. It gets really obnoxious. You might have experienced it, haha.

The realization of nonduality comes after the fact of experiencing duality. You cannot experience non-duality (to 'experience' is dualistic), you can only know of it, so the only way to experience the truth is through realization. Breaking the belief, as with other beliefs, is a matter of habit. Find ways to remind yourself of the truth regularly, via meditation, reading insightful spiritual works, etc.

so consciousness work and nondual spirituality/philosophy and self actualization... they ultimately lead to this declaration that - there is no self, physical existence is illusory, all that is real is awareness and that is a tricky devil. nonduality, idk how to capture it well in words but basically the idea that the best life is the monk's life working full time to reach the highest stages of consciousness possible. But I say, that in and of itself is identity, duality, moralization of right and wrong, and inherently that decision (like any decision) is dogmatic. Yes, so is what I am saying here, also dogmatic. but the argument then is to say that sure of course consciousness work sounds like dogma because you can only discuss it in words, and that is where the dogma lies. but I counter with the point that even awareness itself is illusory, is no different from sensation or thought, and as thought is a tricky thing which pretends to not be thought! Leo and some others have hinted at how there is real direct experience from consciousness work that is definitely not thought and is definitely infinite and nothingness and god and enlightenment. and IDK I feel as if I have had tastes of this what they speak of so I'm not saying this from ignorance please but - inherently experience itself is illusory. In fact I say, as long as we are conscious at all, we prove that we are not nondual. well, yes nonduality is the true existence - but we as a "local experience" of existence are inherently dual, only dual, and cannot Truly be nondual in our consciousness. Naturally - the monk dedicating their life to experience as close to nondual infinity, to god as they can possibly get - that is valid and honorable and kudos to any who dedicate their life to it. But There is no such thing as inauthenticity, as low consciousness, or anything similar. If this local experience I call me acts in a "low consciousness" way, that IS authentic. And mindfulness work is only at its basic form - focusing on increasing our internal experience to be more present, and on transcending illusions. Farming the field before, farming the field after. If I understand the goals of nonduality, consiousness, and ETC and work to encorporate the teachings as they apply to my local illusory life, Then I am self-actualizing just as much as the sage in the monastery. If I go it my path, I inherently am doing it authentically. to be "more authentic" is an illusion itself. Is there any counter argument to this?

@electroBeam, motivation and drive are something the ego wants. That is what is needed for work - things you don't want to do. Ask a child "what is your motivation or drive to play?"...and you will have a very confused child. Or you might get the reply...because it is fun. But what is play...but fun. So it is having fun for the sake of having fun. This is play...no motivation needed. Life can be like this too. You can do it just for the fun of it. You might think it would be fun to be a doctor (children play doctor and you can play doctor for real). But to play doctor in a hospital, you have to go to school...you have to get good grades...and so there is the pre-qualifying game of school that must be passed in order to play doctor in a hospital. And so you have fun in school, doing the "school work", because that is part of the game. This would be playing at becoming a doctor...as a pre-qualifier to playing a doctor in a hospital. Like all games...you sometimes lose. And so, while playing to becoming a doctor...you may run out of money and not be able to finish school..and thus not be able to play at being a doctor. That is OK...now play the game of finding financing for school or you could find an entirely new game to play. You can do whatever you want in this life. But do not put conditions on your happiness or enjoyment on only winning. The game - win or lose - is just for fun. It is not about future seeking...but present seeking. As for me, I am playing a mid-aged man who plays at being the husband to a wife and plays at being a father to a daughter. I play the game of corporate recruiting (playing as a recruiter) during the day...which funds (not unlike playing monopoly, life, cash flow, etc.) my house, cars, vacations, etc. I play at playing the drums at kirtans or drum jams whenever I see them available. I play poker in the bar league most Thursdays. I play at being a blog writer about nonduality and awakening. And more. I am having a blast and am enjoying myself immensely. Why do I do it? Because it's fun.

sorry to post here again but in reflection of the question as well as what I said I've recalled two more things that are frequently on my mind but in not knowing how to handle them as well as in the lack of direct issue in them, I put off tackling them. one is regarding meditation. often people speak of the importance of it because there's something to find, revelation to have, enlightenment. but since I've first been made aware of this journey, I've certainly grown in regards to the self, awareness, consciousness, and nonduality. but not once did I find some exciting, necessary, euphoric sense of sudden knowing, not do I see any reason to expect this - perhaps because I'm more predisposed for these discoveries than most, idk. but I just don't find any reason to prioritize self-inquiry not to look for or expect or even describe the journey as enlightenment. I don't see merit in focusing on nonduality or dismantling the illusion of reality much more than I already have - not because I'm fooled into thinking I've already got these all, no, lol. I can see many ways in which I certainly don't got 'em. but my growth in these engravers advance slightly as my mindfulness work often involves my mind wandering in their direction; I grow naturally in their regard and am more driven to focus on more pragmatic assets to the shortness of my human life such as strategy and focus and motivation, or social skills of various kinds, or etc. I do recognize how the nondual/"enlightenment" stuff applies to all of those endeavours as well, and as I've mentioned I do advanced them as they come to mind in my mindfulness work, but I've no interest in sedimentary meditation and am not sure if that is a problem or if it is a fair call to make. naturally this is hard to wrap my head around it because of the inherent moralization of a decision. but that could just be a silly comment over broadening the term moralization to the point where the way illusion itself manifests is moralization the second thing I'm reminded of is general. it comes up in all endeavours. not knowing how to act because of the discussion regarding moralization, self, nonduality, and moreover the social implications of emotional awareness, skepticism, illusion, and overall holding lines of thought to decide action in the moments and shirt run, but letting go of it outside of application of action. and I'm not sure if these are problems per se as much as a lack of decision-making and focus. and I don't know how I could contemplate the concerns to resolve them, nor if that extent really is necessary. (oh and physical and dietary health) I am sure you'd tell me to just start a meditation practice but that is part of the issue - if I'd meditate it'd be contemplation over strategy, focus and life purpose, not over these, and I honestly don't feel that's a mistake. I'm not convinced these concerns I've mentioned in this post aren't going to naturally be resolved over time with the methods I'm currently taking. I'm not convinced they're a problem so much as a facet of growth. so the true concern is worrying whether that sense of comfort with the discomfort is a trap or an accurate assessment of patience. (naturally I'm not going to debate any response I receive from these two posts, as simply voicing my concerns is the topic of the thread, not convincing you my practical beliefs are anything more than arbitrary choice. and, the act of typing out my thoughts itself helps me handle approaching them, as my mindfulness practice - tho weak during discourse - is present in discourse)

From point of view of story/ego there is past, now and future From point of view of observing awareness, future is seen as unmanifested pure potential, the past is seen as the manifested storyline/movie/dream. The now is seen as a bunch of sights, thoughts, sensations, feelings, stuffness that is known. Looking at he storyline and the potential are seen as things that create duality, because of the simple truth that there is only now. Why base our sense of self from something we clearly know don't exist? The now moment is like an intersection point and the gate from egoic mind of past future and now to awareness of the content of now and awareness of awareness itself, whichis you, now - things could not be simpler. You can switch between the two even. Ego death is instant when you see you are the awareness. You can identify with what awareness points to and it is not egoic identification, because it is actually truth. It can never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever be taken from you, because whatever is taken from you, you remain. If you identify with awareness, it is the mind, recognising it's own true nature. The mind itself is made of awareness, so it would not be false for any mind to say they are awareness, unless they dont see what the word awareness points to, and it points to you, the you that cannot be outside the now Ever, unless it's dreaming. Let's wake the fuck up, as Mooji says, nonduality teachings are giving us the most important thing as Baby food!!!! This is the easy and most direct path. Dont expect that you need to suffer or experience feelings of dread. Your ego will not die if it is truth, in which case it is not ego at all. Because ego is the illusion. So take your place as awareness now and you will never have to die.

Whenever I interact with others, who are not into nonduality, they keep reinforcing my mind's now seen as false and ignorant beliefs. Im afraid they are reviving my dying ego. Like giving it cpr. I feel especially defensive of NonDual ideas, because I now know them to be true. But ego still happens, it's like the ego is claiming this knowledge, because it is fact. I see such moments as not defending my ego of knowing something, but defending the truth and trying to help someone in ignorance see what I mean. But at the end if the day my actions feel like an egoic striving to know the truth as a person on planet earth. And to feel good about it. Even tho in introspection I see this as just another belief of the mind. People around me are treating me as a human and as an ego, which reinforces my older patterns. Wakes up beasts that I had defeated, but not permanently. Now that I write it out, it actually seems like a good thing lol. But anyway, would it not be better for me to not speak to anyone on the subject? The thing is by keeping quiet I am doing a disservice to them, since they will just go deeper in delusion. Like I am now. Or am I? Who am I.. ? When I know something to be true and someine starts arguing the opposite, should I concede the position of truth so the falsehood wins? Isnt that why we are all living in falsehood on planet earth? I know truth doesn't need defending to be true, but why concede an argument you know you are right in?

it is hard to figure out what to say. the main things of concern regarding my personal interests are that, well I am recovering from some serious skill and emotional detriments. and it is kind of confusing why it is taking so long to recover, yet I keep discovering new ways to grow myself... these past few months the majority of my effort has been on my physical health, I could not sit or lay down without pain, but now I am healthier again. Unfortunately the habits I was working on backslided. but so far my backsliding when it happens - each time where it falls too is slightly ahead of where last I backslid too. So this is not the main concern - the main concern instead is, on strategic stuff. I watch the strategic video a few times, should watch it again too. But it is not quite targetting what I am worried over - and the pillars are kind of abstract too - idk. the thing that is hard is IDK what exactly to say, that I am trying to work on. There is this thing sometimes discussed in phsychology called executive fuctioning, and that is what I cannot do, but it seems in my observation that the root cause of my struggle with it is unusual compared to teh typical cases discussed. some thing I know I am lacking are, focus and sustained application of tasks. Focus also in the way where I can't sort out my ideas into a straightforward plan. Certainly my physical condition held me back too - could not work very long before being tired - but that is not a concern as it is improving. I mean it is a concern but not one I'm sturggling with, one I'm overcoming. focus is the one key I need to work out. and generally - meditation targets a certain different type of focus if that makes sense? I should really spend time figuring my own method of meditation which better targets this type of focus - meditation targets staying with one thing on mind, and generally I am already working towards that - but the "focus" that I am struggling with is Decision Making. That I get locked in circular thinking trying to make a decision. This is similar in a way, but when I am mindful it is easy to maintain focus tho it occasionally gets disrupted. but when I am deciding, I can't stay focused. everything is important. In a way it will help as I get better at handling the big picture and the small picture and swapping between those, but I feel like there's something about it that I can't put my finger on that isn't working well. The other thing regarding my current struggles that I've identified but unsure how to approach is, self-efficacy, I think the word is. Anticipating accurately what exactly you can do. Generally speaking I trust that in being aware of it over time I will get better at it, but it would be convenient to have some outside inspiration boosting my ideas regarding this - giving me a boost as I try to figure it out. and certainly, not being focused makes my growth in general harder, as I keep switching between goals between weeks. maintaining a stable output despite lower periods of my week is also one thing I am wondering about. I know you mentioned in one video about cycles being natural, tho you were talking about a yearly scale. In terms of big picture right now I'm working on my monthly big picture. but one thing I realize is that even when in a lower cycle, you don't need to just sleep all day and be mopey - there are activities you can do when feeling worn out or extra unmotivated, and so I try to do them. And another thing on my mind, not really a concern but just the last of my major current focuses. is mindful activity, over sedimentary meditation. I would really enjoy a video about that lol - or alternatively, a video about how to discover and develop your own strategies of meditation. later in life I will take on more regular meditation habits, but the life I'm pursuing is one of accepting the dual illusions as important for the locality of our human existence if this makes sense? I am unsure about this as you generally am interest in being monk-like and hugely push pursuit of enlightenment above all else, but I am instead pursuing a mixed approach. I am not sure if this analogy will hold well for you as it has meaning for me, but I've noticed in many things - and this is especially apparent in the simplified "test environment" of games - that often there are strategies in the game to increase your resource increase. um, to invest in investing itself, rather than just putting X cost into growth, you put some of it into having more growth capable. And - in the limited scale of a game - if you put in too much investment into growth, you fall behind anyway because others just produce the whole time. but otherwise, investing in growth is clearly superior. And so in regards to consiousness - my view and maybe you feel this is a poor view idk lol and tbh I won't be swayed by your rebutal regarding this - you've given plenty in your videos already - but the sage's path is investing more into the growth of consiousness than what I feel is healthy for me to do now. Maybe sometime later in life - perhaps soon perhaps never - I will. but right now, I Need to get a stable footing - to get myself self-reliant instead of dependant on the givings of relatives. And this involves a lot of personal growth - so I need to focus on applicative doings much much more than sedimentary thinkings. So the consiousnness work I focus on is in the moment- mindfulness while I am doing an activity of some kind - and only as much focus on that practice as I can afford. oh that reminds me - one thing I wonder about is how you put down multitasking. I think tho that you speak of a specific scale and I do not speak of that scale. but I do know that I do multitask too much - however it is funny because, we cannot live without multitasking. Our heart beats, our lungs breath, our eyes see. this is multitasking. mindfulness is multitasking - increasing it is opening up more "channels" or "levels" of awareness. IDK. I do not wish to speak of this much as my language to describe my thinking is not developed herein - and likewise, my thoughts are still overall abstract and intuitive, without detailed form, so I cannot even hold them still in a way which -- oh, IDK how to say this. So I will say - I wonder about awareness. In my experience awareness IS thought. I do of course understand that5 choosing labels to mean certain things is important for the health of discourse - so clarifying awareness as seperate from thinking is important in transcending the traps of thinking. However all my life - my thoughts were without words - it was about 8 or 9 years ago now, when I started to work to train myself to be able to read and listen more reliably, and to converse and write with better clarity - and that led to me developing my thoughts such that they did include thinking. I do also not even have imagery in my mind when I think - the only visual I get is when my eyes are open and I am watching the events around me. (or, weirdly, when I dream) but instead my thoughts have always been just in the form of abstraction, of concepts, of awareness, tho I am not confident that in that way the awareness I have is the same precise label that you have. I wish I could have an extensive conversation with you or someone who has spent years working on awareness, regarding the difference or potential similarity between thought. But I notice that when I focus on being mindful of things - that the original form of thought I used to only think in becomes more present. tho of course - the original thought in my life, was not entirely the same as awareness - I was unaware too. it is very hard to discuss this. I have tried many times to speak of how I think with others, and always it is challenging to communicate. But I feel pretty confident that there is no real difference between sensation, thought, "sensation thought" being language/pictures/sound in your mind as you think/recal/predict, and awareness. at their root they are all the same thing - tho of course, in their complexity they differ greatly. Another thing on my mind is the imperative of community over individuality. sorry I need to over explain this to get to my point of concern. naturally this is not the marxist movement that - IDK if you follow him at all - Jordan Peterson is worried over - it is not to say that we should sacrifice individuality for the sake of making everyone equal lol no it is not that. It is complex to write out sorry - but it is like, the first idea to hold is the idea that selfishness is the best way to find selflessness - that to focus on your own needs, wants, desires is the best way to make the community strong - by focusing on the self first, you change your self, and this is one step towards changing the world lol. it is have lighthearted but the point is serious - the point being that the community is composed of individuals behaving as individuals, and it is healthiest when that is encouraged. however - it gets harmed if it goes to far - if the individuals treat each other as competition, commodity, or disposable pieces. Because - this is forgetting the very real fact that Other people can help us pursue our goals. And - other people want our goals too. and - the goals of other people coming into fruition help us in all the ways which we sacrifice goals for the sake of our interests - if everyone specializes, we need each other to make up for the skills we neglect. So - to harm or discard or step on others defeats this reality of communal growth. The second idea to hold in this line is - the nonduality/duality discussion - that the language I use to approach conceptualizing what the infinite, nondual, reality is - is localization of measurement. that the quickest way for me right now to begin to see infinity - and it is definitely still I am a novice in really seeing that infinity, but I often feel as if I get glimpses of it - or of nothingness - they are the same - is to think of how if you zoom out enough all the details fade away into a blurr and eventually it is just - uniformity. nothingess. but on the flip side if you zoom in enough - then there is nothing to see, nothingness. and so it is like math, graph, stuff - how everything is made of dimensionless nothingness, and yet with infinite of that you get something. So - we live in a localized world - the measurements we make are important because we are on this localized level of existence. This is where I bring back the community discussion - The self when surpassed you see that the self is whatever you localize your view onto, whatever you choose to measure as the self - that is what the self is. So if you measure your body then it is your body. if you measure your awareness than it is your awareness. If you measure all your posessions and your home and car, than those things are you. Or - if you measure your community, or the global world, or the global ecosystem, or the solar system than that is what self you are. and so to the concern - the concern is that I see many people and IDK if you are one of them or if in the inexperience of your viewers combined with your word choice your insight is not apparant - but valuing community is the self too. Sacrificing community to become a monk is a dangerous trap in this way - The community could work towards enlightenment - and it is a more challenging self actualization, to have a community self actualization. but much like there is an intuition which guides us as we self actualize on the individual measurement- the individual is that intuition which can guide whatever network that individual directly impacts - and the growth of that network's consiousness influences the growth of the community as a whole - and the community's growth influences the whole world. We could self actualize the world. the world is a self! I am sorry if my discussion does not well encapture the idea on my mind in this regard, and really. it is not a concern I can currently work towards, as I need to stabilizing this individual I call "me" . lol. Then the other concern in a similar line is - oh, I covered it already. not very well, but enough. so let me summarize now. there are four main points I concern over. 2 are more impactful for my individual pursuit in the now - and 1 is, in the now, more impactful for you to ponder if you choose to. only a dream for me to ponder. they are : - my ability to be focussed, motivated, and similar. - my application of meditation via active mindfulness over sedimentary contemplation (I do contemplate but 90% of my consiousness work is in active mindfulness) - the concern of any group or community, and especially any leader, of community over introspective work. at the localization the best thing is introspection - but once meeting a certain stage, there is potential to expend the "introspection" to be a collective effort. idk it is not well formed this idea but I feel it is important to realize. the power of a community being greater than that of an individual. it requires of course the realization that in the grand scheme of things we are nothing, but in the measurement of our community, our community is everything. Accepting the illusion as important, because if the universe is to appear one and nondual, then the illusory waves must behave as they naturally wave. I could speak a lot on this lol but I should try to keep it teaser for the sake of communication. And, I do not expect you to be swayed or not swayed it is just - obvious to me in my understanding of it, that good opportunities to spread the idea is one manner of its growth.

"logic is part and parcel to enlightenment" duh, nonduality much? awareness is ego. delusion is truth. this is such a silly debate! (and, well, silly is serious) wait, was anything said with this post?

@Shin first exercise: go onto the street and pick a fight with a random stranger over nonduality.

@Dan Arnautu Why do you need a degree at all? If your LP is music and nonduality, why waste time? Maybe your higher self is telling you all this philosophy business isn't worth your time.

So I thought I would summarize the past week. Finished Think and grow rich today, and feel like it were a lot of usefull information in it regarding everything. Tool notes through the book as usual and it is a lot of practical info and exercises which i did, and i learnt, or became more aware of my biggest weakness, which is willingness to cooperate with others. I think the problem lies deep in my core values with joining a social environment because i resist it at the very core. Why? Since i feel it as givining up my own standards og life and how I ought to live. I never want to comply to something unless i find it the right thing to do, and so I find most social cultures as wrong ethically, or I havent comptehended how it works mentally, so I resist it until I do. But then again I havent really made an effort to understand society in the west, or more accurately Norway. It requires a lot of reading I feel, and I want to prioritize who I am and what I intrinsically like before I start getting engaged politically. Regardless of political ideology I thought of the idea that I resist becoming one with the pack lies in me having a lack of trust in others. Or maybe I just havent found people with the same values as me, so I struggle to connect deeply with others. This is also a problem for me socially and being one with the gang, since I have trouble hanging out one on one with friends. I dont really enjoy it, since after the small talk is over I want to go deeper. I want to see some real emotion and troubles in the other persons life and help them, and have them help me. I want to experience authentic human things, not indulge in social media, electronic music and participate in thos pornographic culture. I thought of getting better at using må voice the other day. I like helping people by showing them how I see a solution to their problem, and help them see the big picture and to be honest with themselves, but I lack the enthusiasm and vocal skills. My voice is a bit monotone and has a aggressive tone to it when Im excited. Kind of like Leo. People find it intimidating I think. I want to be able to talk like Tony Robbins. To have a positive feel to my voice. I think that tone comes from how I feel emotionally on the inside. I saw thos post in this forum the other day about emotional healing and how the illustration spiraled upwards from bad to good emotional disposition. I think that I have to go through some sort of emotional healing regardless to be happy, but it might necessary to be accomplished to a degree before I can really start on my LP(Life purpose). So overall Im quite confused about everything, and I feel ungrounded at the core because of my biased beliefs on reality, that I have chosen to believe in, because it is helpful for the time being, rather than going deep into Pyrrhonism and continuing on to nonduality as I understand thats the path Leo have taken. I have rather chosen to take the path of going for whatever promotes my own happiness, and use the emotions I feel regarding taking sides as energy to fuel me. I need the energy and motivation sine I lack it generally. I think I lack motivation because of my mental state since I am tryin gto heal my dopamine receptors from porn and social media etc, but also from lack of likeminded people. I feel lonely in a lot of peoples company but I have gotten used to it. Sometimes when I am alone and read for a while and study some aspect that seems to hit my inner interests I get in such a gods mood its invredible and I go around trying to hold my grin back, since it would be awkward to look at. Felt this way today when I started looking up meditation/ consciousness groups on meetup.com, and I joined this self-improvement activity in Oslo in a few days. It might be few people showing up, but regardless I got in a really good mood, and I didnt notice until I met others and couldt hide my grin. It was something about finding others with the same values nearby. I felt really good. But it subsided as I was around my roomate in the military, who I find to be lost in complacency with social culture. He is a nice guy and supportive, but I dont get the authentic empiwermwnt form talking to him. Anywas, so I completed the intrinsic motovation video as well and started on failure is good in the LP-course. Regarding the course my family is curious and is criticising a bit when I open a bit up about it, so I keep it mellow to a degree. Having some unsovlved problems with my family that I eill write avout as time goes, but things are getting better and changing. As am I. For the social part I am improving and feeling better. The military is kind of harsh to newcomlings and especially to people with unusual values. Facing challenges as all directions but they arent that hard, and I will keep going as i always do. Will post once a week, since its a nice sunmary for me, and feels good to create and contribute regardless if anyone sees it. Got a feel that I want to be a organizer regarding conscious inquiry or a life coach. Not really sure, but have always wanted to create events where I myself want to participate and include others. Also liked to test my abilities against others, so this might be my medium.

After watching Leo's Hero video, I've noticed the underlying relationships between the hero's journey and nonduality. In this case, Palpatine is like the ego-driven culture that tries to oppress Truth and punishes those who will not turn to the darkside/ be seduced by Maya.

I want to go a tiny bit offtopic because this is very interesting. Nonduality is pretty logical. When the subject is isolated from objects, it disappears. Boom ego death

so between numerous role models I follow, including "our" Leo Gura and also (I recommending) Tai Lopez, there is often a message of - study. Reading, research. Certainly I'm intending to pick up a habit of this in the future, of digging into philosophy and psychology and history and physics, however that is not a now-concern... I have other focal imperatives for the nearer future. So I'm not pushing for that study habit just yet. But, I wonder, wouldn't the types of literature and discourse that Leo often criticizes as low-level consiousness, not be necessarily bad? I'm trying to go through my (so to speak:) "spiritual" work through a pragmatic approach of in-the-action mindfulness, rather than one of solemn meditation - I have been in my life spending "too much" time reflecting or daydreaming or gaming, and instead not-doing, so one of my main current priorities is to focus on being pragmatic whenever I have the capacity to be focused and with healthy pose of body (my body atrophy and subsequent weakness from my 3 years of depression), and when my body and/or my mind is not up to that task, I'm more often than not making sure to rest in some way, even to the point that I allow my mind to return into "sleep". this leaves no room for meditation or for direct study. So my idea is - I could be reading fantasy books, watching non-documentary movies. It really is OK. For two reasons - as I move forward in my mindfulness work, I cannot just suddenly be mindful all the time - so neurotically criticizing my consumption of so-called low-consciousness content is silly! just watch it/read it, no big deal. But Also, the thing that I'm very aware of - which Leo and most other role models too, either are unaware of or neglect to emphasize or even mention - is the reality that all experiences in life are just as meaningful in inspiration, worth, good, etc. - as anything else. Well, we sort of do talk about this - but the more precise nature I'm referring to is how: Even a child with no experience, we learn from; Even an addict with full-scale neurosis, we learn from; And even from the addictive medias - we learn from them too. So in this way - when working on mindfulness - consumption of "low consciousness media" has a twofold direct usefulness in our pursuit of transcending our low level of awareness - The first being that it is a good way to practice being mindful of our addictive nature - just because we have these addiction sensations and drive doesn't mean we must avoid that activity, altho being mindful of the self is possible in such moments certainly hard - in that it gives us practice of allowing our awareness to falter and yet still return; and when we can keep ongoing consciousness more powerfully, we can increase that strength. The second being - that with mindful attention to the movie etc for the focus of finding inspiration, with enough practice (and I have a whole life's worth for this specific skill) we will actually discover that literally all things inspire our growth of ideas. Of course, in that, I bank on the strategy that being the monkeys we are is in fact the authentic "self" that we are - tho we can transcend that self with increased awareness, despite the infinity and the nothingness and the nonduality that existences is, in contrast to that absolute existence our "local" existence remains to factually be one of sensation and duality. We may be struck by delusion, but to deny that delusion blindly would in fact be denying the nonduality itself! disclaimer - this has been a discussion of thought from my current perspective. I do not claim any of it to be true or useful for you, and certainly none of it is True being. but these ideas are true and useful for me any thoughts, responses, reflections, piggybacking, all encouraged thanks for reading.

I created this topic just to share my amazement to how much growth is actually possible. I was looking at some videos of me just 2 years ago, and I realized that no aspect, and I literally mean NO ASPECT of my past self is present anymore. I did not recognize who I was looking at in those videos. Everything changed radically since I took Self-Actualization seriously. Everything from my body, the way I talk, to my confidence, insecurities, doubts, abilities, limiting beliefs, neurosis changed in a good way and it feels like I upgraded myself 10x in just 2 years since I've gone out of highschool. So many new habits, changes in perspective and patterns everywhere that I did not see before with my mind's eye. Uncertainty continues to increase, and I am starting to relate to what Socrates said: ”All that I know is that I know nothing.” So many things that beg to be mastered. To think that these were only 2 years, and that I have at least 60 to go (please don't get into nonduality here, you know I'm talking only about human existence) is exciting and scary at the same time. I wonder if these shifts will continue to happen as often as they did until now or if there will be a slowdown (in the case that I will put in the same amount of work that I did until now). Now I see that the majority of people die without experiencing even 0.1% of what life has to offer and that is pretty sad. Feel free to share your own experiences!

Can You Still Serve Yourself And Be One With Everything At The Same Time? @electroBeam, when you were a child...you would play imaginary games with imaginary characters...didn't you? When I was very young, I was (at that time) the only child and my parents were building a house...way out in the county. I spent many days...months in fact...playing by myself alone. I would create fantasies...cowboys one day...sailors the next...whatever seemed fun. Now, I was all of what was going on...there was only me...I even controlled what the imaginary characters did...and yet I could still serve myself in my part of the adventure. Sometimes the "bad" guys won a battle...but the war raged on. This is what made it fun. Now if children can figure this out this much...why not an adult who has realized his or her true nature? "In order to serve the body/mind, you need to think dualistically, and that is just laughable in the state of being one." - not laughable...realizing there is no other does not mean you can't recognize the illusion that is still is apparent and not be able to think about it. A mirage doesn't disappear just because you realize it is a mirage...you only realize it is not what it appears to be (water) even though you still see it. Dualistic thinking is still very possible. "So can you serve the body/mind and be in competition with other people, while being your true self?" Sure...why not? Imaginary cowboys and indians when you/I were playing alone as a child. There can be a competition and yet know it is all a play of imagination. The issue here seems to be you are trying to reconcile "being one with everything" and "being a separate self"...but who you really are (i.e. nonduality) is not "being one with everything" nor "being a separate self" nor both nor neither. This will not make sense to the mind.

Hello, I sometimes have the wish to tell my close family-members like my old parents about enlightenment. The problem is they are very close minded and not open to anything as far as I know but they are highly intellectual and philosophical. I know you can question, if it is meaningful at all to talk about enlightenment, but this is another topic. For me it is interesting in the first place to see how they react and of course I would be happy if they at least think about enlightenment seriously for some seconds. Now here comes my question: Do you know how I can introduce them at best to spiritual enlightenment/nonduality? Have some of you showed your friends/family members about enlightenment and how did they react?

Don't introduce them to spiritual enlightenment/nonduality. Society / family wants ambitious people who are useful and who can feed their egos. Unless your way of life becomes a message , their is no point in introducing them verbally. Dropping your knowledge , ego is very arduous, needs patience.

@Echoes , I have an analogy to try to put your comparison in perspective. Awakening (and nonduality) is about realizing you are dreaming, while metaphysical knowledge is about learning how to play well within the dream (although you may not realize you are dreaming). That is also the difference between enlightenment and spiritual powers...one who is enlightened may not have spiritual powers (and even if they do, may have no interest in them)...and on the other hand you have one who has spiritual powers and can do amazing things but still a trapped by the illusion (and suffering). Awakening does not bring knowledge of metaphysical mechanism or laws. Knowledge of metaphysical mechanisms or laws does not bring awakening. One is seeing through the illusion...the other is getting good at manipulating the illusion.

Way back, at the beginning of my spiritual search and studies...I joined a weekly meditation group. They were also interested in healing and so they got into past life regression. I explored many of my own (in relation to current blocks). Outside of regressions, I have had memories of past lives come to me as well. One experience in particular I will share. A friend from the meditation group introduced me to an old friend of his. This friend took an instant dislike to me and was actively mean to me whenever he had the chance. I thought the reaction was too strong to be something of this life, and I suspected a past life connection. The topic of past lives did come up, and this friend did not believe in it or that he has ever lived before. So I knew I could not work in any way with him directly. That night I decided to delve into past lives between us that might result in this instant hatred. I found two. I knew we are all connected on "higher levels" and so I decided to reach out to him on a higher level. I saw him before me in my mind's eye and I explained that i figured out the problem between us. I said I did not remember, but know I do and I was totally at fault. I asked his forgiveness and he seemed to nod. A year later, I met this friend of my friend again and his attitude was totally neutral. Eventually, he warmed up. Years later, as good friends, we were talking about how we met and he said he could never figure out why he disliked me so much when we met. He also said, he couldn't figure out why it was different the next time we met. I have had many experiences of past lives (that I remembered or had to look into to remember) that had effects and when I worked on it, the situation changed. So I would have to say, from my own experience - past lives exist and reincarnation exists. Nonduality does not exclude the happening of reincarnation, but I would say it just means there are dreams within dreams. I haven't had anything to do with past lives though in over a decade. Yeah, it happens...but it is just another trap and distraction. Now is more important.

hey guys, I've been researching lucid dreaming for about 2 weeks now and it seems to be a very interesting topic. (and I also had one short lucid dream ) but I haven't found much about the correlation between lucid dreaming and nonduality/spiritual growth. can lucid dreaming be used in order to grow spiritually (spiritual purification) ? does lucid dreaming bring me closer to awakening? is it worth it to put a huge investment of time and energy in working on lucid dreaming when my "real" aim is truth/enlightenment? or should I rather put more time in self-inquiry/meditation/mindfulness/etc... has anybody experience with this? or thoughts on combining spiritual purification and lucid dreaming?

I know I told you I totally agree with the neti-neti method and self enquiry (or maybe I didn't tell you). But this does not mean that everything is not you. Every single thing one by one is not you, but Everything together? Why do you not believe about the end point of non-duality if you follow nonduality teachers? Not that you have to believe, but we're having a forum conversation, so I don't want to circlejerk around

@Prabhaker I agree with you, but there are some things that just science cannot talk about, but maths (the only true science) can : Those are 0 and infinity. We can map, on the level of mind what happens with enlightenment - I'm only speculating, but I see no real fault to doubt my reasoning: My goal is to represent the entire enlightenment journey with mathematical formula that will prove even to the thickest mind/Ego that it should forego a journey to find their true nature. When one trully becomes aware they are just awareness, this is when you reach being 0, from appearantly being something between 0 and infinity. Now that you truly are 0, you have no other choice, but to float on top of everything, just like you've always done and even be aware of infinity, because you are THAT light. Since you are 0, you not only merge with it, you are it, because there is nothing else. There is only the numbers 1,2,3,4…. Only they are supposedly real, but with enlightenment we see that only 0 and infinity are real and the numbers 1,2,3… are illusions, caused by the reality of 0 and infinity, they are the play of life, the finite numbers. 0 AND infinity(God)? But that's two! Infinity + 0 = Infinity = 100% = 1 whole = Non Duality = You, because ISNESS. If you are more than 0, you cannot merge with everything, become everything, reach samadhi and BE GOD - God is not nothing, God is Everything. The experience of Ego is also part of God, part of Everything and I can see how as long as I take myself to be a thing, I will only be apparent PART of everything and will be impossible for me to merge with it. It's a finite number. What do you think? I just love maths, next is experience, but you must agree, there needs to be something that will be helpful to ultra logical people to begin their journey and reach what @zazed claims to have "reached". I do aknowledge that you can be the truth but are not saying the truth intellectually perfectly, which is understandable, because the truth cannot be expressed in words and also the real @zazed is not typing here, he is just observing his Ego type just like me and everyone else, because we all are 0 already, we just don't know it yet, well I don't, many of you have probably already reached this state of knowing called Enlightenment. I'm a 0 that has merged into an Ego, because maybe I think of it as my everything, but I am aware of other things as well and know for a fact my Ego is not everything, it is not God My attempt is to do it with maths, which is far stronger than words. I also aknowledge that this is not experiential truth, but an intellectual truth is also something that I hold valuable and, again, I want to stress that people with ultra logical minds need to be nudged towards the experiential truth through logic. They won't listen to something else. If we want true Enlightenment and the end of suffering for All human beings, not just for ourselves, we need to think of new things and not only be selfish and think about ourselves! This is counter spiritual TLDR: You are nothing (awareness, 0), God is everything(infinity) - Awareness merges with God automatically, we have NonDuality, the only reality. You merge with God and from this standpoint you've always been that, you were just taking yourself to be a number between 0 and infinity for the lols?

Ikr, every nonduality teacher ever: there's noone there, no free will, stop seeking, there's nothing to seek Matt: fuck it just love hahaha