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my experience of benefits: increase in energy, increased focus and concentration, increased bliss, sense of connection, reduced feelings of discontent, relaxation in the body, more joyous creativity should be practiced with wisdom, caution and guidance

I found two great songs by a little-known musician named Stuart Davis. One of them is featured in the Audiobook Kosmic Consciousness with Ken Wilber, which I will put a review of later. Ladder The first song is called "Ladder." It's a lovely song about our personal and species-wide evolution and the natural clash with psychological entropy. That is, as we grow more complex as individuals and as a species, we also have more stuff that can topple us. I've got brains like antique floors I built each one on the one before I use all three but they don't agree One of them wants to love you Another one would love to club you I guess my old natures move like glaciers Chorus: The fish became a lizard The shrew became an ape Will the ape become an angel? The higher that we climb The more the ladder sways I'm the bastard child the one who got the head of Einstein and the soul of Pol Pot there's no compassion but I can split the atom Better give me a microscope for a different eye Better give me a telescope for the inward sky and a ladder leading up from Eden Chorus If Ramana Maharshi came from clay there's more to evolution than a little DNA Cut off the moorings to the inward ark Aiming it into a question mark The fish became a lizard The shrew became an ape will the ape become a Mother Teresa? She came from clay There's more to evolution than a little DNA Personal Commentary: Ladder bases itself off of the integral idea of Holarchy. Holarchies are made out of Holons. A holon refers to the something being both a whole and a part with no actual distinction between itself and other whole/parts other than arbitrary measures. Each holon is a system (or phenomenon) that is an evolving self-organizing dissipative structure, composed of other holons, whose structures exist at a balance point between chaos and order. Higher level holons are always at a more precarious position than lower level holons. This goes for physical objects, ecological systems, psychological stages, social organizations, and even spiritual development. With reference to holarchical human development, Alan Watts serves to help us see the issue: "how is man to be best related to his environment? Especially in circumstances where we are in possession of an extremely powerful technology and have, therefore, the capacity to change our environment far more than anyone else has ever been able to do so. Are we going to end up not by civilizing the world, but by Los-Angelizing it? In other words, are we going to foul our own nest as a result of technology? But all this gets down to—the basic question is, really, what are you going to do if you’re god? If, in other words, you find yourself in charge of the world, through technological powers, and instead of leaving evolution to what we used to call, in the 19th century, the blind processes of nature—that was begging the question, to call them blind—but at any rate, we say, we’re not going to leave evolution to the blind forces of nature but now we’re going to direct it ourselves. Because we are increasingly developing, say, control over genetic systems, control over the nervous system, control over all kinds of systems; uh then, simply, what do you want to do with it?" This song responds to Watts inquiry by pointing out that Perhaps there is a universal Telos. That there is a point to all of this and the despite the hemming and hawing and guffawing that we know as human violence and suffering, it works out in the end such that we become the gods that oversee us. We made a universe that is perfect for ourselves, despite seeming otherwise. Creating Heaven is Heaven. Watts echoes this sentiment at the end of his own lecture. What is your idea of heaven? What would you really like to have happen, if you could make it happen? That’s the first thing that really starts people thinking because you soon realize that a lot of the things you think you would want are not things you want at all. Supposing, just for the sake of illustration, that you had the power to dream every night any dream you wanted to dream. And you could, of course, arrange for one night of dreams to be seventy-five years of objective time, or any number of years of subjective time, what would you do? Well, of course, you’d start out by fulfilling every wish. You would have routs and orgies and uh uh all the most magnificent food and uh sexual partners and everything you could possibly imagine in that direction. When you got tired of that, after several nights, you’d switch a bit, and find yourself involved in adventures, and uh contemplating great works of art, fantastic mathematical conceptions; you would soon be rescuing princesses from dragons, and all sorts of things like that. And then one night you’d say, now look, Tonight what we’re gonna do is, we’re going to forget this dream is a dream. And we’re going to be really uh shocked, and when you woke up from that one you’d say, ‘Oooh, wasn’t that an adventure!’ ----- Nothing In Between The second song is called Nothing in Between. It is a wonderful tome about Nothingness, aka God. There is nothing in between us when we sleep Every night the bliss begins to leak Nothing in between us when we laugh it’s something that our head will never grasp It’s seen in between There’s nothing in between your joy and mine It’s all a lot of nectar on the vine Joy is how my parents were entwined and there’s nothing in between their lives and mine We’ve seen There’s nowhere to hide in the open Reality Love is so wide, there isn’t a boundary There is only one eye without any enemy when you’ve seen in between There’s nothing in between our skin and light Nothing in between the wind and kite Nothing in between our lips and grace Nothing in between the tongue and taste It’s seen (Refrain) There is nothing in between you and I Nothing in between blue and sky Nothing in between us and love Nothing in between wings and doves (Refrain) There is nothing in between Personal Commentary: This song struck me as a great way of pointing to non-distinction. This morning as I meditated using Headspace, I was instructed to feel that the center of creativity deep in my heart. I was then asked to extend my awareness of that center past my chest and to my whole skin. From there I was asked to expand this awareness to the walls around me. From there I extended it to my whole apartment complex... The City of LA... Earth... The Solar System... The Galaxy... The Virgo Cluster... The Laniakea SuperCluster... The whole Observable Universe that seems to form a universal Brain/mind complex... Then I pushed further - I asked what would be beyond that -- where is that universal brain? And I kept pushing outwards to see the next order of fractalization... and what came up was me! That is, I saw that cosmic brain complex residing in my own head or another version of me or maybe an alien or maybe some computer who itself resides in some version of the city of LA which is itself on some version of earth... And so on for all of eternity outwards. And so on for all of eternity inwards as well! Which is to say, I can't describe it as One because it has no end or beginning to its outwardness and inwardness. And to call something one, it must reach an outward and inward end. I could call it zero because it has no ground, but it's clearly here and now. " _____?!?!NOTHING?!?!______ " is all I that can be said about it. There's me = you = everything, which breaks down into ____!?nothing?!?!____ upon further investigation. There's ___!?!nothing?!?____ between physical material and conscious object. There's ___!?!nothing?!?_____ between past and future. It all happens Now - the only place that remains Absolutely unchanged EXCEPT that its also Absolutely Relative as proven by Einstein. There's ___!?!nothing!?___ between me and you. There's just ____!?!nothing??!___ between anything. There is no distinction. There no such thing as a thing-without-some-other-thing which means that there is No thing-other-than-the-whole-thing which means I cannot point to any-one-thing as-itself in-and-of-itself other than ___!?!nothing?!?____ . This is the Holarchical perspective. ---- Putting the ideas of both songs together we can intuit a holarchical ladder with nothing in between. We see an universe of other universes with no part distinct from other parts as it builds itself and destroys itself at the same time - Now - in a fashion that is relative to the timeline of each observer. This universe would: know all from a wide perspective and it would know all from a limited perspective - the one "we" see out of in our everyday understanding. Indeed, in knowing all it would know what it is like to not-know it all. It is from each one of these limited perspectives that the wide perspective gets generated. The manifestation of such wide perspective gives universal purpose. It would be a wild adventure.

Hey guys! So... I finally uncovered my Life Purpose! Thanks @Leo Gura for the course! With that said, being that my life purpose is to be a Running Life Coach, I'm currently living in San Francisco. The running market here in the Bay Area, as someone whose already VERY deep in the running scene (I'm friends with the founder of Hoka ONE ONE, several professional athletes, and have worked in all the niche running specialty stores, and so on and so on, just to give an idea of what I mean by how deep I already am), the problem I see for myself is that the running industry here is so occupied. I mean, it's the Bay Area. I've really been paying attention and listening to my intuition on how I think what's necessary is for me to save up enough money and relocate somewhere. I already don't vibe well with people in the area here. Plus, I've already built up a not-so popular reputation (depending on who you ask I guess) from stupid social mistakes on my part (a common struggle when you're an outspoken person in the most politically correct area in the world). So to sum it up, from my perspective, I think it'd be way too much of a tedious and honestly unnecessary task to try and rebuild an entire new business and reputation and what not given where I'm already located. Plus, again, who I am authentically (plus no enlightenment comments as I'm working on that) really just doesn't vibe well with a lot people here. Plus, for my own mental health, I'm trying to get out of this area as it is because this environment is just so neurotic that it literally drives me up the wall. This fast paced bubble that is the SF Bay Area really just isn't healthy for me. I also love the idea my intuition is feeding me that I'm really best off actually testing out my own training ideas somewhere away from a lot of the masses. I think of it like how Joseph Campbell followed his bliss by retreating into the wilderness and absorbing massive amounts of material from books and such. Like, there's one coach in the history of running from New Zealand that revolutionized training for middle/long-distance running literally through experimenting his training theories on himself. I love that concept. I really don't want to follow the cookie-cutter path by just copying other coaches. I want to learn by working on myself and with others by not just experimenting with different training theories, but also incorporating personal development strategies to increase all the other facets of one's life to create the most fulfilling running career one can have. Hopefully at least some of you are following along so far... If so, I'm impressed ahaha So what I would love to know is, does anyone have some practical wisdom to share on when relocating might be necessary? Another question, if not an even more burning question I have is, what wisdom do any of you guys have to share on how to do research when looking at relocating based around the context of Life Purpose? Anything helps & thanks as always!

Its all a dream-like existence with logic. I've got this realisation, because my dreams have been getting so realistic, that there is absolutely no difference in experience, except that here it is longer and follows certain rules. Tibettan Budhism has a section all about dreams. They are extremely helpful companions and teachers in the Hero's journey. You can make far more spiritual growth within your dreams than in real life exactly because this logic section of mind is switched off. Where infinite potential meet infinite knowing. 0 (0%) is infinite potential, 1(100%) is infinite knowing meet in nonduality, then the Holy True Love relationship is formed. And we experience bliss within the dream.

@Spiral @deadforever @art @Siv Hey! If you're up for it, post your information about you and your journey. Maybe you find some likeminded friends a long the way that lives close by. Fredrik Andersson Age: 28 Gender: Male Location: Sweden (born) Marital status: Single Kids : No (and don't want kids) Occupation : recently quit my job (carpenter). Hobbies : personal development, positive psychology, writing (poetry, rap, speeches etc), movies, women, marketing, projects, motivation and making music. Challenges i've overcome so far. Hard addiction: Drugs, mostly marijuana, valium and pain pills (5 years addiction) Quitted aug 5 2015 (two years free). Sorting out toxic relationships. Be able to cry, both from happiness and grief. Trying to be like someone else rather than working to discover YOUR authentic self. (Leo's trap list) Assuming that successful people, like your favorite role-models, celebrities, professors, CEOs, etc are happy (Leo's trap list) Working a job/career just for the money (Leo's trap list) Consuming mainstream media. Not realizing how toxic modern media and entertainment is. (Leo's trap list) Expecting people close to you to understand and support your efforts to grow. (Leo's trap list) Personal challenges I'm trying to overcome (more long term). Stress (trying to change too much too fast. Lack of focus) Prioritize How to deal with emotions (Distracting myrself from facing emptiness, negative emotions, loneliness, and ego backlashes). Procrastination Chasing quick-fixes. Not wanting to explore issues deeply or solve problems at their root. (Leo's trap list) Balance: Money-Follow dreams. (trying to find a way to pay ends meat with out selling my soul until I find out whats true for me) Not having a big vision for my life. Quitting when emotional upheaval surfaces. (Leo's trap list) Letting yourself get lulled back to sleep by our toxic and indifferent culture. (Leo's trap list) What Im working on now: Life Purpose Course + Books (Right now on So good they can't ignore you By Cal Newport) Follow my bliss and see where it leads me Stress (using/learning to implement baby-stepping strategy) + KBT sessions about the roots of my stress. Actualized.org/start Introduction part Not reading, not learning, not doing enough research. (Leo's trap list) Dealing with sorting out low consciousness/egotistical choices from my life (mostly girls) Limiting believes (mostly about quitting bad habits, hard addictions like nicotine and porn, and soft ones like external affirmations)

So you may not completely resonate with the terminology that I use here but I think you will get the idea. Basically, the purpose / reason for LITERALLY ANY human action in life is: TO MAXIMIZE THE QUALITY OF ONE'S CONSCIOUSNESS. And I'm not just talking about awareness like Leo does. I mean that literally every human being on Earth has this very same purpose whether they know it or not. So what do I mean when I say TO MAXIMIZE THE QUALITY OF ONE'S CONSCIOUSNESS? Well, when you are hungry why do you go and eat? Because you want to satisfy your hunger. Simple enough. But what is hunger? It's basically a feeling. This is what I mean when I refer to the quality of your consciousness. Life is just one giant stream of momentary consciousness -- this moment is consciousness, the moment after that also, etc. etc. So when I say "the quality of your life" that's the same thing as saying "the quality of your consciousness." But the quality of your consciousness is not determined by how much money you have, or how skilled you are at something, or how famous you are. It is ONLY determined by the FEELINGS / EMOTIONS / EXPERIENCES you have e.g. your happiness, fulfillment, the passion you experience on a regular basis, the wonder, beauty, and magnificence you are able to see in the world. Even benevolence is done for the same reason -- the joy it will bring when you help the world. Even pursuers of Truth do this for the same reason. They want to KNOW, and to them, satisfying their thirst for Truth is a worthwhile way of maximizing the quality of their consciousness. Plus all of the bliss that might come from that. But this is also why people are protective or even agressive. Because they want to protect something (their body, their property, somethings that's "theirs") which in one way or another contributes to the maximizing of the quality of their consciousness. It's also why they might seek power or fame. Because power lets them manipulate reality easier and fame basically creates the illusion that their worth has increased and because they see themselves as a separate entity in the world, they think that this entity has somehow become more powerful and can therfore influence reality easier and can therefore (in one way or another) maximize the qual. of their consc. The same can be said for almost ant low-consciousness behavior. You just have to analyze it deeply. The only thing that I struggle to fit in this model is SURVIVAL and MAXIMIZING THE LENGHT OF ONE'S LIFE / CONSCIOUSNESS. I mean is that still a way of optimizing one's consciousness -- life (consciousness) is better than death (no consciousness)? This is a long post, I know. But even with a post as long as this one, I couldn't really fully explain all of this theory / model which I honestly believe explains alot! I want to write this on a 5×5 card to read every day -- like a mission statement: My purpose in life is to: MAXIMIZE THE QUALITY OF MY CONSCIOUSNESS. I think it would be a great idea. What do you think? Do you think this theory is sound?

I remember reading somewhere that for your oversoul the entirety of your life going by is like a second for the oversoul...this relation between psychological time and attention is interesting for me. time is very complex and interesting, time can go by faster and yet the same time can be more abundant. That's the thing with enlightenment, time seems to go by faster, and at the same time it is going by slower. the quantitative property of time passing by, the feeling of how ''fast'' time goes by in my opinion has to do with ''smoothness''. If you're unhappy time doesn't go by smoothly, obviously. If you're happy, this smoothness, this gliding of time comes in. But this gliding of time doesn't mean time is going by faster, it is just that you're not paying attention to the passing of time, you're outside of time so to speak. Those magic times when you're really happy, they are filled with more details and events, because that's why you're so happy, what makes you happy are incredible things, they're filled with these immense experiences. So even though you experience more then ever, you go through so much crazy happy stuff, you lose your relationship to time. doesn't anyone else experience this? when you're really having fun time you get into this trance and suddenly it's over, you notice time flew by. but it didn't fly by, actually you went through so much stuff being happy, what we experience is a loss of the concept of time. this bond between happiness and loss of relationship to time is important. we live in a made-up world of time, of past and future. When we're genuinely happy we get pulled out of that illusion, because happiness pulls us in the present moment, because happiness is in the present moment, in the ''now'' so to speak. We all through enlightenment aim for the ultimate happiness, the end of suffering forever, we aim to live in bliss and happiness. This does mean though, that we're aiming for a place outside of our world of time. If we live our lives in bliss and happiness...in consequence our lives will go by in the blink of an eye. We'd enter the truth of the world, where everything happens now. This is why death is such a major key in enlightenment. You cannot attain this heavenly happiness if you're afraid to die. Because deep down you'll be afraid to step outside the world of time, and to be literally racing head-on towards your death at thousand miles an hour. The fear of death is what sustains this world of time. It's what sustains the past and the future. The implication of being truely, genuinely happy, to live in the present moment in bliss is that there is no time,you cannot keep track of your death, you cannot keep track of your life, you cannot shield yourself from death nor can you see it coming in any way. you cannot predict or look out for it....it is coming to you with absolute certainty, it's as if it's practically there around the corner,and if you are genuinely outside of time it is there. everything happens now the best way to put iit s that you're genuinely happy you're falling of a cliff straight towards the ground which is death and as long as you have a problem with that you can't be in that place. the degree in which we fear death is the degree to which we cannot attain true happiness, we cannot step outside of time. It has to be said that and I'm starting to see this, is that to live in time and suffering, is to delay your death. if you're suffering time goes by slowly and you get to sorta stay put. this to me seems to be what most of us get out of living in the past and the future. We get to watch out for death, we get to stay far away from it. we're getting something out of not being enlightened and it has to be recognized so that we can work on overcoming this shield of comfort made out of time, just to protect us from death. to be enlightened is to really die, ultimate happiness goes hand in hand with death. if you're ready to die, you're ready to really be happy

@Moreira The observer is a good thing, or place to be along the path. No association with the mind's concepts, with all the traps. Good place to be. But the no thing is in your question already - when you say "If we are no thing, who is aware", the no thing, the pure center of love itself, is the "is" in your statement. It just is. And of course, it isn't. It's no thing, as in, we are familiar with "things"; chairs, fruit, gravity - it is nothing like anything thing at all. You reach the last point of no thing (pure unabashed love and bliss) by letting go of everything else; preferences, choices, perspective, concepts, etc.

Feeling emotional, as if I'm about to cry, the feeling is just lingering around the throat and upper mouth area, it feels like there is an emotional tsunami waiting to be unleashed any time. Was thinking how I wanted to incorporate humor into my youtube videos and came up with some funny things which made me laugh during the morning's yoga class. Then, thought up of some more really funny stuff while contemplating at home and made myself laugh hard enough to make tears come out of my eyes. Wow! I haven't laughed so much in a long time, it feels like things are really starting to move, also the usual lingering anger in the throat is very subtle and only shows up once in a while. Been contemplating if I wanted to still do anything with Clever Techie channel, was re-watching a lot of those videos and realized how well made they are, so I praised myself for being able to make all these videos before my first mystical mushroom experience and before I embarked on this sage-like personal development journey. I've struggled with the decision for a long time now, but I finally decided to 100% quit Clever Techie channel and fully pursue We are One because this is my true bliss and I'm going to follow it.

@Telepresent you are the box in your avatar pic. The box is implied. Only implied. It is no-thing. IMO, you are going in the right direction. 'I am not my body' - is a big step. Currently, however, you seem to be identifying as your brain / thinking / thoughts. The next big step is becoming aware that you are not your thoughts - and then next step after that is that there is no "you" which has thoughts / no observer which observes the thoughts. There is no-thing, which we all are, through us / which has awareness. See how "we are all One"? No souls, no heaven & hell, no observer - just the one no-thing. (The one no-thing is pure love & bliss btw, yet also no-thing at all) (also, imo, it has an incredible sense of humor, and also is no-thing) To detach from your thoughts, which allows the next breakthrough, you must get started putting the focus in, doing the meditation. Continue the self inquiry. Start eating vegan. Excercising. Then you'll be feeling great. Assimilate the habit of breathing awareness 24/7 & BEING IN THE NOW. Past & future are merely thoughts in the now. Look at all things and say "that's not me".......Then try shrooms. Research it! You'll breakthrough. Continue that "path" of no path, and you're on your way to nothingness. (And it's fucking awesome, no fear, no doubt, everything makes sense, love pours out of you all day, miracles happen, birds chirp to you, water feels like a kindred spirit / best friend, people come out of the wood work with opportunities for you, funny is funnier, crazy is crazier!!! Animals will literally walk out of the woods and gaze into your eyes while you both experience - that you are no thing, Beautiful is true beauty itself, the stars pop right into place every time you look at them!, IT REALLY GETS AMAZING TELLY!! ....also...it's also no thing, plus, you'll be CRAZY!????)

Name: Fredrik (Fred) Age: 28 Gender: Male Location: Sweden (born) Marital status: Single Kids : No (and don't want kids) Occupation : recently quit my job (carpenter) Hobbies : personal development, positive psychology, writing (poetry, rap, speeches etc), movies, women, marketing, projects, motivation and making music: Personal challenges I'm trying to overcome: Stress Prioritize How to deal with emotions Procrastination Balance: Money-Follow dreams What Im working on now: Follow my bliss and see where it leads me My PD (Actualized.org- Life Purpose Course) + Books and KBT AFC trying to understand Men+Women (mostly the "how to meet someone out of the blue" part Success Motivation My career

You take LSD or some other drug, and there are lightning experiences. Consciousness is simply waiting and watching. It simply says, "Look, beautiful things are happening," but they are not happening to consciousness. The spiritual growth is the growth of this witnessing! The spiritual growth has nothing to do with particular experiences. The spiritual growth is not a search for novel experiences. Spirituality has nothing to do with experiences as such. In fact to say any experience is 'spiritual experience' is utterly wrong, because all experiences are non-spiritual. THE EXPERIENCER IS THE SPIRIT. The witness is the only spiritual phenomenon. When all experiences have disappeared - of hunger, of satiety, of anger, of release, of love, of hate, of kundalini arising in you, chakras opening in you, lotuses opening in you, lights showering in you; celestial music is heard, you feel great space, you feel joy, you feel bliss, but these are all experiences - the real spiritual point is when there is NO experience, and the experiencer is left alone, utterly alone. There is no object to experience, but only this witness is there, silently witnessing nothing. Then you have arrived. Osho ~ The Wisdom of the Sands Volume 1

Well, considering how @Leo Gura has mentioned that he's writing a book (which I'll be first in line for as soon as it comes out), I might as well get more of my own stuff out there so no one thinks I'm copying. Also, I can't emphasize how much writing helps. In particular, writing basically eliminates the monkey mind 'problem' by giving your mind a rubik's cube to solve -- how to describe whatever it is you want to describe. Anyway, here's another section: How to use this book - The Nature of Enlightenment “The most profound insights arise from questioning the overlooked obvious” – Peter Ralston 260 BC - Hiero’s new crown pleased him. To celebrate his long climb to the top of royalty, he’d appointed a goldsmith to make him the most beautiful wreath ever as a message to everyone else. After weeks of work, the goldsmith produced a masterpiece - a wreath truly worthy of the gods. Indeed, it seemed no mortal man could have produced such a wreath. The commoners began rumors that the king’s wreath was not made out of gold, but silver, which is much easier to work with. Heiro could not stand such scandal. He might as well have been a king without a crown. So, he held a public trial for the Goldsmith and the crown. If the crown was made out of gold, the Goldsmith would be awarded with even greater money than before and Heiro would look like a just, benevolent ruler. If not, the Goldsmith would be tortured in front of the city as a warning to anyone who tried to mess with royalty. The goldsmith’s talent ran in the family, as exemplified by his cousin Archimedes. Not only did Archimedes use calculus to prove the area of the circle 2,000 years before the actual invention of calculus, but he also invented hydrostatics and the compound pulley. For this reason, Archimedes was the first person the goldsmith went to for help. “I have two days before they kill me!” the goldsmith cried to Archimedes, “I don’t know how to prove to the king that the crown is made out of gold other than destroying it and showing him the insides. But I can’t destroy my life’s work – we all know the gods would punish me for doing so! Then again, I don’t want to die for my masterpiece, either!” Archimedes got to work immediately. Prior experience told him that gold and silver had different weights at the same overall size. If he could figure out the size of the crown, then he could compare it to the a known amount of pure gold of the same size to tell if it was real. But there was a problem: up to that point in history, no one could figure out how to measure the volume of an object with an irregular shape. I mean just look at the thing - do you sacrifice accuracy by using a big ruler, or do you waste time by using a tiny ruler, one which will still contain inaccuracies? Archimedes spent all day and night trying to come up with solution to this issue. Alas, nothing worked. Dejected, Archimedes went to take what he knew was to be his final bath before the king killed his cousin and then killed him for helping a traitor like his cousin. As he stepped into the bath, Archimedes noticed that the water level rose. As he got his whole body in, it approached the top of the bath itself. And when he placed his arm in the water, some of it splashed out the sides. At that moment, insight struck him: the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. "Eureka! Eureka! (I found it! I found it!)" Proclaimed Archimedes. Eager to share his discovery, Archimedes leapt out of his bathtub and ran through the streets of Syracuse naked telling everyone of his discovery. ---- Most people think of this Eureka moment as happening in an instant. This is only partially true. See, Insights transcend the term “slow” and “fast,” existing in an nigh-unknowable plane of hidden mystical awareness. Insights are partially “slow” because they usually need time to incubate. Like Archimedes, you need: · Previous experiences that give you lessons · Time spent concentrating and contemplating over a topic · And a little bit of mental relaxation for ideas to float in. But once you build the correct scaffolding, insights seem to come out of nowhere and they do so almost instantly. The key is to recognize that this is different from thinking. Thinking usually involves a step by step series of problem solving. That takes too long. Direct Insight - involves an actual recognition of something. When you open your mind to the new possibilities, there’s a sudden shift in perspective where that which didn’t seem to exist suddenly exists. Again, the truth is that nothing changes: you simply realize that which was always there in the first place. Archimedes didn’t invent the fact that you can measure density using water, he discovered a fact that was always there. The same is true for enlightenment. Except you probably don’t realize that yet. In particular, you think you can’t become enlightened or haven’t already had Enlightments. This is because of shit marketing tactics and the natural human tendency to not investigate things on ones own with open-mindedness. See, like Archimedes, you too will be partially tempted to run around naked telling everyone of the Absolute Truth. Its just too obvious and too amazing not to. On the other hand, the answer is so simple, you’re not going to want to say anything. After meditating for 42 days and realizing enlightenment, Siddartha said “I truly attained nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment,” Immediately afterwards, Siddartha, now the Buddha, went off to the mountains to live alone. He figured there was just no way anyone would get it if he talked about what it is he ‘got’ because there was just nothing to say. After a while, however, people started begging him for help. They’d heard of his enlightenment and wanted a piece of it for themselves. He refused to budge. One day, someone pointed out that if he were to help, then eventually, someone would ‘get it.’ With the hope that just someone somewhere might get it, he began teaching. His first teaching consisted of sitting silently while he stared at the crowd. This continued for a few years, much to everyone’s frustration. His second teaching consisted of telling everyone that he was not a teacher, no one should quote him, and that nothing he was about to say was actually true. This continued for a few years, much to everyone’s frustration. His third teaching consisted of telling everyone to stop relying on teachers and to see the truth for themselves. This continued for a few years, much to everyone’s frustration. After a while, he gave up on that and started alluding to regular sensory experiences to try to point out what’s up with reality. Now everyone was happy. Unlike the density of an object, the Absolute Truth cannot be spoken. At best, the Absolute Truth can be pointed to with analogies and stories. When egos run upon these stories its up to them to see what’s being pointed to on their own. And the problem with that is that egos exist in almost direct opposition to the truth: you are immortal, infinite, and omnipotent; the ego convinces you that you are mortal, finite, and of limited potential. Moreover, the only way for you to ‘get that you’re immortal is that the ego has to go away long enough for you to see that yes, you really are immortal. To the ego, going away equates to death. That is, in all seriousness, to become immortal you have to die. You can see how this could create problems. Mainly, one faces the question of how to convince people to go on an inward journey even though they think they have a bunch of stuff going on outside themselves. The next question is how you are going to get them to kill what-they-think-of-as-themselves without having them literally take a knife and slit their wrists. Intro to Marketing 101: You tell them it’s more worth their time than anything else. You tell them enlightenment is this grandiose thing filled with extra universes and heavenly figures and eternal bliss. You tell them that its some near impossible journey only taken by heroes, legends, and gods and that they are brave for starting such a journey. You tell them that it costs no money and that by even beginning to ask about enlightenment, it’s their destiny to attain it. Oops, my bad. I got ahead of myself. That’s not marketing 101. That’s Intro to Marketing 100: fucking lie to them. Tell them something that’s true, but not really. Tell them just enough that they feel happy enough to spread the word, but just enough that everyone else can accept easily. Don’t tell them the whole truth because the whole fucking truth cannot actually be told. Turn the Truth into a meme. Make it something that follows the SUCCES model of making lessons stick: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Storied. Don’t make people think too hard – their own biology prevents them from doing so. Tell them that Jesus died on the cross for you to tell you that you are a child of God. The Buddha sat under a tree to figure out that when he became enlightened, everyone became enlightened because he is the same as everyone anyway. Krishna has your back as long as you focus on doing you and becoming the best person you can. Yes, it's true, but no, it's not at all what you think it actually is because the truth is far more nuanced yet simple at the same time. Think about it: for basically everything in life, we need previous experiences and understandings before we can accept new experiences and understandings, but for the Absolute Truth, we must find something that rests on absolutely no prior experience or understanding for it is that which is prior to all experiences and understandings. Most people can barely get past the first layer of questioning themselves when you ask them why they do the things they do. Forget the second layer. And Fuck the third layer, that one’s impossible. Enlightenment, on the other hand, literally requires coming up with the answer to an infinite regression of questions. Do you really think people are going to do sit down and do this for no reason? And yet what’s Absolutely Hilarious – the Kosmic Joke - is that everyone can do it. I mean it. I really mean it. I really really mean it. That’s what drives some enlightened people insane. They can’t help but do something to let everyone know what’s up. Put it this way: a few months ago, I went to watch my 5-year-old cousin play T-ball. In case you didn’t know (or otherwise didn’t have a childhood growing up cough), T-ball is a form of baseball where, instead of having people throw the ball at the batter, the ball would sit on a mount, absolutely motionless and easily available to knock out of the park. It’s supposed to be so easy, even a 5-year-old kid could do it. To my amusement, the kids would take a swing and totally miss. Sometimes, they’d line up to bat looking in the wrong direction, as if they were going to hit the ball into the fence behind them. It was the cutest thing ever. You too would think to yourself how is this possible? But you couldn’t run onto the field and play T-ball for them. They have to figure it out on their own. This is the feeling I get when it comes to discussions about nature of enlightenment. Its like Humanity has basically been stuck in a 10,000 year old Abbott and Costello Who’s on first skit that mixes the words you, nothing, truth, infinity, god, allah, the higgs boson field, the universe, simulation theory, consciousness, and " " (wordless expression). Everyone’s talking about the same thing, but every time someone kind of gets it, they proceed to get mad at everyone else for being 'wrong,' even though they’re basically just as wrong and just as right. Human nature is basically a process of spiraling from one description to the other, flipping off the other descriptions until you realize that they're all capital-I 'It' masking itself through words. ----- We’ve all had insights. And so, part of us gets why Archimedes ran around naked. We also know that when we have insights they kind of just strike us out of nowhere. In particular, we have to try really really hard and then, just let go and take a nice bath to clear your mind. Now I want you to imagine that you can have an insight into the biggest questions of life. If you’re not sure what questions those are, let me get you started: 1. What is consciousness? 2. Does God exist? 3. Is our universe real? Are we in a simulation? 4. Do we have free will? 5. What is the universe made of? 6. What is Truth? How do I know what is right or wrong? 7. Why is there something rather than nothing? 8. How do we stop ourselves and the universe around us from dying? (Foreshadow: How do you prevent the 2nd law of thermodynamics from taking us over?) 9. How did life begin? 10. Are we alone in the universe? Both us as individuals and humans as a species? 11. What makes us human? Why? 12. Why do we dream? 13. Can you really experience anything objectively? 14. Why is there stuff? 15. Are there other universes? 16. Why is math so accurate? What are numbers? 17. What is at the bottom of a black hole? 18. Is time travel possible? 19. What will be the fate of our species? Our universe? 20. Why is the universe so exquisitely balanced such that life can exist? 21. Is there life after death? 22. What is the meaning of life? 23. What is beauty? 24. What am I supposed to do with my life? This is the type of stuff that enlightenment refers to. I’m not exaggerating. You can answer all of these with the same insight: The Absolute Truth = Consciousness = You = Pure Awareness = Absolute Infinity = Pure Imagination = The Universe = God = Nothing = Everything = All = Zero/Zero = “ “ (there is no actual word for it) So without further ado, here’s what enlightenment is: Enlightenment is insight to the Absolute Truth. It is direct consciousness of what-is as-it-is for-itself as-itself. It is insight into that which is Absolutely True about the nature of reality, the nature of the self, and the nature of existence. Here are other clarifications: · It is NOT something that happens only once -- You can keep having insights that go deeper and deeper into the same subject: Absolute truth, the same way you can view a diamond form many angles. · It is NOT strictly Either-or -- Although yes, the insight itself is either-or, you may have different glimpses of insight at different moments such that you awaken more to the truth just like you get better at using the multiplication table once you understand it and begin to apply it in new ways. · It is NOT the same as personal transformation -- The truth specifically does not change and transformation is, by definition, change. What happens is that the truth allows you to have a significantly easier time changing your behavioral patterns. · It is NOT impossible -- If anything its pretty easy once you set up the proper mental and physical systems for attaining insight. You can definitely do it! And once you know what to generally look for, insights will start coming by the boat load. · It is NOT 'eternal bliss, no matter what' -- Sorry kid, you’re always going to have problems as long as you live the life of a human. Thats just what we do - make up problems for ourselves. In fact, trying to go for eternal bliss will probably just cause more suffering. As Rick Sanchez once said, "you want to *burp* rip that band-aid off now. You'll thank me later" · It is NOT Something you perceive, in particular it must involve some out-of-this-world emotional, sensational, or physical experience; nope, the world basically stays the same. -- Put it this way: intuitively grasping the Pythagorean theorem makes math more beautiful, but its not like your paper flew out of the room and turn into an angel. (Sidenote: I admit however, that if you saw your paper fly out of the room and turn into an angel, it would probably make enlightenment easier.) · It is NOT unavailable to you now -- Enlightenment is always and only available NOW. Stop waiting for it to happen in the future. Enlightenment is available at any point, and at any time the way insight is always available to Archimedes. Open your mind up to possibilities and allow for impossibilities. It will be almost like an "aha!" moment, but it won't actually require thinking other than focused contemplation mixed with some looseness from psychedelics or simple relaxation. What we're looking for requires recognition, which seems like thinking, but it's an entirely different mode of perception. Its like when you cross your eyes to look at one of those 3D puzzles and boom it just pops out: reality is neither matter nor hallucination - it just kind of is and it is all and you are its source and you are all and you are everyone and everyone is all which means that it is no one person except that it is all one person. Trust me, that last sentence will make sense as soon as you 'get it.' Maybe this section of this book will make you ‘get it’. Maybe another section will. Maybe it will take a re-reading. Maybe, you’ll get it while taking a bath 60 years down the line. Be ready. Be aware. Be open. Enlightenment will mean the end of your journey. You’ll be done. You’ll just know. Pure and simple. You’ll understand why it is that some of the things that have been marketed to you the way that they’ve been marketed to you. That is, you’ll begin to see that them as partially true, and in some cases, totally possible accounts of reality. You’ll to see them as partially wrong, and in some cases, totally impossible accounts of reality. Heaven Exists, but it’s not what you think of. The Gates of Heaven Exist too, but the Gate is a Gateless Gate. The implications of the existence of absolute truth as nothing but pure indistinct imagination are so crazy, yet elegant, so chaotic, yet simple it will blow your fucking mind. Enlightenment will also mean the beginning of your journey. You’ll find yourself on your knees, trying to pick up pieces of your mind back up off the floor from having been blown to bits. This will take the rest of your lifetime. And If you’re at all curious like me, your first enlightenment will just make you want to have more enlightenments. Everyone knows that One answer begets five more questions. This is just as true for The One Answer. Enlightenment will also mean that that there is no beginning – there is no end. Life itself becomes this never-ending series of insights to be had about the same thing - you. Everywhere you look at becomes a series of clues, all pointing to final puzzle piece that restarts the whole puzzle - Everything. Except that the puzzle is infinitely big and infinitely small and infinitely long and infinitely wide and so it doesn’t even have a final piece - Nothing. As you might imagine, this makes every day inexplicably exciting and full of wonder of some greater force – God. ----- Archimedes didn’t stop working on mathematics after helping his cousin. He began wondering about the nature of circles, for he intuited that circles held a view of the Absolute Truth. While he worked on this problem over the next few years, the Roman Empire toppled the Greek Empire. Archimedes barely noticed as his house got stripped away and the Romans forced him to live on the streets. It didn’t matter if he was Greek or Roman – that stuff was all relative. It only mattered that he find the Absolute Truth. One day, a high-ranking Roman soldier came up to Archimedes as he sat on the road drawing circles. The soldier commanded him to make way for the passing Roman guard. But Archimedes, in the middle of solving a problem involving circles, refused to budge. The soldier grew enraged – for what reason does this poor old Greek commoner disobey his commands? “Nothing,” Archimedes replied, “Don’t disturb my circles.” The soldier promptly ran through Archimedes with his sword. Archimedes had good reason to not move. ---- The Main Point: Enlightenment = insight to the nature of nature itself. No more, no less. Focus, relax, boom.

I’m really happy that my life is giving me more and more moments of joy and love, with no apparent cause. All of the sudden, I get waves of love and bliss, I smile and walk in the park smiling, radiant, fresh and alive. My interactions feel much more alive and authentic and my overall emotional-life quality has boosted a lot. Before, it would be very difficult to have moments of pure joy and love with all the inner-criticism, judgments and emotional baggage. After 10 months of meditating and learning very powerful techniques such as Letting Go, I feel that I’m now growing in the right direction and I’m on track. I’m so grateful for having been exposed and taken advantage of all the wisdom that Leo Gura and other teachers have presented to us. Much love for all of them. The practices and teachings that definitely helped me the most along this path (some were discovered intuitively) were the following: Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David Hawkins Do Nothing Meditation + SDS (Leo has videos on this) Prioritizing full-body awareness Prioritizing releasing thoughts (yes, I try not to engage in thought anymore, only when really needed, which is almost never) Concentration Practice (Leo has videos on this) Journaling Disengage from lower-energy activities (read Levels of Energy by Frederick Dodson) Self-Inquiry (this shit is magical, use it with Letting Go) Please share the love guys! Love you.

Just looking at them playing is a bliss in itself. When they talk to me or play with me, it's even more palpable, the emotion is just too strong. I guess it's because they still experience life freely in their mind, which makes them vibrate way more than adults. They don't think about the future, they say exactly what they think, they use their imagination all the time, and of course they engage life fully without any fear. Yeah, that's seems pretty similar to something else RIGHT ? The goal isn't to become a responsible adult, no, it's to become a child who's fully engage in the thing he love the most.

Long time ago I watched your guided No-self experience and trust me I experienced true peace and bliss. I discovered that what prevents me from hapiness is having duties, obligations, and social conditioning. I felt like when I was born that didnt had yet any past and future and I was free. Thats why I see living in nature, minimalist, in a relative financial freedom will take me to the same state of contentment when I was I kid and didnt had to fit in the matrix working every day, paying taxes and in general forced to do and be who I'm not.

@ajasatya @Prabhaker @Leo Gura @username Thank you all! It's a very interesting and nuanced topic as far as I can see. Things I found in addition: And a beautiful text: Sri Ramakrishna and Kali: Mother has revealed everything to me "I wept before the Mother and prayed. “O Mother, please tell me, please reveal to me what the yogis have realized through yoga and the jnanis through discrimination.” And the Mother has revealed everything to me. She reveals everything if the devotee cries to Her with a yearning heart. She has shown me everything that is in the Vedas, the Vedanta, the Puranas, and the Tantra.” (p. 579.) The Divine Mother revealed to me in the Kali temple that it was She who had become everything. She showed me that everything was full of Consciousness. The image was Consciousness, the water was Consciousness, the altar was Consciousness, the water vessels were Consciousness, the doorsill was Consciousness, the marble floor was Consciousness-all was Consciousness. I found everything inside the room soaked, as if were, in Bliss – the Bliss of Satchidananda. I saw a wicked man in front of the Kali temple, but in him also I saw the Power of the Divine Mother vibrating. That was why I fed a cat with the food that was to be offered to the Divine Mother. I clearly perceived that the Divine Mother Herself had become everything – even the cat. The manager of the temple garden wrote to Mathur Babu saying that I was feeding the cat with the offering intended for the Divine Mother. But Mathur Babu had insight into the state of my mind. He wrote back to the manager: “Let him do whatever he likes. You must not say anything to him. (p. 345) To my Divine Mother I prayed only for pure love. I offered flowers at Her Lotus Feet and prayed to Her: “Mother, here is Thy virtue, here it Thy vice. Take them both and grant me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy knowledge, here is Thy ignorance, take them both and grant me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy purity, here is Thy impurity. Take them both, Mother, and grant me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy dharma, here is Thy adharma. Take them both, Mother, and grant me only pure love for Thee.” (pp.138-139)"

When I was high school I was just as shallow-minded as everyone around me. Believe it or not I was the type of person who only cared about herself and my life was all about being validated by the peoples. But let me answer your question of why, since nobody really gave a direct answer to it. The reason is kind of complicated but I'll make it short and sweet. They are shallow-minded because their experience of life is very limited. It's quite strange but the more limitations you have, the more you think you have... stuff, whether it's material belongings or knowledge in general. I'd love to explain it in detail but I think it's better to make a separate thread for it. Since the main objective of self-actualization is to break free of our barriers, when we throw away our limitations we also throw away what we were clinging on to. Why people believe that ignorance is bliss is because they don't want to let go of their way of thinking, for within the limitations they set upon themselves that stuff is super valuable to them, and they simply cannot afford throwing it away. So in a sense that today's youth are shallow-minded because they want to stay that way, which nobody can ever convince them to get out of it. So don't get frustrated. Instead, be thankful that you can use them as mirrors to reflect upon your own limitations. At the same time be more compassionate towards them, because everyone including you and me have gone through that shallow-minded stage in our lives. If people with higher consciousness didn't have the compassion to grant us the knowledge for us to become enlightened like them, we would forever wallow in the darkness blindfolded.

Leo's blogpost kept me from working all day. His writing triggered my godhood realisations from various trips and contemplation. I couldn't find any reason to do anything anymore and just sat there in aww and bliss. Now I'm back to my personhood. It's fun. In the end enlightenment is a "wishless" state of not knowing. Maybe there comes a point where you go like, "okay the spirituality thing, that's that. Now let me just enjoy what I apparently created for myself right here right now. Oh, look a brezel and a beer. Prost!"

Recently a friend of mine invited me to a skype conversation with about 5-6 people in it Where I could I chipped in giving my discourse on topics that were being discussed. (Shallow discussion) And I pushed some topics regarding what is wrong with the society we live in, that life does not have to be shallow and being a human being can be so much more than the current notions of what life is for a person (a mediocre life that is). I also pushed some stoic ideals (such as to live in accordance with nature, to hate another person is not in accordance with nature and that we were born to work together and to love mankind/one another.) An indivdual was interested in why I had the views I had. So we had an hour long skype call in which we debated -Whether or not people are born"bad". In which she thought people were born bad and I did not. -Whether or not life was inherently "shit" -What is a system (definition wars) - Is "Ignorance is bliss" a truth. (I argued against this) Through the entire course of the argument. She had she geuinely beleived the following beleifs as truth. -People are born assholes/bad. -Life is inherently shit and miserable with highlights of joy here and there. -Ignorance is bliss relative to living a good life. -That life is just bad and "It's just life" mentality argument regarding the unfairness and evil in life. She also mentioned earlier in the conversation she was communist when she was joking around by randomly saying "Heil Hitler" and then "nah mate I am a comie" In which a joked back "I am stalin man myself" "Gulag or go home." After I asked whether the following statements were true "People are born assholes, Life is Inherently shit. And Ignorance is bliss" And after she said that she beleived all these to be true I said she was full of shit. (I am apologise if that was close-minded and shallow in itself to say that an opposing opinion is "full of shit" but I do not think you get 3 statements that are more anti-actualization then the ones she said.) The argument shocked me. Just wow. I thought I had seen the most shallow people already in my school , where in most people I encounter have this "I dont care about the big picture of living , my grand goal in life , or the progression of society. I only care about my own happiness, I only care about the short term and whatever I can do to squirm to achieve some of that instant gratification" But this was something else, this 15-16 year old genuinely believed "ignorance is bliss". How long is until all the shallow masses adopt this beleif? Ignorance is bliss sound like something out of George Orwell 1984. It was a good a good debate for 20 minutes, but then it degraded into abstract argument and she began bringing up pieces of history I did not know much about such as the vietnam war and saying thing such as x y z generals who were stupid for doing a b c , and began spewing out a bunch of facts I would of had to beleive to be true to make the argument work. So I then objected to her use of refering un-briefly to history in arguments against a person who does not know that piece of history well. How was I know what she was saying was true about the vietnam war? After the argument was over I posted a varation of the above in the groups conversation and added at the end "Good argument, but not cigar" as I extracted barely any value from it. Soon after she kicked me from the group. Is Humanity doomed to be shallow? Are debates even worth getting into. i starting a debate worth it? -

I really don't have a solid concept of who I am in my mind .....But when someone in daily life asks me who I am, I know what they want to know and I just answer them with my name, where I am from etc, just the usual reply. Here is a poem for you: Carrying the weight of past in my head And dragging the scenes which were old and dead, I ran to grab the bliss of the future; The more I ran, the more was the torture.. The torture of the hedonic treadmill Followed me as I continued uphill; I was caught in the prison of craving With tedious thoughts, my mind was raving. I met an ugly old man on the way who had a long thick beard with shades of grey. His face was shining with heavenly bliss; In his eyes I saw an endless abyss! “What makes you so happy in this rat race?”, I asked him as he slowly turned his face. He replied,”The answer is within you! The grand kingdom of God is within you!” “That’s a joke”, I said “Are you kidding me?”. “No!” He said, “Turn inward, you’ll become free! You’ve made your own boundaries inside your mind, You’ve closed your eyes and think you’ve become blind”. I said, “How can I get out of this trap? I want to find the way, give me the map” He said, “You’re the way, the truth and the life! Be still and know you’re that, and end this strife! You’re not your body and you’re not your mind; Not knowing the timeless truth makes you blind; You’re not your story and you’re not your thoughts; You’re not those age old, buried mental knots. You’re not that chattering voice in your head; You’re not anything that you did or said; You’re not anything that you have or know You’re the truth that is watching all this show! You’re not anything that can be perceived; You’re not an object that can be observed; You’re the screen where the world is being played; You’re the emptiness where the form is made. You’re the one witnessing the mind and breath; You’re one without two, beyond birth and death; Like the air trapped in a small round bubble, You feel separate which brings all the trouble. Inquire inside and wake up from this dream! Let truth alone shine like a bright white beam! By inquiry, your illusions will break; You’ll stop mistaking the rope for a snake” Hearing these words stopped my thoughts for a while. Looking in, I slowly began to smile. I watched my thoughts as they slowly passed by; I observed my mind like a secret spy. For years, I contemplated on his words; I watched my thoughts fly like a bunch of birds. One day, I woke up and realized the truth; Since then my life has been peaceful and smooth!

@egoless LOL! LOVE YOU MAN! I own multiple businesses. I have a wife and three kids. I gig weekly. I am also in that cave, the bliss. How? Here is what you're missing........ you are thinking. You can not think you way to expanded awareness. Only awareness expands awareness. Change your avatar name to something more honest. Feel the bliss in that action from honesty and self awareness. Don't think about it.

Cause of Suffering WE VERY OFTEN FEEL THAT WE CREATE OUR OWN SUFFERINGS. IN SPITE OF THIS, WHY DO WE CONTINUE CREATING THEM? AND WHEN AND HOW DOES ONE STOP CREATING ONE'S OWN SUFFERING? The first thing, and very basic to be understood, is that whenever you say WE VERY OFTEN FEEL THAT WE CREATE OUR OWN SUFFERING, this is not the case. You never really feel that you are the creator of your own suffering. You may think so, because you have been taught so; because for centuries and centuries teachers have been teaching that you are the creator of your own suffering and no one else is responsible. You have heard these things, you have read these things. They have become your blood and bone, they have become your unconscious conditionings, so sometimes you repeat like a parrot WE CREATE OUR OWN SUFFERING. But this is not your feeling, this is not your realization, because if you realize it, then the other thing is impossible. Then you cannot say, IN SPITE OF THIS, WHY DO WE CONTINUE CREATING IT? If you really feel, and if it is your own feeling that you are the creator of your own suffering, any moment you can stop -- unless you want to create it, unless you enjoy it, unless you are a masochist. Then everything is okay, then there is no question. If you say, `I enjoy my suffering,' then it is okay; you can go on creating it. But if you say, `I suffer and I want to go beyond it. I want to stop it completely -- and I understand that I am the creator,' then you are wrong. You don't understand it. Socrates is reported to have said that knowledge is virtue. And there has been a long discussion for these two thousand years over whether Socrates is right or wrong -- knowledge is virtue. Socrates says that once you know something, you cannot do contrary to it. If you know that anger is suffering, you cannot be angry. This is what Socrates means -- knowledge is virtue. You cannot say, `I know anger is bad; still I move in it. What to do about it now?' Socrates says that the first thing is wrong. You don't know that anger is bad; that's why you go on moving in it. If you know, you cannot move in it. How can you move against your own knowledge? I know that if I put my hand in the fire it is going to be painful. If I know, I cannot put my hand in. But if somebody else has told me, if I have heard through the tradition, if I have read in the scriptures that fire burns, and I have not known fire, and I have not known any similar experience, only then can I put my hand into fire -- and that too only once. Can you conceive it? That you have put your hand into fire and you have been burned and you have suffered, and again you go and ask, `I know that fire burns, but in spite of it I go on putting my hand into the fire. What to do about it?' Who will believe that you know? And what type of knowledge is this? If your own experience of suffering and burning cannot stop you, nothing is going to stop you. Now there is no possibility, because the last possibility has been missed. But no one can miss it; that is impossible. Socrates is right, and all those who have know, they will agree with Socrates -- that agreement has a very deep point in it. Once you know.... But remember -- the knowledge must be yours. A borrowed knowledge won't do; borrowed knowledge is useless. Unless it is your own experience, it is not going to change you. Others' experiences are of no help. You have heard that you are the creator of your own suffering, but this is just in the mind. It has not entered your being, it is not your own knowledge. So when you are discussing, you can discuss about it cerebrally, but when the actual phenomenon happens, you will forget, and you will behave in the way you know, not in the way others know. When you are at ease, cool, collected, silently discussing anger, you can say it is poison, it is a disease, evil. But when someone makes you angry then a complete change occurs. Not it is not an intellectual discussion, now you are involved. And the moment you are involved, you become angry. Later on again, retrospectively, when you again get cool, the memory will come back, your mind will again start functioning, and you will say, `That was wrong. It was not good of me to do that. I know anger is wrong.' Who is this `I'? -- just intellect, just the superficial mind. You don't know -- because when someone pushes you into anger, you throw this mind away. It is useful as far as discussion is concerned, but when a real situation arises, only the real knowledge will help. When there is no situation, you can go on. Even in a discussion the real situation can arise. The other can go on contradicting you so much that you become angry and then you will forget. Real knowledge means that which has happened to you. You have not heard about it, not read about it, you have not collected information about it -- it is your own experience. And then there is no question, because after that you cannot go against it. Not that you will have to make an effort not to go against it; simply you cannot go against it. How can I? When I know this is a wall and I want to go out of this room, how can I try to pass through the wall? I know this is a wall, so I will search for the door. Only a blink man will try to go out through the wall. I have got eyes. I see what is a wall and what is a door. But if I try to enter the wall and tell you, `I know very well where the door is, and I know this to be a wall, but in spite of this, how can I stop myself from trying to enter the wall?' then that means that as far as I am concerned that door looks false. Others have told me that it is the door, but as far as I am concerned, I know that door is false. And others have told me that this is a wall, but as far as I see, I see the door here in this wall, and that is why I try. In this situation you have to make a clearcut distinction between what you know and what you have gathered as knowledge. Don't rely on information. From the greatest source -- even if you collect from the greatest source -- information is information. Even if a Buddha says it to you, it is not your own, and it is not going to help you in any way. But you can remain thinking that it is your knowledge, and this misunderstanding will waste your energy, time and life. The basic thing is not to ask what to do so that suffering is not created. The basic thing is to know that you are the creator of your suffering. Next time whenever a real situation arises and you are in suffering, remember to find out whether you are the cause of it. And if you can find out that you are the cause of it, the suffering will disappear, and the same suffering will not appear again -- impossible. But don't deceive yourself. You can -- that's why I say it. When you are suffering you can say, `Yes, I know I have created this suffering,' but deep down you know that someone else has created it. Your wife has created it, your husband has created it, someone else has created it, and this is simply a consolation because you cannot do anything. You console yourself: `No one has created it, I have created it myself, and by and by I will stop it.' But knowledge is instant transformation; there is no `by and by.' If you understand that you have created it, it will drop immediately. And it is not going to come up again. If it comes again, it means the understanding has not gone deep. So there is no need to find out what to do, and how to stop. The only need is to go deep and to find out who is really the cause of it. If others are the cause then it cannot be stopped, because you cannot change the whole world. If you are the cause, only then can it be stopped. That's why I insist that only religion can lead humanity towards non-suffering. Nothing else can lead, because everyone else believes that the suffering is caused by others; only religion says that suffering is caused by you. So religion makes you the master of your destiny. You are the cause of your suffering, hence you can be the cause of your bliss. - Osho - The Book of Secrets, discourses on Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

Yeah, the established state should be one of perfection, which may be called 'bliss', Adyashanti also has a cool quote on this: 'Who cares if you have bliss when you have love'. David Spero also speaks about it nicely:

Remember when I mentioned about possibly falling back into the dark night if I'm not careful? Well, yeah. Everything seemed new. But I wanted to go back to the familiar, but there was nothing familiar. I wanted that bliss back after all. And it was gone. I was blissful and sad at the same time. But the bliss didn't seem enough. Then it disappeared somehow. And the day went by rather normally. And from all these previous months of meditation — these seemed to be the most normal day I ever met. I've gotten used to having out of the ordinary situations ever since the beggining of enlightenment experiences and I just felt. . . neutral. Yet strangely even without the luxury of pleasure and joy, it was more satisfying than those two. Even the pain above seemed to be more normal somehow — more easy to accept and cope with. Sometimes the feeling just seemed more like a neutral texture than something "bad". Ingram explained the equanimity stage as something like a quiet awe after the storm or a return to simpler times in childhood. Yes, this describes it perfectly. It's a funny feeling. Somewhere in my self inquiry and enlightenment practice, I've realized why they made so much emphasis on how the senses were connected. Because the divide of senses is another illusion of language. And that's how this experience is like. The senses blend together into one whole experience. Think of how a baby might see the world — would they categorize things cleanly like "teddy bear" or "mommy". They wouldn't hear sounds as "A piano" or wouldn't hear smells as an "apple." I remember the neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote a piece on a man who was blind for his entire life and had a surgery on which he could see again. When he saw for the first time, he didn't start pointing out random objects. When objects turn and move, they weren't the same objects to him anymore. He didn't see colors as "red" or "blue", he simply saw them as the different shades that can't be described with words. He would in awe sit near the window seeing cars pass by and he wouldn't know what they were. I remember a story of a person who was deaf too. And the thing about the deaf is that they need to learn sigh language early or they will pass through a critical stage that allows them to learn a language. And another boy told by Oliver Sacks find it amazing how the different trees he saw could all be summarized into just the word tree. And it seemed to me as if I could turn on and off "knowing" and "not knowing" what I see. And hear. And touch. And taste. And smell. Not that I didn't know the concepts. Like how you can't just forget the ending of a movie you just watched — I can't forget the concepts — but when I sense things without dividing, I can still understand what it was like before the movie. I've read somewhere that this is what the fourth visappana Jhana is like — maybe that was what happened in my last post. ------- Ingram said that people in this stage can sometimes make very odd yet profound realizations, and this was mine. I don't really see myself as having a personality anymore. I like learning new and difficult things but I don't see myself as an intellectual person. I like hanging out alone but I don't see myself as a solitary person. I've continued learning poetry yesterday because I see things as ever changing now. I don't see myself as the same person in the past who think poetry is just "overcomplicatiing emotions you can summarize in categorizations and number graphs to rate how well you're doing".( Yeah, I tended to be overdetached from my emotions. ) It's another different but valuable perspective. I wanted some affirmation that I knew many things others didn't. It wasn't overtly obvious but still there. Somewhere in there I thought if I could just know more, I could solve my fear of the unknown. Of my own fear that my skills weren't enough. But really — what is enough? We define things in ways that are useful to us. A chair could be used to sit. A chair could be used to stand on to reach high places. But do the ways we use them really provide their essence? How does this mean to ourselves? And what we define as enough or too much? I wanted to be admired. I unconsciously thought enlightenment would allow that. Not that I am enlightened though. I imagined people coming to talk to me. Quick successes. Quick admiration. Quick praise. But in reality as I progressed, not many people emphasized it much. I was just an ordinary person — no skills of genius and no visible major achievements. More of an everyday ingenuity with ideas, curiosity and a simple warmth. No more shitting about being remembered in history. I'd already passed down my influence. Where? When I share information, time and resources, other people hear and it transfers to more and more people. Which transfers to more and more people in return. Did you think the big ass names are the ones that change history? Take Hitler. He was the one who led. But who gave him advice? Who carried out his orders? Who spread his ideas? Who gave him clothes? Take Elon Musk? Who managed things without him? Who taught him the original ideas he had? And so on. And so on. History tends to give credit to all the leaders. The pioneers. The originals. The revolutionaries. But who allowed those leaders to become leaders in the first place? We remember the lives of leaders that we forget how we are the leaders in our own lives. That history isn't just made by the leaders, but the everyday people. It seemed as if when I see the world without cultural assumptions, the influence is divided equally when estimated between people. Whether that influence is bringing humanity down or bringing it up. Whether it comes from effort or lack of effort. My old self would think it was hippie bullshit. But we're all connected. We are already being a part of the things going around us — just by being alive. And I look around in my familiar home. The same old green couch. The same old collection of my dad's elephant figurines. The same old books I'm reading laying over the table. When the cultural assumptions are lost, it seemed to me everyone had primarily equal value. They were equally oridinary. Equally extraordinary. I either thought of myself as some boring, wimpy and stupid bastard who wouldn't amount to anything or tell myself some story about how awesome life is, how I'm special especially in how much I know and how I'm going to make it big someday. No. Haha. I don't know anything just like how every human being is bad with something. I know some things just like how every human being is good with something. And for some reason I'm fine with that. I'm just someone with an extraordinarily ordinary life. And it truly is the quiet awe after the storm.