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Yes they were, the terror and bliss weree amazing, there is no way to understand it if you haven't experienced it. Imagine the happiest moment in your life, now multiple it by 10000! It is not happiness, its bliss, but even bliss is a weak word.

Be sure to check out Australian Hip Hop Group... Bliss N Eso

No. What I am saying is, was, and will always be valid. "Ascension" as you call it has been happening for thousands of years. It's not as if kundalini ascensions and spiritual awakenings are just starting to happen lol. They have been going on for thousands of years. 50 years ago has nothing to do with measuring the validity of my post. One cannot constantly "drown their self in love". Other emotions and beliefs, a lot of them suppressed subconscious thoughts and feelings, must surface and process through the central nervous system for one to empower themselves fully with astral energy. This is the catharsis phase. Trying to mask emotional experiences with love every chance you get is borderline escapism; trying to mask the negative aspects of the subconscious mind with this hippity dippity New Age idea of drowning yourself with love. Ahahah it's funny to think about because I used to think like that about the Path. Proper catharsis and processing lead to a more sustained period of being "Love & Bliss Drunk" as organic, enhanced endorphin receptor sites flourish from years of proper energy work. The human organism functions as it was intended to. But a person WILL harm themselves, their neuropathways, energy circuits, and astral body if they follow what you are saying about "pushing it to your limits don't stop the time is now blah blah blah". This is a sacred process and you are trying to promote rushing through it fast and hard, and promoting escaping through unpleasant feelings. A person should never do this, always take your time and never overdo it with your energy work. You can really harm yourself in a plethora of ways. Martin you can go suck a fat one while I pound your mom, YOU are the pussy filled with ignorance from head to toe; the definition of Nescience. Do not come at me boy I am not the one, trust me. In response to your little analogy, you are the type of person that would drown by swimming forward before the tide is calmer for you, while I am the type who waits for stillness and goes out to rescue your poor drowning body because you tried to wrestle with currents you couldn't handle yet. When one meditates on chakras using vibration, pranayama, mudras, visualization concentration etc etc the thought process is actually directing astral energy of that harmonic to your energy body. Since your energy body (or astral body) is fully integrated with your physical body any changes to the energy body manifest themselves in the physical. These physical manifestations can show up as various responses from heat to endorphine release depending on the energy work being done. Your chakras are major energy nodes located by important glands, organs, and nerve clusters so you can start to develop a more intuitive understanding of what a healthy chakra would translate to physically. For example the throat, third eye, crown, and other minor chakra points are directly linked to the development of our astral senses. It is through the stimulation and use of these 'psychic' chakras that our bodies begin to manifest biochemical and biophysical changes as an evolutionary response to astral energy work. Hope that helps Message me with some questions and why you need to know and I'll get back to you.

If you don′t escape, if you allow the suffering to be there, if you are ready to face it, if you are not trying somehow to forget it, then you are different. Suffering is there but just around you; it is not in the center, it is on the periphery. It is impossible for suffering to be in the center; it is not in the nature of things. It is always on the periphery and you are the center. So when you allow it to happen, when you don′t escape, you don′t run, you are not in a panic, suddenly you become aware that suffering is there on the periphery, as if happening to someone else, not to you, and you are looking at it. A subtle joy spreads all over your being because you have realized one of the basic truths of life: that you are bliss and not suffering. I am not saying be a masochist; I am simply saying suffering is there, you need not seek for it. Enough suffering is there already, you need not go in search. Suffering is already there; life by its very nature creates suffering. Illness is there, death is there, the body is there - by their very nature suffering is created. See it, look at it with a very dispassionate eye. Look at it - what it is, what is happening. Don′t escape. Immediately the mind says, "Escape from here, don′t look at it." But if you escape then you cannot be blissful. Through suffering you become aware of the opposite pole, the blissful inner being. So when I say enjoy, I am saying: Watch. Return to the source, get centered. Then, suddenly, there is no agony; only ecstasy exists. Those who are on the periphery exist in agony. For them, no ecstasy. For those who have come to their center no agony exists. For them, only ecstasy. Spirituality means not escaping from suffering but living with it: living with it, not escaping! And if you live with it, you will become more and more aware. If you want to escape, then you will have to leave awareness. Then, somehow, you will have to become unconscious. There are many methods. Alcohol is the easiest, but not the only method and not even the worst. You can go and listen to music and become absorbed in it; then you are using music as alcohol. Then for the time being, your mind is diverted toward music and you have forgotten everything else. Music is working as alcohol for everything else. Or, you can chant a mantra. You can use these things as alcohol, as an intoxicant. Anything which makes you less aware of your suffering is anti-spiritual. Anything that makes you more aware of your suffering, and which helps you encounter it without escaping, is religious. That is what tapas – austerity – means. tapas means this: not escaping from any suffering, but remaining there and living with it with full awareness. If you do not escape, if you remain there with your suffering, one day suffering will disappear and you will have grown into more awareness. Suffering disappears in two ways. You become unconscious; then suffering disappears for you. But, really, suffering remains there. It cannot disappear. It remains there! Really, your consciousness has disappeared, so you cannot feel it, you cannot be aware of it. If you become more conscious, in the meantime you will have to suffer more. But accept suffering as a part of growth, as a part of training, as just a discipline, and then one day, when your consciousness has gone beyond your suffering, suffering will disappear not just for you – it will disappear objectively. Use suffering as a stepping-stone; do not escape from it. If you escape from it, you are escaping from your destiny, from the possibility of going beyond knowledge by using suffering as a device.

When mystics talk about bliss, they are not referring towards happiness. In Indian languages we have different words for bliss and happiness.

Meditation is sitting in what's true. If what's true at the time is not a feeling of bliss, it doesn't make it a false meditation. I felt wonderful during my enlightenment experiences, but was it love? Maybe we need to talk differently about what love is. If it's a deep regard for humanity, I've always had that and that hasn't disappeared. There just isn't an emotion I would think to label "love" along with it. Maybe it's just the preconceived notions about what love is confusing the situation.

Bliss is not happiness, happiness has excitement in it, bliss is serene, cool , calm. Bliss is ecstasy without excitement.

When you meditation does not brings blissfulness and love, it is not true meditation. It is easy to meditate if you don’t want to be blissful — it is very easy to meditate. If you want just to be blissful and you don’t want to be in meditation, that too is easy. The rarest combination is meditation plus bliss. Meditation minus bliss is easy; bliss minus meditation is easy. But meditation minus bliss is not true meditation and bliss minus meditation is not true bliss either. They are true only when they are together. Many people have tried to meditate without bliss because it is simple, less complex. You have to take only one work upon yourself: that you have to still your mind. And you can force your mind to be stilled, but you will become sad, you will have a long face. You can meditate, force yourself to be silent, but you will the real thing. And you can also try to be blissful; that means you can pretend, you can practice, you can rehearse bliss. You can always try to be blissful, smiling, at least looking happy. Slowly slowly, it becomes so practiced. You can practice it. You can practice blissfulness too, but a practiced blissfulness is false. Anything practiced is false, remember it — never forget it. Things have to be spontaneous and natural, not practiced, not cultivated. Cultivated blissfulness is only a mask. You are smiling, but the smile is not in the heart. You are showing joy, but you are not joyous. Bliss PLUS meditation. It is difficult of course, arduous, to manage both. Why? — because they seem to be polar opposites. Meditation means silence and bliss means dance. Meditation means stillness and bliss means a song. Meditation means escaping from the world and bliss means sharing with the world. Meditation you can do in a Himalayan cave, but to be blissful you will have to come back to the world. Bliss needs to be shared; it exists only in sharing. It can’t exist when you are alone, it disappears. It is a communion. Meditation can exist in aloneness and bliss can exist in togetherness. But when both exist then you have to learn a totally new way of life.

What the . some of these comments are like...kindergarten...really.. So marriage is no longer sacred ? It's only about law, court, alimony. Who says so ? And the solution is only porn ? Omg. Why ? People never existed before. your grandfathers and great grandfathers never existed. Didn't they work hard to keep the marriage together. Didn't they have happy marriages ? Married is permanent prostitution ? Lol what have your parents taught you. To look at a woman as a whore ? Just because you didn't get married, and your marriage didn't work out doesn't mean every marriage is a sham. Do not generalize so much just because you cannot the marital bliss that others have. And even if they didn't have, it could be a problem of the fuckn porn generation, don't blame a strong institution that existed for so many years. You people are taking marriage so much for granted. If a marriage has to work, both parties have to work hard for it, Don't blame Art if you can't become an artist. there are others who can. Marriage is not just romance, its also living together, sharing together, loving each other, caring for each other. IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH. IN THE GOOD TIMES AND THE BAD TIMES. that's what marriage is. If you are a cyuk, nobody can help you, then satisfy yourself by fapping to porn, who cares, huh? But don't disrespect the hard work that wonderful couples put in to make everything work. So much cynicism here, absolutely amazing isn't it. it takes a lot to be a good husband, a good father just like it takes a lot to be a good wife, a good mother. Didn't y'all parents even teach you this much. Don't make mockery of a beautiful sacred institution just because you cannot honor the commitments demanded by it. You are always free to look for your cheaper substitutes of Porn, casual fucking, sex robot, woman robot(whatever the fell they call it), sex toys and all that. True loves requires lot of strength, commitment, loyalty, hard work and all of that pays off really beautifully, If it doesn't its your bad luck, sit with it. Don't dream of true love when you cannot keep it. I know in the real world, divorce happens, bad things happen, but understand this - What you create is what you get, If you want it to work, then you gotta create it. Manifest what you want by setting yourself as an example. If this is the attitude then real love has really died, no hope sorry. Looking for love when not ready to invest the effort and then placing blame on the opposite gender, looking for excuses and settling for Porn, one day you'll even get tired of porn, because its only sexual satisfaction. It doesn't fulfill the heart. Marriage is hell, marriage is bondage. What d. Marriage is equally hard for a woman, try being a woman sometimes, and especially a mother you whiny babies!! Marriage is bondage only if its unsuccessful and when you mess it up, when you cannot take responsibilities, and when you get a bad wife, yes I admit, aren't there bad husbands, do you only see bad wives, huh ? Just because one wife is bad, start painting the brush and call all women bad...great. Mistakes and failures happen on both sides. It takes two to make it and anyone or both to break it, Dissatisfied cyks crying like fox and the grapes - because I cannot them, oh, well they must be sour !! What a pity......................... generation these days sigh

There is two ways to see this: The neurotic approach, where you HAVE TO be successful/have lots of money, have the trophy wife/perfect husband, be funny/have a great body in order to be happy (which never happens, because there is always more ...). This is the lack of inner work which tends to fuck you in the ass, because you're inconscious of your true nature. The "whatever happens" approach, I will enjoy life at its fullest, by following my bliss/intuition and sharing my love of life with others along the way. This approach can only be lived if you did some inner work (with or without spiritual knowledge).

@Russell Thank you for this post. I'm down for the bliss but what about demons? This is where I get lost.

There are some things I feel I should mention concerning Kundalini and meditations, which although Leo skins over Kundalini in some of his videos I feel we need a more comprehensive layout of what to expect. Unfortunately, in life, rarely, if ever, does any serious transformation occur without pain. People who want power- so called supernatural power- will find in most cases, they will have to go through pain in order to achieve this. Our bodies and minds are used to running on a certain amount of life force (bioelectiricty). When we begin to make some serious alterations with this very life force, certain nasty side effects can crop up. This is a given and is also individual. The life force, like any electricity is HOT. BURNING HOT. There are different physical responses to extreme heat within the body. Some which are quite unpleasant. Inflammations, eruptions, burning sensations and so forth are the most common. But expect lots of heat. This signifies excess astral energy and clearing through energy blockages .Knowledge is everything- to know what can be expected is to understand. One friend of mine found his metal pendant that he always wears has become so hot it burned a mark into his skin. This sort of thing passes, though it can take anywhere from a week or two, to a few years. Once the physical self adjusts, the soul has been completely transformed. This is no different than strength and mass building through weight lifting. I remember when I first began working out- there were times I couldn't even get out of bed I was so sore. It took a few years, but the bone density and body strength/mass I have are permanent. Remember, in meditation, the same thing. Unlike physical exercise, once you enter a point, there is no turning back. You can only move foreward. Stopping can be disastrous in some cases. One may lighten up, but this will do little as a certain point has already been crossed. Very few, if any articles or materials contain any contraindications concerning the effects of advanced meditation. 1. People who are epilptics or have had any siezures, should either take it EXTREMELY slow or not at all. You are increasing the electricity within the body and the brain- enough said? Even in normal people, physical adjustments to the increase of electricity can cause mild siezures. 2. Everyone should ALWAYS make sure the air they are breathing in during meditation is clean. Deep breathing is no different than aerobic exercise such as running/jogging and will affect the lungs and system accordingly. Cold air can cause pleurisy, inhaling polluted air, lung problems. Keep this in mind. Signs the kundalini is about to ascend: 1. Spontaneous physical/electrical energy surges can Cause jerks, twitches, shaking, and energy waves and even convulsions. 2. Increased sensory awareness- heat, cold, sounds, Strong tastes, odors, heightened sense of body image Or absence of such, feeling a strong burning aura, Disturbing thoughts [this is why void meditation is Necessary to banish them as is a strong mind]. 3. Sleeplessness, insomnia. One woman did not sleep For 5 months 4. On the upside- increased understanding, much easier Communication with demons and the sixth sense is Increased and enhanced greatly. Feelings of extreme bliss, peacefulness. 5. The external environment does not have any affect- People getting angry, you remain calm. This is the awakening stage of the Kundalini. Much wil depend upon the individual. Ones health and any former meditation done in the past. The stronger you are in every respect, the less problems. Kundalini/bio-electricity is hot like molten lead. A Warm sensation at the base of your tailbone- some of us have felt a pulling upward- sometimes spinning sensation. This indicates your kundalini has been activated. All of the chakras must be completely open and unobstructed. The serpent of fire will ascend piercing through each chakra. For some people, this is as hot as a glowing iron. One must stay focused and direct the energy out the crown chakra. The kundalini will sometimes crackle and roar as it Flashes like blinding white lightening as it hits the 6th chakra. This can be brightness beyond anything you Have ever experienced or seen in your life. This is where calm, complete control comes in. Kundalini is individual for everyone. What some people may experience, others may not.

So I had my first psychedelic experience with about 100-110µg LSD during easter. Unfortunately I didn't meet the easter bunny or Hitler riding a flying mat during my trip but this was by far the most mind blowing experience of my life, I have never ever gotten so much information in such a short time. Set: I started my day by meditating for 90 minutes, I exercise a little bit and eating some fruits and having a cup of caffeine free coffee for breakfast. After that I take a short walk in nature, everything is okay and I wear a huge smile on my face because that's what I like to do. After that I meet up with a guy who was supposed to trip sit me but we decided that I am in this all alone the day before. We talk a little bit and he helps me set up a schedule for what to do during my trip. After a while I put my tab in my tongue and send him away. We hug each other and I start crying like hell, when he leaves I go back to my room and start to reflect on my life while crying like a little baby. After I am done crying I lay down on the floor and start dropping into a samadhi-like state. The LSD starts kicking in about 10 minutes later... Setting: I am home alone inside my room. I have cleaned up all the stuff so It's all grey. In the middle of the room I have a place to meditate/lay down on the floor and I have a chair in front of my window which shows me the nature in my backyard and a bed to lay down in if I feel it. I have about 3 liters of water and a bowl of bananas, pears, clementines and dates. The trip: About 30 minutes after I have taken the acid I start hearing this weird sound, it almost feels like I have tinnitus. It feels like I have been meditating like hell, like that time I lived in a Zen monastery and after a few minutes my visual field starts feeling a bit strange. At this point I walk over to my chair and I sit down to look at nature while getting used to the acid kicking in. After a while something starts feeling really really weird, it's something I have never really felt before. I start crying, can it be love? It was love... I start getting flashbacks from my early childhood, somewhere between the age of 5 and 10, the way my family brought me up and the way I was treated in school and everything just start clicking. I realize that I never got any real love, empathy and understanding from anyone growing up, not by my parents, not my my teachers and not by my classmates. It was just a game of masks and hats that they peer pressured me into. If you don't join you are the devil himself. I'm almost speechless... "LOVE! IT'S LOVE! HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT'S LOVE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ACTUALLY LOVE!" At this point I get out of the chair to grab a pink blanket and I sit down on my bed and sweep the blanket over my self. As my body gets covered with the blanket I fully accept myself for the first time in my life. I cry tears of love, compassion and love for myself and all the shit I went trough as a child. "LOVE LOVE LOVE! SO FULL OF HATE... SO MUCH HATE..." I grab a piece of paper to write "LOVE! <3" to myself keep that note nearby for the rest of the trip. Everything was a fucking lie... All the shit that I was taught by my family and school was all bullshit. My family is not any different than all the weird cults that exists in the world. They broke down my individuality while providing me with food, clothes and all the physical stuff that you need to survive. If you start suspecting that something is off or stand up for your individuality the cult leader belittles you and threatens to remove the shit that the cult made you addicted to. No one loved me but at this point none of that doesn't matter because I love myself. All of this wasn't my fault after all, I wasn't crazy... I bask around in this overwhelming love for a while but after a while I get on with the trip. I lie down on the floor and everything seems to get more intense at this point, no crazy insights or anything like that. Everything just feels more intense and the visuals starts to take over the room more and more and I lie down for about and hour I think. I take a short break, eat some fruits, drink some water while preparing for some music. I've basically worked trough all my childhood wounds at this part but little did I know that things are to get a whole hell of a lot stranger. I've prepared to listen to a combination of Aurora and Enya during this part of the trip. I sit down in my chair to stare at nature and I put on "Caribbean Blue" by Enya and as soon as I hear Enyas voice I'm hit by a storm of bliss. I start laughing out loud. Everything is so silly, everything is just a dream. Everything is gone... "NOTHING IS FOR REAL! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! NOTHING IS REAL! EVERYTHING IS JUST A DREAM!" Everything is fucking gone... Reality was just an illusion after all, all thoughts, all ideologies, all philosophies and all the stuff "out there" is nothing else than a hallucination. I can see all the roles I've played throughout my entire life and I just laugh at myself while facepalming over and over again. "THE OSCAR FOR THE BEST ACTOR GOES TO...ME!" I'm so fucking fake holy fucking shit. I've played so many roles just because I didn't want to seem weird in other peoples eyes. "IT'S ALL GONE! NONE OF THIS SHIT IS REAL! TIME, SPACE, OTHERS, PROBLEMS... NON OF THIS IS REAL! EVERYTHING IS JUST A DREAM!" During the rest of the trip I kept on yelling "HOLY FUCKING SHIT NOTHING IS REAL" at least once per minute... I keep on doing like this for a while and when Auroras music starts playing I just give myself all the compassion, understanding and love I've wanted "others" to give me for the last 15 years. Everyone is insane, me too, we are just a bunch of monkeys in suits who thinks that we understand the universe. None of this has any meaning in reality what so ever. Caring about what people thinks of me seems so absurd and I just keep facepalming myself for a while. This is where I start talking to three stones that lies on my desk about all my relationship problems, it goes pretty well and things get a lot clearer. I'm just an actor and all of my past relationships has been based on taking the actor seriously. I'M SOOOOOOO DELUSIONAL... After a while I start walking around in my house while reflecting about all the abuse that my parents has put me trough during the years. It's like I can watch my problems in a 3rd person perspective without any defenses. From this perspective I can see that my parents have been SOOOO fucking bad. Like WTF?!?! My dad fucking hit me for laughing once. This is crazy...He has beaten me so many times... And my mom just watched. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?!?" My mom just broke down my self-esteem in awful ways instead of beating me. Loving myself and living here at the same time seems absurd. My family just filled my mind with crap. "EVERYTHING IS GONE! REALITY DOESN'T EXIST! MY PARENTS DOESN'T EXIST! EVERYTHING THEY MADE ME BELIVE ABOUT REALITY AND MYSELF WAS BULLSHIT! I CREATED THE WHOLE THING! THANK GOD! HURRAY!" I also met this snakelike woman, we stared into each others eyes and made some sort of silent agreement. The guy who helped me preparing fpr this trip told me that it as a sign of my first love(not the romantic one). That's pretty much the best part of the trip but there isn't much more insightful and I just chill, sit down and contemplate stuff. After about 8 hours into the trip I take a walk in nature, the sun has set but there is still some light. I walked to a river I usually cross, I stare at the stars and then BAM! A WILD NORTHERN LIGHT APPEARS! Northern lights in LSD looks pretty damn cool but it's not that big and it disappears pretty fast and I start to walk home usually when I walk in nature during the evening/night I have a tendency to get scared of the dark, especially when there is just about 50 meters of dark forest left. I begin to panic a little bit but then I started to dance a little bit while singing some weird african like song and I manage to save myself from freaking out big time and I am able to walk to my house without any problems. After this part of the trip everything feels pretty much done, I've gotten by far more information than i expected. I basically start integrating the trip while tripping, I just sit and contemplate for about two hours about what this trip is going to change me. I feel a strange sound in my ear, almost like someone pulls out a plug from my ear and after than my trip is done, it lasted exactly twelve hours. I keep whispering "Herre fucking jävlar! Inget är på riktigt"(Holy fucking shit! Nothing is real!" in swedish). I had some problems with my femoral nerve and while sitting for such a long time my nerves hurt like hell. I never take painkillers but I had to do so to get some sleep. Integration: I wake up in the morning feeling SOOOO FUCKING DONE. I walk around in my house a little bit and after a while I start crying tears of joy. I realize that my biggest wound is basically gone. "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!!??! EVERYTHING IS FUCKING GONE?!?!!??!??" I start feeling a desire to help people recover from abusive relationships, I've felt it before but not as clearly. The day is spent doing nothing at all. It's like having a hangover from seeing that everything is meaningless. I stare at the meaninglessness of life. I feel like an emotional wreck. I have never felt anything so intensely like I did the day before so no wonder I'm so fucking done. The results: I was able to see how insane I am and how sane I have been after all. I was able to see that my parents and the people at school treated me like shit and that I've hated myself for my entire life. I stared it all in the face... -My self-esteem is not as depentendent on what I DO but how I AM -My fear of conflict looks WAYYYY better. When I started meditating, quit video games, quit drinking and smoking and all of that stuff I was able to see how much better I felt and how much clearly you see reality while living consciously. I started to express my feelings and talking about how living consciously is so important and I ended up as a weird loner. I got brainwashed into believing that taking care of your body and mind is stupid and selfish and since I started to develop myself I have been ashamed of it at the same time. Expressing your feelings as a man in Sweden isn't always the norm so my family and friends didn't react really well to it. Now I can see that it was THEIR PROBLEM and not mine. The problem I HAD/HAVE was seeking approval from the "outer world". I even confronted my dad about the fact that he used to beat me when I was younger. I mean what the fuck? Once he hit me because I laughed at him dropping a dish brush. That's abuse and there is no need to deny that. -I don't care as much about what others think about me. I'm not as reactive as I used to be. Everyone is fucking stupid, me too... We are just a bunch of monkeys wearing a bunch of clothes and masks while thinking that we understand the universe. Why the fuck should your self worth depend on what a bunch of ideological chimps thinks of you? -I don't take myself so seriously. I don't have a problem being silly with other people anymore. It's so fucking easy to connect with other people while not worrying about this "I AM GOOD ENOUGH" persona. I'm really fucking stupid and that is okay. It can be really hard to look at your flaws when you always have to be perfect. I feel more clown like and more naked at the same time. -I feel more responsible for my life, I can see that I REALLY have to leave my home without ever looking back in a few months . It feels pretty harsh because everyone in my town seems to have a family to depend to after they quit school. I won't really have that anymore. I have to become 100% independent from them but that's fine to be honest. -Meditating feels way smoother -It feels like all of this cultural crap is gone, thank god... -I can finally accept myself. I tend to sweep that pink blanket over myself at least once per day nowadays . -I feel more drawn to monastic life again -I feel more drawn to connecting to people -LOADS OF EMPATHY!!! -Closure -ALL THE LADIES LOOK REALLY GOOD! This is by far the best experience I've ever had. This idea that psychedelics used properly can be like 10 years of psychotherapy is not a joke. Discovering all of this shit by therapy and journaling would have taken my years. I can't believe how I managed to suppress so much shit during my lifetime. I've been a scared little baby for 15 years. It's really insane... INTERNET HUGS FOR EVERYONE! <3

@Shin Very nice, i think you are well on track, and i recognize some of this mind thinking. I think you are enlightened as long as you are aware of the thoughts. what is the hard part is keeping it up through some effort, which is in fact training the mind to not self identify all the time, and training it to stay in the present. The fact that this is even possible as a process, means you are aware, and thus consciousnesses. It doesn't mean you automatically walk around in 24/7 bliss, but it will in the end. Through longer and longer states of perfect mindfulness, the human mind gets used to it, in the end it will become a natural state. But the fact it's possible to work this, means enlightenment has already happened, because it takes awareness to be aware of your thoughts as a separate thing. which most of us can do quite easy. What do most people do, when they reach enlightenment, which everyone who has read about it reached instantly. They reach it, because by telling them to watch their thoughts, they are aware at that moment, watching the thoughts. Well most people expect all their worries to instantly vanish when reaching enlightenment, so they ignore the enormous significance of this event. They do not realize, that they can try to watch their thoughts 24/7. And if they do, after a lot of trying and failing, they can be enlightened 24/7. So they meditate perhaps 30m in the weekend, and go on with their normal life regardless, identifying with all its problems and letting self thoughts run free all day. This one tries to practice mindfulness all day, as much as it can, and the gaps where i completely self identify without any awareness are narrowing. my thoughts are dissipating, I rarely worry about past or future, but strangely I get these musings from further in the past. Everything is just experience, so if i really think about it as this person, i would say it's cleaning up my negative thought processes through lack of self-identifying all day. So memories are now just harmless musings of the past, instead of shames or regrets. And the same for ventures in the future, more and more just wondrous stories instead of fears and doubts. This is not necessary for me as consciousness, whatever happens, good or bad, i will be aware of it. I can not not be aware of it, it's what i am. But as a brain i suppose having this body in a more relaxed state might be a better experience for it to be aware of? If not, it will be healthy for the body at least, and more relaxing for me.

@Shiva what do you do after 'locking' onto your awareness? Because in my experience nothing happens, you just stay ultra sober. But you don't bliss out like a buddha.

I listen to this song when working out. I love the lyrics. This song helps me get through tough times during deep work and deliberate practice This last song made me cry because of its pure beauty. Its a version of Flim by Aphex Twin but slowed down to 66% speed the way he originally intended it to be played. It reminds me of all of the happy moments I've had with people I love but that I'll probably never see again or have again. Its this mixture of pure peace and bliss and just the smallest hint of mourning.

Hello, Mary Shutan is a spiritual worker aka shaman and has a lot of insights into the spiritual path. I thought I would share with you two of her blog posts found here and here. Enjoy! Check out her blog, she has a lot of really quality insights! Below is an interview she has done on Kundalini awakenings. She has quite an intense presence in her eyes, doesn't she? (I know it's kind of silly to copy and paste what I linked to, but I wanted to be sure it got read. Quality info. Peace!) To begin, I will say that my definition of the word “ego” is simply that it is our identity– the thought of who we are and what the world is like (so, perhaps more based in Eriksonian thought than Freudian if we were to talk Psych 101). We formulate this idea based off of the wounds that we carry. These are either emotions and trauma that have shaped us (been handed down to us), or that we have developed over the course of our lives here. Basically, our ego is our mind, our “I”. It is not something that needs to be “killed”, maimed, or treated like a second-class citizen. We need an identity, and our differences make us beautiful. What we are made up of– all of those forces coming together to shape us, what we have been individually through, as well as our culture, traditions, and personality– mean that we are a unique spark that can bring a lot to the world. Finding that spark, realizing that spark, and moving beyond the wounding that created the framework for current identity (and beliefs about yourself or the world being a certain way) is really the issue. If we can move beyond the mind, beyond the ego, it really isn’t a process of “death”, but a process of expansion. The spiritual awakening process as a whole is really about moving beyond the idea of “I” as the center of the Universe (and that “I” being your current, physical expression of Self), beginning to see others as an extension of self, and moving past the sort of falsehood of Self that has been created out of a tapestry of wounds. This seeing of others as an extension of you is not in a narcissistic way (as in, you do not control others and you have not created them), but a realization that what you notice and are reactive to about other people… the sort of projections that you put on them… how you have “cast” them in your play (cycling through your wounds again and again seeking closure) are unreconciled issues within yourself. Our minds do view this as “death”, because to move beyond our current conditioning– who and what we consider ourselves (and by that, the world) to be is a sort of “death”. Our minds like control. They like rules and procedures and black and white thinking. There is comfort in the known, and we do a lot of things to hold ourselves back from releasing patterns that may prop up a significant portion of our worldview, and to protect ourselves from noticing the inherent falseness of our beliefs and constructs. I discuss some of the most common ways that we can fall into “ego traps” below. Ego Trap #1: Creation of Further Rules on the Spiritual Path I am sure many of you have seen long, admonishing lists about what “high vibration” people do and act like. They don’t watch violent movies, or listen to heavy metal. They don’t eat meat, think bad thoughts, get angry, get emotional, they treat everyone the same (don’t judge or think one person may differ than another– a total misunderstanding of oneness– and more on this later), and other things I am sure I am forgetting. There are further rules and one-on-one meanings created for everything about what cancer “means” spiritually to what a color orb means to how emotions “must” be taken care of, to how spiritual situations “must” be approached. I could go on, but you all likely see the point here. This is a “trap” because although plenty of people on the spiritual path may choose to abstain from alcohol, or eat differently, or not watch certain movies (insert rule here) the spiritual path is a freeing process. Rules are a creation of the mind. They are created out of fear. In many of the situations like the ones I listed above, they are created by minds who have been wounded by separation and feelings of emptiness… which creates a pattern in which people must constantly create the idea that they are superior to one another and prove that sort of superiority. While certainly people understand social constraints and the sort of created rules created by communal minds (and wounds) and act appropriately, the need for such rules and constraints lifts when you go beyond the need for the sort of fear, control, and woundedness that need rules to separate and constrict (rather than free and expand). Ego Trap #2: Belief that you are Further than you are on the Spiritual Path If we believe that we are at the end of our journeys, that we are “beyond” things (the whole wounded “superior” thing again) we don’t have to do any more work. We don’t have to learn, or question, or “die” any more… we do not have to move beyond who we currently are and what we currently believe the world to be. We stop questioning, and accept ourselves and the world as is (complete with whatever unhealed material/wounds that have constructed such things still present). This is such a common ego trap, and can easily lead to “ego awakening”, wherein the person simply stops themselves on their path (you can read more about ego awakenings in my Spiritual Awakening Guide book) I continually hear from people things like: “I don’t need to look within to see why I am reactive to that person, I have been doing work on myself for a few years now!” ” This is how things are (the “truth”)”- said rigidly to others while announcing the rules of #1 ego trap ” I am (enlightened, kundalini, super special shaman, an empath) and that means…” ” I am a hereditary witch/shaman/spiritual something which means that I have so much power.” ” I don’t have a shadow/anything to work on/I don’t have an ego because I am beyond that” ” I don’t judge/have any biases” There are more that I could list, and some of these are paraphrasing (of course) after hearing them pretty much on a daily basis over the last ten years. I will talk about labels in the next section, but the spiritual path is about constant unfolding. This means that if you are reactive to a situation, you always question inwardly what is going on. That you realize that there is always further to go. That no matter what you know, you could know more, you could surrender more, you could understand more. Additionally, if you need to prove something to the external world, it is well worth looking internally to see if there is anything unhealed there. There is a great Margaret Thatcher quote: “Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t” and that sentiment applies. We hold such wounds around power, around knowledge, and if we internally are at peace with such things, we no longer need to perpetuate into the world (or prove) that we are worthwhile, or have power. We simply embody it. Because modern spiritual aspirants rarely have a physical teacher, or one that is willing to reign in their egos a bit, there are quite a lot of people who believe that they are at the end of their path when they are the beginning. There are quite a few people that create their entire spiritual path based off of wounding, and the needs of unhealed parts of themselves. There are also those who believe they are “enlightened” or beyond things so they don’t have to take personal responsibility for themselves, or are creating a mask for others. I occasionally have to offend people when they want to take my advanced courses when they have not learned any fundamentals yet. The fact that those courses wouldn’t be understood or safe for them (or that I am looking out for them and being compassionate in saying “no” to that course at that time for them) is disregarded by those who really need to believe that they are a specific way due to wounding. We constantly believe that we are further than we are, and it is a rare mind that is willing to look at that as a mask, as a way to actually stop development, rather than something that really speaks to any form of truth. I rarely respond to people like this (or will simply agree with people) as cutting through too much illusion and ego either results in an act of protection or retaliation from a mind not ready to hear such things (it is a balancing act, basically, finding out how to appropriately respond to people compassionately while not attempting to perpetuate their illusions at the same time), but there are questions here for those willing to ask it of themselves: If I were not (insert stage of development, belief in static “truth”, enlightened, powerful, etc.) what would I have to work on? If I did have a shadow (emotions, ego, stuff to work on) what would I be working on? What would happen if this belief (about myself or the world, or the nature of my development) were an illusion? Because these beliefs are perpetuated by wounds that can be worked with and healed. It is only a question of if the person is ready and willing to look beyond the mask, beyond the stage of development that they are in, and are willing to hear from themselves (or ideally, another person, as it is difficult to have clarity about ourselves… and these days, unfortunately, many teachers cater to to these illusions rather than move people away from them) what they have to work with and on if the belief wasn’t there. Ego Trap #3: Labels creating separation and perpetuating illusion and wounding Labels in the spiritual realm (such as Empath, Medium, Shaman, Starseed, etc) can be quite important in the initial stages of the journey. There is a need for the Self to realize what and who they are– how they individually filter things, how they interact with the world. There is a lot of peace in finding out you are a “highly sensitive person” or realizing that your tendency to pick up emotions like a sponge is called “Empathy” and specifically you are an “emotional” empath. Realizing labels like this can bring a lot of clarity. It can also bring community, as you can find others online and in person who relate similarly. We still live in a world where only 15- 20 percent of the population is considered in any way, shape, or form “sensitive” (to psychic, the divisions of highly sensitive to highly psychic and what they mean are in my book Managing Psychic Abilities) and being heard by others who have shared your experience, whether it is being an Empath or being a veteran of war, with others who have the direct experience of the same, is really vital in the healing path. But it can also be a bit of a trap, a convenient way to disguise things that need to be healed. I have heard so many times things like: “All men (or women) hate me because I am an Empath” “I need to separate myself from the world because I am a (Sensitive/starseed/Shaman etc)” “Of course I relate that way, I am highly sensitive!” “I am moving to the eighth dimension so I no longer relate to people” “I am from a different world/am ET/am insert thoughts here and that is why I feel so separate” As a spiritual worker I am not here to make light of the wounds that people carry, but even if you are from another world, or are the most highly psychic individual to ever walk the earth, wounds are wounds. What I mean by this is that if you believe that you cannot get into a relationship, it is easier to believe that it is because you are an “empath” than to look at the wounds within that created such beliefs and to heal them. Whether those wounds are actually from being an empathic individual or not doesn’t really matter. It is a constricting belief that is creating pain and difficulty, and it can be healed (or at least looked at). Even if you are from another world, or being highly psychic in this world has created pain, looking at the pain, and the source of that pain, instead of the label, can allow for a lot of healing to occur. It is really a question of if someone is willing to move past a label that they have ascribed behaviors and patterns to as a protective mask… and to look at what lies beneath that mask and do the healing work that would allow for them to thrive as an Empath, or not feel separate as a person on a spiritual path. As a last note (I will do part two relatively soon of this list) I will say that there is a lot of confusion about being highly sensitive, on a significant spiritual path, or psychic, and the need to separate. What I will say about this is that primarily this is a wounding mechanism. If you look at people as “lesser” than you, as something to be avoided, as something that is fueled by pain, that is a wound. It would be something to look at as parts of yourself in the outer world. By this I mean that if you look at someone that you are trying to avoid (or even people in general), is there a part of you that resembles this? By this I mean that we frequently dislike portions of our past selves, and frequently need to reconcile or offer forgiveness for ourselves in the past. Can we offer forgiveness to ourselves in the past for not knowing, for being “unawake”, for being unconscious of their emotions and needs and inner pain? Can we become conscious of the parts of ourselves that are still angry, chaotic, “unawake”, ignorant, violent, abusive (etc.)… are we willing to shine a proverbial light on the parts of ourselves that are still sleeping? I will say that it is natural to be more comfortable with solitude on a spiritual path, to separate from the sort of chaos and din of noise that people create… and to with further and further clarity see people creating chaos for themselves again and again. The difficulty is, of course, them trying to cast you into their “play” of chaos, and you having conscious awareness of when you are doing the same to others, and being willing to work on whatever you find, whatever you are reactive to, in the world. Basically, there is a big difference between separating oneself out of woundedness, and separating oneself because you enjoy solitude. In the latter, you are still part of the whole. When you say “people are like this” you are people. You can interact with anyone with compassion and grace, seeing them simply as they are with no emotional reaction or “hooking” into their projections or wounds. You see everyone and everything as an aspect of you, and work on the concepts, situations, and people that you find yourself holding separate or reactive to. You are part of people, you are a part of the Earth, you are part of the Universe, and all that you react to is something unhealed within yourself. The question is, of course, if you are willing to approach things this way… and to question with willingness to heal and move beyond the barriers and constrictions that you have been given, as well as have erected for yourself. There are many ego traps that I could go over here, and some I will not talk about because I talk about them quite frequently in other blogs. The spiritual path is about becoming whole– about expressing compassion and love for ourselves (and every aspect of ourselves). Our darkness is not “bad” and does not need to be turned into “light”, we do not need to set up rules for fear or anger to make them more palatable to ourselves or provide the illusion that we are in control of them, and without truly engaging with the primal aspects of ourselves, and aligning with their power and wisdom, we cannot come into our full capacity and power as human beings. The spiritual path requires a certain amount of discipline and education, and I do think that one of the greatest ego traps is playing into the mentality that this sort of thing is not needed, thus fueling the outer societal thoughts about how spiritual sorts are ignorant or delusional. It is rare that people are willing to engage in the sort of discipline and move beyond the easy or one-step fix-it popularized spirituality that is ultimately illusory and perpetuates cultural myths about spirituality and the direct spiritual path being “inferior” or even laughable to a society still steeped in materialism, thus creating an outer split between material and spiritual “consciousness”, but I will end my soapboxing (about this at least) and move on with the rest of the list. I do realize that these are difficult questions to ask of oneself, but the sort of restrictions and blockages that are carried within (and the sort of “traps” they create) can be realized and moved through, allowing movement towards more freedom and wholeness on the spiritual path overall. The question, of course, is if we are willing and ready to sit with difficult questions and realizations and openly and honestly ask ourselves such things… and be willing to hear, openly and honestly, the answers. Ego Trap #4: Not taking Personal Responsibility for Ourselves As long as any part of us is fractured, or separated from itself, we will find such aspects in the outer world. In an unawakened state, we blindly and chaotically react to the world around us, living from the wounds and beliefs created from those wounds. The spiritual path is really one of radical responsibility, one in which we become more adult. When we are wounded or traumatized, a part of us becomes frozen in that state. We may have had many experiences like this (as well as trauma that was passed down to us from varying sources), and most people are in a childlike state, living from their wounds and constantly re-creating their wounds in the outer world in an effort to heal them. While the spiritual path is one of deep questioning (at times which is uncomfortable), temporary chaos, dissolution of ideas and the destablization that happens as a result of coming into a state of greater wholeness… as a whole, the spiritual path should make one more “adult”, more centered, grounded, and with less baggage. If this is not happening, it is something to question. If we are willing to take any sort of responsibility for ourselves, we can begin to realize that we constantly project our wounds onto others. What we see in others is a reflection of what is unhealed within us. Our reactions to others are rarely coming from a current, adult state– they are coming from engaging in a scenario, or with an emotion, that is “looped”– that part of ourselves, unhealed, that is frozen in time. So there are some questions here that can be asked to move past this: What do I see in this person that is a reflection of myself? What am I projecting onto this situation or person? What age is this response from? (when reacting to a situation or person… as in, is it your current, adult self, or might it be a surly teenager, a know-it-all twenty-something, an abused child) Am I finding an outlet for my internal emotions and pain in the external world? For that last question there is a realization that when we have a stockpile of anger within, we will always find things (or people) to fixate that anger on. Same with anxiety, or fear, or grief. If we believe that the world, or the people in it, are always out to victimize us, we will create that scenario again and again until we heal whatever is within that caused that belief to be created. We can find external ways in which to validate and externalize our emotions into the physical world. If we sit with our emotions long enough, we can understand that our inner pain is always looking for an outlet, and we can always find someone or something to make us angry, cause us to grieve or despair, someone to recreate our issues with our mother, or father with. The question of what am I really angry (fearful, anxious) about always comes into play here… because chances are that it is not your current, adult self that is feeling this way. I will say as an aside that this world is chaotic, and noisy, and filled with wounded people who do wounded things. It is wonderful to feel emotions, to get angry at your boss, or to feel grief at others looking to simply take and wound in their pain and separation. We should feel emotions that are from the present moment, and allow ourselves to deeply feel them and use them appropriately. But there is a question of if what we are feeling is current and appropriate for the situation. This distinction can only be had if we are willing to take personal responsibility and assess how we may be projecting our inner wounds onto others, and the world. There is also the question of if you are using your anger as a creative, vital, flowing “get stuff done” sort of force of action (as it can be in its healed state) or if you are simply shoving it down or stockpiling it for later because you do not wish to feel it, or do not have the skills to feel it (or the compassion and/or wholeness towards the emotion to recognize it as a valuable source of wisdom). Ego Trap #5: Not recognizing the Persecutor- Selfishness and Lack of Heart When we are in pain, it is nearly impossible to see outside of ourselves. It is important in times of personal chaos to focus on the Self. But for many the spiritual path may be a way to be the eternal victim– always seeing the world and the people in it as looking to take, victimize, or harm us. Because we have experienced harm in the past, we have closed our hearts in our need to protect ourselves. The difficulty with this is that with a closed heart, we cannot empathize with others. We cannot look beyond our own fleeting and often insignificant needs, our own trauma, our own beliefs. The great irony here is that we have closed ourselves off so we cannot be hurt again, but in doing so, we hurt or are not available to others. On the spiritual path it is incredibly important to reconcile and heal all of those hurts– all of the pain, difficulty, and integration of the parts of ourselves that have separated, frozen in time, and are “looping” again and again. But it takes a soul of great courage to reconcile the sort of selfishness that causes for one to take, to not give, and to move beyond the mindset of the Self being the protagonist, or the center of the Universe, on the spiritual path. The end result of a spiritual path is always one of giving. It is about moving beyond those wounded pieces and then about seeing how you can be of service to others. The spiritual path is not about you, basically. It is about you moving beyond your “I”, your ego, to the point that you can be a adult, mature presence of strength, wisdom, and stillness in a world that could really use those sorts of people. Realizing that we have been selfish, self-centered, and do not consider others is a difficult thing to awaken to. But it is a huge ego trap for people, and realizing how we interact with people, what we ask for others, and if it comes from a place of “taking”, or a place of reciprocity is the first step. Do we express gratitude when others offer themselves to us? In our pain and self-interest, we naturally assume that the world and people in it are going to simply offer themselves to us. When we expand beyond our own selfishness, we realize not only that we can take personal responsibility for ourselves, but that what we ma be asking of others and of the Earth may not be of right relationship. Moving beyond “right relationship” and basic reciprocity (considering what we offer to someone or something vs. what we take) is the ability to be in a heart-centered place. This does not mean lack of boundaries, or thinking everyone is the “same” with equal value… it means that you can, with compassion, realize that someone is lashing out at you because they are not in a place to take personal responsibility for their pain, and you can decide to not engage in recreating their “loop” or trauma, and can also express compassion towards the parts of yourself that may have at one time resembled or resonate with such pain. Ego Trap #6: Seeking Bliss and Highs– Spiritual Escapism Some of the most amazing experiences can be had on the spiritual path– the sort of bliss and expansion that contact with divinity can create is addictive. The moments of bliss can help for those going through difficult spiritual experiences to have a proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” and see them through some incredibly rough patches on the spiritual path. There are also those who seek out drugs, spiritually vacation, attend endless retreats, or create imaginary worlds for themselves in which they are a goddess, god, or demi-god in order to move away from their daily lives, and to escape the pain and difficulty of being human. If we are seeking spirituality because we are unhappy about our lives, the solution is to use spirituality, or to work with a spiritual path, to heal that. Our spiritual existence is not separate from our physical existence, and if we are disassociated, disembodied, unhappy, or constantly seeking the next high on the spiritual path, that indicates that something within needs to be healed. Ego Trap #7: Not Reconciling Race, Class, and Privilege We tend to not want to look at how we may have had privilege in our lives, about how what country we live in, what race or culture we are from, or what class of society we are in affords certain privileges. We tend to largely surround ourselves with people with the same backgrounds, the same race, class, and ideas as ourselves. We also tend to read things that we agree with (and the same shows and books over and over again, just with different names on the cover) to shelter ourselves from new ideas, contrasting ideas, or the reality of our sheltering. In our spiritual seeking, we may not realize that we are enacting history and the same issues of “taking” that colonization created. Without reconciliation that we are participating in the same “loop” that our ancestors did, just in a different way… without reconciling that we are ignoring that such a history or loop exists, we cannot fully move beyond and heal the internal judgment, persecution, and dominant beliefs that have been passed down to us by society, by our family or ancestry, or by world history at large. All of us, no matter race, religion, spiritual path, class, or caste, have judgment or seek to separate from others in some fashion. Recognizing and being willing to admit our own biases is a difficult thing to ask, but the effects of this are not only personal wholeness, but the realization that our differences make us beautiful. Cheesy sentiment, I realize, but if you consider that the spiritual path is one of relational changes– meaning gradually understanding that your neighbor, your community, the world, the Earth, and the cosmos are all part of you… and being willing to see what judgments, hatred, divisions, persecutions, and unwillingness there is to engage with some of those parts, and that inner hatred, racism (etc) that you have unreconciled within will give way to wholeness (and the ability in the outer world to engage with more than just people that look, act, and think exactly like you). The solution to this is to realize that your mind/ego wants sameness. It doesn’t want to reconcile disparate ideas. So read books by authors totally different than you, read about religions and spiritual paths from people living them, and meet, interact, and most of all listen to the stories, experiences, and pain of others. We have a tendency to dismiss pain that we have not experienced directly, to dismiss the experiences or see them as invalid if they are not the same “truth” as our own. Actively seek to expand and open your mind to people, places, and ideas that you do not agree with, and see if you can feel compassion or understand how others who think, believe, or have experienced differently than you, as it is the key to your own expansion. Ego Trap #8: Not realizing our own Beauty and Worth One of the funniest things on the spiritual path is that you get to a certain point that you realize that you are restricting yourself not out of some deep, dark, childhood wounds (or ancestral, etc) but because there is a mechanism within you that doesn’t believe that you can move beyond a certain point on the spiritual path Who are you to feel power? Who are you to feel joy when others are struggling with so much? Who are you to be great or worthwhile or succeed or awaken? Who are we to feel divinity or oneness or grounded or heart-centered? Who are you to heal? Who are you to have a job that you love, to know what you are here to do? Who are you to know who you are on the deepest levels? Who are you to move beyond the blind pain and reactivity that the world and the people in it engage in? Who are you to be whole? We struggle so much with healing the parts of ourselves that are broken, frozen, disassociated and afraid. We come up with realities, and like a six year old putting on a super-hero cape, we pretend to be powerful and the “chosen one”. We pretend to be happier than we are, more complete than we are, superior to one another. All of this is a perpetuated outer reality created by inner pain and trauma. When we come to states that we have not felt before, we feel uncomfortable with the unknown, of treading new territory. Of experiencing what we have not before, and what sort of changes that will create. We fear our own greatness, what we could be if we really allowed ourselves to heal and become… instead of being a series of masks and illusions covering up our pain. We fear our authentic, powerful selves. One of our primal wounds is that of separation, and we fear really and truly being connected. Connected to ourselves authentically, connected to divinity. We fear opening our hearts, because in our woundedness we have closed them and have created protections around them. When that protection is in place, we cannot truly love one another. We are closed off, and are constantly looking at the world as if it were looking to wound us, to take from us. Opening this center requires moving beyond our various trauma and pain, but it also requires for us to move beyond the idea that we are worthless. That we deserve to be happy, that we deserve to be connected, that we deserve to be open and embodied and authentic in a world that is filled with people who are not. The thing is, of course, that if many people are willing to see their own immense worth, without the cages and masks and illusions, that it would create a revolution. One person can be a catalyst, a way to show others how to do the same. And that person could be you.

Yup, I've found that the more free and capable I become, the more responsible I feel for the world around me. When you expand, your zone of responsibility also expands naturally creating a sense of generosity and care to go along with that abundance. You want everyone and everything around you to feel this health and freedom, this joy and you get this inexhaustible well of happiness that comes from sharing in the joy of others on that road to health and happiness. In a way you naturally grow into becoming a world yourself. A world that contains everyone inside you in the same way the outer world contains you and everyone else inside it. While still having a distinct, individual core or flavored pattern. Such a position then naturally galvanizes a person to actually go out and work to make things better. Sharing and enlarging that goldilocks zone of health, freedom, and happiness while also protecting and nurturing that zone from corruption. You don't just sit there in a cave all isolated from people, trying to protect your bliss, while lacking the resiliency to wade in and be touched by the stress and suffering of others. Fuck... I am more sensitive to that suffering than ever before. It feels like my heart is being ripped out because the pain of others hurts so much, but I love and appreciate that pain. I gladly drink as much from that cup as I can because it softens my heart and brings me closer to both the beauty and fragility of humanity. Awesome post man and great questions!!! For me it goes back to that nuanced goldilocks zone of balance and harmony. You differentiate comfort so you can have comfort when you rest, but not so much comfort that you let drop things that are precious into that numbness and over certainty. You adapt with tension so what was uncomfortable becomes effortless and comfortable, but still dynamic and close to that edge of higher intensity tension that you can willfully move into when your are working and expanding rather than resting. This differentiates stability so you can choose between static atrophy and dynamic, ever expanding, but smooth stability and multi-dimensionality. And also when you get on track and find a "truer" way of seeing the world, you don't let that perspective fall into absolutes, because you stay connected to the possibility for more additions and new information, that expands and changes your view, while still being congruent with the foundation you're building upon. It's like a magnet with a piece of metal. When their close you can feel them tugging on each other to attach and the close they are, the more intense that pull. But, when they attach that pull, that tension expression of magnetism ceases. Growth comes from always keeping a bit of tension alive and never fully or absolutely attaching to one's current view of reality. You handle the tension and stay open to more. The whole doubting thing is a very complex topic to be honest. It changes as we change and grow, because it's modulated by many different capabilities. I've got around 13 different dynamic elements that I use to track all that. But anyways, an example of how it's modulated is with our rapport with pride and humility. I wrote the below a year or so ago and it kind of shows an example of what I'm talking about. What's awesome is this small shift in harmony and health between these two facets [of pride and humility] not only enhances my rapport, but also creates a cascade through my other capabilities. I can trust my own feelings more and internalize them deeper because my pride doesn't shroud them and my humility doesn't doubt them in the improper contexts. I can feel both my authentic pleasure and pain longer, because my past imbalance is no longer there to cut them off "mid-breath" with some form of invalidation. Both of these then also contribute over time to building a better me, with higher quality feelings and experiences changing my story and enhancing my potential as well as my reflections on my past and the beliefs tied to them.

@Dodoster Your ego is bleeding and it deserves nothing but unconditional love. All is one. I am awareness. I am nobody. I don't exist. Cool points bruh. How have you been feeling lately? Got any of that eternal bliss yet? The real work is coming into emotional wholeness through letting go of your attachments and drowning your ego in so much love, because it deserves it. Ego is the light in it's most dormant form. (Unconsciousness is a better word for it). And it will not set you free, until you give it the love it wants. ` Why do you think you say things such as "I dont think I will ever be enlightened." It is because your innerchild, the wisdom within you, the guardian to your bliss fucking knows. And it knows that if you treat it, or if you treat yourself, the way you do, you will be caught up in a love-less viscious circle of judgement and denial. In the name of love, and in the name of you, you are love, so let the heaven descend onto your being.

The thing is if you get enlightened you would not care about your career that much, and working at Walmart would be top bliss for you

And brutal honesty with your present moment experience - holding the experiencer, the subject and not attaching to the forms - forms include sensations, thoughts, emotions etc. Anything in the realm of the changeful. As long as your attention is on any object, the false I is there. "Oh I am experiencing bliss, I must be enlightened etc etc" The mind will say "just being" as if it's something it can do. No, the truth is you always are that. There can be 10000 waves in your awareness that are always doing doing doing, but you are not any of them. If you isolate your current sense of subject, of self, it will slowly start to dissolve and open up the space for truth to shine through.

Savanna scatters and the seabird sings So why should we fear what travel brings? What were we hoping to get out of this? Some kind of momentary bliss? I waited for something, but something died So I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived It's our dearest ally, it's our closest friend It's our darkest blackout, it's our final end My dear sweet nothing, let's start anew From here on in, it's just me and you I waited for something, but something died So I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived Well I guess it's over, I guess it's begun It's a losers' table, but we've already won It's a funny battle, it's a constant game I guess I was busy, when nothing came I guess I was busy (when nothing arrived) I guess I was busy (when nothing arrived) I guess I was busy (when nothing arrived) I guess I was busy I waited for something, but something died So I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived I waited for something, but something died So I waited for nothing, and nothing arrived nothing arrived Great topic by the way! I heard this song before but recently I heard it again and it really clicked with me.

I don't know what exactly he said, but there are different facets and qualities that "awakenings" can take. A good teacher or certain practices can point you in a certain direction. Sat: "Mountain of peace", Beingness, more a physical quality, "enlightenment on the level of gut" Chit: "enlightnement on the level of mind", spacious, empty, consciousness, vastness Ananda: "enlightenment on the level of heart", love, bliss, intimacy These are the main qualities that an awakening beyond ego can take. It is on the "I am"-level. True enlightenment goes beyond that and includes all of it. So, a good teacher point you directly at certain of these qualities, you can get a taste even if you are not enlightened. And certain teachers / practises are concerned mainly with one quality.

That's what some people here will tell you, but I personally find that line of thought to be bullshit and the product of extremism. There are a lot of escapists here, people who don't want to deal with their responsibilities, their limitations, their flaws, their challenges, their opportunities for growth, their false sense of superiority, their false sense of inferiority, their vulnerabilities etc. They want to be gods, invulnerable, living in a state of permanent ease and bliss. They don't want to put in effort and be vulnerable and build things. The very clear reality is, each one of us is a self-contained environment, with self-contained issues that need to be handled and harmonized. This self-containment does not mean isolation or separation, no instead it means distinction and difference WHILE STILL BEING CONNECTED AND A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER. We are both those self-contained environments and part of the larger self-contained environment that is a family or group, and a larger one that is a country, and a larger one that is humanity, and a larger one that is the planet, and a larger one that is the universe, and the largest of them all that is Life. It's a nested principle. Each nest is connected to a larger one and each nest requires time and consideration. None should be demonized or discarded as fake. They all matter. Each one superimposed on top of each other. Why choose to care about only one, when you can care about it all? Of course people will disagree with this, but in order for them to do so, they would have to discard or relinquish their consideration and responsibility for one or more of those nests, which again is bullshit, escapist, lazy, and selfish. So many of these no-self people are egotistical as fuck, to be honest with you. Their like little kids who think the whole universe revolves around them and they create it... yet they can't create a single damn thing in the physical world and instead escape to the safest and most secluded places they can find while other people take on the responsibility of life. All the while proclaiming how loving and enlightened they are. If you just fucking sit there all day, your love doesn't have shit behind it. No effort, no meaning, no actions to actually make things better and more harmonious. You have to touch the world, involve yourself in it, to be a difference.

Why would one should aim for bliss?