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Found 6,279 results

  1. Hi guys! I've been really trying to hone in my life purpose and I've been contemplating a lot about the topic, thinking deeply and trying to be the most honest possible. Before I knew Leo and his content, I was all about making money with some app or work for my father's business, bang a lot of chicks and travel the world. I really believed that this was going to bring me the happiness and fulfillment I craved. I read a while back that everything we do, we do it to be happy. The problem is we dont know what we dont know. Oh, the ignorance! After doing the Life Purpose Course, it was something like "Build systems to help society develop". It was a good first attempt. I've always been good at dealing with people and I can learn stuff pretty easily. I was always the one with the best grades and since I was a child, intelligence was a characteristic in my person. Anyways, I felt that my purpose was quite vague and I didn't feel that connected to it. What I knew is that I wanted to make something big, i wanted to create an organization, an empire, a kingdom with people that work with me to achieve this goal. As Steve Jobs said, "You can only connect the dots looking backwards", and it is 100% true. I knew that I was a very ambitious person, I wanted to do something, AND SOMETHING BIG! I moved to San Francisco just after finishing the Course. Here in the Bay Area, everyone is looking for that big home run, everyone is aiming to build a Facebook, a Snapchat, cash out and live "happily ever after". I must admit that it was difficult not to fall into this trap, but following your bliss is something that will pay in the long run. To recap, I knew I wanted to do something big and it was probably an organization that do something to help the world develop. Still vague. This year, I sat down and said: "Juan, you have to hone in this fucking life purpose, no matter what". That is what I did. After some thought I came with: "Build a business that makes people more conscious and developed". Hmmmm. Sounded good enough, but after posting it on the Forum and receiving some feedback, I realized that chasing business is not a good idea and could probably cause more harm than good in the long term. I had to sit down again and think. I realized I wasn't getting the life purpose components and I wasnt asking the right questions: - What is the impact you want to have in the world? - What do I love doing? - What area I want to become a master of? Difficult questions. Fucking difficult questions. This was a really long process. I really care about the environment, I care about poverty and I care about politics. But the real question is "which one are you willing to actually do something?" Which is the one that is the most important for you?". After contemplating the answer came up to me. It was education and human development. It became so obvious. This is the core reason we are having the problems we are having. We lack the understanding that is needed to be happy, to be productive, to have a functional world. I want people to study and learn the right things, the right methods, the right concepts. I want people to live out their fullest potential, to know how to deal with suffering, to get really passionate about wisdom. Great, I got my impact. Now... How the fuck can I be useful? How can I use my strengths to do it? I know I love learning and thinking. I always try to have a deep understanding about things. I love studying business, technology, science, politics, economics, physics and love how things start to click inside my head. I basically love wisdom and how to apply it. I love reading business books and see how can I apply them in my endeavors and so on. I'm a fan of Ken Wilber and his Integral Theory. I love complex problems like global warming, economics, humans in general, how they develop and so on. Okay, I got this part kind of handled. I want to make people more educated, wiser and developed. Now the how question. I love learning and thinking and designing solutions, and I wanted to build an organization. I'm left with 3 parts: - I wanted to make people wiser and developed - I wanted to build an organization - I love learning and thinking in integral terms After contemplating I thought it would lead to something like this: " Design holistic solutions that makes people more developed and wiser". I want to build the infrastructure for them so they can develop, be wiser, more efficient, more loving and more conscious. Imagine the possibilities!: - Courses made by me and other masteful instructors - Retreats in which people can meditate and get enlightened without any dogma. - Events - Change the education system so children can study this topics - Create an university for all of these topics! I think I'm closer to my life purpose. I just need to get started and let the dots connect themselves while I push forward. I really dont know what to do with my life if I dont do this. Personally, I see myself as someone very wise but knows how to take actions and change the world in a positive way. I see myself talking in events for ONU and talk about systemic problems. I definitely need to work on it but I think it is a good start and things will change as I take action. I hope I kind of inspire you and if you feel that I need some feedback, feel free to do it. Life purpose is a process, it is not a destination. You are in it right now, even if you dont realize it. You are here for a reason and the world needs you! And I need your help you change it!
  2. @PetarKa "A Paradox Of Life - If There Is No Good Or Evil, Then How Can We Say That Self-actualization Is The The Goal Of Life?" Good and evil, goals, are preferences. Some we easily agree on, some we don't. So there are 8 billion versions. Outside of those preferences, all is what it is. The question is, what do you prefer? You are free to make that preference your experience. Letting go is very relative to your life experience and current situations. You may need to let go of things that I have never experienced. Generally speaking though, there are 2 of me. The higher self / everything / God...and the ego, which chooses not to simply sit on a hill and bask in the bliss of everythingness. I love being both. I lead a very high energy full life. As careful as I am with my perspective, outlook, health, etc - I of course still accumulate resistant thought and emotion, like I assume everyone does. I do not proceed with it though. I have found a letting go process that works for me and has sticking power. When I learn new things, face challenges, etc, I feel a slight impurity or disharmony, so I do my letting go work to get empty again. Here's what I have found works for me: Sleep: Before you fall sleep, increase your awareness that we all wake up everyday with zero thought momentum. Waking: When you wake up, notice how you awoke with no thought momentum. Admit to yourself, that if you immediately fill your head back up with yesterday's thoughts, that is a choice you are unknowingly making. If this sounds foreign to you, give it a few mornings and you'll start to notice the choice. I have a piece of paper placed so I see it when I wake up that says "DO NOT THINK WITHIN 1 HOUR OF WAKING. DO NOT THINK BEFORE EXCERCISING". Your paper would probably say something different. Whatever works for you. I implement a mental / verbal excercise so that I don't think in a wandering way. I take deep breaths and focus on what a fucking miracle it is that I can take a deep breath. I notice the sweetness of it. The good fortune. The deliciousness. I play the 'my favorite' game. Everything I see (on the way to my coffee maker) I say "You're my favorite". - "You're my favorite blanket" "You're my favorite light switch" "You're my favorite steps" "You're my favorite cup" "You're my favorite coffee bean" It sets the state of mind I want. Then I have my coffee. (Which is really a cappuccino but I don't want to sound all cappucinoish) Meditation: Then I meditate. I focus on my breathing and let the thoughts, if any, pass right on through. I don't write them down. I don't try to remember them. I let ALL of them pass right on through. I don't identify with them. I am the everything. This non thinking meditation is easy because I have practiced every morning for twenty some years, and I have primed myself for it since the first second I woke up. I relax every little muscle from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I feel the wave of relaxation move through me. I do this 4 or 5 times, deeper and deeper, until I feel the tiniest muscles in my spine relax. Muscles I didn't even know were flexed. Day: Then, throughout the day, I notice in very black and white - someone's energy is higher than mine or lower than mine. (Not the person, the energy) If it's lower than mine, I am mindful to use compassion, never empathy. If it is higher than mine, I am mindful to use curiosity, humility and attention. This 'way' if you will, prevents most of the resistant thought that would later need letting go of. Next day, repeat. *Realizing how long this is. I hope it's helpful or at least worth reading. Godspeed.
  3. Whasup guys! After Leo posted Suzanne Segal's description of enlightenment, it sounds like really bizarre and not joyful at all. Do you think this was due to a lack of a proper framework? A lack of a proper practice in which this stage can be transcended? This description of enlightenment is really on point but it lacks the bliss of being that many teachers preach. After doing some research, she had another insight about the nature of reality in which she realized that she was everything. The question really is: which is the difference between a master that talks about the joyful mess of being vs Suzanne's empty life. Let's make an interesting discussion ?
  4. So if attachment = suffering. Does detachment = bliss? Which means satisfaction with the present moment? Also how do i detach myself from everything? Is that just the process of enlightenment? Is that meditation? Not too sure.
  5. Hi, First of all let me start by saying that I read all sorts of self-development books, I've heard all the cliche advice about doing what you love / having a purpose and yada yada yada. At one point, I was: meditating consistently had brief out-of-body experiences had measurable Law of Attraction results learned all the new age self-development jargon , etc... and I thought I was this awesome enlightened guy who loves everyone and helps everyone. That lasted maybe a few months until I realized that it's all just a silly phase . OBJECTIVELY looking at my life, absolutely nothing changed and I still have wild mood swings going from bliss to depressed in a matter of seconds. I want to do what I love. What I love sometimes includes meditating in solitude for a month. I also have expensive hobbies which can cost upwards of $4k per day (currently unable to enjoy my hobbies). I don't need to have a purpose in order to feel fulfilled. I feel fulfilled when I: 1.meditate 2.spend time with my family 3.enjoy my hobbies. I hate constantly thinking about how to earn money, I hate wasting my time on earning money. Yes, I am already a minimalist, I excluded all expenses which don't make me feel fulfilled. Meditation and enlightenment doesn't pay your medical bills and your property taxes in USA. I spend roughly 60hrs a week earning money just to cover basic expenses for me and my family. This takes away from what I really love doing. I have these crazy mood swings almost daily because of this.
  6. I do all those things. I feel it contributes to the bliss that is my life. It has not caused me any misery or cravings. On the contrary, it has made me notice a world I did not see before.
  7. Very nice description there I must say. Nothing about bliss or love. Which is good, so that people know what they're actually going for. I don't know why, but I laughed after reading the first two paragraphs. It was a positive laugh though, for some reason. After reading more I got a slight rush of fear, very subtle, when reading about the part where she describes that there was no one home when she's looking at her reflection. Not saying I have had this intense experience like she describes, but I've definitely had this when looking in the mirror lately. I think thats the reaction I got. The recognition of "no one home." Nice trip ahead I see... What do you guys think of the description? Had any similar experiences?
  8. I am inclined now to say that it does have to do with depth of enlightenment. In person, the presence of someone as enlightened as Peter Russell (or Leo;) may be very pleasant. But the presence of OSHO, Sadguru, Ramana Maharshi, Mooji, or Ram Dass? Profoundly loving, pure radiation of bliss. People go to Ram Dass retreats, for example, and they sob because of his presence alone.
  9. Consciousness != mind Emptiness != body The rest is more or less okay. Here's an idea of how to map it: Buddha = Jesus = God = you Consciousness = Awareness = Emptiness = Fullness = Divine Love Nothingness = No Self = God Ego = Mind = Sin = Devil = Hell Awareness = Holy Spirit Meditation = Prayer Reality = God Nirvana = Illumination = Kingdom Of Heaven = Bliss = Ecstasy
  10. Where to people get this idea of 'bliss' from? Happiness is not bliss, or excitement, or stimulation or any elevated positive mood. Happiness = peace of mind. It's not a mood, or an emotion. Therefore, yes, happiness is gained from detachment, Yes, precisely. They are the same thing. There really needs to be some clarification of what we are trying to acheive through personal development. The term 'happiness' is too often misused and misunderstood, and confused for 'bliss'. I see this time and again. Only an ego needs to look for 'bliss'. Bliss = a happy ego. Peace of mind = ego is irrelevent.
  11. You have to pass through the psychic realms because they lie between you and your innermost depth between you as you are and you as you will be. But you can pass through them with such jet speed that you never experience them or you can pass through them at a bullock cart’s pace. But if you are longing for psychic powers, even unconsciously, then even with a jet method you will behave as if you are in a bullock cart. If you have a keen desire to develop psychic powers then as you pass them you will be caught by them. We have inner longings that we are not even aware of. Our mind is basically power seeking: whether it seeks power in the outer world or the inner, it is always seeking power. One must be careful not to seek power. The psychic realm is there, and if you are seeking powers then you will be caught in them somewhere.

The outer world cannot give you as much power as the inner world; there is a great potential of power within. They are there, but if you seek them you will be caught in them, which will be pathetic, pitiable, because when you reach the psychic you are very near to the cosmic, to absolute bliss. You are near to the flower, but you have shut your hands over it. We must be cautious of psychic powers. They are there, but they are not of much significance in themselves. Inner power becomes absolute in the sense that you are not dependent on anybody else. You are the sole master of it so it becomes more egocentric. Outer power has corrupted man, but inner power has corrupted him more. It is not power itself that corrupts, because the divine also is power; rather, it is the seeking, longing ego that corrupts. If we are corrupt, then when power comes our corruption will be exposed. Before that it remains hidden. To be corrupt we need power. So one must beware of inner psychic forces. They exist, but do not look at them.
  12. @kuwaynej In personal development, you will be in constant cycles of crisis and bliss
  13. If things go right the future will keep on advancing and our understanding of the world will become more and more complete. Some people say we can expect a technological singularity where knowledge and technology will change the world so drastically we will not be able to keep up with the change. I think we already see that many people (especially older people) are slowly falling outside the technological era. The world has drastically changed since the industrial revolution and information exchange is at unbelievable rates (will reach around 2.7 Zetabytes till 2020!). We practically created as much information in the 21th centuary as in entire human existence, maybe even more. Big data will eventually reveal many underlying mechanics of all interactions of things. Machine learning will become more and more precise in predicting the future, weather, population growth, basically everything you can imagine. The question is, what will all this knowledge do with the human psychology? If you can predict your entire life, the mystical experience of new experiences fades slowly away. Reality becomes more and more solid and imagination which is our biggest driving force shrinks. What would you do if you know what most of your entire life would look like? The surprise element is what makes me really wonder but if all becomes so obvious then what is there to dream about? The other side of the coin would be a life where you know nothing, not even instincts and would die pretty quickly due to survival reasons. The middle of ignorance or not-knowing and knowing everything is the golden zone where you have enough ability to stay alive, build a life with some certainty but can always be amazed with new things. What do you guys think? Will all this new knowledge about psychological/physical patterns or cycles make the world a much better palace or is ignorance really bliss? I like knowledge more than anyone I know but also see the major downsides people don't really grasp yet. The world is a weird place haha..
  14. @ajasatya That's great to hear man. Follow your bliss #Hippie
  15. You will do more good with the guitar than with second option. Because the issue is never material. It's psychological and ultimately spiritual. People don't need your money, they need your passion, love, and happiness. If you earn shitloads of money and give it away to charity, you will actually contribute evil to the world. Because you're disconnected from yourself. When you're disconnected from yourself, you're a devil, no matter how much money you give to charity. Once you've betrayed yourself, you will certainly betray others. Because your true sin was giving into ego, giving into fear. That's the reason you betrayed yourself in the first place, and that pattern will only continue. Besides which, the world is perfect as it is, and doesn't need you to fix it. There is nothing you can do to make the world better. It's already perfect. So relax and follow your bliss. Your guilt is contributing to the suffering of the world. Guilt is a low-consciousness motivation with leads to evil. So do the world a favor and be happy, if you dare. How's that for a counter-intuitive move?
  16. That's brilliant. Do you mind if I ask you a couple more questions as I think you may be able to help, but I'll make it just this message so as not to take your thread off course? My background, I work long hours but read this forum and some snippets of books all the time. I'm a slow reader though so that book has taken all year. I have to keep putting it down each paragraph and think about it. I also suffer tiredness so I only get about one shot a day at meditation about 11 am after a couple of coffees. Any other time I fall asleep. (I fall asleep on bus, in waiting room, anywhere). But I've had a couple of mind expanding things occur which are really weird and 1 time I found complete bliss which was amazing. I am also getting real euphoria listening to music as a side product of all this. I also completely learn how to become completely aware in my garden which is fantastic. Now to take this further I tried self enquiry. The type where you analyse questions, I just don't get. I'm waiting for a voice to come back to me with the answers and none does. If I'm supposed to think up an analytical answer to the question, then I have no way of confirming it's accuracy and I could be inventing answers that are simply wrong. So I switched to the other type of self enquiry (don't know where I read about this) where you ask "who am I", and "who is it that is having this thought", and similar questions. After about 15 minutes I started feeling real sick and my mouth was filling with saliva. I thought it was a glass wall I needed to go through so kept pushing it but then fatigue and boredom also crept in and after 5 or 6 pushes I was thwarted and had to stop. But before I did stop my questions turned to mumble, like not of any language. Weird hey? I just wondered if you knew where was the best direction to go next, what with the difficulty I have meditating and my confusion over self enquiry. Any thoughts at all are really appreciated!
  17. @Callum A." I took nndmt without having any prior knowledge of it. I had no experience with eastern spirituality or meditation. I was an atheist at the time though I was raised catholic. When I took the dmt, I went though all the normal stages of dmt and was completely convinced that I had died and was on the other side. I was freaking the fuck out. There were a lot of amazing visuals. But I kept trying to think of my home and my family and my familiar settings. Through force of will I brought myself back in to normal earth world for a few moments, and was panicking "holy shit!" "holy shit, I'm dying!" . Someone I was with said "it's ok". In that moment I intuited that I had no where else to go, but to go within. So in that moment I directed my mind to go within my self. In that moment I was transported to a realm made of white light. There was a being that was radiating light standing right in front of me with a rainbow aura looking down on me and smiling and I was instantly filled with the most overwhelming amounts of love, compassion, warmth, comfort, safety, bliss, and peace. All fear and discomfort was completely and utterly dissolved in this experience. It was incredibly crystal clear and realistic."
  18. @BeginnerActualizer Im gonna bring in a little knaawledge that I accumulated about the energy in your body, emotions and chakra system. Base line is this. Whenever you feel continuous lasting dystatisfaction, your emotional system is out of wack. You have repressed trauma stored in your body. You can look at it as mood being amost physiological rather than "mental" (whatever that would mean). Mood is a biological addiction in your body. Why? You have experienced trauma in your past, situations that were emotionally distressing, but you didn't allow yourself to express the emotion properly. It got stored within your nervous system, and blocked the energy flow which would bring clarity, and underlying happiness that comes with being aligned with reality. Emotionally and energetically you are living a fragment of what you're capable of as a human being. Bring in the chakra system. What you wanna focus here on is the first 4 chakras - starting from the top - heart - solar plexus - sacral - root Once you cleanse all of those, not only you gain clarity, but you will as well gain the ability to integrate your "lower-self" (which you can see as the manifestation of the energy of the first 3 chakras) into enlightenment work and wisdom. How - not that complex really, the hard part is sticking with it because it is a lenghty process. Use the following techniques: - Pranic/Abdominal breathing - talking therapy - mindfulness meditation - emotional release techniques, from body-work to yoga, exercise >> remember, always have the intention to release trauma, and the right technique will come to you in time what is the saying.... "teacher comes, when student is ready"?? something like that =D. This is just a quick summary, do more research on this, watch Leo's videos on emotions and EQ, read up on chakras and emotional repression, there is some great stuff out there, recently I posted on this forum a topic with a video "Shadow-work meets biology", look it up. Remember, your base-line is contentment. Our bodies are hard-wired for bliss. Shit just got in the way.
  19. This is not coming from any school of thought or theory, but this is my experience. I took nndmt without having any prior knowledge of it. I had no experience with eastern spirituality or meditation. I was an atheist at the time though I was raised catholic. When I took the dmt, I went though all the normal stages of dmt and was completely convinced that I had died and was on the other side. I was freaking the fuck out. There were a lot of amazing visuals. But I kept trying to think of my home and my family and my familiar settings. Through force of will I brought myself back in to normal earth world for a few moments, and was panicking "holy shit!" "holy shit, I'm dying!" . Someone I was with said "it's ok". In that moment I intuited that I had no where else to go, but to go within. So in that moment I directed my mind to go within my self. In that moment I was transported to a realm made of white light. There was a being that was radiating light standing right in front of me with a rainbow aura looking down on me and smiling and I was instantly filled with the most overwhelming amounts of love, compassion, warmth, comfort, safety, bliss, and peace. All fear and discomfort was completely and utterly dissolved in this experience. It was incredibly crystal clear and realistic. I don't know how it would apply to lsd, but I could posit the not dogma guidance of directing your mind to go within yourself.
  20. A little background...I'm 23, live in England and work for the national health service (tax funded) in blood sciences. We basically run blood tests to help aid doctors with diagnosis and treatment of patients. The government in this country is currently conservative and funding to public healthcare is insufficient. Our lab doesn't have enough staff to meet current work demands and budget is very tight so new staff won't be recruited anytime soon. I'm just an assistant at the moment and I've always undervalued my own capabilities because society always basically told me I was worthless lol. But recently i've started to think for myself and work hard because I refuse to let people die because of this abyssmal staffing situation. I care about the work, i work overtime for free because I'm unable to get it paid due to shitty budget. People look at me like I'm fucking weird doing that, I didn't realise how cynical people truely are.. But it's not their fault. They think I'm trying to prove something to them or I'm just a screw loose... But I'm just sticking to my principles and trying to make as big a difference as I'm able. I care so much about all of the staff in our team, they're all my friends and I care about them dearly. I tried to make them believe in themselves more but I ended up offending a whole host of people. After escaping the box and seeing how fucking dispirited and insecure all my friends were people I care about... People I looked up to even. It just shook me up i don't know. I had a bit of an existential crisis and felt like I wanted to go back to the old perspective I had, it was just a lot to take in... Ignorance is bliss and all that. I went to seek advice from who I thought was the wisest person in the lab and basically self destructed... I said... "You're secure in yourself right? I've gained some confidence for the first time in my life and my perception has been enhanced so dramatically.... The world is so much worse off than I realised before and I feel like I'm loosing my fucking mind but schizophrenics usually don't question their sanity so much right????" A complete rookie mistake spouting this shit so openly, I don't blame them for thinking I'm crazy lol.That's how i'd react to what I said too prior to all this happening. Idk I've been very unfiltered recently since I stopped feeling judgement as viscerally. They have a duty of care and I don't imagine they would let a "psychotic" individual perform work that has a significant impact on patients health if mistakes are made. Anyways I'm trying to maintain motivation and pour my free time into learning the craft but it all seems like wasted effort if they're just going to fire me for insanity anyways. I'm not giving up though, they haven't fired me yet but they're all very wary of me. But yeah the past few days have been a bit of a rollercoaster for my esteem and my esteem is totally affecting my behaviour and it appears to be affecting the way I speak/sound subconsciously. I basically wanna appear normal for a while to avoid getting fired from the job I love but whenever I do feel good about myself people see it as "abnormal behaviour". Also I'm sour about the fact I fucked up and damaged my relationship with all of my colleagues/friends. Does esteem affect your behaviour dramatically or is this just my own complex. I suppose most of you are a bit more grounded than me, but I'm quite new to all this and I still undervalue myself and berate myself in my head a lot lol. I've blamed a lot of my behaviour on chronic sleep deprivation lol. Anyways I appreciate the response, sorry about the word salad.
  21. I'm also open to enhancing my meditation in a natural way! I want to use my meditation to deepen my mental state or have altered states or have this deep bliss or this spontaneous fit of laughter! I want to be more experimental meditation and i've been spending this week and the past few weeks doing guided meditation but I want to take my meditation to deeper levels and to achieve the peak experience and flow states and where I behave spontaneously and authentically. I've been drinking hot lemon tea and peppermint tea and oolong tea while meditating because it feels deeply relaxing!
  22. Sage like Life Version 1 (hardcore version) Ramana Maharshi style... Or Jesus? Buddha... That kind of guys... Everyone calls you lazy, hates on you for years, you attain enlightenment and... Bliss out! Then you develop deep self mastery and become a teacher experiencing true worship from you drop out of nowhere disciples. + supermind or clear light whatchamacallit, perfection, edge of human experience and self mastery - (highened mortality) bad finances and health, you won´t reach a really broad audience (unless your disciples do the marketing for you and create a youtube channel or somethin´), no paper written qualifications therefore no status in the mainstream sense (might stop many people from taking you serious) Sage like life Version 2 making a living while nearby working on enlightenment, on deepening and making it constant. Doing research, gain insights and then write books (have you noticed how many sages are authors?!), maybe give seminars or do arts.... + you will have a social presence, reach and inluence many, you will be able to consider the multiple perspectives that out of ongoing discussion with others you will have access to, your studies will materially supported, there will be room for all kinds of relationships if wished - you will not have much time for really intense and close teaching (unless you get paid for it maybe), you will ahve to keep a sense or function of self and personality, you will be very surrounded by peoples suffering, your spiritual practises might suffer under your bussiness or family or whatever responsibilities, you will have to handle critics and competition Sage like life Version 3 the scientist sage, life devotion to a double life where you study similar or very related but seemigly never unifiable aspects or functions of consciouness in a spiritual and a scientific context/understanding. Your bread and butter is both meditation and testing hypothesis... On the one hand you embrace the state of not knowing and on the other you constantly expore and try to understand what does not seem to be understandable. You get enlightened sometime between earning diplomes, writing and reading papers... + gaining an audience won´t be that hard (unless your theories are crappy), perspectival exchange will be an everyday phenomenon, you might actually discover something that might spark great change in the world or at least be qualitative considerable knowledge and food for thought for others... - you will be surrounded by knowledgegraph phanatics, especially naive realists like no where else, you might get very stressed, you might understand the world but go crazy. Time will always be against you. You will be alone. The spiritual people will call you a materialist and the scientific people will call you a mystic... Well okay, who cares about that... Okay, I´m tired... YOU tell me where the heck balance is supposed to be found in this opportunity mess.
  23. Why? Well, Ralph, from Infinite Waters, explains it. I posted this in another thread. What he said here makes sense to me. Leo also explains... When you experience Infinity, you might have noticed that you're left with a huge residue of bliss or "divine love" that came along with it. Well, what Ralph and Leo are trying to explain matches the meaning of love via infinity. "There is no you." "We are one." "We are everything / nothingness." "We are infinite awareness / peace. Our ego is fictional." Ok. We get it. So? The question is, what are you going to do now with this wisdom?
  24. Thanks for the questions and response. Well I am 17 so I don't know how young you think I look in the picture to be fair a lot of people think I am like 14 or younger although I did start personal development at 15 but only really got serious into this non dual field when I was 16. Before that I was focused on other areas of life. I got started into a number of insights I learnt through my highschool years that shaped my life forever. I had an exstistencial crisis as a teenager which was strange but a sudden occurance of the impermanence of life led me to a lot of different questions I felt driven to answer. I think my love for cinema as a child actually helped too start this search also since I was always seeing different worlds and perceptions and characters each day which made it apparent to me a lot of things I wouldn't due to the beauty of been able to see different perspectives on the world. If I'm honest I'm not 100% sure what led me to go towards this path I just think I've always had an intuition that there is something more & I've just been curious about discovering why we are here. I think just the way events panned out that were out of my control led me to where I am. I had a first long term relationship during highschool that ended which affected me a lot in those years. I started to read self help and do fitness from there and although I know it was the pretty shallow form of self help it did introduce me to a lot of different information. I was watching actualized.org but when Leo wasn't talking about the stuff he was now. His shift happened about a similar time as mine. As Aroung the age of 15 I became homeless due to family issues such as divorce, abuse etc. That was when an even major shift happened that I decided I really have to take ownership of my one life now and matured a lot through that difficult period. With young kids I recommend you just keep being an example for them and spend time doing fun stuff with them that is related to personal development might help. It's like if you were or are a Dad that loves football if you keep playing it with them and watching it around them most of the time the child will too in my experience since they really do take a lot in from there parents idea of what is a worthwhile interest. Try meditate and do yoga around them and as they get older (if they refuse to do it now) ask them if they want to join in and teach them. Take them to interesting retreats, events and country's to expand there minds. Read children books to them based around the personal development or spiritual or scentific topics you love. The famous book "the little prince" is one of them that can teach them interesting philosophy's to grow up with. Of course there are many many more though you just have to look into it deeply but I believe this is a useful way. You can do the same with all forms of entertainment they love. Just introduce them to a variety of diffekinds even the more socially "weird" ones. Being introduced to many different perspectives on life, relationship, suffering, death, morality, religion, science etc greatly influenced me so I'm only speaking from personal experience. I think the environment your kids live in is important too though so the school, neighbourhood, friends, teachers, media all shape the type of things they will be interested in growing up and some of them can be out of your control if you don't want to be a controlling father. Overall I'm not a father so I'm not the only person you should be asking so maybe someone else on this forum can help you out. I hope this has benefitted you though Also by when I mean pleasurable sensations are ego percieved I don't mean they are wrong or should be denied but mean that they aren't any sort of awakening as it will pass. If you have a genuine enlightenment experience you can feel the mostly divine bliss and peace you can ever feel but it's not dependent on the body's emotions. You become the stillness infinite timeless space that is within everything. I'm talking about emotions like anger, sadness, pleasure such as sexual relief or the feeling when you have a good meal since all those pass and are not a constant. These are not wrong in any way and I'm not saying don't try feel pleasure but what we are looking for is what has always been there throughout our lives at all times. Becoming fully aware of that is enlightenment although the best term would be awakening since it isn't as flashy.
  25. @aryberry I think the subject at hand is knowing one's self. Which leads to knowing one's Self. There's a deep discovery of self honesty that I think you are going through. Like "what do I want, really?" And "How much do I want to work for things or opportunities for purchasing or traveling or whatever?" "How much time do I want to spend working for something vs just living and chilling?". My two cents is keep going deeper but make a conscious change to approach everything with ease and positive emotion. Use meditation as a reset anytime you feel less than awesome. There is no rush. You have forever. You are perfect where you are. It is perfect to question anything. Everything will always work out. You are as worthy watching a rerun of Friends as you are in solving world hunger. YOU are worthy, not your actions. You are expanding the experience of the universe no matter what you are doing. If you sit and stare at the wall, you are adding an exceptional experience to the universe. You are the only you that has ever existed. No one has ever experienced being you staring at a wall before. It is all appreciated. You ARE worthy of everything. Perhaps, you have categorized and assigned emotions to things. Like "work" is not fun for example. Like doing your favorite leisure activity is more enjoyable than running an errand. Maybe you want to consider a different line of work. Maybe you want to find the bliss that lies in doing any type of work. But what is for sure, is that this is your reality. This whole thing is you. When you say it is all ok, then it is all ok. Allowance. Creation. Acceptance. Let go of resistance. Allow.