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@Ross If you don't get into enlightenment work straight away it can be really useful to practice some pre-spiritual philosophy. Ask yourself questions like: What is thought? What is a belief? What is language? What is success? What is truth? What is right/good or wrong/bad?? What is a purpose? What is desire? What is time? What is reality? Who am I? What makes me, me? If you keep these questions open and you start gathering answers to them from a wide variety of sources your belief structure will stay flexible and you will naturally be more open-minded. This will make things easier later on. Speaking from personal experience (I'm doing this young) it has been BRUTAL, but I can say that nothing can compare to some of the things I have experienced. I once watched a leaf falling from a tree and went into a state of bliss so deep I thought I would actually die.

When there is that state of pure self or pure being, the bliss of that experience arises from the very fact that there is no content. Empty awareness is being experienced. But so is time. I have a general idea of how long I have been in that state. That's the part that I kind of have a problem with, time. All I can suggest is try experiencing what I am talking about and decide for yourself. Or maybe you have already. It does feel a lot like when deep sleep happens. But I remain in my posture. My head doesn't nod or anything. Just for the hell of, try it sometime. When your in that deep state of silent bliss beyond all thought and there is just a silent witness, dissolve into it. See what happens.

WOW lot of you's and I's in there, is that what non duality is???? there is no mention of I in ones post on this particular thread. check out ones original post on subitism where's the bliss. there is no I.

@Infinite "Am I not understanding here". Same question. Could each of our minds be just a refection of each other? Two mirrors facing each other? "When one is unaware". What becomes unaware? That's the paradox. What remains or returns to know that a total void happened while meditating? There is no experience or awareness to bring back but something remains to know that. Non-existence is beyond all "known" awareness. Awareness is a part of the manifest realm as far as what we are discussing as mind and knowing. Does pure awareness continue to be present within the non-manifest/void? Mind will never know that. I've experienced a state of pure being. Nothing but the pure bliss of empty awareness ( Samadhi?) But mind can recall all of the experience. Samadhi being a state of bliss, a bridge between the mind and the absolute void of non-existence?

Nothing I have written is true. I can only write from awareness of experience and knowledge and there are limitations to both. I can only speak within language and there limitations to language. Satan has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm writing about, sin and love have nothing to do with it either. There is only an omni-present awareness of nothingness. I quote "You twist everything with your beliefs and the lense in which you see reality and the filters in your mind" There are limitations to beliefs and there are limitations to the you that you call yourself. Any feeling other than the unconditional love enshrouded in reality and you are in disaccordance to your existential nature or being you could say. Is it making sense now? I'm talking on another plain, your existential existence and the realization of nothingness. My entire post is very nihilistic. But you only perceive it that way. You see things negatively, but there is nothing to be negative about, there is only unconditional love ever-present in realty. Your self image is blinding you from seeing this. Imagine being ever present in pure bliss for eternity. This isn't some Eutopean fantasy. Your level of awareness blinds you from seeing it. It's with you now, it has always been with you. Your entire life is a distraction from even being aware of it. But your existential being always knows it is there buried deep down or hidden in the core of your soul. You spend your whole life chasing your own tail. You are trapped in the neurosis of your mind if you aren't the very pure awareness of it. Don't fool yourself, you are not ready. Even as I write this I am not even close to ready, not even on the tip of the iceberg of it. This is all just cute philosophy according to what I am speaking of. There are limitations to knowledge. Knowledge is completely irrelevant. What we refer to as knowledge now, does not see outside the limitations of knowledge. Imagine being able to accept any energy that comes in your existence. Be able to be every single emotion in it's purest form. You block out the energy of others. It goes against your belief and you experience disconnection to unconditional love. This is why everyone has flaws, every being has a different personality and existential existence. Everything and everyone are connected. Connected deeply to the core of reality. Everything is reality and everyone is reality, unseparated. Unconditional love which is deep in the soul of every being and all of reality is the only thing that can connect us back to our deepest being. Which is why you can see the fiction of all beliefs. Beliefs create the very feelings you feel. Wouldn't you rather be relaxed and blissful in unconditional love in the ever-present moment? No, because you don't drop these beliefs, they are so woven into your self image. You use all your energy in an endless loop preserving your self image. You have a unique way in which you see and think how the world works. You will give your all to preserve your self image, defending it until your deathbed. You dislike the way people are and you are just waiting for the world to change, not realising that reality is already perfection. Change yourself and the world will change. But did anything really change, or do you just see it differently now? Relaxation is what you are. Stress is what you think you should be. The way people interact with you now is completely different. Did they change? No. You missed so much in people. You missed so much in yourself. You have context completely fly over your head. You don't see the beauty in every soul and the majesty of reality. "You hold that there is no God and also many other beliefs about how reality works, like for example that objects are made out of atoms. And these beliefs are fictions! Yet you don't drop these beliefs precisely because they are woven into your self-image to such an extent that if you ever did succeed in dropping them, your very existence as a human being would come into question. "You" would literally die. The body would remain. Which is called enlightenment (AKA God). So actually we could say that your atheism is directly preventing you from seeing God. That's the language that a Zen Master or Yogi might use. But which is often misconstrued by pre-rational and rational people as mysticism or fairytales. Notice how you start off by saying, "I am an atheist." In fact, "you" are a fiction equivalent in absurdity to a bearded man in the clouds. So the very first words out of your mouth are already false! And this is not a mere triviality or ad hominem attack, this is THE WHOLE point! Every false belief creates the sense of YOU. And that's all YOU care about, is protecting YOU! As long as you feel comfy, as long as YOU are alive, all is good. If not, all hell breaks loose. If I call you a racist idiot, your psyche automatically puts up a defense without even considering that you might be one. Notice that your very criterion for truth is an emotion of comfort and security. If it makes you feel secure and more like a real self, it is called true. Otherwise, false. But in actuality, truth is irrelevant to you. Yet you tell yourself otherwise. And so this one assumption has already tainted the very foundation of all "your" reasoning. You will now live your whole life (which isn't yours by the way) -- just like the religious person -- and NEVER question this assumption seriously. So your epistemic position is IDENTICAL to an Islamic fundamentalist. Like seriously! I'm not kidding. This shit is real and it's happening to you right now as you read this very sentence. And sadly, even as you start to suspect this, the illusion and dogma is so deep you still can't break free! Tomorrow, after this discussion is long forgotten, you will slip back into unconsciousness, back into fundamentalist illusion, dismissing one as a crackpot and all this as cute philosophy. And yet, you will also live for the rest of your life in fear of the truth, distracting yourself with every form of distraction invented by man just so long as you can avoid doing the investigation I'm telling you to do. You do intuitively sense that your life is a lie, right? That your life is a distraction from this truth? Your career, your girlfriend, your family, your friends, your favorite movies -- all of it is a distraction from this one thing: your fear of death. Which of course you should fear, because you are a fictional entity. You fear death as much as the fundamentalist fears having his religion questioned. That's not a coincidence. That's because you two share the very same ego structure! Yes, one can apply logic and reason to see the inherent limitations of logic and reason and thus transcend it. You are aware of Godel's Incompleteness theorem, yes? Which proves that every sufficiently complex language system (i.e., math, logic, science, English) is inherently incomplete, meaning that there are truths that exist outside of every language which are real but cannot be demonstrated within the system? Kinda a big deal, huh? But conveniently swept under the rug. You don't get to spirituality through faith. You get to spirituality through rationalism. Spirituality is what occurs when rationalism eats itself alive, like the snake eating it's own tail. Once the snake eats itself, nothing remains. And that's what spirituality is: the realization of Nothingness. But none of this can make sense logically because you're trying to use logic to make sense of itself without realizing what logic actually is. It's not what your ego tells you it is. It's like you're trying to fix a defective microscope by using another defective microscope. This, in a nutshell, is the entire absurdity of the science vs religion debate. ( @Leo Gura, actualized.org)"

Finished up all the formal sitting for the day. The first 4 hours weren't very enjoyable. Though I know from experience that I'll usually experience extreme bouts of bliss and tranquility after unbearable sits. The 5th hour of sitting was quite enlightening. A few thoughts such as "How lucky I am to be on this path." and "It gets better than this?" would cross my mind. Accompanied with a strong celebrative joyous feeling in my chest. Sometimes the few hits of contentment, peace of mind and exuberance are all I need to stay vigilant during those grueling sits. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

@Neill great answer, dude! I'm studying computer science and I'm normally doing a lot of very abstract math or programming myself. I see it the following way: First of all, this is my number one passion. I love to see great structures that begin to live if I execute my programs. For me that's pure magic. Also, I'm totally in flow and love the stuff I do. If that is the case for you as well, why not go on? Doing anything isn't devilish per definition. You can and some say should use any task to realize your own being. If that's meditation, great. If that's walking around, great. Cooking, having sex, conversations, programming? All great. It's about how you go about it. Will you forget enlightenment and go back to the normal world living in the matrix or do you use your passions and interests to embody and see your true nature? So, you have to decide for yourself. However, on the long run I can also see your point with living the simple life. For me personally, my plan is to integrate my enlightenment work with my passions for now (I'm 20 years old) and then later I plan to shift it more into probably being a yogi, just sitting all day somewhere in Canada out in nature, experiencing pure bliss (or maybe in a Zen monastery, who knows yet). But this takes some planning and I have enough time left to really hit my passions deeply at first and then use the wealth I built to shift to the simpler life. So, that's my plan.

You will no believe You will not believe. I was in a train with nothing to do. You can't think of anger which was inside me. In India we have Lord Hanuman.we chant Hanuman chalisa. In that there is a stanza "if you repeat this 100 times you will get free from all traps and will experience ultimate bliss" It's a long chalisa. I had already tried it. 1st day with all my potential I chat it 100 times ,nothing happened. I thought am doing wrong. May me I did it 99 or 101. So again after a month or so I again chat it 100 times. Well I thought again I would had done wrong. After some more attempt I quit. Then. The steps were 1.I was very angry with my god I have which I believed from childhood.So I tried to find what is there I am worshipping. 2. for self enquiry I compared myself with a new born child which we all were. 3.as the one who has not opened his eyes he does not know light. All the imagination had light so I discarded all visual effect in my mind. 4.also i was talking to myself in Hindi which is feed in mind it's not real it's made up and this is not me. 5 I replaced it with om sound and concentrated on my forehead. Becoz I need to focus somewhere Then I was there without any sound or feel of body. THE MAIN THING IS HOW CAN YOU RELATE YOURSELF WITH THE BODY BACK. NO SOUND NO NAME NO MEMORY A BLACK HOLE BUT FEAR OF UNKNOWN.

@Socrates Yep. We could eliminate death. We could slow our passage of time by speeding up our computation. We could live inside virtual worlds that we can customize just by the power of will. We could add any kind of sensory input to our experience, as well as any kind of output to our body. We could adjust the level of emotional satisfaction we feel towards every single thing you could think of, and more. One day, we might even forget what animals, trees and rocks are, if we decide to fundamentally change the nature of subjective experience to such a radical degree. Like I said : And what comes out is pure unrestricted creativity and bliss. Nothing like the petty (but realistic) human ambitions @Leo Gura portrayed, up to now at least.

Once a gentleman came to a doctor complaining that there was something severely wrong with him. He was hurting all over and was very sad but all the tests came out normal. The doctor said, “There is nothing wrong with you. Go to the circus and watch the clown there. He will make you laugh.” The gentleman said, “Doctor, I am that clown.” It is one thing to entertain others and be humorous, but quite another to be happy yourself. Happiness does not come by a talent or skills that you develop. Unless you realize who you are, what the nature of consciousness is through your own introspection, happiness remains a far-fetched reality. The spirit of self enquiry in the true sense which leads to meditation is absolutely essential in this quest for happiness. The 6th century Indian philosopher and thinker Adi Shankaracharya has said that it is dispassion towards the ephemeral and connection with the eternal that brings true joy. In fact, he goes further and asks, ”What joy does detachment not bring?” The word for solitude in Sanskrit is ‘ekant’, meaning ‘the end of loneliness’. Loneliness cannot end by changing company, even if it is more sympathetic and understanding. It can only end when you discover your real nature for yourself. Robin Williams, though he made millions of people laugh, could not end the deep seated loneliness inside him. This shows clearly that only spiritual solace can take you out of despair and misery. External pomp and show, wealth, admiration and adulation are not helpful in dealing with inner discontent. While alive, he made people laugh and in his death, he gave people a message to lift their eyes above the mundane towards something higher. You can bid goodbye to misery by connecting with an altogether different dimension, that I would say is solidified silence, a bolt of bliss and a glimpse of eternity, which is in you as you. You simply have to tap into it. There is little use in having a machine which you cannot operate without a manual. Spiritual knowledge is like the manual for life. Just like to drive a car, we have to learn how to operate the steering wheel, the clutch, the brake and so on, to move towards stability of the mind, we must know the basic principles about our life force energy. This is the whole science of pranayama. When our prana or life force keeps fluctuating, our mind also goes up and down through the roller coaster of emotions. One cannot handle the mind from the level of the mind. It is for this reason that although counseling or psychiatry seems to help in the beginning, it is not able to provide a complete cure in the longer term. Just forcing positive thoughts on oneself is not enough and more often than not leads to a relapse. Medication like anti-depressants also seem to help only in the beginning and eventually make the person dependent on them rather than free him/her from the tendency. This is where knowing the secret of breath can really transform lives. Breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya stabilize our life force and consequently the mind. The inner dimension unveiled by the practice of meditation deeply enriches us and its impact slowly spills over to all aspects of life. As prana rises in the body, one starts to feel a transformation as direct experience and not as a forced mental exercise. One starts becoming happier, creative and more in command of their mind and emotions. Another thing that can be really helpful in coming out of depression is developing an attitude of service. Thinking ‘what can I do for society’, getting involved in a bigger cause shifts the whole focus of life and can take one out of the rut of ‘what about me’. Societies where values of service, sacrifice and community participation are ingrained do not have these issues of depression and suicides. The Sikh community is a great example of this. Life is a combination of happiness and pain. Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.Having a broad perspective on life gives you the strength to move forward through painful times. Know that you are very much needed in this world. With all its infinite possibilities, this life is a gift for it can become a fountain of joy and happiness not just for oneself but for many others as well.

Yeah, kind of. Though you don't even have to advance like you were doing something wrong now and in two month you advanced to something other. Does your experience while meditating change w/ time? Definitely. I started out feeling very bored, shitty, sometimes pissed, scared and now after a year I sit down for an hour and for most time it is pure bliss. Even if I have a meditation in which a lot of shit purges out of my head, it is still bliss to me. I can sit in a lotus-like posture w/o any pains whatsoever. But this needs to develop over time. I'm not more advanced than you, I just probably purged more shit out of my system so my meditation manifests a little different. So, the takeaway is: Be patient. Everything else comes with time. Personally, my meditation benefits - or let's say nice side effects - started a week after I started the practice. I stopped biting my finger nails w/o intending to do so, after I did it since I can remember. This is typical, because meditation lets inner stress go. The second "achievement" was that I stopped smoking cigarettes two months later w/o intending to do so too - and I was a very passionate full-time smoker. I just got up one day and had the sudden realization that I can't go on this way. A few weeks after that relaxation + concentration levels started to get over the top and since then I experienced a lot of similar stuff - deep meditative states, seeing glimpses of the self, having deep realizations about reality and life and so on. Basically, I go through different phases every month that peal away the layers of bullshit I built up over the years and show me kinda artfully what is out there. You will encounter with enough practice what for "not-meditating human beings" can seem like super powers (to some extend). Like feeling extremely comfortable in high-stress environments, being on purpose highly relaxed and/or concentrated, start hallucinating on purpose like you are on acid/shrooms and a lot of similar stuff. With meditation all of these are stages you go through and you will be amazed by them. So to the sum this up, no it's probably not placebo with your first benefits. I used to think that too in the beginning because one is not experienced with what is coming with meditation. So lay back, and enjoy the ride. You are definitely doing the right thing here. Cheers, Arik

It's been a few days but, wow, I've had some POWERFUL and life-changing experiences. My perspective on the world has begun to completely transform. I'm going to have to re-read/listen to a variety of personal development content because I just see things so differently now. I am only through about 2/3rds of the "core concepts" but I believe I have already found my "bliss". It came to me spontaneously one night while lying in bed reflecting on a very unsatisfying and, somewhat unpleasant, conversation with my girlfriend. I was talking to her about some of thoughts related to enlightenment and described this conflict I was having between my "inner demons" which were pushing me to pursue that which would manifest material wealth instead of pursuing enlightenment. Throughout our "conversation" she just sat and stared at me blankly, offering nothing. I had solicited for feedback from her a few times but it was all very cold and forced. This bothered me. A lot. As I was lying in bed I was reflecting on a variety of things related to this experience and why this bothered me so much. But, it just sort of hit me "it bothers me because deep conversations are my thing. Oh, deep conversations are my thing!" The language used to describe this isn't very powerful but it was a moving experience. Deep conversations are something that many people enjoy but I have always sought out friends and strangers alike to better understand what their life-experience is like. A genuine curiosity. Throughout this process I have raised my awareness and become conscious of this. Other people have also recognized this in me as well. I still want to keep my mind open to other possibilities but if nothing else, this has been a great experience for how I could find other purposes should this one not pan out to be as practically applicable. The conversation around enlightenment was triggered by Leo's most recent video about enlightenment and had an enormous impact on me. I was already suppressing the belief that I should be pursuing enlightenment and he pretty much said "you're a fucking idiot if you're not pursuing enlightenment". For a while I was conflicted about how that would fit in with my life purpose but, I realized "Enlightenment wouldn't get in the way of my passion, it would supercharge it". The depth of compassion and rapport that I would be able to develop in conjunction with my natural analytical abilities, ect.. How I've Consumed the Course's Material The method that I have developed has been very effective in saturating my mind with these concepts and I think it has facilitated this transformation. The videos for this course are not downloadable or accessible offline in any way and initially I thought that was kind of annoying but I recognized that this is actually a hidden gift. Here is what I do: First time through, I watch the video seated at my desk, free of distractions. I take notes via a digital notepad and review the notes at the end of the video. I have only skipped notes on a few of the videos as they covered concepts presented in books that I had already read and was very familiar with. Throughout my day I will re-listen to the videos that were particularly interesting/valuable while doing other activities (driving, doing chores around the house, ect..) to make sure that I fully understand the concepts presented. I also have friend at work and my girlfriend who are interested in some of these concepts so, where possible, I teach them about the ideas presented and their application. This way, I have to understand the concepts completely and fully so that I can explain them and answer questions about them. As Leo has mentioned in some of his earlier videos, you need to work the course harder than it is working you. Your results will be proportional to the amount of energy you invest in the program. If you actually want to change your life, it is going to take a lot of work. That's why nobody does it!

lol ok that was funny BUT!! Just imagine: I force the dalai lama to work 16h shifts in an indonese i-phone manufacture, scourging him to put together 2 random pieces faster and faster (those workers also don´t get weekends free so neither gets he) ...and 1 year later or 5 years later ...let´s see if he is still in bliss after a double-shift of that work knowing he will have to do it for the rest of his life ...he will be soooo happy definatly! Fuck the real-life circumstances ...you ONLY!!! need enlightenment...

I don´t need to become enlightened! It is just a word, some person came up with at some point ..which is fine. If i reach a state on that someone would call me "enlightened" he can do it ...i don´t care. But i don´t want it. I don´t desire it. Seriously i dont!! The more i learn and understand about myself the more i realize i dont have to become ..."enlightened" ..i dont have to "become" ..anything. I am more intressted to learn about what i AM right now. The idea of "becoming" anything is actually at the core of everyone´s misery, the paragon of disdain of "now", What you become is a result of what you are ....if what you are right now is just someone who wants to become something ...this is a feedbackloop ...you wont never arrive anywhere!! If someone sermons: "you people have to get enlightened ...then you will be happy (nowadays if you are not happy you are sick and need to change!!!) 24h a day" and some people believe it and try to become enlightened(happy) so hard and they fail and are even more depressed instead ... I ask: isn´t it better to just accept life as it is: and if you have to work a normal job instead of working in your "dream-carrier" ...(which per definition you can´t realy evaluate in terms of personal "satisfation", since it is just a dream, an at best semi-conscious desire-construct) thats fine! And yes, life is! hard sometimes, yes! why is that bad? it is not bad! you have to do stuff you don´t want ...so what? find a way to still enjoy it, grow a thicker skin and make a joke about it , don´t deny it ...just have humor and feel good about the now anyways even it is not exactly like "you" wanted it ... isn´t that enlightened too? also most of us HAVE to deal with different people, some are funny some are agressive, some are stupid and some a smart, some we like some we don´t but mabye we find that we don´t have a reason to not like them and start to like them instead, and that is some kind of enlightenment too? And Isn´t it ok to sometimes not be blissful? if you see inequity? or if you see a person with 50pounds too much, smoking a cigarette and eating his soon last burger ... do you must be blissful at this sight? if you see some parents treat their little daughter like shit and you can almost see how she will be exactly like her ignorant mother in 20years ...do you must be blissful? If you see your boss is doing no work and getting 5x your salary ...do you must be blissful? Is every feeling of "i don´t like this" just an illusion you have to vanquish, or is enlightment when you stand up and ACT! instead of just thinking ..."oh it is unjust...but only in my head..and since the new tacit agreement is that noone exists anyways it is ok to not help that person over there..." THIS is not my definition of enlightement! Isnt life a rollercoaster sometimes? Some tasks are hard and unpleasant ..you dont feel eternal bliss while doing them, but if you made it you feel realy good... I think the notion and the expecation to be "happy" all the time is absolutley ridiculous and hurtfull!! i think that has to be said! Life is NOT like that! we can try to improove our life and it is realy important to remoove all layers of bs-beliefs we hold , but even in a yogis life there are some shitty days and that is fine!! just remoove the megalomanic inclinations of what "enlightenment" is supposed to mean ...in the end we are not seperated as enlightened and not enlightened but united as living beeings experiencing ourselves, some with more insight some with less but noone with total understanding and noone with no understanding at all.

That`s hard... Just some words of my Guru; Once a gentleman came to a doctor complaining that there was something severely wrong with him. He was hurting all over and was very sad but all the tests came out normal. The doctor said, “There is nothing wrong with you. Go to the circus and watch the clown there. He will make you laugh.” The gentleman said, “Doctor, I am that clown.” It is one thing to entertain others and be humorous, but quite another to be happy yourself. Happiness does not come by a talent or skills that you develop. Unless you realize who you are, what the nature of consciousness is through your own introspection, happiness remains a far-fetched reality. The spirit of self enquiry in the true sense which leads to meditation is absolutely essential in this quest for happiness. The 6th century Indian philosopher and thinker Adi Shankaracharya has said that it is dispassion towards the ephemeral and connection with the eternal that brings true joy. In fact, he goes further and asks, ”What joy does detachment not bring?” The word for solitude in Sanskrit is ‘ekant’, meaning ‘the end of loneliness’. Loneliness cannot end by changing company, even if it is more sympathetic and understanding. It can only end when you discover your real nature for yourself. Robin Williams, though he made millions of people laugh, could not end the deep seated loneliness inside him. This shows clearly that only spiritual solace can take you out of despair and misery. External pomp and show, wealth, admiration and adulation are not helpful in dealing with inner discontent. While alive, he made people laugh and in his death, he gave people a message to lift their eyes above the mundane towards something higher. You can bid goodbye to misery by connecting with an altogether different dimension, that I would say is solidified silence, a bolt of bliss and a glimpse of eternity, which is in you as you. You simply have to tap into it. There is little use in having a machine which you cannot operate without a manual. Spiritual knowledge is like the manual for life. Just like to drive a car, we have to learn how to operate the steering wheel, the clutch, the brake and so on, to move towards stability of the mind, we must know the basic principles about our life force energy. This is the whole science of pranayama. When our prana or life force keeps fluctuating, our mind also goes up and down through the roller coaster of emotions. One cannot handle the mind from the level of the mind. It is for this reason that although counseling or psychiatry seems to help in the beginning, it is not able to provide a complete cure in the longer term. Just forcing positive thoughts on oneself is not enough and more often than not leads to a relapse. Medication like anti-depressants also seem to help only in the beginning and eventually make the person dependent on them rather than free him/her from the tendency. This is where knowing the secret of breath can really transform lives. Breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya stabilize our life force and consequently the mind. The inner dimension unveiled by the practice of meditation deeply enriches us and its impact slowly spills over to all aspects of life. As prana rises in the body, one starts to feel a transformation as direct experience and not as a forced mental exercise. One starts becoming happier, creative and more in command of their mind and emotions. Another thing that can be really helpful in coming out of depression is developing an attitude of service. Thinking ‘what can I do for society’, getting involved in a bigger cause shifts the whole focus of life and can take one out of the rut of ‘what about me’. Societies where values of service, sacrifice and community participation are ingrained do not have these issues of depression and suicides. The Sikh community is a great example of this. Life is a combination of happiness and pain. Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.Having a broad perspective on life gives you the strength to move forward through painful times. Know that you are very much needed in this world. With all its infinite possibilities, this life is a gift for it can become a fountain of joy and happiness not just for oneself but for many others as well.

@SkyPanther Yes, NDE is very similar an awakening experience of bliss or pure self or soul. I became interested in nde's after my first experience and many reports are identical. Many also interpret that experience it in their own personal way to too. Religious or whatever. In that type of sudden near death experience, ( when you let go of the body/ self) I would think that the mind would cling to whatever is available to believe in. Fall back on the faith, so to speak. Sharon Stone had a NDE. She said one thing that I can really relate to, "where we go when we pass, is right here!" And she puts out her hand showing Opra Winfree the empty space next to her. I had that same exact impression after my first experience. I don't know if that's just how the mind interprets itself when no thoughts arise?

I do not know; Sam Harris would be a good person to ask though, heh... I can say that from my reading and experience (during meditation) the default state of the mind is "equanimity", or "sublime bliss". And it is because your mind, for those moments that you are being mindful, is free of "conceptual proliferation". If you have the interest there is a booklet that is very interesting in that it points to exactly this when talking about "nibbana" or enlightenment(It is also what is mentioned in the the Wikilink above): Concept and Reality http://www.dhammasukha.org/uploads/1/2/8/6/12865490/concept_and_reality.pdf It is also interesting to note, that a lot of people that have near death experience, also state that they experience bliss. And this could also be because their consciousness is being freed from the "mind", because they are slowly dying, and parts of the brain are shutting down.

@SkyPanther This makes me wonder if what we interpret as experiencing a state of bliss, pure self, true self, soul, pure being, what ever you choose to call it, could that be the shutting down of the part of the brain that is responsible for the self conscious (the monkey mind). I experienced a silent ocean of pure being twice and both times there was a distinct shift in Conscionsceness. It felt like awareness came to a point of focus right before it happened. Than the mind became void of all thoughts. All that remained was consciousness and a total stillness and a feeling of bliss. Could that experience be caused by the shutting down of a certain part of the brain? I guess that gets into bio-feedback. Who knows, maybe someday we will have the technology to be able to induce a state of bliss through electrodes that swich off the "monkey mind". Bliss on demand. There could be franchises. "The Bliss bar" "The Bliss-tro". Imagine that, everybody hanging out with electrodes on their heads half blissed. Very cool!

@Fishy It is needed, I know this very much. As sadhguru had once said: "Ignorance is only bliss for a short while"

I did the 3h sitting on the edge of a chair with a pillow, closed eyes. I got a steeple in the vincinity which rings the bell in the distant every 15minutes (i can hear that from away), so i knew i will have 12parts à 15minutes. I concentrated mostly just on not mooving (obvi) but sometimes after the bell rang i went: ok the next 15minutes i will focus on breathing (while also not mooving of course) or i will focus on just what i hear or what i see internaly, to make it more varied and "do-able", perhaps i will try a whole 3h sit on next sunday again, this time only focusing on not mooving and nothing else. While i did the sit i had some smaller rewarding experciences like feelings of bliss and realizing: "ohh! I ...AM!!! THIS!! is me... of course ..how could i have forgotten"... but also some siginificant changes came afterwards and the next days. Also near the end the pain grew quite strong at some point but somehow i realized i couldn´t fight the pain ..i mean i could fight but i couldnt win so in this situation the brain becomes realy creative since it is forced to handle the hard situation and i though im just like water now ...flowing around the rock (the rock beeing the pain) and it worked ...quite nice...then the last bell rang .. calmness and also relief Afterwards, that same day i went to go bouldering and on the way i had some funny ideas, or it where the same ideas as i usualy have but they seemed incredible funny and ridiculous to me and i had to laugh, i felt really silly in a good way, i joked around with myself a bit ( i wasnt searching for that but it just happend and i noticed that it was a long time since i was so foolish usually beeing quite rational and bla ... ) also the next day i noticed that i came up with some questions about society, some analytical models that i just created on my way home from work ( again i wasnt searching for that, neither am i saying that my ideas were "good" or usefull but i usualy don´t just come up with rather philosophical theories , so this was somewhat interessting. And the next days to follow i felt like i was way more secure in my conversations, like i could go into speaking quite different instead of trying to be very nice and goal-oriented or to please people and make a nice impression in a way i could just... go ... see what happens , i had trust in me since i knew at least a bit more about me now... was cool. You can start with 60min or 90min of you´re adventerous Now you decide if it might be for you. I already planed: 7-10 o´clock this sunday...

Hi all, one is completely new to all this so please go easy on one. Where to start???? So 6 earthly months ago (now to one), one somehow became completely balanced within the mind and everything unravelled like the mechanisms on pandoras box just before it opens. it was like the jigsaw was finally complete not that one had even known one was completing a jigsaw. Obviously one was like WTF is this and in the early stages one rationally and logically diagnosed oneself with Metaphysical Solipsism as ones ever overthinking mind there has to be causality for everything. So how could one be imagining everything and why isn't ones life perfect if it is all ones imagination??? One was in turmoil trying to get to the bottom of it and one came to the conclusion that one is either already dead, in a coma, or dreaming. so one hit google, obviously. but when one realises that one is google where then???? One stumbled across Advaita Vedanta relatively early on, One Gave Tony Parsons a call as he was the only person on the Planet that seemed to be talking ones language. After attending one of his gigs, It still wasn't going away it was being reaffirmed with every step. Its no so much Bliss that one requires but having heard about nirvana, moshka n all that jazz one would have expected something a bit jazzier!!!!!! If it helps anyone, not that there is anyone, believe nothing literally , don't even believe that you have just read the above. The conditioning you have received all your life, one would imagine, is impossible to break free from. one now finds "one self" living in the eternal now with a working mind only. one still doesn't know what meditating is and to be honest it never interested one. one previously only really ever believed in science "FACT" and lived in the future how ironic!!!!!!!!!

@jjer94 Many years ago I had the fortuned bliss to experience samadhi. That indescribable experience gave me profound knowledge about so many issues. One of them being; `yes indeed, the scriptures and sages are right, we are really all one`. Being said you now know it`s not about belief, though I see your own point above is all about belief (!). You can sit a fucking twenty years in your room waiting to get enlightened meanwhile the world around you is fallen apart without you even noticing it? Yeah mate, that`s the way. You are missing the point. I`m telling you that most people will be further on the path to enlightenment by doing karma-yoga or Seva than meditating in twenty years time. By doing karma-yoga your developing your heart chakra, your life will be full with love and joy. By fucking meditating in your room you`ll be lots of time miserable, selfish and pitying yourself. And even when you`ll become enlightened, you`ll be an enlightened jerk. The wise thing off course, is to do both. That`s a true integral approach which will give you and the world the most benefit. And, by the way, gives you the most merit and destroys the past karma. Leo`s way is just half the way, that`s why I asked him to shoot some video on Seva. -

I was doing self inquiry meditation today. And after 60 minutes or so, my focus increased a lot, a strong resistance I felt, I still continued. And after that, suddenly a dark dark, extreme dark black color appeared (my eyes were closed) and for some moments I felt a perfect bliss, a complete happiness. During that time, actually, thoughts were coming and going, I was able to observe them but I was clearly not attached to it. That experience was something like perfect, complete peace and beyond understanding. I tried exploring that state and then the bliss went away. I just wanted to know, if anyone has felt this way and what's the meaning of this.

In Hinduism they call it all `The Divine Play`, Consciousness playing with itself, being Sat, Chit, and Ananda (existence, consciousness and bliss).

In the core of every human desire is magnification of happiness. May it be through emotional stability, soothing words, excitement, the euphoria rush from hardcore drugs, the beauty of music etc... The key to understand happiness is that every being has a different way of achieving happiness and all ways are okay. For example I am the most happy when I take acid, the pure bliss and peace it gives me is indiscribable. But is this the only and one way? Absolutely not. I have had friends that freaked out on acid because they couldnt distinguish what is reality and what is not. Happiness has many facets and can't be really defined in words. It is every beings own responsibilty to take care of their own happiness.