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@Ross Did I not mention it before? The self help industry, and yes that included the spiritual community is a scam. You can solve all your problems by dropping the programming you accepted from these "authorities" and just live intensely in the moment. You will see clearly for yourself that this industry is nothing but nonsense that you never needed. Try it for yourself. But you must be willing to drop the Mooji, RSD, Hulse, Ken Wilber and all the other nonsense that you bought into. You can only do that when you become serious enough. Enjoy the bliss

thoughts on Jesus ... Jesus. Yes, Jesus. Not religiously talking, just some new ways of seeing this historical (as it seems)person, I am discovering for myself... Leo once mentioned Jesus along with Budha and how they have the characteristics of great meditators and enlightened people. What can we really learn from these stories? What is the truth about Jesus? Okay, people didn´t see that the man who called himself the son of god called everyone around brothers and sisters, which would mean that they are children of god as well... So Jesus had to talk very simply to them and as it is with that gap between teachers and students, it can be really hard to start from somewhere, especially when what is tought has many levels and shades and might be something they do not want to hear because it might mean that they were wrong, or did wrong or will be wrong... It might mean that they have to change... What does this remind us of? Self development... This reminds me of something one of my professors once said, he had done fieldwork in Africa and he said that if you tell certain people there a story about some great king who bravely died for his people they might not like the story and even note that if the king lost his throne and was murdered, he must have been not been good enough, unworthy and deserved it... Anyways, so he was not some super human with superpowers, doing wonders, and resurrecting from the dead... He was a master of... Self... Eh... Knowledge? A master of emotions, peace and truth. How do we know? Well, he could "suffer" on a cross but his ability to distinct awareness from thought, to detach the experience from pain, from himself and his love for everyone and everything-from unconditional happiness and peace, which are, as we learned all possible abilities one can train with a lot of labor and patience (bet the gap of information about his early adulthood comes from the fact that it was absolutely boring-he was probably meditating day and night...), these allowed him to slow down the system so much that he was believed to be dead... Then he got some time to recover and... Well, he came back and everyone thought he resurrected from the dead. Sounds all less spectacular, but would make some sense. I wonder what happened first... Did first Jesus talk to "god" or "god" talk to Jesus? I am not sure if Jesus was really hearing a voice he called god and if that would make him slightly mentally ill or super special... But if he heard that voice, it was produced somewhere, it came from somewhere, it was real to him, it had an enormous impact on him and his behavior and on others... My theory is more that he drew the wisdom from himself, from learning by himself. Looks like Jesus distinguished still between god and himself but maybe this is just how others interpreted it through his words. Is it likely that something spoke to him or likely that he created this dialog himself? If he created the let´s call it "god dialog" himself, then how did he do it? Maybe he cultivated awareness and let everything enter his perception, he applied thought to his observations, i.e. logic, order and critical thinking and tried us much as he could to translate his realizations and positive feelings into actions and spread them with language... What did "his father" teach him after all? Simple things, respect, compassion, patience, the power of forgiving, justice, morals, love... Love. Anything else the father gave his son? I don´t think so... The son earned it all himself, he "fought the demons" in the desert, he was alone all the time untill he found his students and even those left him at some point... What is Jesus a symbol for? A half god, blessed and superior? Unreachable? Or a symbol for a small human that found joy in the hardest path he could have chosen? A little human with a couple of values and a life purpose? If Jesus was human and had these abilities, then we can be like him. Can we become like him? That is the question between every heros story, can we be like them? We won´t ever be more or less than anybody else but we have the potential to be like Jesus or Budha or Gandhi etc., so paradoxicaly we can grow endlessly but that means nothing. The hierarchy melts away. Nothing is a big deal, if history changing or not, we all matter but at the same time we don´t. Butterfly effects in the stories of our lives and of those we influence, in the history of humanity vs. the fact that we had a start as a human and as a species-so we will have an end too... Eitherway, we also know now, that it is not weird at all that Jesus had no wife... Why would he need this kind of love or relationship? He had a relationship with "god" already and his existance was probably feeling at least orgasmic most of the time... He had so much bliss inside him, you could give him a sponge of vinegar to drink and he´d not mind you, he really wouldn´t... We don´t need to become like him, we don´t need to believe that he was even a real person that existed but it looks like that he was. He was just a guy who walked the spiritual path untill the very end. He would never want anyone to do fasting for him because he suffered, or burn candles, or pray... He would want people to open their minds to their potential, which is the same as his was. God made man by his picture. Yes, because this god word is just another word for everything, everything is like us and we are like everything because we are one, one big perceiving nothing? Well, okay, here comes the part I haven´t figured out yet and before I could say anything, I can at least already tell that it´s awesome!

Enlightenment is permanent. The enlightened state is simply your present experience, unfiltered! It's not a constant "feeling" of bliss or what have you. If you're chasing after bliss, that's just another one of ego's carrot chases, so beware. All experiences pass; enlightenment stays the same. Very subtle, and very simple. Fundamentally, nothing changes. On the surface, everything changes. How circumstances change after enlightenment vary from person to person. Some may become "bodhisattvas," others may become hermits. Some may vandalize a parking lot, others may feed starving children in Africa. It's all up in the air after realizing that the person has no control whatsoever over what they do, as well as realizing there's no such thing as morality. You're a caterpillar trying to build a conceptual framework of what it's like to be a butterfly. But that conceptual framework will only hold you back from metamorphosis. I suggest that you forget about the antics of the butterfly and instead focus on the inner work to become one! Cheers.

@cetus56 I was very,very,lucky - in that I started to grasp it as it was hammered into my brain by someone with Leo's charisma and integrity. When you realize that what you are seeing in his eyes in those videos is Truth (Along with all the joy that it looks like he manages to turn into a calm 'hum of bliss') He's vibrating like a mofo but he's fine-tuned it and then must just draw from it. What power. (I want to work towards that.) Now, I studied all the current science of it out of an innate curiousity, managed to figure out the surfacy stuff of current Quantum Theories, just trying to understand all the paradoxes of the quantum world. Right now these top physicists of the world are explaining the universe so very convincingly through Quantum experiments, mathematics and theories... Well, when science starts to dovetail with that gnawing spiritual quest - naturally and Truthfully avoiding religion and philosophy, I'm hooked. ....Anyway, regarding the illusion of self just 'popping', once that Truth has been articulated to you effectively, repeatedly and maybe even from different angles (still avoiding religion or philosophy), and combined with that 'Aha!' moment of EXPERIENCING that Truth, whether through calming the mind down enough to just 'See it and BE it, even if only for fleeting moments.... Epic in the true sense of the word. Man, I am a little thankful for ego, last few days, it's filtered back in somewhat smoothly and I feel as if I've let it to some degree ... in order to just try and get some day to day shit done. You're simply never the same though, eh? Irrevocably, permanently changed. First big noticeable symptom, besides awe and tears and awe and 'holyfuckholyfuckholyfuck' is that I'm calmer. I don't think I'm calmer, I'm just calmer. My days are just automatically a bit smoother by default. Wow, what a way to realize that turning that Aha! moment into more than a moment, turning it into a near-constant experiencing of that Aha! moment, is so worth working for through self-actualization efforts. Man, if you hit on the 'no self' thing in your mind, and then experience the Truth of it, the ego/mind dissolving for those fleeting moments so you recognize that you are unity...? Well, imagine if you were vibing on life so vividly and in the moment that you had to dumb down that constant bliss of Awareness of your True Nature in order to get some regular, day to day stuff done. I don't think much could stop you in this reality if you worked for and reached, accessed and harnessed and focused that kind of energy and love. Hooboy, I have a lot of meditating to do.

Notice how you're searching for an experience of enlightenment. You're expecting fireworks: some FEELING of connectedness or bliss. Realize that those experiences are fleeting. Your True nature is always here. If "Truth hath no confines," you already are connected to everything! Your present experience unfiltered by belief is enlightenment. I suggest you stop searching for a drug-hit of bliss. Instead, start by examining the belief that there is a "you" looking out at an external world. You'll soon find that Awareness, as you like to call it, is already not confined inside the body. Cheers!

Oh man, keep up with the meditation. If you are following Leo I wouldn't be remiss in suggesting you watch the Enlightenment Intro, and Enlightenment part one and two videos. Back to back if you can. When you get about 30 minutes into part two, he was hammering on the 'there is no you, there is no self. He does this 'You' (pointing at you) thing... 'Yes, you, nod your head, that's right, say your name, ok. YOU don't exist! There is no self!' Well, when you get it you get it because you experience it, and it does something to your ego that it's never experienced before. The illusion of self fractures for real, and if only for an instant, it's bigger and badder than any matrix shit. Hey Arik, yeah the tears of pure joy and bliss, especially upon initial seeing and early in your journey, nothing like that eh? 'I' wish it for you, WhatAmI, stay with Leo on Enlightenment, look up 'John Hagelin, what is consiousness? Part 1 & 2 & 3. Try some Stuart Hameroff lectures and interviews on YouTube as well. Brian Greene lectures on quantum theories as well. Have a little mind melting fun with Quantum mechanics explanations on YouTube, current ones by the top minds and physicists in the world. Try to wrap your head around the two-slit experiments (many explanations on Youtube), Entanglement (Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance), String and super-string theory, Probability wave collapse and consciousness and 'thoughts', and ultimately the Unified field theory stuff. (Done very well by John Hagelin in those vids I listed.) Have some fun with that, it was big fun trying to unpack all this science for me and I got to grade 10. It's do-able with an open mind and some repetition of the videos. Yeah, long stuff but trust me. THEN! Try Leo's enlightenment videos, the intro and pt. 1 and 2. again. AND! Keep up with the meditation, especially, I think, the self inquiry type, the Who am I, who's really thinking these thoughts stuff. Oh man, have fun. It's going to fuck you up 1000 times better than the best way imaginable when it hits you and you see, feel, and even if for a second, 'Be' nature, for the first time. Thanks for listening, I hope I'm on the right track trying to give a little nudge or hint, or point to great info and learning to further your journey.

Enlightenment is just the start. A station that your train pulls into. You need to keep going otherwise your constant flowing river will become a stagnant pond becoming more and more congested. You need to keep following your guidance system which can be joy, bliss, connection, inspiration, excitement, be more exited. Keep on heightening and evolving your vibration. Whether that be by posting on this forum or even non physically by knowing that what you are created the universe, knowing that before the appearance of form there was nothing there to be separate, there was just one. In that true non dual state you are and always have been that one. Remove the veil of forgetfulness and take evolution into your hands navigating infinite potential. Carry on rapidly accelerating only paying attention to what resonates most and disregarding everything that doesn't, learning faster and faster becoming more and more intelligent at an immediate pace. Know that there is no physical structure between you and your circumstance and see that circumstances are smoke and mirrors. Circumstance will only reflect what you choose to see and its like smoke, it seems something is there but when you try to grab it it turns out to be nothing. In this realization it will allow you to become a complete vibrational being. Create non physical manifestations by choosing only to see your preference making your reality what you have decided. Expand on your power, explore further into deeper possibilities and discover more and more of your true self. Or don't. Waking up to the realization that who you are is the eternal creator in form and your true self is the timeless space where everything is appearing, is just the beginning. This becomes circumstantially relevant and applies to the 'external' world where your degree of free agency and certainty can instantly, intuitively, genuinely address any situational dynamic by accessing the most effective outcome available in the moment. Have i been watching Bentinho Massaro more or less everyday for the last 5 months? -yes

Enlightenment is no more than the realization that everything is driven by one unified field of consciousness. That realization happens by tapping into that primordial field through the practice of silencing the mind. So who can't experience enlightenment? But the big hurdle is staying in that state of unity at all times and under all circumstances. When the silence finally prevails at all times over the noise of mind, that's full enlightenment or bliss consciousness. Of course that is much easier said than done when living day to day in the real world and the reason so many end up going into seclusion.

Please, do not answer me with enlightenment jargon, for I am looking for a simple answer, and I don't sBeak English very well Let me introduce myself first ;), I am Muhammad and I am from Morocco, North Africa. I have been following Leo for 8 months, and it has been a bliss. I am no longer depressed. I am no longer a negative thinker. I can stay at home with a complete peace of mind, feeling no kind of loneliness, guilt, shame, or anything like that. Just recently, when I watched the last videos of Leo, from Life minimalism to the last video of happiness, my vision starts clearing up. I want to make a BOLD CHANGE this year, but I am AFRAID, because I do not know where it is going to lead. It may lead to some AMAZING rewards, and it may be a WASTED year!! I want to quit university and continue with my blog, which I started recently, why? because of the following reasons: If I quit university and my blog goes well, I will be able to settle in one of the most beautiful cities in Morocco and the world; a quiet city where I can pursue enlightenment work. I will be no longer living with my family, which means more freedom and discipline. I will not work in a 9 to 5 job. I will live a truly tribal simple lifestyle. what do you think, guys?

@electroBeam Hi electro, I never suggested that you shouldn't meditate. I just pointed out the trap in believing that you should or have to in order to reach enlightenment. You don't. Like I said, how do you get to where and what you already are? Fundamentally, there is no process. There's a quote from...Carl Sagan? I believe, not sure...but it goes something like: in order to make an apple pie from scratch, you first have to create the universe. In other words, fundamentally no one particular decision or technique has brought you to where you are now. The entire successional flow of the universe has brought you here. Meditation and contemplation for enlightenment work has brought you to where you are just as much as your dump on the toilet two weeks ago. I'm pointing this out so you don't spend decades of your life meditating with the heavy expectation of an explosion of bliss-enlightenment. We falsely expect these techniques to get us somewhere because ego desires to get to a better place, while the gurus do it because they know it's getting them nowhere. This is it already. It's just a matter of seeing clearly. Then what's the point of doing these things? Good question. This is where I contradict what I said above with the apple pie, so bear with me. Meditation, contemplation, spiritual autolysis, mindfulness and all of these other techniques are a hands-on approach to helping you see through your mind-made illusions. By doing these things over and over again, you learn more and more to see what is and see through what is not. That way, you suffer much less from your illusions. I agree with @99th_monkey that waking up is really the starting point to Self-cultivation, as I like to call it. Self-realization is the easy part. Self-cultivation is the hands-on part, where you slowly release control over your life by seeing through illusions. Ego doesn't want to release control. But by seeing through the illusion of ego, it begins to happen naturally. It's as though Self-realization is the spark that lights the powder keg, and then the fuse burns on its own through Self-cultivation. That's my experience at least. @99th_monkey I found that in a store. I was hoping the writing on the doll's sticky note would show up because I thought it was funny. It says "y'all need Jesus".

Little rant about meditation. I shall start by saying that I have not meditated one single hour in my life. Every time I sat down to do it, my back would ache, my nose would itch, phone would ring, neighbor would come.. even the stray cat that comes and goes to my house would come and sit in my lap the minute I started... so yeah. That being said, my whole life became a sort of a contemplation. Not one minute of my life, starting about 18 months or so was dedicated to anything else but the urge to freedom and TRUTH. No matter the situation I was in, my main goal was to distance myself from the thoughts that came, and see them for what they were. What has helped me was first and foremost, this thirst, this hunger for TRUTH! Life has put Ayla in a situation where it was finding TRUTH, or nothing. Over and over and over and over again for the last hummmmm.... 10 years? Until FINALLY I listened! What I used to disentangle from thoughts: Noah Elkrief's videos in times of "apparent" emergency - everything that seems to come, is a thought Leo's videos for giving "food to mind" - better the thoughts are about this than that, right? Byron Katie's WORK - "is this true?" "can you absolutely know that it's true?" - turn every phrase around in as many ways possible "The Artist's Way" book - write down, first thing in the morning, everything that comes up, no matter how dull and stupid I have also done a process described in Michael Brown's book - "The Presence Process" - very powerful 10 weeks process "not about feeling better but about getting better at feeling" So no, I cannot say from my own experience that meditation is the key. From what I hear it CAN BE, but it is not the only one. If the urge, the thirst, the pull is as strong as it was in this here, any tools that you find yourself using over and over again, will get you to the proper door. I should also maybe say that apart from listening to Mooji videos on YouTube, a little bit of this or the other E-teacher, I have not read a single book on it, not went to retreats, seminars, etc. Pure, sheer pain has brought me where I am. This is how pain has stopped being the enemy. This is how fear left me. What is left here, is NOT pure bliss. That also comes and goes. What's left is a honest basking in whatever comes this way. Still working in what I like to call "too solid to raise through to heaven's gates" Hope this helps someone...

I believed these no-self stories right from the beginning. I never understood anything , but i believed and learned them anyway because it was supposed to be like that since i'm unaware and egotistical. I wanted to progress faster and dedicate all my free time to this. This has torn me up on the inside in the last months. I lost my passion for everything i used to like and my meditation sessions were more like torture instead of bliss (like they used to be). I couldn't even sleep properly at night. All because i keep having these thoughts firing up in my head all the time - " there is no me" , "i'm not my mind" , " there is no one to be aware" , etc. These buddhist stories make you believe that you are divided , that your desires and thoughts are just burdens you need to get rid of. It's similar to what the other religions do , make you think your body and mind are dirty and you need to purge yourself in order to be good. It is toxic. The real improvement you get is from the meditation exercises. They make you more aware , calm and with better focus. The theory is just nonsense. Do your research on it if you want to , but be skeptical. YOU need to figure out what is true and works don't let others tell you , like i did. Now i need to unwire all these beliefs , and i feel like a fool. Also observe how to people who preach this stuff behave. Are they emotionally mature and happy , or do they have the same bad habits as the people they are preaching to?

@Extreme Z7 Thanks a lot! The psychological benefits have been great. I started to become aware of my neurotic tendencies, and my stupid destructive behaviors. I haven't been able to completely change those things, but I just know that maintaining awareness throughout the years will auto-correct those things. @Zane Wow sounds like an amazing experience. I'm still working on be able to just be absorbed in the moment and experience that level of bliss. Yes, you have been a great support so thank you for that. Sounds like you are doing very well on your path. Glad you are currently much happier in your life, I'm sure you will be able to keep pushing ahead! @Lorcan Yes thanks for that suggestion. I will come back with another report most likely after I have meditated for a year. I would like to look back on this journal and see how much progress I've made. I wrote in the beginning I wanted to achieve these goals: Develop stronger willpower Increase my ability to focus for longer periods of time Develop my level of awareness Effectively manage the chaos in my mind Throughout this journey, I completely forgot about my goals. I became more focused on just doing the meditation, and using it as a way to keep myself grounded and calm. Now looking back on it, all of those things have happened on their own in a very natural way. There was no need to force it or to take on any sort of neurotic action. All I did was meditate day after day while increasing my awareness. I'm not operating anywhere near the level I want to be at, but I now have a stronger willpower, stronger focus, much more awareness, and less chaos in my mind. It's a great feeling to have knowing that I'm just barely scratching the surface and I have so much more room to grow.

@ZenBlue YES YOU ACCOMPLISHED THE HUNDRED DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You completely committed yourself to the goal and went beyond your 5 minute goal. I'm glad you're aware of your flaws while meditating but you can't be perfect at meditation. The good news is that the changes are subtle and you will get better at it. In San Francisco, in 2014, I felt deep bliss twice on the trip without even meditating and I think the reason why was because it was such an amazing moment of being where I was completely absorbed in the moment of sitting on the dark of the bay, smelling the ocean, and basking in the sun. In the park, I felt deeply blissful and relaxed. Thank you so much for the mention in your post for my support!! It's my pleasure and i love supporting people on their journey. You can go even farther with self-actualization! I'm making great progress with it and I re-captured the emotions of awe and wonder, deeply relaxed bliss, laughing like nobody's watching, the flow state of creativity, feeling completely invested in a movie or a show and a childlike spirit of adventure. I created a Twenties Journal to track my happiness and I'm much happier than I ever was in my life. I want to go even farther!

Sort of. Mind will not all of the sudden say: I want to die - on the contrary, it will fight as long as it wants to with concepts and theories and experiences and unicorns... until it will hopefully one day declare "bankruptcy", exhaustion, forfait, no can do. hehe What I meant is that those teachers do no "plan" in any way to teach. Their mind has become just what it is supposed to be: a translation machine for Self. They are just letting their body-mind be "used" as life (God, Love, Universe) wants to. What comes up here when I read this, is that...even an experience of pure bliss and love ... is still ONLY an experience. It comes and it goes. This can be a wonderful way for Ego to enter through back door and keep seekers stuck in "high" and "low" illusion Ego IS concepts. Any concepts.

@popi Glad it helped! When a person that is living from the Source from within meets another that also does the same; such purity, bliss, and unity. This is healthy.

I began seeing this 2-3 months ago. What changed right away was that everything I perceived stopped being the effect of something else, but more like the spontaneous occurrence of itself. Like, when I took a walk outside I saw and still see something in the trees, that is also in the ground. Also in the crying kid and also in my wandering thoughts. At this time I experienced extreme bliss for a week or two and then I fell in probably the deepest hole I every experienced on this journey. I came out of it yesterday in my daily meditation in which I was deeply in my unconscious, re-living childhood memories and crazy other stuff. At some point it just felt like a rock fell off me and I intuitively knew that I was through with this. Since then, the horrors went away. Thanks for your post, man. I appreciate it. While I was having these bad cycles, I still could see it in everything. It was just that my thoughts would go nuts and fuck me up day after day. Now it feels like a silenced city after a hurricane, a few people are still there, but there is this peace everywhere that underlies all the going ons.

But lets say that I was envyous of someone like Eckart Tolle because he is enlighthened master. Then, I think that is a good form of envy if I can use it as motivation to become enlighthened myself and actually get some great Benefits such as: Ego death Unconditional self love Bliss Pure flow Being cognition etc. That would be envy working in your favour But it mostly does not Becuase the things you are envyous about like someone having a Nice car, good looks, great physique/appearance, etc. These things will never make you happy if you get Them unlike the holy grail - enlightenment.

@abrakamowse @Mal Thanks guys! I've actually been practicing mindfulness meditation pretty much daily for 7 months now. You might be right about there beeing thoughts in the middle of conversations @abrakamowse but I'm not aware of them if that's the case. I just get this unplesant feeling and wanting to escape the situation. However I can actually relate to what you're saying @Mal. About 3-4 months ago I had an experience during meditation. There was a distance between me and my thoughts and I could watch them pass by in a totally different way than I've ever could before. I've still never felt such bliss during meditation as I did that day. The following days where the best days of my life. I've never felt more alive or more 'me' than during those days. No insecurities, no hesitation, totally confident, but not in a cocky fake way. Just love and compassion. I remember thinking that the joy of expressing myself authentically makes me so happy, what else do I really need? What else can make me this peacefull? I DIDNT EVEN WANT TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES, I'd sit and meditate instead(this is huge for me). During these days it seemed as though my entire reality shifted. Every interaction was different. People would open themselves up for me, in a whole new way. And I was totally clear in my mind, no stress(which I usually suffer from in my line of work). I can't really put it into words...I'd been shy, timid and a big people pleaser my entire life and much of it just disappeard over a very short period of time. However during these days while meditating, I remember feeling an intense fear, "Can life be this good?" "How long will this last?" "Who am I?" The "effects" slowly begun to fade away during the following weeks and months. I started getting stuck in my mind again. The thoughts started to feel "heavy" again and it felt like I was beeing possessed almost. I was getting back to my old familiar self again. And I don't like that guy I remember watching myself beeing shy again and thinking "What the fuck am I doing?". It almost felt like I was acting. Because I then knew it wasnt me, I've experienced me and that shy fearfull guy is not it. Today I'm totally back in beeing identified with my thoughts(monkey mind) and still fighting the same battle I did when I first started this Self-actualization journey. Also I just want to thank you guys for sharing your knowledge and advice about these things here. There is no one else I can talk about these sort of things about. Youtube is great but human interactions is something special. Truly, thank you!

Self-Honesty: Once you have had the first glimpse, that moment of REALIZATION, of always being THAT, perfect, infinite and timeless, the real path begins. What to look for - hindrances: SELF-agenda - more or less unconscious. If you want to become enlightened because it will bring you "{xyz}" , think again. What you are embarking on is a path where that self that is searching for whatever dreams it might have, THAT SELF, is not real. The self agenda might manifest as: wanting to feel good, wanting to become better, wanting to take advantage of, superiority issues, etc. Running away - if you are embarking on this path from a desire to run away from emotional/psychological/physical pain, again, think twice. How to recognize when you are running away as opposed to "dropping the story" (I will probably later on write an entire post on this): in essence, running away feels fearful and constrictive. It leads you into DOING: addictions, reading, Youtube, endless back and forth communication, sports, going out, etc. Bypassing - using spiritual concepts as a dogma. You remain at a level where, even though you know exactly what to say and do, you have accumulated TONS of information that you can provide (parrot), there is no real WORK being done. It is all at mind level. An analogy that I can find, is that you pretend that you are a world class cook, by showing your collection of kitchen utensils, ovens, cutting boards and other "paraphenalia", but in reality, you never cooked a single cake! *little note on last point: let's say that someone who ate a particular cake, is given the description of that cake by someone who only ever READ about it. The person that already ate the cake, will ALWAYS KNOW, and others might feel it too, that the other one only read about it. ADVICE: Follow your longing. Make this an absolute priority. When you have found something that resonates with you, STOP the search and work that tool! Working the tool means to really sit down and do whatever it proposed in it, as opposed to just mentally understanding the principle and moving on to the next thing. Ability to transcend deep inner programming: You do not need to go looking for things to fix or to transcend or to integrate. Life will put them right in front of you. I will give you a personal example: After my first full day of pure bliss, next morning came in with a loud bang: "why would YOU be enlightened?" - I had done enough shadow work by then (Teal Swan, Noaf Elkrief) to recognize immediately the "worthlessness" issue coming up to be looked into. I immediately begun working on that, and this is also when I found Mooji. So, whenever something comes up into your direct experience that feels anything less than pure bliss and acceptance, it should become like a bell for you that says: "LOOK INSIDE". Here is how to do that: ******* *** Focus and commitment: Once you have embarked on this path, NOTHING is apart from it! Everything is part of the letting go of what you thought it was YOU. You will have to find ways to keep focused and to go on, even and especially those days when everything will feel like death. Find a guide, a guru, an YouTube channel, a E-buddy, a teacher, etc. One note here: At one point, that too will need to be let go of. Sometimes, the "pull" of the first glimpse will be enough to keep you focused. Other times not - prepare for these times: keep "emergency" aid at hand (this post might be one), favorite videos, techniques, people, etc. Use everything you can to move you forward.. Willingness to accept that...you're wrong! Having an open ear and open eyes - being able to listen and to read "spiritual concepts - is not enough. Actually integrating these concepts demands the willingness to admit that your old paradigm is..."wrong". Become aware of your own barriers inside that stop new perspectives from actually effecting your notions about the world and yourself

This topic is intended to help those of you who are seriously pursuing enlightenment work. A bit of a "dictionary" of terms, as they will be used here: I = life = this = God enlightenment = realization of no-self = "pathless path" / "gateless gate" E-Work = enlightenment integration work Let's begin. Awakening tends to just happen. Either is it a result of profound suffering or dissatisfaction, or it may just happen at a random moment in life. The best that I can describe it is like the awakening in the morning. If you look with awareness at that time when you first wake up, you will notice that there is a moment where something is REALIZING that it is awake. * a good habit is to become very aware of the few seconds just before you go to sleep, and few seconds just when you wake up. It is a sort of an "awareness training" that would give you many insights into how mind seems to work. Even though it is personal and it may manifest in different ways, the GENERAL flavor of this awakening is one of complete acceptance, love, oneness and peace. Here is what I wrote the day I had the first glimpse: What I didn't understand at that time and what took me completely off guard, was that... it was JUST an experience that came and it was going to go. The journey that took me from there to here is what I want to concentrate on here. It is ESSENTIAL that you understand that an enlightened being, I prefer the term "free" or "liberated" being, is not one living in the above mentioned pure bliss. Not in the beginning. Not even very soon. The length of this path to full bliss is dependent of several factors: Self-honesty ability to transcend deep inner programming focus and commitment

Hey all, long time no see, I've missed you all a lot Let me tell you about a technique I've recently developed, I want to give credit to Leo and and Alan Watts that inspired me a lot over the years. So I call it the Buddha meditation and I practice it like that: First realize that meditation is not something you DO, it's a state of simple being as described in many techniques. My method isn't any different, I would say it's more of a pre-contemplation that reminds you to be open and relieves the expectations. The second step is a little contemplation that goes like that: "Could it possibly be that I'm already a buddha?" "If I were a buddha would I try to get any where? Would I try to realize something or to gain more knowledge? I guess not. I would simply sit here because that's simply how a buddha sits and enjoy observing all that is in my awareness. Enjoying my bliss" Now try to connect with your experience and from time to time you may guide yourself back to this image of simply being a sitting buddha and just be. So basically once grounded you just sit. I hope you will enjoy it like I did and stay on your path. Good luck

Week 1 … and the devil wrestled with himself for a week and he put on a great show for god. *** Hours sat: 33 Current Daily Average: 4.7 Experiences: Extreme pain in knees and buttocks Lingering pain in shoulders/neck Pressure in skull Headaches/migraines Extreme negative emotions – Terror, Rage Extreme positive emotions – Joy/Bliss Love Anxiety attacks Sexual arousal Irregular pounding heart beat that could be felt throughout body Increased heart rates Adrenaline Spontaneous muscle spasms and locks esp. in core Violent Shaking Sweating Shivering Internal resistance – like a volcano was erupting below by navel, spewing hot lava up into my thorax Tight chest Laboured irregular breathing – I do long distance running and I experienced a shortness of breath/burning sensation in lungs that occurs when running above lactate threshold Crawling / tingling sensations (like insects were running over my body) Nausea Claustrophobia Suicidal thoughts Clenched jaw, grinding teeth General malaise Difficulty sleeping, vivid dreaming Fatigue / exhaustion Depression Feeling of impending death Insights: 1. There is suffering 2. This is quite abstract, but I want to explain how the insight happened. I was watching the music video below (Snakadaktal - Hung On Tight). I thought of his awakening at the beginning of the video to be symbolic of my first awakening. He then sits up and looks at his reflection in the mirror, symbolic of re-identification with ego. He then goes on to try and continue a dead party, pushing people aside and hurting himself, whilst singing “I hung on tight..” I realised that I have been clinging onto my previous experiences and that this has been a source of great pain. In other words I've been trying to keep a dead party going by living from the MEMORY of my past experiences rather than by embracing the experience that is unfolding before me NOW. I already understood this intellectually of course, but the insight sunk down into my bones when I watched this, it clicked into my being. I cannot grasp enlightenment, I cannot effort enlightenment, I cannot hold enlightenment. It changed from an insight I learned, to an insight I earned. I came to understand what Mooji is talking about when he talks about the “final ace up the sleeve of the mind” The meditation session immediately after was much easier. I was able to bathe all of the negative experiences in a much clearer awareness. Awareness that was not fragmented by the mind. Whilst the experience was still horrible, I was able to sit perfectly motionless for the full 3 hours. The edge had been taken off of the suffering because I was much more present with the sit. It's very relieving to know that the process is already delivering results.

@Mal Nihilism is a belief that life has no intrinsic meaning or value. Belief is a construct of thoughts. Thought content is illusory. Illusion is the opposite of reality. Reality is truth. Ok, so what is reality existentially? Pure transparent empty awareness. It's everything (all forms seen and unseen) and nothing (everything beyond object reality). Notice - it's not just 'nothing', that 'nothing' is actually 'something' special, and it's 'EVERYTHING' as well. Nihilism would only suggest the 'nothing' part. It would be impossible to integrate and include nothing into nothing. Object/ form reality is to be taken into consideration - manifest unfolding, the means awareness happens to experience itself. There is no denial in that everything is just happening for whatever reason or no reason at all. We now know from neuroscience that our unconscious brain processes 11 million bits per second (10 million times as fast a computer), but our consciousness is only 60 bits per second. That means we have no idea what we're doing So sometimes not knowing comes as a relief and in those brief moments we rest in the bliss of 'this'. So go ahead and use the 60 bits you got to appreciate a song and a story - both NOTHING and EVERYTHING, life at play, a miracle, reality, truth. Hugs Edit: Just thought of adding Ayla's thread 'Mind Attacks After Initial Seeing', you might also find helpful:

@jes Can we define ego a little? In my eyes the word ego gets thrown around too much. I'm guilty of this too. But can we really speak about "ego" and the subtle differences between manifestations of the ego's efforts, in contrast to egoless "suchness" (aka "what is" "this" "liberation") until we have a real experience of what it is to be in a state of "egoless-ness". Do we as members of the spiritual community blame everything that seems "bad" on the fault of the ego? How about we try to experience what it is like for the "I" to collapse, and then look at what is left? There are feelings. Emotions. I know that for sure. We have this distorted idea that enlightenment is suddenly this pure state of perfection, pure bliss, pure heaven. This idea is not accurate. The realization of no "I" is just very normal. It's more real that the warped state when the "I" is in charge. A simple pointing out instruction is this: All there is, is sounds. Sensations. The felt sense of my ass on the cushion and my breath rising and falling. Whatever is arising is just arising for nobody. This is the easiest way to differentiate between the feelings of the ego, and the feelings of true nature. You are right about the reaction thing. But I've noticed this only occurs when the ego is strong, the sense of self contracts and pushes out impulses and projects them onto the environment. So, it can be said that shadow only appears when the ego is in charge. I thought this distinction would come in handy