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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!

I wanted to introduce myself by sharing my story. Another function of this post is to thank Leo. This post contains detailed experiences that I have had. If you don't want to be influenced, don't read it. Prior to starting law school, I was living in San Antonio while my wife was attending law school. During this time, I was working in Family Law and hated it for a lot of reasons, but really, I hated it because I didn't know who I was. My entire life, I have been obsessed with learning, devouring information about anything I was interested in. 3 primary areas that I have always loved: Psychology (it was my major and I was always drawn to Freudian Theory surrounding the ego relationship as well as motivation: Why people do the things they do), Physics (specifically quantum mechanics, the universe, and black holes), and then a variety of other random subjects depending on what I was into. During these 3 years I went through a few times where I meditated, but never really looked at any kind of doctrine other than the science of meditation. One day I happened across Leo's enlightenment video when watching quantum mechanics videos on youtube. I started to watch the video, and I got to where Leo said "you are not a person" before turning it off. I will never forget this, the feeling I had when I heard those words disturbed me deeply and left an impression. I wrote it off and kept moving along with life. Fast forward, I decide that I want to go to law school, get accepted to UH. At this time, I am in no way mentally prepared for law school, but I realized this as well as how I have been acting toward the person I love most, so I started making an effort to change by meditating a little bit and just doing what I can to prepare for the onslaught that is law school. When school started I moved to Houston where I stayed for the first month in a friends house. He was showing the house so I was the only one there. At this point, my meditation practice picks up and I start using youtube focus hypnosis. This is important because, in doing so, I learn what trance feels like. This allowed me to develop a strong muscle mind connection, where I am able to relax a specific muscle. Having not ever read about meditation, I found out later that this is exactly how you are supposed to start meditating. So in my nightly practice, after I read voluminous tomes of legal knowledge, I start going deeper and deeper into trance by just continuously relaxing my body. First I imagine a ball of energy expanding from the center of my head to push out thoughts and then imagining that I am walking through a corn field, only instead of pushing the stalks aside, I am emptying my brain by pushing aside thoughts. I started being able to really and truly clear my head (later this corn field technique translated over to everyday tasks to effectively return to the present). This is were I started going deep enough to really have cathartic experiences. Experience 1: Though I used to get the bliss feeling that comes natural with meditation, At first, I always feel a dark presence in my immediate vicinity. I write this off, because I figure that I'm an adult, and I can handle it. One night, I decide that I am not going to fear it anymore and just relax. Shortly thereafter, a terrifying woman appears in front of me, blurry, with head down and hair covering face. I relax deeper, and tell myself that I am going to face it. All the sudden the lady comes into focus and boom, I realize that the woman is an embodiment of all the things I hated about myself and felt guilty for. I finally forgive myself for my darker tendencies,namely, how I treated my wife, and various other manipulations that happen when you grow up. I feel ecstatic, and immediately have a religious experience where I feel connected to everything, I am everything, everything is me. The stereotypical meditation experience. I cant remember what I saw, but it looked real and filled me up with glowing energy. When I come out, the feeling lingers for a day. After this I kept meditating and then stopped when law school took up too much time. We finally found a house to rent and my wife moved down here. I start to truly see her as my soul mate and start asking what I can do to give her what she needs instead of seeing her like a burden. I felt (and feel) like everything was right in the world and though law school is tough, I just know in my soul that this is were I am meant to be (a feeling I hadn't felt since I had worked at the capitol). However, I am lagging behind and feel like I'm not getting the material, but I know that if I just try hard that my innate ability will carry me through, and I will be top of my class. I had a teacher that graduated from Harvard and I am pretty sure that he developed his style, modelling after the professor in Paperchase. I raised my hand a few times in the beginning until I realized that I just didn't get it, and then do a 180 and develop a fear of speaking in front of all the smart people in class. I got called on twice in his class, and it was nerve-racking. I felt like he was taking an interest in me, and sometimes when he was lecturing, I felt deeply that he was looking at me as if trying to get a message across. But I stopped raising my hand in all classes and felt terrified often in them. At the end of the semester I forced myself to raise my hand with an idea that I thought was brilliant, and he screamed at me. I was mortified. At the end of the semester he gave an inspiring speech about the profession, and says that if you are unhappy, you should do something else now. Again, I felt like he was looking me directly in the eyes and felt this energy that he meant me. I study my ass off, and it is very important that I show my natural skill and prowess. I get my grades back on Christmas eve, I got a C in his class, and gpa over all is 2.59 (90th percentile). I was crushed and immediately start studying ways to change my approach. Again, in my heart of hearts I know I have found my place in law. Though I had been doing hypnosis all semester, I didn't meditate, so I started again here. I should also say that during the time before and during the first semester, I helped my dad with a messy divorce. He started meditating and that prompted my to begin practicing again. I get back into the groove and feel great. My practice spills over into my everyday life. When I am anxious, I would use the corn stalk method and recenter my breathing to great effect. Experience 2: I had the insight that my ego has been the source of my problems from the beginning. This occurs when I am talking to my dad and my mind is flooded by Freudian doctrine about ego. I realized that all of my anxiety stemmed from the arrogance I used to over compensate for a feeling of inadequacy. It was simply that the inner struggle was causing an incompatibility between what I considered reality, and what reality actually was. This has been going on since childhood and is the reason that when I was placed into a room of intellectual peers, I all the sudden developed anxiety in raising my hand. Then a few days later, I meditated, did a focus hypnosis, and then just let myself go deeper into trance after it was finished. I had a crazy flashing feeling as my eyes were trying to flutter open, So I allow them tomand relax, and my field of vision starts going black in the middle as I relax through it. I start feeling these incredible feelings of love and glowing in my chest. I sit up and hug my knees. I think about my wife and the feeling intensifies. After I was finished, It stayed. I feel a little empty in my face, but I feel like my senses were operating in over-drive. The next day I went to school, and on the way in, I am just noticing how beautiful the world is, seeing details that used to be of no interest to me. Greens are brighter, my field of vision is wider, and I feel the glowing in my chest and pressure in my face still. I went to class, got called on in class and spoke with no anxiety, drove home and told my wife, expecting that she would think I was manic or insane. She was supportive (as usual), and not in the least bit scared. The only way I can describe it is that I felt like I was pure awareness. Living in the moment 100 percent. In class, I understood the subtleties perfectly. I was clear minded and thinking objectively and logically. I googled my symptoms on the second day, and see all this information on "ego death". what I was feeling was exactly the same as what these people are describing. During this whole weekend, I felt like I could slip back into an anxious state. I talk to my dad who freaked me out, and feel almost normal on Sunday, meditate and back the peace. Same pressure in face, all of it. I think great, I have given myself multiple personalities or something. Experience 3: Monday I come home and feel the need to meditate outside. So I do, go deep, open my eyes and focus my gaze on the fence in front of me. The fence starts to look like its on the same level as whats behind it. I was trying to look through the fence (and it did flicker, but I tell myself its because of a blink.) I close my eyes, and my mind goes perfectly still I see these innocuous memories that irritated me in elementary school. I cant figure it out, but I explore them, imagine that I'm apologizing, and getting a chance to explain myself to everyone involved, and then let the string of memories move on. After this my mind goes blank again. This is the crazy part. I imagine that I am in a room with all of my brain structure around a table. I think the room we are in is the subconscious. They are out of focus. I tell them that if I am going to succeed, I need them to work together instead of apart. There is a presence that is unhappy, I think that its ego. It doesn't like what I am telling them. After I talk to them and they agree, I look down at my body and there is nothing there. I am nothing. The words are coming from nowhere. I come out of trance feeling almost like I did over the weekend. Pure in the moment awareness and glowing in my chest. I went inside, walk to my computer, go to youtube, and type in "Actualize Enlightenment". Low and behold, I see a video that I had once started watching a few years ago with some guy named Leo. I instinctively click on it. As I watch it, I feel a physical shift in my mind, the pressure subsides and moves from the front to the back of my head. And I feel even more so in the moment. It was unbelievable to me how everything starts making sense. As I'm reading for school, I'm catching all of the subtleties in the case, I can almost see the argument developing structurally, and I'm speed reading with no voice in my head. It continues to the next day. I get called on in constitutional law, and give a flawless answer. I was calm and collected. I felt like there was a barrier between me and the professor, I wasn't intimidated, and I felt like everything was slower. That I didn't have to answer immediately, and I was able to take a minute to think. Again, I was functioning cognitively on a much higher level the whole day. When I needed information it just popped into my head. Like it was just offered up for me to consider. It felt like "flow" - I think a humanist concept. This feeling of awareness has come and gone, but is generally stable now. I have had numerous insights that seem to make my deep interests in psychology and physics unify into one amazing idea. I'm not going to go into those, because they are for each person to discover, but it has been a powerful occurrence in my life. For my entire life, some force has been driving me to learn about them, and have been grooming me to make this realization. I wrote this for 2 reasons: 1) I needed to share it. I think there is a lot to learn from it especially by people striving to reach a result with their enlightenment experience. You will notice that a lot of my experiences are somewhat different than what Buddhist doctrine says will happen. I mention this because It is important to remember that Buddhism is a concept. It is there to guide, but at the end of the day, this work is all about you. It is good to have a map, but if you are doing this stuff for the right reasons, you will find your way. The funny thing that you realize about Buddhism, is that the way it is set up is actually hilariously designed to trick ego into awakening. All of the paradoxes make sense after awakening, and there is more wisdom squeezed into the doctrine than you can ever fully realize. This is one of many things that all of the sudden makes sense to me and humbles me to the bone. It is the most beautifully deceptive concept that has ever been devised, and I love it for that reason. I don't claim to be enlightened. I actually feel like I know nothing, and it will be a lifelong process to pull every bit of understanding out of reality. The thing is though, I realized early on that my mind has always known this stuff. Most of the transition happened naturally prior to researching it. If you find yourself extremely interested in ego death, awakening, enlightenment, spirituality, or anything related to this, I'm going to go ahead and say that your mind knows as well. Allow yourself to accept it and be persistent in finding what works for you by devouring information, but more importantly, find your own path. There is an internal teacher that will appear if you open you heart and mind to Truth. Don't get bogged down in concepts and doctrines. You create your reality, and therefore there can literally be no objective singular path. Use your intuition. 2)Some times you need an external teacher. Leo provided and continues to provide this function for me as I pull every ounce of meaning from his videos on subsequent rewatches after I have an insight. So really and truly to Leo, thank you for showing me a fundamental truth. I don't know how I could ever repay someone giving me infinity. I do however know that you know the magnitude of this realization, and take solace in that at least. Your kick you in the ass style is what I needed, and you have changed my life in ways I cant put into words. You have done something that has added significant value to the world and the greater mind. I could write on this subject for days, but the point is: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Don't overlook the fact that the original teacher is the student himself. If you are unwilling to teach yourself initially, then an external teacher does nothing. Finally, I will share another teacher that has appeared recently to me: trinfinityacademy.com Its a free enlightenment course that has some useful practices to help move along.

@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.

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 ?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

@kuwaynej In personal development, you will be in constant cycles of crisis and bliss

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..

@ajasatya That's great to hear man. Follow your bliss #Hippie

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?

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!

@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."

@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.

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.

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.

Hi, I have a situation that's causing me a lot of uncertainty I'd love some advice from anyone. Im in my final year of high school. Through the life purpose course what kept coming up is acting, the times in my life I've enjoyed the most I've been doing this. The problem is the advice from nearly everyone around me seems to be do not do this. I know everyone has fears, but it genuinely feels like if I follow my passion and pursue acting I could be in serious trouble. It's one of the hardest careers to finance takes a minimum of 9 years to be successful and that's working minimum wage jobs and long nights to finance it I've never had to be independent before so to have to go straight to hussling etc seems overwhelming. I'm scared I'll chase this than completely fuck up my chance at a solid job by chasing a passion and not being able to support myself financially, than wasting all this time while everyone around me gets university degrees for stable jobs. There seems to be no answer anywhere for this people just say 'follow your passion', how do I do this while not messing things up?

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!

Traditionally, the end-goal of human life is considered to be liberation. Where the word liberation essentially means end of suffering, unlimited freedom, unlimited choices, and eternal bliss. More specifically, it is end of the cycles of birth and death of "individuated consciousness" (Jeev). The latter means not much for me from an experiential point of view, but I can see how that can bring on eternal bliss. But I'm not very sure, not really convinced It seems to me that ignorance and suffering, bondage etc are just phenomenal (illusory), and its the Ego (lower mind) that wants to avoid it. Isn't the consciousness already free? Any thoughts?

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.