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I will follow up quickly to confirm that just this type of psychologically relational aspect is exhibited appropriately in ordinary enlightening BDSM scenes as well, simply because one's adaption to conditioned circumstances is the natural course regardless of situational characteristics. Quoting the last sentence of the commentary: "Preordained" is a relative term alluding to prior illumination of the psychological apparatus of the being that is going to die. Where the the rational function of conscious knowledge is subject to gradual refinement by concentration and insight, one's "prior illumination" is inversely effective to the degree one has dispensed with pattern-consciousness in meeting the demands of everyday ordinary situations. In other words, as one's gradual self-refinement results in less pattern-consciousness arising as psychological impacts (in the face of karmic stimulus), to that degree, conscious knowledge is subsumed as real illumination (objective, impersonal knowledge of accord in reality), which must naturally be "prior" to be an actualized functionality in terms of spiritually adaptive enlightening activity. The preceding paragraph is a long-winded description of psychological (rational) activity and nonpsychological (spiritual) efficacy transforming in seamless accord due to gradual practice entering reality. The reason accord is seamless is because mind is one. Delusion and enlightenment are the same mind. Delusion is all there is to work with in terms of Creation. There is no other mind. There is no other enlightenment. Enlightenment is seeing reality without habitual psychological reference to the person. Self-reifying consciousness sees the same reality, but its perspective is delusional, and therefore karmically bound to the being that sees the person as "having" absolute identity, in terms of individual conscious projections. It's not that individual conscious projection doesn't exist, if that's what the person is habituated to. If a person doesn't know that there is no such person in reality (in terms of absolute nature), karma is the result and delusion is the norm. Enlightening being's function perceiving essence (potential) void of personal identity, obviously isn't the person, whereas the psychological apparatus is the person's conditioned function. Both functions are accessible and naturally balanced without habitual pattern-consciousness in those who have recognized the basic sanity all beings are born with. Self-refinement is the endless gradual path recognizing and actualizing inherent enlightening qualities by virtue of the sane energy people are born with. As such, entry into inconceivable reality is fathomless; mystery upon mystery. ed note: typo; add quote and following three paragraphs

The OP concluded with: The whole premise for this thread is in these lines. The following is a line by line commentary of the seminal text: Presence of independent means and natural urgency guide one’s healthy and effective gratification of intent in the course of situational evolution. The first line seems to me to be clearly self-evident. This is the very picture of sane activity in the course of everyday ordinary intercourse. Serving the integrity of one’s subtle potential underlies the timing and rate of advance and withdrawal in mutual exchanges of personality dynamics. The second line gets a bit deeper in that one's rational function must naturally be preordained in terms of its adherence to the integrity of one's subtle potential. It is, actually, but due to conditioning, this means the individual must become subtly aware of potential, a priori, in order to respond appropriately in terms of seeing situational timing objectively, without bias or inclination, in advancing and withdrawing attention according to relationship dynamics. Serving the integrity of (one's) potential has nothing to do with personal gratification. One doesn't own potential. Potential is not relative to the person. It is one's very situational milieu of being. Yet potential is not beholden to either the creative nor the absolute, as potential is the working essence of their non-differentiation. Gratification of mutual exchanges in terms of personality dynamics, per se, is relative to the situational potential based on reality, not the person. "The person" is relative to self and other, which is properly a variable expression of potential (karmic, if you will), and is therefore not beyond the created aspect. Potential is not created. Potential is the essence of the primal organization before the dichotomy of the two things (duality) before they fall into the creative sphere, yet comprising the the sphere of reality, which is neither creation nor absolute. This introduces the buddhist and taoist terms, Suchness and Complete Reality. The consensual repose of dominance toward the submissive is the device employed by independent means and natural urgency to effect the balance of one’s intent in meeting the measure of power inherent in creative cycles. This line illustrates one's enlightening function inherent in one's created dual nature in terms of relative situational rank. In terms of the person, this is called Sameness within Differentiation. Relative difference is not absolute. In terms of potential, relative difference simply is— it has no intrinsic value outside of conventional modes of karmic activity. Enlightening response operates transcendentally beyond convention (not that anyone might notice). The balance of one's intent is what drives enlightening activity, which is the sane energy you were born with. Just this is impersonal accord with reality. Again, this is not a reference to personal gratification. Consensual repose of dominance toward the submissive is simply the representation of undifferentiated flux, ever-adjusting and spontaneously balancing in pure equipoise. Consensual repose being the device employed by independent means and natural urgency is selflessly adaptive response in mutual accord. The measure of power inherent in creative cycles refers to being able to see reality, that is, potential, which is the essence of creation transcendently inherent in endless karmic cycles of birth and death. So in harmonizing integral mutual situational potential, dominance is expressed in accord with submissive intent by adaptivity to the creative. This line recaps the aspect of one's inherent enlightening function in terms of impersonal subtle spiritual adaption to karmic evolution. This is "meeting creation with potential" without relying on one's personal power. "One's personal power" refers to psychologically reified pattern-consciousness projecting desire, craving, aggression, and in general, a tendency to assume ascendancy over others as a matter of course. Situational dynamics of advance and withdrawal influencing the timing and rates of exchange defining the situation decide the balance of potency and decline throughout the natural cycle of its transformative exigencies. This is "finding out what happened in the end." As per one's selfless adaptivity meeting the creative in terms of its karmic momentum by virtue of advancing illumination in the beginning of yang and withdrawing its potential in the yin convergence, whereby the full expression of each created cycle is allowed to flourish and decline naturally without compulsive behavior (on one's part) influencing outcomes. Otherwise, how would one find out what happened in terms of potential? It is possible by mutual accord in reality that the submissive exacts its release if virtuously exerted dominance absorbs their factors of potential. In transcending endless cycles of yin and yang, unrefined potential is absorbed as a matter of course without effort or coercion. How would one even begin to do so? Doing so is the norm for karmically bound psychological momentum (action in thought, deed and unconscious adherence to creation) by ordinary people's pattern-consciousness. It is by not conceiving self-referencing (relative) adherence to creation that one accords with the real while in the midst of conditioned karmic momentum. The submissive, in this context, is created situationally karmic (conditioned) energy in its naturally responsive accord with real knowledge (knowledge of potential), in which dominance (nonpsychological awareness), is advanced, in terms of gradual practice. As I have said often enough, seeing is itself the transformative agency. Seeing is itself "advancing" the fire in terms of the alchemic operation. Spiritual alchemy is not accomplished in any strict sense of doing. When adepts see potential, they see it as essence. Essence is the nature of karmic energy; not difference. Ordinary people see karma as differentiated energy, which is why ordinary people are subject to birth and death. In seeing karma as essence, one does not go along with creation and transcends its rounds of birth and death. Ordinary people see energy, whereas alchemists see potential. Seeing potential "frees" it from its situational karmic matrix, in that enlightening beings don't do anything with potential— much less karmic energy. This goes back to the beginning of this section, where "one's (refined) rational function (conscious knowledge) must naturally be preordained in terms of its adherence to the integrity of one's subtle potential" (real knowledge). ed note: add line below quoted text; typo 3rd paragraph; radically change last paragraph

No "one" exists. Ultimate reality is indescribable impersonal ever-unknown ever-known. Ever-changing ever-present . all dualities must collapse. You me. Alone together. It isn't anything you think it is.. It just is. . The best word to describe it is nothing . Because it confuses the fuck out of your mind. You don't know what to do with nothing. You don't know what it means. And that's precisely what Is needed. Complete not knowing. Absolutely not knowing. And when you can't not know more because you are absolutely not knowing.. Then you can't go further.. All the sudden the circle is complete. You end up with actual knowledge. Of your being. Knowledge dissolving into being. Into nothing . The mind is trying to grasp.. The mind is always missing the whole fucking "point".

Can we make desire harmonious by being considerate and empathetic towards others and ourselves? No, not at the personal stage which has a too low level of complexity to achieve that. To put it more simply, at the personal stage we lack the capability to function in harmony with the whole of society and nature. What we can do at the personal stage is to recognize the limitation of personal desire and be open to the possibility that impersonal development will result in harmonious desire. And even if we don't yet know how that works, by questioning desire at the personal stage, as done in Buddhism, there is an opening up of being receptive to allowing conflict-ridden desire to be replaced by harmonious desire.

? Getting there means getting here. But i get you. Wink wink, we're going to get there some day! I trust the Universe. Everything will happen as it must. All I can do is be here. I'm not enlightened. The real part of reality is formless. Forms are illusory, the one writing t you is a form which acknowledges publicly it's illusory nature. Only God, the impersonal self, is real. I cannot say anything more true.

It helps to be a well adjusted person in order to advance up the spiral dynamics stages. If you are wired to be an introvert that doesn't want to socialize and even has an aversion towards people or negative feelings towards them, that comes from childhood, so "faking" it in this manner will wire your own brain to crave socializing more, and thus over time can make you a happier, more well adjusted person. Learning to socialize is like learning any new skill... it takes time and repetition to wire it into your subconscious mind and make it come natural to you. I always think of that line from the movie "Avatar" when I want to learn a new skill, where he talks about "it's like field stripping a weapon, repetition." A person must get over their negativity towards people if they want to grow, period. There's no quick fix around that. That phrase "fake it until you make it" has some merit. You don't necessarily have to be an extrovert, but if you have any hangup towards people whatsoever it must be addressed in some manner. The concept of "being yourself" ... well personality is actually a very impersonal aspect of one's being... I prefer to think of it as something I can hack and change to suit my goals....

It's just a story. The documentary brilliantly tells it for the purpose of entertainment. It was a reaction of personalities and circumstances with that conservative town in Oregon, but ultimately as impersonal and random as the formation of the universe itself. Both the town, the US government officials, Osho and Sheela and the people the community attracted were all trying to heal themselves, mutually attracting and reacting into the characters they played at the time of it, among all those crazy circumstances. The problem with spiritual communities is that they often start with the assumption that there are spiritual people and not spiritual people.

This thread, or this single post, as most of my topics remain, is a little different than others in that it has an inordinate number of cultural and technical references relying heavily and almost exclusively on the readers' familiarity with the Chinese buddhist lexicon throughout a prolonged period of various cultural shifts taking place in its long history between A.D. 500 and the 1800s. Of course, there are ancient taoist references to contend with as well. My apologies. I wrote this on four petite serviettes the other day at my café in town… there was one left. Five Serviettes Simply awakening is the selfless awakening to buddha-mind beyond the grasping mentality. It is knowledge of non-being’s open awareness constituting impersonal nonoriginated unification and clarification of the singular intent before the first thought. There are people who just fall into this without any intention of doing so as a result of a long-nurtured countenance of open sincerity. "Falling into this" is harmony with the Constant, after which It is then possible to return and share oneself fully. In the mean-time, they see their own unified mind as the fulfillment of its own desire. Since it is not oneself, not other~ unified mind being the fulfillment of its own desire is the meaning of taking the forward step with open hands meeting situations as arrow-points meet, with no remainder. Unity of primally open “intellect” is the properly incipient nature of one’s perpetually fulfilled desire. “Intellect” is the capacity for fulfillment where there is nothing to fill~ just openness. The attainment is one’s penetrating reversion as the Source. The application of the term “intellect” is the substance of Mind’s open serene clear light. Mind’s function is its intent: ever sensitive and effective. Sincere intent is Mind’s expression of oneself’s impersonal unity functioning through selfless desire passing through situations without lingering, without initiating. The expression of the function is in terms of harmony— selfless harmony~ adapting impersonally and effectively to situations without sticking to appearances; neither seeking praise nor avoiding censure. Affinity is the impersonal knowledge of harmony in terms of the Constant. It is not that there is anything to know… one's affinity is just the nature of the Constant, which is the application of an angelic harmony that can kill a buddha when it sees a buddha. It cuts right through in an instant with a precision that is equal to its appropriateness in terms of one’s inconceivable matching of potential to conditions which has never admitted one’s own strength. Not admitting one’s own strength that can kill a buddha is the Celestial in action. Its power is due to the clarity of the Constant being the nature of Mind. In one’s own gradual refinement, clarity being the nature of mind, it follows that its clarification is the effective harmony of the heaven and earth of the immaterial body of awareness whose heart is the Center. The Constant is the nature of this Center of open awareness being Mind mastering energy. This is not a matter of energy-work. It is not even energy being other than Mind. It is a description of the mystical source of the impulse of one’s own life, immaterial beyond location. Mind mastering energy being the Center having no location is the real totality of unity. Though it has no location, it is not apart from your pointed nose. There it is! Yet how could it be or have a place? Just this primordial Space with no inside or outside is not beyond this instant occasion. Ignorance of the Constant is energy mastering mind; when conditioned yang peaks, it wanes, and evolution inexorably goes along with a cycle of creation, which is bound to birth and death. The 55th chapter of the Tao te Ching concludes:

you speak the truth but still you are not waking up you are always awake. If you dont take yourself to be the appearances, but that space you are so masterfully referring to, then you are not waking up. On second read, you are saying something wrong imo.. The state of nothingness is the same as the state of empty awareness. It's not awareness happening in nothingness. There is no such thing beyond awareness. In deep sleep this is what it's like to be empty awareness, without objects. It's not the experience of nothingness without awareness. If you were not aware, how do you know you were in deep sleep? Bro stop doing this here, you aint waking up nobody ever wakes up. If truth is found you will know you're not waking up. The Truth is impersonal. Stop grasping

Write out a letter to her saying everything you want to say. Cry, scream, swear. Burn it. Or send it if you have to, but probably not. It's likely that there are a few things you write that you might want to actually say or write to her latter. I have a theory that the people who cause us the most pain are the ones who we mutually grow from the most or the fastest. It's like we made some sort of agreement before we came here that we'd help each other align to love in a powerful, dramatic way. If you can't live with em' and can't live without em' you know life is calling you to grow and change. But here's the thing, you have to be willing to communicate and have difficult conversations. It also helps to ask, what do you really want from your mother? What do you really want the relationship to be? Is it possible that while on the surface it may not look ANYTHING like that, that the undercurrent of love is still always there, unbroken? Can you tap into that love that is impersonal and prior to everything else?

Ime, people are much less defensive when the person being evaluated is not them, however it is less direct. For example, I teach college students SD - we recently covered stage blue and discussed all sorts of different stage blue mentalities and students gave presentations of kkk, the amish, boy scouts, military etc. It's much easier for them to take a meta view when they are the observer. If I pointed at a student and said "OK, now let's take a look at YOUR blue level traits and views" - that is much more threatening. Yet observing others is often diluted. I have to remind the students that they may get some insight from observing others. As we observe Blue in others, do we have some in ourselves? What are the healthy and unhealthy aspects? What do we need to work on? It's a very different dynamic when pointing out one's self to them. I'm not very skillful in this area - I would make an awful psychologist. Quite often, I speak impersonally - that is great when we are doing an impersonal observation about how the mind of a tribal person works. I can put up a video of a racist person and say "Notice how his mind is structured and how he is defending certain views" - yet it s very different when I say "Notice how YOUR mind does xyz". People often take this personally - and I'm not very skilled at it. Look how many people I piss off on the forum when I say "Notice how the mind just did xyz". People don't like it. I don't know. I can tell when someone has been certain places. I've been to some of those places, yet not all. I'm happy to speak common language with you, yet I can't speak a language with you that you know not exists. It's important one realizes their limitation. Don't speak on a language you don't know exists as if you know. That is misleading to those trying to learn the language. If you have no interest in learning the language, that's fine - yet don't interfere with those on the forum learning it.

In terms of situational evolution, you know how it is— you just find yourself situated, as it is. There's nothing special in that regard. It's natural. When you find the road naturally empty, creation acts in concert. Settling into situations, one simply waits to find out what happened. The practice of finding out what happened in the end is the unbending intent of subtle awareness pervading thoroughgoing open clarity of impersonal observation. One simply shares oneself openly in selfless adaption. Waiting in stillness, one observes Return. Ordinarily, people forget what they're doing, and begin going along unawares. The 16th chapter of the Tao te Chings says: "East Mountain walking on water" is indicating that "neither yin nor yang" is impersonal function within movement and stillness. So simply waiting for something to happen isn't a matter of passive stillness while opportunistically awaiting inevitability's fulfillment (or else assuming personal ascendancy over others in moving along towards somewhere more important). This neither movement nor stillness is the living bestowal of one's inherent potential in the midst of affairs. This waiting is uncontrived, sincerely open vulnerability. Enlightening being isn't passive. It isn't a matter of acting either. Some people throw around the term wu wei as if it is some other thing. Such subtle radiating presence IS you. Wu wei is East Mountain walks on water. But adepts aren't metaphors, so they swim in Suchness. Wu wei isn't a thing, nor is it an event. It is a reference to the essential character of one's function of enlightening being. This is not some other reality. It is the aware totality of oneself, unborn; in perpetuity before the first thought. It is spontaneous selfless response: adapting in full knowledge of potential by not conceiving complacent opportunism in everyday ordinary situations. This virtue is a direct result and further development of not following personal dialog unawares (talking to yourself). Unconscious mental rumination is the habitual cultivation of delusion in terms of selfish karmic psychological momentum. Carrying out one's unbending intent of subtle 24/7 observation of mind is the cultivation of enlightening qualities. This is practical application of authentic teaching in terms of establishing the foundation of enlightening practice. All self-refining activity entering into inconceivability develops from this foundation, as well as advanced practice employing use of the Mysterious Female. As mentioned in the previous post, watching over the task and function of the aperture of the Mysterious Female, one witnesses changes. In recognizing changes, one does not go along with creation. So selfless adaption isn't a matter of accommodating phenomena, it is directly responding to the time by virtue of seeing potential. Creation is already one's self, but response to other is why the term sameness within difference is spoken of in terms of Suchness. The buddhist term, sameness within difference, is an analytical reference warming up to the real deal in the teaching of Suchness. Karma needs time, so adepts excel in waiting. Don Juan Matus said that warriors have only two advantages over ordinary people in their affair with Power: will and patience. Enlightening beings respond to the time and so they naturally absorb potential from within the conditioned. The temporal is inherently absolute, so in responding to the time, enlightening beings respond to situations effectively by an abstraction of perceptivity in that they see through phenomena without denying its characteristics to aid nonpsychological evolution without going along with created cycles of karmic momentum. Seeing this is the functioning of Suchness as it is. Those partaking of ineffable reality do so by virtue of seeing alone. So in partaking of reality, real humans go in reverse, opposite the flow of creation. This is all there is to turning the light around spoken of in The Secret of the Golden Flower. This is the meaning of the saying, "It is as easy as turning over your hand". ed note: typo in line one; add quote after 2nd paragraph; change 4th paragraph; add to 6th

With the assistance of Awayfarer (a windfall of sorts, from my perspective), some preliminary aspects of Taoist alchemy have been broached. Perhaps I should segue into the topic of the Mysterious Female and the Valley Spirit. The Tao te Ching is perhaps the only book in which most readers will have ever read the words Mysterious Female and Valley Spirit in print. The terms represent that which is of monumental significance in the capacities and expression of enlightening being by adepts of spiritual alchemy. Those who know the valley spirit by having penetrated the immaterial aperture of the mysterious female have no need of specific sexual identities in terms of the personality (self and other). The aperture of the mysterious female is immaterial; it has no location. Penetrating this, one sees the valley spirit in its singularity; a legacy void of substance and boundary. The Tao te Ching calls it gossamer, as such, continually, on the brink of existence. How does one describe that which has no location? The puzzle is without remainder, yet is only entertained by the doubts of the human mentality. The valley spirit is where potential is activated; where change originates. The mysterious female (in terms of the name) is metaphoric. Mystery is movement: yang. Female is stillness: yin. Being neither yin nor yang, standing in equipoise ready by the gate and door of the Mysterious Female, observe life and death (in terms of situational evolution). This is knowing the pivot of change. So it is not only in mystical experience. When one can be still, one can witness return in everyday ordinary cycles of yin and yang. This is seeing the arising of potential. Seeing, in either case, doesn't use the senses, organs, or intellectual functions of the person. Seeing this is immediate impersonal knowledge. No one knows. When one sees the Mysterious Female, one attains the power of the unchanging or causeless Center. Therefore, one observing the pivot of stillness and movement is not subject to changing Change. This is because the Mysterious Female is the locus of change where the physical and psychological elements do not adhere. It is where change originates, so this is where adepts await the time to steal potential at its upwelling incipient source. The saying goes, "Refine the self and await the time." By effective self-refinement, one is naturally situated to take over creation and steal its potential. Remember, this aperture is neither an aperture nor does it have a location. The Mysterious Female is real. It is the site of all wonders. When you actually see the the Mysterious Female and attain the pivot of creation, you attain it forever. When you stand ready by the gate and door of the aperture of the Mysterious Female, and see worldly elements being pulled through the inconceivable aperture by the self-centered gravity of collectively ignorant momenta, and see its projection by that karmic inertial momentum dissolve into space, it's kind of sad, in a way. But you're not~ hahahahhaaa❤!! The task is the "door". The gate is the opening and closing of the Mysterious Female. In terms of the task of self-refining adaption to conditions, The Art of War states that victory is up to the enemy and that one must choose the ground of death in order to live. Self-refinement is like finding the place of victory, and awaiting the enemy to fulfill its fate. You don't know what that is, but you know where it will be when you see it. The analogy is imperfect, in terms of positing "enemy" as the conditional asset of the natural arising of killing energy, because there is no punitive or prejudicial relationship to be had in adapting to others' conditioned self-serving intents and purposes in this context. It is another reference to the device of "Host and Guest" mentioned previously. It is one's bid with Power by virtue of enlightening subtle adaption to creation. Adepts have the knowledge of the gate and door of the Mysterious Female and await the inevitable's arrival. The pivot of awareness is where one awaits inevitability at the gate and door of the Mysterious Female at the time of the Yin Convergence, when yang culminates and the killing energy of yin arises. This is the inevitable. Like clockwork, as you wait at the "gate" at the right time, you show the inevitable the "door". When you show it the door, it dissolves, as it were, and the aperture revolves; opening and closing. "One yang, one yin; one opening, one closing: therein is change." This is the fate of the changeable. "Showing it the door" is not going along with it. Karma dissolves and you somehow stand aloof with potential intact. This is inconceivable accord in reality. It's just the way it is, and no one knows why. Here are two terms not customarily used: inner and outer Mysterious Female. This from Thomas Cleary's notes to his translation of ancient alchemic poems of female adepts in Immortal Sisters — Secret Teachings of Taoist Women. 1989, North Atlantic Books ed note: change sexual identity to sexual identities, and add next two sentences in 5th paragraph; change 2nd sentence in paragraph 7; add to 8th paragraph; typo in 9th; change "aspect" to "asset", add "…in adapting to others' conditioned self-serving intents and purposes…" in 10th; collapse bottom quote window; italicize "Immortal Sisters…" in last sentence

Nonduality teacher Roger Castillo and other spiritual teachers have said that anger can arise as a biological reaction even in the enlightened state. Then how can I claim that anger is a sign of the personal stage of development and that the transpersonal stage is free from anger? Because as I discovered and mentioned earlier there is a difference between spiritual enlightenment and the transpersonal stage. As Ken Wilber has pointed out, there can be spiritual enlightenment at different levels of personal development. So when anger arises and a biological reaction, then that's because the person is at the personal stage of development, even when enlightened. At the transpersonal stage anger is only an additional expression, not something fundamental to the stage. So expressions of anger can appear even at the transpersonal stage, not as an instinctual biological reaction since there is harmony but as reactions to particular situations for impersonal reasons.

Awayfarer commented above: Momentum is due to mental conception, I did not say momentum is inconceivable. That which is conceivable is anything and everything that can be named. Eternity is conceivable in that it is another name for the endless multiplicity of creation and its multifarious incremental processes. The opening chapter of the Tao te Ching states that the (true) Way cannot be named. I have to admit that it does say such an unnamable way is eternal, but that is a translation issue. In technical terms, I say the eternal is relative to karma, existence, creation and its incremental aspect, whereas the inconceivable (Way) is Unborn, uncreated aware nonbeing; that is, the source of the essence of (potential) reality before it has fallen into the Creative. Uncreated cannot be a thing, and since the Creative aspect is attributable to its inconceivable nature, the existence of existence is spoken of by authentic teaching as essentially illusion. In terms of alchemic practice, one is cautioned to only work with what is unseen and to not work with what can be seen. This means spiritual transformation is accomplished by working with essence (the unborn) directly. If one works with energy (created), one will necessarily end up with accomplishment relative to the creative. The analogous phrase is: as above, so below. The inconceivable is unknowable (in terms of rational mentation). In terms of nonpsychological awareness, the inconceivable can be seen, in that knowledge is immediate. Thought processes relative to the personality are not applicable, therefore such knowledge is not relative to the person. That's why I say enlightening activity isn't the person— in addition, the working definition of enlightening response is that which is carried out in the midst of ordinary affairs without relying on one's own power. That's what makes such response a matter of spiritual adaption. Open clarity is the nature of the human mentality when its habit energy ceases. When habit energy comprising the human mentality ceases all at once, mind is as it was of yore: open, clear, untrammeled, sensitive, effective, un-perturbable. There are no two minds. The inconceivable is your own unborn mind right now in that it is not within the realm of rationalism. It is your own mind right now void of psychological patterning and self-reifying thoughts; in other words, it is void of habit energy. This is the meaning of the phrase, Mind is one. Conditioning is what one aims to get rid of in the endless process of self refinement. What is refined? The errant human mentality. When patterning is eradicated, the capacity of rationalism is left intact— only the habitual use of rational self-reifying pattern-awareness is absent. So the activation of one's innate enlightening being is the correlative absence of reliance on the personality's false identity. Without that crutch, ego is no longer needlessly active and nonpsychological awareness is ably sufficient to adapt spiritually (nonpsychologically) to conditional situations inconceivably, with the aid of the objective impersonal mode of rationalism. This is the meaning of spiritual adaption, in terms of self-refining activity: one's enlightening function is by virtue of spiritual and physical sublimation; the gradual process of going through endless situational transformations, whereby one enters the Tao in reality. This is not a reference to sudden enlightenment. So there is no intrinsic meaning to reality, conditioned or otherwise. It is what it is, and no one knows why. Either one gradually builds upon conditioned qualities, or one gradually builds upon enlightening qualities. Entering the mystery of mysteries is the option for those with the audacity and the will to discover human beings' innate enlightening function through the long process of self-refinement. Spiritual alchemy is the taoist name for a tradition effecting a range of teaching devices describing various aspects of the specific process in terms of phenomenal and inconceivable elements. The process itself is natural. No one invented it. Reality's innate enlightening quality is evidence of our inconceivable nature. Prior illuminates of all traditions have left the secret behind for those with the wherewithal to approach and apply the source of enlightenment in the midst of delusion by virtue of delusion due to the fact that our true identity being pure awareness is unified selfless consciousness. How wonderful is that! ed note: add 2nd and 3rd paragraph; typo 2nd paragraph

Awayfarer wrote: I will get to true spontaneity at some point, but to respond to what you said at the end of your post most definitely… Yes!! Failing to conceive is absolutely key. Taoism calls it "forgetting thoughts and feelings, preserving the fundamental." Buddhism calls this liberation. The punchline of the famous dialog between the Emperor of China and Bodhidharma is when the emperor (finally) asks, "Who is talking to me?" "Don't know.", is Bodhidharma's reply. The Emperor asked who, in terms of self and other. Bodhidharma's reply was likewise twofold, in terms of the personal, relative perspective, as well as in terms of absolute nature. In terms of the relative "who", Bodhidarma's response was a stern, but veiled rebuke face to face with the Emperor of China: he said, "Don't know.", as in don't conceive who in terms of self and other, when the context is enlightenment. Why? Because Enlightenment is already your own (impersonal selfless) mind right now. Bodhidharma might as well have responded to the Emperor's question (of who?), by saying, "Who wants to know.", which might be fine in some instances, but not this one. Or, in other words, "Do you know your own mind?" In certain contexts that might be taken to mean, "Are you crazy?" —Which is precisely what one does NOT say to an Emperor anywhere on this planet. But such a remark is as perfectly apropos in that conversation of long ago as it is in referencing the conditioned human mental processes today, because conditioned thought patterning (psychological momentum reifying the false identity of the conditioned personality of the being that is going to die) is the working definition of mental illness: mental dis-ease. That's why Buddhism's definition of liberation as being free of conceiving (thoughts) is the nature of enlightenment itself, as well as the personal power to avail oneself of the capacity to do so and be such a one to have impersonally ascertained experience oneself as the knowledge of pure awareness: the knowledge of no thing. There is no thing. There is nothing to know: don't know!, he said. Bodhidharma told the Emperor of China to "Stop it!" Bodhidharma left the Emperor immediately. Smart man. So the nature of enlightenment is what bodhidharma was referring to as well. In the context of his response to the Emperor, he said, "Don't know." He was speaking for himself as well, and in this aspect his response was again twofold in expressing both the absolute within the conditional as well as the absolute in itself. "Don't know" in terms of the absolute within the conditional is bodhidharma admitting that there is no such one to know nor is there such a one knowing (who). In terms of the Absolute exclusive of the conditional, his response is the open expression of enlightening accord in Reality, such that there is no who to speak of and no who speaking (to the Emperor). Bodhidharma didn't say "I don't know." He simply said, "Don't know." Such a terse and unspeakably brilliant response to anyone, much less while being on the spot with the Emperor of China who perhaps was the most powerful person on the planet at that time, could not have been planned. This case in point is a fortuitous example of blatant spontaneous subtle spiritual adaption getting one's ass out of a dilemma of monumental proportions. Yet not getting executed was not Bodhidharma's motive. Enlightened response has no motive. The Emperor was pissed— his was not a trick question. The Emperor simply didn't understand what Bodhidharma was talking about (and he knew as much). But what the Emperor didn't know was that Bodhidharma was giving the interview. Bodhidharma had called on the Emperor to ascertain his spiritual evolvement to see if sponsorship of authentic teaching in China 2000 years ago was possible. Who knew? The Emperor wasn't, so the Emperor didn't, so mr B. Dharma had to get the hell out of Dodge and made haste in a southerly direction for quite some time. Good thing too. At the time, Taoism had been established in China for millennia (since before China had been a glimmer in any emperors' eye), but Bodhidharma's high-altitude Kashmiri brand of Mind Only buddhism was just what effective (or not) taoist teaching and its esoteric/elitist traditions needed: a fire under its butt. By 1100~1300 AD, the Quantzhen (taoist) tradition had not only incorporated buddhist methods effectively, it was openly espousing the validity of the three main Chinese spiritual traditions of the era (buddhism, taoism and Confucianism) as direct expressions of the Source of all religion: which had long been expressed (by taoism) as Tao, or the Way; the way which cannot be named. Transcendent teaching is not religion, nor does it characterize itself in terms of a perpetuation of any specific teaching tradition. The source being none other than anyone's and everyone's true identity: impersonal, sellflessly awake, uncreated. In terms of transcendent teaching being the source of religion, the fact is that Mind is itself the true progenitor of enlightening being and its practical expression coming from within the karmic matrix of the Creative, in that there are no two minds: Mind is one. ed note: add "The punchline…" to 3rd paragraph; add the word "not" in 1st sentence of 8th paragraph

Over the years of self-actualization my way of communicating has become largely more impersonal. Less use of 'I' and 'you'. I sort of talk into the air and let people grab from it rather than speaking 'at' somebody. It has begun to effect my relationships in a way that makes them feel weaker and sometimes unnecessary. Which is sort of scary. I tend to get closer to the heart of an issue faster but risk others taking offense to the content of my message. It just seems to be a byproduct of seeing straight to the truth. The ideal thing would seem to be if other individuals could pacify their reflexes to taking offense. That's what I have done and its rewarded me in feeling less suffering and again getting closer to the center of obvious issues. Howeve, instilling this in others is out of my control. I know I can't be alone in this and wonder what were your responses to this happening. Are you pushing through that discomfort and continue to search for truth in the face of making everyone around you upset or do you backpedal and try to find some sort of medium or compartmentalize for the sake of maintaining some sort of adhesion to typical social customs?

Awayfarer wrote: I have been practicing turning the light around throughout the day in real life situations. When you said above: "Going along with creation, one is bound by karma. In reverse, its transcendence is the use of karmic energy to access real (uncreated) potential, to match creation, whereby one functions transcendentally in the midst of delusion on delusion's terms." - Is this the same as "changing Change"? And the same as turning the light around? I really like your question, Awayfarer. Leaving "changing Change" aside for the moment, yes, it is all "turning the light around", as described in Thomas Cleary's translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower. The light is the same going along with creation or in going in reverse. Likewise, essence is karmic energy in terms of going along with the Creative as well as comprising potential when going in reverse, by "shining the light on its source". Wherever one shines the light by one's deluded or enlightening perspective, is the determining factor whether potential is "gathered" for the immortal elixir or lost by delusional perpetuation of the karmic matrix of all time. They are the same. Those who understand this, see this, and operate transcendentally by this are said to express the Virtue of Receptivity and know the nature of Suchness. Taoism refers to the knowledge and nature of innate being as Complete Reality. This is because knowledge of Complete Reality and being completely real oneself is identical. Knowledge is itself being. Suchness and Complete Reality refer to the same aspect of functional enlightening being. Just the world itself is it. Karma is itself the ground of enlightening being in terms of seeing essence (by having reversed the effect of conditioned awareness from the psychological momentum of habit energy to the point of perpetual upwelling of potential where one rests in the highest good). The term "seeing essence" used here is not a reference to sudden enlightenment, rather it denotes seeing complete reality as such. Seeing complete reality as such is impersonal accord in reality. Selflessness as such, is neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong, neither self or other nor before or after. Enlightening accord within reality is the nature of selflessness, no different than the nature of awareness being selfless. Selflessness just is. It has nothing to do with arbitrary moral injunctions to guilt-trip yourself and others with. It's just your nature. Selflessness is the impersonal nature of reality. It's you! Your identity is as absolutely and selflessly aware as anything else. You are not the person, you are its aware quality. There is no thing. There are no explanations, only vague descriptions. It is beyond words. You are an inconceivable being. I say that delusion and reality look the same in everyday ordinary situations because it's true. Reality doesn't look any different than delusion. They really are the same. The point of real illumination is oneself alone whether one goes along or turns the light around. This point of illumination where essence either congeals as energy or remains unborn as potential is called the Mysterious Pass. It is none other than one's own mind right now. Neither ordinary nor holy, all wonders arise from this. It is possible to use the Mysterious Pass and its Valley Spirit inexhaustibly. The Tao te Ching says as much in chapters 4, 5 and 6 right off the top of my head. Laotse's document is a glossary and a codebook for immortalists. "Going along" is using the psychological apparatus habitually unawares. Appropriate application of conscious psychological awareness according to the time is not different than resting in the highest good in that the mind of Tao is none other than the human mentality void of unconscious habit energy in terms of unconsciously following psychological momentum of karmic self and other. The same can be said of having activated one's enlightening function by turning the light around, in that one can be said to "unconsciously follow the laws of god." This all means that adepts use karma to access potential, in that one is said to "pick out the real from within the false." But I have already described the fact that the two are the same essence without beginning. It's just a manner of speaking to help people avoid the mistake of grasping the one and rejecting the other. This refers to those who may be obstructed by provisional, reformative teachings by mistakenly clinging to ideas of renunciation and denial. Not that those with heavy karmic bonds haven't benefitted by such temporary remedies. When one sees potential in the midst of delusion, in terms of critical junctures of time and place set up by karma, deliberate action is eons away, as one does not rely on one's own power to respond to situations. One just knows to pass through as such. The situational aspect denotes a relativity to time, timing and audacity. Enlightening activity is not relative to conventions of avoidance strategies. One just passes through directly, sharing oneself with open hands. It's the darnedest thing. It sounds just like poofs ! hahahhahahhaa!! ed note: add 6th paragraph

Much more basic than human civilizations of course, but as far as the animal kingdom goes this is incredible phenomena. The ants despite their size hold territories hundreds of metres in length and have complex stratergies to defend them. They build dozens of nests consisting of complex labyrinths between the cannopies which they link via branch networks. The nests act as areas for food storage and barracks for their soldier ants that defend foreign weaver ants and other insects occupying their space. I find it incredible that nature on such a small scale is possible of such complex operations, it reminds me of what Peter Ralston mentions in his book on 'pursuing consciousness' that Self can be thought of as a force. This force is impersonal but what ever it acts on has an inclination towards preservation of its state and aggrandisement for its survival and against decay. This also shows that your human intelligence is an active process of the universe and is impersonal even your failures. The universe is all YOU and it is nothing

I could not decide which subforum to put this; Spirituality, High Consciousness, or Book Reviews. So, I'm really getting into Neville Goddard. Would it be correct to interpret that a lot of his material is Law of Attraction? I'm going to post below some direct quotes from the book above and my interpretation (my interpretation in bold italic). I wondered if anyone else finds his below content quite inspirational? Every feeling makes a subconscious impression and, unless it is counteracted by a more powerful feeling of an opposite nature, must be expressed. The dominant of two feelings is the one expressed. So for me, this could mean fully accepting and sitting with the difficult feeling but then moving on to visualising or contemplating on an alternative, more positive and empowering feeling. Sensation precedes manifestation and is the foundation upon which all manifestation rests (Is he saying that feelings dictate manifestation?) Be careful of your moods and feelings, for there is an unbroken connection between your feelings and your visible world. Your body is an emotional filter and bears the unmistakable marks of your prevalent emotions. Emotional disturbances, especially suppressed emotions, are the causes of all disease. To feel intensely about a wrong with-out voicing or expressing that feeling is the beginning of disease. This reminds me of a section of a Dr Phil book where he argues that we don't get away with dysfunctional thought patterns, emotions, and behaviours as much as we think we do. Think feelingly only of the state you desire to realize. Feeling the reality of the state sought and living and acting on that conviction is the way of all seeming miracles. A change of feeling is a change of destiny. All creation occurs in the domain of the subconscious. What you must acquire, then, is a reflective control of the operation of the subconscious, that is, control of your ideas and feelings. This reads to me like someone who has reached an advanced state? Do you think that the more you can influence your subconscious the more you can attain a degree of emotional mastery? The subconscious is not selective; it is impersonal and no respecter of persons. The subconscious is not concerned with the truth or falsity of your feeling. It always accepts as true that which you feel to be true. This rings very true! The subconscious never fails to express that which has been impressed upon it. The moment it receives an impression, it begins to work out the ways of its expression. It accepts the feeling impressed upon it, your feeling, as a fact. The subconscious never alters the accepted beliefs of man. To me this highlights how we can live on auto-pilot, sleep walking through life like a puppet being controlled by our ego and/or emotions. However, until perfect self-control is attained, so that, in spite of appearances, you feel all that you want to feel, (this reminds me of Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take) use sleep and prayer to aid you in realizing your desired states. These are the two gateways into the subconscious. (He says sleep and prayer, but I am assuming also meditation?) Man awake is under compulsion to express his subconscious impressions. Do not waste one moment in regret, for to think feelingly of the mistakes of the past is to reinfect yourself. Turn from appearances and assume the feeling that would be yours were you already the one you wish to be. Again, Proverbs 3:5-6 as above. Prayer is not so much what you ask for, as how you prepare for its reception. “Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray believe that you have received them, and ye shall have them” [Mark 11:24]. Any comments or interpretation on this? Law of Attraction? The only condition required is that you believe that your prayers are already realized. Any comments or interpretation on this? Law of Attraction? All you can possibly need or desire is already yours. You need no helper to give it to you; it is yours now. Call your desires into being by imagining and feeling your wish fulfilled. Any comments or interpretation on this? Law of Attraction?

Dear gswva, Once again: I'm not enlightened. My knowledge is only through the scriptures I read and videos that I watch online. It's very much possible my knowledge is flawed. Without enlightenment we can only speculate. Even with enlightenment, it seems there are various levels of enlightenment with different knowledge and more depth to such knowledge. Having understood this, we can only speculate. So, lets speculate: From my understanding, all the descriptions that we give about the Brahman are just that: Descriptions and Thoughts. Even the word Brahman is just a label and as such is just a thought. Neither can you say it exist, nor can you say it doesn't exist. It exists without existing. It is the pure absolute nothingness. So absolute in its emptiness that it becomes the very source of every unique thing. Yet, none of those things are different from it. They only exist in and as itself. The way we think and believe seems to be the way Brahman seem to appear to us(Just like the AI in the movie Captain Marvel). In Non-Dual Traditions: The same reality is experienced as nameless and formless but with all potential. In Bhakthi Traditions: Those who worship krishna report visiting krishna and his abode Goloka(Krishna's abode); those who worship shiva talk about their experiences of shiva; similarly the Devi(goddess) has been seen(e,g: Ramakrishna paramahamsa frequently talked with "kali devi"). Similarly, visiting heaven and christ in christianity; Egyptian gods in ancient egypt etc.. In which ever way we create our karma(Cause & Effect - Tendencies, Beliefs, Conditioning, Memories, Behaviours, etc). such seems to be our experience. Each of these worshipers actually experience reality as if their god is the one who created the entire reality and He/She/They/It is the one who is presiding over everything. Such gods actually show to their devotees through certain experiences how they are the alpha and omega of everything(Best e.g: Virat Rupa(Universal Form) of Krishna shown to Arjuna in the battlefield). During such experiences the devotees actually experience their deity to be anything and everything, with all the descriptions and experiences of non-dual liberation as well as dual liberations being present within their deity itself. Although the deity seen with a form, still at the same time being infinite; with everything present within themselves; Just like fractals although seem to have a limited form; after having zoomed in, will reveal infinite patterns with infinite depth. I'll give you just one example of how they experience their realities based on their belief: "In Gaudiya Vaishnava school of bhakthi(Devotional) tradition(ISKCON). Their deity is Krishna. They make a distinction between Material reality and Spiritual reality. Spiritual reality having many varieties of infinite realms all being completely perfect and eternal. Each realm has a certain form of Krishna presiding over that realm. There is no suffering in any of those realms whatsoever. All of them are filled only with blissful experiences. When they want to experience material reality they descend and have them and again return back to their own abodes. Anybody who develops devotion and worships Krishna believing the stories about him with full unconditional loving intensity; after getting liberation in bhakthi(Dual type liberation) and after giving up their physical body, they go to such places and stay there eternally(I doubt it being eternal - But, who knows) Then, Krishna also creates these Material reality where infinite universes are generated and dissolved again and again. Within each of which: material heavens, hells and earthly experiences are experienced according to the karma of the living entities with incarnation and reincarnation cycles going on again and again. until liberation happens. But, they say that all these material heavens and hells and earthly realms are all temporary and will get destroyed during universal dissolution. And all of them are born in a new universe and are placed in situations suitable for their karma. Also, enjoyment and suffering in earth, heaven or hellish realms are experienced only as long as the karma for such enjoyment or suffering lasts. As such, are only temporary. Karma keeps generating and doesn't run out as long as actions are done with attachment for material fruits. In this tradition, there were and still are very exalted enlightened beings who have experienced these realms/realities directly and written about them. These realities are not experienced as hallucinatory. The realities when being experienced are more profound and vivid than even our own earthly reality. In one such story, a sage during his meditation on his lord was experiencing such a realm and got his finger burnt in that realm. When he opened his eyes in our realm, his finger actually was burnt even in our realm(remember that scene in Matrix?)." The experiences mentioned above are only experienced as such by those who follow Gaudiya Vaishnava Tradition(ISKCON) which is just one sub-tradition within the vaishnava tradition within Hinduism. Like this, there are literally more than thousand of other traditions within Hinduism itself. There are 33 million gods in Hinduism it is said. Likewise, there are many different religions in other parts of the world each with their own belief and customs and traditions. Just like the e.g given above, all of them experience their LIFE based on how they create their own karma(Cause & Effect, tendencies, beliefs, conditioning, memories, behaviors, etc).. They experience their gods, heavens , hells and other such things, the way they imagined and believed. All of this is just like water in the mirage. As such you can say, it doesn't exist. But then, as some form of an imagination itself, all of it is real. Just like dreams when experienced are reacted-to-emotionally by the dreamer as being real as long as they are being experienced. Please read the sample screenshots of Yoga Vasishta from these posts first: Once you understand basics of how reality is constructed by reading the above mentioned posts, you'll understand that any reality is seen only within some mind(Jiva - Individuated atomic living entity). Just like dream world is seen within the dreamer's mind. Just as Imagination is seen within the mind of the one imagining it. There is no possibility of projecting any reality outside of a mind. Our reality is also one such reality projecting within some mind. That being the case, Every reality is only an imaginary one. Even the mind that projects it is also just a mirage. All of this duality with all its universes/realities within such minds is like a water seen in the mirage(Think of such minds as mirages and water seen in the mirages as the worlds seen in such minds). Both mirage and water seen in it are unreal. They exist without existing. Also if we assume everything is intelligently designed, afaik all "past lives" memories could be imaginary and unrelated to the actual mechanics consciousness shapes itself. I'm not denying reincarnation but I'm just saying it doesn't prove anything. Brahman and intention are incompatible with one another. It is not a personal entity. It is completely impersonal and formless. It is beyond intent and intellectualizing. There is nothing that can be said about it. Upon reaching it, all activity stops. No word or thought or imagination can touch it. It exists without existing. You are one with that Brahman they say.. A mere simple movement ( (metaphorical) which is natural and is a characteristic of Brahman; like movement of air is natural for the wind) in Brahman projects out infinite upon infinite of atomic Jiva(s)(Living entities with mind) into existence. The conscious intelligent design only happens(Not consciously happen in all of them) after the Jiva(s) have come into being within Brahman. Within the minds of those Jiva(s): world, rules and regulations, intelligence, logic all these things appear. These are NOT prior to the minds. For first appeared Primary Jiva(s), as well as secondary Jiva(s) - created within those Primary Jiva(s)'s minds; there is no karma initially. But, after acting as and within the world for some time; memories, tendencies, tastes, behavioral patterns, likes and dislikes, all of these are slowly acquired and they act as a repetitive compulsive cycles after a while, these patterns are what are called as vasanas and samskaras. These are collectively called as karma of that individual. As all the entities have such patterns, you can call it as collective karma of each of such groups. Just as when water flows upon land; creates a river bed by flowing continuously; and not able to change its path but to flow within the same riverbed after a while. Similarly, karma after creating some of it becomes a compulsive pattern, creating more and more which is hard to break. Just like a river without a riverbed disperses itself into all directions and ceases to exist as a river. Similarly, without karma, the individual will dissolve and cease to exist. Such dissolution is called liberation. Further Speculation: "Not all those Jiva(s) projecting such worlds within them are very intelligent. So these primitive, first order Jivas only project some dumb random, abstract, useless, not so sophisticated; not so very conscious reality within themselves. Initially they don't possess any knowledge whatsoever. After their death. After having gone through several cycles of interaction with other jivas through reincarnation in other jiva(s)'s universes as one of the living entities in those universes and having evolved into higher conscious states(through such interaction by natural evolution which happens randomly as well as driven by karma) as human beings or other such entities, they get more knowledge. These Jivas after their death in other Jiva's mental world/universe/realm might project very sophisticated universes within their own mind(Even during the lowly evolved states they may project some unsophisticated universes within themselves in some of the after-life cycles). Such projection may not happen within each after-life cycle; only when a compatible universe is not found for the karma that this jiva currently possesses that this Jiva may create such a projection. Even then it may simply wait in limbo for a compatible universe. Again, these projections either sophisticated or unsophisticated; may not be conscious ones. Just like our dreams are not experienced with lucidity with full consciousness of knowing them to be dreams. Similarly these projections may also happen unconsciously within themselves. Within these projected universes, there will be numerous Jiva(s) either reincarnated from other realities who have qualities which are compatible with this universe, or newly created ones without having had any karma before. These newly created jivas, can be directly human beings, deities, or any other such evolved beings which the jiva projecting the universe has previous knowledge of. These other jivas each further creating a universe within themselves in their after-life periods, with more jivas within them...with the cycle going ad-infinitum". As far as Reincarnation is concerned, since it happens only with-in the mirage like realities/universes, it also is just a type of illusory experiential cycle experienced in them. Although just an illusory experiential cycle, it does exist however as such; driven by karma. We do have strong evidence for that. As I already presented. You need to understand first that, even the universal mind which projects the world as well as the entities incarnate and reincarnate within it, both/all of them are bound by their karma. Although, if more conscious the Jiva becomes, more ability it has - to act with freedom/freewill with less influence from karma. Some Yogis/saints/sages may take the position of such universal mind and project some highly sophisticated realities/universes/realms. Such Universal minds(Jivas(s)) may be with almost absolute freedom(E.g: Krishna in Goloka - Such Jiva(s) are not called as Jiva(s) They are called Bhagawan-Supreme Gods and goddesses for those who worship them). The Abodes/Realities/Universes/Worlds/Heavens what ever you want to call it; created by such Bhagawan/God like entities who have attained very highly unimaginable levels of consciousness/awareness are the worlds where suffering and reincarnation doesn't exist. Whether these worlds exist eternally or not I don't know. It may be a possibility, but I'm not sure. There may be infinite such worlds with varying degrees of sophistication. Depending upon the consciousness prevailing in any reality, reincarnation may or may not be a fact in that reality. May be even in our own realities, not every one reincarnate. I don't know how it works. What I do know is: Karma is what drives reincarnation or any other experience as an individuated entity. Having understood all of this clearly. Keeping the example of Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition in mind. If we think about each of the models you have presented, Even though you have presented them as if each of your models encompass all of absolute existence. Still it is possible to reduce them into different possible realities and it is easily possible that each of those models of reality may be truly be experienced in some of those universes/realities in some of those minds imagining/creating them. Even if such realities doesn't exist anywhere now, they can still be created by imagining them in a certain state of mind, either through Meditation(like mentioned in Yoga Vasishta) or even after Physical Death by keeping on intensely imagining them again and again in your living time now. So, scriptures say that In what ever state of mind you leave your body, during death, that state you'll attain without fail. This is just like how we dream at night about those things which we intensely contemplated in our waking state. Also, you'll only experience those realities and experiences, about which you have knowledge of or atleast related to your mental and karmic structure as a natural progression of your karma. Absolutely random experiences may be a very rare phenomenon. What I meant is if everything is created before merging together or if nothing splits itself until it finds itself again Not necessary for all of creations to merge before other cycle of creations emerge. Infinite creations are keeping on emerging and dissolving infinitely in infinite minds simultaneously. This cycle never stops. Such is the nature of Brahman - Just like breathing is the nature of a human being. Having said that, this is only from the view given in the book:Yoga Vasishta. But, this also depends on your beliefs and world view. Remember: that you only experience what your mental structure believes and allows. The video posted above of Rupert Spira has somewhat a good explanation. For this very reason some people may remember some other people's experiences & memories as their own(As one can read somewhat similar experiences in Yoga Vasishta). But, he seems to assume all the individuated entities as loosely bound with loose covering. But, It is only true for certain individuals in certain states of karma and for certain periods and types of disembodiment. After death, it seems; generally the individuated entities are tightly bound with remaining 4 layers(more like aspects than layers) of coverings mostly intact which I have mentioned in my previous posts. Because of this, these entities acquiring the karmas and memories of other's may be rare. The obscure thing to me is what happens after the state of oneness and how would you know that. If it's empty/void awareness, or non-individualized infinite creation. In the first case, form = fear, duality directly yields the illusion of ego. In the latter case, form =/= fear, ego is not necessary to the awareness of anything. We also need to know if we can split ourselves again or not. May be we need to experience Non-Dual enlightenment to understand this. "Ramakrishna Paramahamsa" has said that merging into brahman is like a salt doll walking into the ocean. After merging with the ocean there is no coming back. Seems like all non dual scriptures say the same thing. I haven't studied all of them though. May be those who suffer too much choose to dissolve when such an opportunity presents itself. Whereas, those who improve more and more through their effort gain new heights of awareness and consciousness creating their own realities and living in it with full bliss eternally(? - I'm not sure). Sadhguru says in his book that there is no need to keep extending the individuation as every kind of universe has same fundamental structures. But, I don't agree with it. If it has no value; then, why are others creating such realities and keeping their individuation. He himself admitted that he doesn't have much scriptural knowledge. Maybe, too much confidence in one's own ability without proper theoretical knowledge may create such illusions. Also, as I mentioned already, you can only experience those experiences you believe and have knowledge about. Interestingly in the Gaudiya vaishnava tradition, although some of them say that such merging is a permanent suicide. Others say that even attaining liberation through merging with brahman is useless because it is only temporary and after a while they again fall down from that position. May be in this situation is where Rupert Spira's explanation may make sense, because during merging with Brahman there are no coverings and all those layers are completely dismantled. So the memories, tendencies and karma of all the merged individuals remain in the reservoir of Brahman and some of the newly created entities in the universes are created with the template of combination of already existing karmas and experiences from the Brahman reservoir and their individual constitution is made in such a way, that each of those newly created individuals are perfectly compatible with the universal mind which is imagining them according to its karma, For those individuals where such combination is not immediately available, maybe only they are created freshly without any karma. Maybe because the newly created individuals in this manner are not entirely uniquely their own selves as they previously were, it is for this reason that it may have been said that: once merged, its finished. It may also be possible that some or all of these merged entities when there is a compatible universe exists, each of these entire entities is brought back with the same configuration. And as such experience themselves as same persons they were before in one of their previous incarnations. The above cases makes sense because it is said that by doing samyama any information can be retrieved that one wishes to retrieve. It would only be possible if all the information is stored permanently somewhere. It is also possible that only information is permanent and not the individuals themselves with all their karmic configurations. Above all, it is also highly possible that each of these cases is possible in some versions of cultural realities whose cultures imagine realities in such different manners mentioned above. Absolutely anything seems to be possible(Both Possibility as well as Impossibility). In order to get proper understanding of reality, you have to read both of these books completely: (Even then you may not understand everything, But will definitely improve your knowledge) Please read this book(Yoga Vasishta) without skipping anything: https://estudantedavedanta.net/The-Supreme-Yoga-Swami-Venkatesananda.pdf Death - An Inside Story: A book for all those who shall die Book by Sadhguru: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Death_An_Inside_Story/ydzQDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Sorry, only now i saw your comment. Yes, absolutely related. Weak sense of reality is how I define the feeling of being ungrounded. When you are too much in your head and not in your body, you create your sense of reality through thoughts, logic, and overly-theorization. This phenomenon is described in-depth in the book "The Betrayal Of The Body" by Alexander Lowen. There, he talks in terms of the character structure he calls "schizoid". They are people that, due to the inability to deal with extreme negative feelings like fear, retreat in their heads and kind of forget the body, making them one step away from the schizophrenic. They do that in order to not enter in a full-blown psychotic state. Chakra one imbalance. Schizoid types are basically chronically ungrounded people, they describe this kind of unrealism about life, like their are living in a state of dream, where things do not appear real (in a sense of SOLIDLY REAL). It is like watching life behind the lenses of a binocle, things get too fluid and impersonal. I relate a LOT with all those symptoms and most my immediate family (mom, aunt and grandmother) suffer from it, I was raised in a household full of schizoid people that are completely unaware of their condition, which creates a huge shitshow. I am no different from them, but i have a lot of self-awareness and this gives me at least a chance to overcome this state. Needless to say that psychedelics to schizoid people are dangerous. I have a good experience of psychedelic use but at some point, they got overwhelming for me because i was ungrounded and didn't knew that. The feeling is literally losing your mind, going crazy, which is a big fear of mine due to my family history of mental problems. During my worst trips, i remember doing my best to "grab" unto anything that seems familiar and "solid" for me, could be a good friend, a familiar/safe place like a bedroom or even a tree (yes lol in one of my ayahuasca trips i literally started hugging a tree to ground myself).

They are also just story characters in a collective impersonal mind. I only want to be as conscious as Voldemort was. You'll never find my horcruxes.

Great notes and also self observations, @seeking_brilliance . The term 'deficient emptiness' is one that I find useful which encapsulates the core of a variety of negative states of consciousness and the practice is to develop the capacity to sit with it. Sitting with it then allows space for transformations to occur. On the subject of suffering is a quote from the Fourth Way work. I find it very sustinct and to the point distinguishing unnecessary suffering and intentional (conscious) suffering. The first is Unnecessary Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that we incur because of our unreasonable attitudes and expectations towards others, from our ill-will, hatred and rejection of others, from doubt, possessiveness, arrogance and self pity. In other words, suffering arising from our self-importance. The second is Unavoidable Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that comes to us by accident or from events beyond our control, such as interpersonal conflicts, war, disaster, disease or death. Third, we have Voluntary Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that we take upon ourselves in order to accomplish a personal aim, such as an athlete who disciplines himself to win a race, or a student who labours to get good grades. And finally we have Intentional Suffering. According to Bennett, this would be the kind of suffering that we take upon ourselves in order to accomplish an impersonal or altruistic goal, one that is directed more towards service to others or to the Work, and not for any personal gain. I too, have used cannabis for dissociating from the world. If one is half aware that that is what's going on, though, it looses its effectiveness and although not immediately, integration to some degree will occur. I'm just saying this seems to be the case in my own life. IME, A great hardcore practice for dealing with suffering is ruthlessly observing ones own schadenfreude. It's culturally acceptable to wish ill on the bad guys in the movies but when these kinds of thoughts arise in association with family and friends, it's another story. If not observed and sorted out and dealt with, these kinds of thoughts can hurl one into a psychic entropy. I can give myself some space and declare yes, a reactive part of me is saying this but in my heart of hearts, this is not me and I say NO to this negative little sub personality. After engaging in this kind of Inquiry, I even begin to have empathy towards people who are chronically negative in some way, realizing that they're caught up in suffering and being propelled automatically in reactive behavior. In a sense, they're caught up in their own Hell. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

The secret brilliance of one's transcendent nature is an inherently robust and rustic capacity for impersonal acceptance of the impersonal reality of things consistent with karmically generative formal multiplicity. Unity isn't just the perspective of the absolute. But paying lip-service to reasonable and logical notions of Universal Good is just a matter of intellectualism. The power of inherent buddha-nature is literally your own eyes right now. It is a pity that people cannot wake up. Eternity is just this fathomless multiplicity in a word, in a thing, in a lifetime, in a universe. It is fascinating, but so what? The secret of one's inherent transcendent nature is awakening to reality as the authentically complete acceptance of what is as is regardless of circumstances. This does not admit of fascination rooted in the particular nor the vastness of space. Fascination in one is fascination in the totality. Why? There is no end to the one fascinated nor the one fascinating. They are the same. Ultimately, there is nothing to differentiate between self and other. Acceptance of the one is acceptance of totality. It's already you. There is no need to linger in fascinations comprising the nature and situational manifestations constituting eternity. This is the seductive quality of the killing energy of the karmic matrix. One's narcissistic relationship with its creative multiplicity cannot be rationalized romantically and emotionally as wonder because it is really paralyzing numbness compounding moment by moment. When you see reality as yourself objectively, impersonally, you transcend both at once. There is no way to transcend one or the other since both are the essential manifestation of Suchness. So it makes sense that subsequent to seeing reality, there is nothing to linger on. If you consider yourself awakened and you still find yourself lingering on phenomena, it would do well to reconsider your assessment of the nature of self-awakening. The habit of lusting after glinting potential in objects is the lure of one's own residual killing energy no different than the nature of creative evolution. No one has lost their aptitude for applying their tiger-eyes, but how many of us have the effective use of our buddha-eyes? This is due to acquired energy. Acquired energy IS our tiger-eyes. Arriving on the path of prior illuminates in actuality is in looking back to observe the aftermath of stepping over the whole of eternity. It's the description of presence being where you're at beyond the influence of karmic fascinations. Eternity is creation, not your nature. Seeing reality is the perspective of Unity perpetually awaiting the timing of evolution. Yes, this is the path of prior illuminates where the nature of the gradual has transformed from effort reversing the flow of going along to a spontaneous perpetual acceptance of the incipient upwelling at the pivot of awareness: this is the aperture of the Mysterious Female. It's not a place relative to anything. Aperture is a codeword for the perspective characteristic of the nature of its seeing. Its seeing is characteristic of Unity: mysterious/yang; female/yin. In stepping over eternity one assumes the characteristic of unified awareness. It does not depend on sudden enlightenment. In other words, the function of enlightening being is not dependent on awakening to its essential nature, which is already as it is. Even awakening isn't dependent on anything; it is just one's reaching a tipping-point in aggregating the critical mass of potential severing the root of the karmic compulsion to act. Your nature is the nature of awareness, which is not created. That which is not created comprises the path of prior illuminates having stepped over the whole of eternity. Eternity is about 100mm wide~ the distance between your own two eyes; it's just a trickle, really. REALLY. Just step over it. Ok, yes, easy to say, hard to do. But it is first necessary to see it as it is. In order to do that, one must be able to see reality in the first place. How? This is made possible by the breadth of the secret brilliance of one's transcendent nature being the inherently robust and rustic capacity for impersonal acceptance of the impersonal reality of things consistent with karmically generative formal multiplicity. It's already you, right now— forget it already— just be done with it for all time!! Be done with fascinations forever glinting in the unfathomable depth trickling at the juxtaposition of the end of the road of universal acceptance and the timing of letting go. When you yourself become the crossroads of before, after, acceptance and release presently and perpetually arising at its creative incipience, your perspective is the impersonal subtle observation witnessing the spark of the totality of fascination by virtue of each situation in its time without attachments. The taoist alchemical term, stealing potential, is witnessing this spark, over and over and over in actual everyday ordinary situations. This is not wonderful at all— it's just stepping over eternity— stepping over it means you do not entertain personal speculation in its multifarious permutations. In stepping over eternity, you have gathered the polluted unrefined elixir. Seal this away in secrecy void of intellectualism and rumination. This is the visage of the all-at-once perpetually in the midst of the gradual, embodied as the function of your own enlightening being. Don't make the mistake of thinking you do this. It is simply a matter of witnessing your having passed through a situational evolution that has no power to touch you. When the time arrives, it is not a matter of coming or going, movement or stillness. "Passing through" is just a figure of speech. When it arrives, there is already nothing left. Actually, in terms of arrival, the Unborn is refreshed. This is the spiritual power of one's subtle operation transcending yin and yang in terms of created cycles of karmic evolution. It is simply a matter of seeing the nature of sameness. As I said above, there is no end to the one fascinated nor to fascination itself. They are the same in terms of creation, which reflects eternity, not immortality. Ultimately, there is nothing to differentiate between self and other. If one can accept the totality (of creation) within nondifferentiation (the nonpsychological), "stealing potential" becomes the spontaneous transformation of energy from its subsequent state to its primal state within you in terms of your functional abiding in the nature of selfless Unity within the evolution of times, places, situations and events. Spiritual alchemy is just a label for no mean feat. Inconceivability is our nature. Humans being is inconceivable, but conditioning dumbs it down. By necessity, it requires work to awaken to our true self. It's a matter of seeing things as potential by not having complacent opportunistic relationships with potential as things. Ceasing to see things as objects of opportunism reverts things to potential. Not-doing in terms of potential saves energy (unrefined elixir, alchemy speaking). Energy saved as such is naturally transformed without effort (or knowledge). In taoist terms, properly transformed energy is refined elixir. Refined elixir is potential having been stolen from the Creative and restored to the Primal. This is the Real. The Creative is the storehouse of fascination, not reality. This is all accomplished by seeing potential and not doing anything with it to refine the self as opposed to seeing things to exploit (or reject) to gratify the person. Seeing is seeing before the first thought. I'm sorry if it sounds like spiritual mumbo-jumbo, but it's just how it is and no one knows why. If you know the way it really is, then (before the first thought) you partake of the transcendent nature of the real in the knowledge that there is nothing at all to know. And that is why you do not entertain fascinations: since there is, in fact, nothing to know, why on earth act in complicity with fascinations in the first place?!! poofs! Suddenly, it appears as it ever was, whatever it was …amounting to nothing. This is called going through endless transformations, planting lotuses in fire, entering the tao in reality. Just step over in one stride and abide in the illuminated as you were without beginning. Until this attainment is re-enacted for all eternity and becomes the perpetual alternation of one's practice, how can one be said to be free of mundanity while in its midst? The strange has no power over the August Way of perpetually refreshing primal Mind. That fact is not good or bad. Even so, it is by virtue of the formation of the strange that the August is manifest formlessly by the subtlety of enlightening observation. Seeing this is made possible by not tarrying over fascinations of the formal. Seeing reality as it is without attachment to objects, people, situations and events is dispensing with fascinations relative to the formal. Again, until this attainment is re-enacted for all eternity and becomes the perpetual alternation of one's practice, how can one be said to be free of mundanity while in its midst? Clearly, it is in fascination with the spark of strangenesses that one becomes enamored of bondage with its nature, which is karmic. See this sickness for what it is and wake up to its killing energy. Once you wake up to reality, and maintain a consistency of subtle observation over the aperture of awareness for a long, long time, you will find that the allure of the strange has no power over the August Way of perpetually refreshing primal Mind. What makes things seem strange and alluring is that personal ignorance of the essential nature of reality, which is neither different nor the same. Just this is already your nature. So it won't do to enact complicity with mundane fascination to personally create entanglements with objects, people, situations and events where they never existed to begin with.