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First we should define what the scientific method is before talking about it and judging it. Aren't even the methods to achieve enlightment scientific, as you look what's out there in reality? The only difference I can think of is the letting go of the objectivity criterion in spirituality. Regarding the quote of Neil Tyson, I wouldn't say science is true, but the knowledge gained through the scientific method is. By knowledge I don't mean the colorful models scientists make up to make their findings conceivable to human minds, but the mechanics of reality they discovered behind them. One thing is for sure: Science works, because it can be used to manipulate reality ( technology, medicine etc. ). Is there a better proof? "It works, bitches" - Richard Dawkins : D I have to admit as a student of physics that there is Ego-protection involved in my writing so far. But one thing I am genuinly interested in. Leo often says that enlightened people don't care about science because they already know the ultimate truth. But saying so they would dismiss the existence of some structural nature of reality, as physics exposes. How do you reconcile nothingness as ultimate existential nature of reality with the existence of a structure, like forces and energy/matter???

Thank you for the very helpful response, but I have some questions. 1. How exactly do you remind yourself of your death every hour? Do you use an alarm clock? And what thought processes do you go through in order to get this thought really clear in your mind? 2. To be honest, when I think about my own death I get demotivated, rather than motivated, because I realize that me and everything I create will turn into nothingness, so what is the point in actually pursuing anything?

Hell yeah that's quite awesome but it still doesn't help when you when you accidentally delete a whole fricking paragraph ( like me). And how about this... by loving yourself you in the end love everything ( or nothing) because of you being the all there is ( or once again nothingness). Watcha think?

If it's guilt you struggle with you probably need to contemplate on how you are not responsible for a single one of your actions but have always been deceived in to sin etc but you still need to be 100% honest and truly innerstand this to move on. Also realize what you are - nothingness and don't let your ego get in the way because really you are just feeling that you're so important and mighty and therefor you should have taken more responsibilty etc as hard as that might be to grasp if your not ready but that is the blue mind control of all the good spiritual people including the awesome social anxiety folks. Not to make you take the opposite pillar of course where you just shit on everyone and everything because you take no responsibility but eventually you'll understand that paradox PS. the event and feelings are the lessons and the mind is the student, just something that came to my mind right now

@Arik Respect, man! @Zotikos Thank You for your insight & advice. The main reason I ended up between splitting sessions or maintaining one, longer, is that they affect me quite diffferently. The longest session of meditation, was btw. the hardcore version of not moving at all also and it was 96 minutes. My position was very uncomfortable from the beggining, but somehow I did go through it. After quite some time the unbearable pain in my legs was still present but from a distance, like I was aware of it, acknowledged it and that's it. Done nothing about it. There was no I, just pure nothingness. The bliss, peace, awareness and WOAH that was coming through me were unexplainable and undefinable. That was the hardest, but also the best meditating session I've experienced so far. The moment of pushing certain barrier during meditation is so rewarding. I will experiment with different frequency, but I think at the end, I might stay with one hour, but I'm going to place it in the morning instead of doing it right before sleep. Thank You, guys!

Hi everyone! I'm new here but "good friend" of Leo for almost a year now. For what I'm very very grateful:) But anyway I was just reading this topic and thought that I share my point of view on the ego. Alan Watts said something that ego is like a radar on the ship - constantly looking for a "danger". Egoistic ego danger. I believe that so called "danger" is unique for everyone of us, conditioned throughout our childhood experience growing up in particular family, place, friends, neighbourhood and so on the list is probably neverending. So it's a "program" runs by earlier defined emotions. Emotions are fuelled by thoughts. Thoughts arise constantly and the more we are identified with them the stronger the ego and the stronger is the emotion which affects our actions. Obviously thoughts arise from nothingness so it is our choice then to align with them or just observe it as a part of reality, just like sound or feeling or bird flying by. The more I read about it and put it into practice the clearer it gets. I know it's very chaotic and simplified - and it's hard to put it all in just few words - but that's how I see it at this stage of my life. Ps. It's nice to see others points of view because everyone gives different perspective and new insights and they all very interesting! Cheers and have an nice day!

Yes. It comes from God/Source/Emptiness/Nothingness... Once you've unloaded everything standing in Its way, it'll flow through you

God isn't so much the phenomena that you see. God refers to the ultimate SOURCE of this phenomena, which is sorta like Nothingness. The phenomena arise from the Nothingness and die back into it every moment. But this is all just ideas. Go discover what the words are pointing to.

Who is that one doing the "viewing"? Emptiness is a very tricky concept Ego uses to get/keep one down as it sounds like death and lethargy. Also from this category are: "meaningless", "nothingness", etc. People that claim "enlightenment" by DOING or NOT DOING... are just trying somehow to explain their experiencing of THAT which they have found. Let Mind do what it needs to do and let That one that witnesses the Mind reveal its truth.

Leo mentioned 'conscious dying' in one of his videos and it got me to ponder. Considering the fact that our innate nature is nothingness, would it be accurate to say that death is not opposite of life, but only opposite of birth? And wouldn't pursuing enlightenment then become a journey back home, so to speak, back to the place we all came from to begin with? This is another reason I find enlightenment so desirable and of great value, worth investing much time and effort into. What does 'conscious dying' mean to you?

Because the Bible is a story for your entertainment. It wasn't written by Jesus. It was written by people after him to sell the story of Jesus and their brand of ideology. The Bible attempts to communicate extremely advanced truths that most people cannot even begin to fathom. To do that, it has to dumb everything down into an almost unrecognizable form. It's like trying to teach calculus to first-graders using Sesame Street characters, glitter, and crayons. God had to be turned into a man because egos cannot fathom or stomach the notion that God is Absolute Nothingness.

What comes to mind when You read Infinity & nothingness ? If Infinity cannot be imagined then what is infinity?... No, answer my mind comes up with will be ever be the answer . The words and images flickering in my mind ( just assumed Its my mind) are real just the story they have is not real.. Is Infinity An absolute? Space seems infinite . Since no-thing can be imagined is it also infinity/ absolute,? Isnt that what we are? Would you consider space nothing but if it is nothing then ive made it into something... Are we inside nothing. Who said there was an I to be inside something. Inner and outer world distinction is illusory. ? Maybe. Random thoughts!

so the infinity is us.... nothingness, everything is our true self. And is nothingness and everything is what jesus had called god?

Firstly, 99% of people are not doing enlightenment work, so for them self-improvement is all there is, and it's FAR better than doing nothing. Secondly, the term no-self is a bit misleading. What it really means is, "The self you think of yourself as being is false. But there is a True Self which awaits discovery." You as a personality or a human being is a fiction. But you as Absolute Nothingness or pure awareness is REAL! It's the only real thing! So self-actualization is still valid if you just understand which self is being talked about. When you start to get into enlightenment work, you're basically doing a deconstruction of the false self in order the allow the True Self to shine << that's what the deepest self-actualization work is. It's like washing your car by removing dirt rather than painting over the dirt. So in my mind, there is no paradox. The paradox is only on the surface, at the level of language. Life still goes on and there are many practical steps you can take to improve how you flow with life.

The rational mind will spin its wheels thinking about this stuff and not really get anywhere. It's sort of like space, but space is something, not nothingness. Nothingness is an Absolute. Another way to describe it that has been helpful for me is as pure presence or knowing. This nothingness is like pure awareness. It has no shape or form, yet it is aware of itself and the entire world. It is the thing that allows awareness of anything in the first place. Because for something to exist, it has to first enter awareness. Nothingness is the same as infinity. Like two sides of the same coin. Both are non-localizable, formless, and ever-present. Imagine if you were nothing. You would also be everything simultaneously. There is no "I" to be inside anything. Everything occurs inside of the true "I". The true self is like an infinitely large empty container within which all material reality happens and gets noticed. But all the above are just ideas. Adopting them will only get you stuck.

I have had 3 awakening experiences that I am able now to maintain as a way of life... Ego and old programming still throw punches at me, still trying to convince me there's more to clear.. Ego adores work. It adores creating and solving problems. It adores PAST and FUTURE... it adores knowing, factual information that it can debate, it is thirsty for drama and "logic"... But when the Knowing of Nothingness is there, it has less and less power to trip us into the story. Once we see through it, Ego becomes a channel, a sort of tube through which Grace flows. The most unfortunate thing is that fake spiritual movements, capitalized on the terms that enlightened people have used in trying to describe how it is like - so now, even if we hear them, they are devoid of meaning and substance. They became just another story.. another doing..