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You don't need to experience the content of the mindstream of other perspectives to understand their essence/Awareness/Being. Only a fraction of Full Enlightenment descriptions contain a description like Leavitts Picture. And actually, there is no need for that. Structure/essence vs. content. Why it is that way can not really be communicated in language, but becomes clear once realization happens: a) When the last remnants for separation/individuality/separate-self are realized as just arisings in the Infinite Boundless Opening of Absolute Reality/Awareness, and the essence of each and every arising is realized to be a manifestation of THAT, there can be nothing outside/beyond/other to that. It is limitless, boundless and infinite. All there is and can be. Absolute Reality itself. b) The realization that there is nothing other than that Reality excludes the possiblity that there are other "Awarenesses" outside of that. c) And for the validity that each being has the same Pure Impersonal Awareness as its essence: That is a direct realization of just looking at one "other" being/perspective in these enlightened states. It is you. But here, I can not convince you with words or concepts. Train towards these nondual infinite pure empty Awareness states for yourself, and see. a) b) and c) is enough for Full Realization of Reality (and the essence of all possible beings). But like I said, I never claimed I can proove that to anyone without that being having Realization/Enlightenment. And I can't transfer that via text. No one can. Yet the model of Leavitt is a model that makes much more intuitive sense than the standard solipsistic "I exist and all other beings are blank puppets without Awareness or Non-Player-Characters so to say". That view is hazardous for awakening, it ends in Nihilism and Narcissism. That is the only reason I argue against it. It is a bad pointer that leads into the claws of ego and self-contraction and not liberation.

The "people" have the exact same Pure Impersonal Consciousnes/Awareness as their essence as "you" and "I". That is an obvious fact once you realize your own True Being. There is only That Infinite Reality/Consciousness. You see and realize your own Impersonal Pure Being in them also. That is the meaning of True Nonduality. That is the source of love. For the other "people": Notice the non-euclidian (infinite) space in the vision below. And now just forget all the other perspectives (forgetting not in time, but in space so to say). That is how you splice up Infinite Consciousness, and forget that YOU are all other beings/persepctives. The people/beings are just perspectives in Indras Great Net, reflecting each other, and that Impersonal Pure Infinite Consciousness/Awareness is the True You. Every "other" appeance (of the world, such as a tree) you see as as its essence THAT Infinite Pure Impersonal Consciousness in a nondual way. That is what becomes totally obvious with Full Enlightenment. There is only That/You. "You do agree that people have no POV just like in your dreams right ?" That is exactly the pretty nuts wrong interpretation of Solipsism. Why do you even talk to "others" if you hold that as true? Pretty unnecessary, isn't it? And space and time are of course imaginary. But one more thing: If all is imaginary, everything is just as real as anything else. Because if there is only imagination, there are no degrees of "real". Including that sentence and this insight.

full enlightenment ... the owner has been owned, the torch has been passed

Very true. What Leo doesn't get - and will not get until he is truly fully enlightened (which will probably need some major humbling down/character change and meditation practice, and for starting that probably some really major suffering): In Full Enlightenment: it is understood (or available all the time) how the complete(-!-, each and any possible) illusion is constructed and what its essence is (oneself, Suchness). What the essence of each and any illusion-mechanism is. He thinks the enlightened beings "tell" themselves the story that they are enlightened, or have thought arisings like that.. and are still deluded doing that. Which of course is a joke for an enlightened being, because all of that blabla is seen as object-thoughts floating in ones Infinite True Self, besides which nothing can exist. Exactly that is the pre-requisite for Full Enlightenment. That all concepts, I-thoughts, I-feeling float in ones True Self, and is not who one really is. Not as idea, but as actual deep realization & reality, that holds in daily life and sobre states. INCLUDING that realization/understanding and its elaboration (if the thought-elaboration of that realization/understanding) happens. It comes with actual nondual states in which the boundlessness/infinite nature of Reality, and its character as mere appearance of any possible object/arising/thought/feeling/world is vividly clear as arisings/manifestations in ones True Infinite Self. Which is ones own TRUE BEING, which is realized by first BEING it (impersonal,nondual, infinite, mere appearance), and then asking/Koan what is "beyond" that/what is that/what is aware of that/what is constant in all of that. But Leo can't understand that, because he doesn't have these states sobre with impersonal empty awareness, but only with psychedelics where remnants of the separate-self are still active as lenses/filters/centers/identities. These prevent Full Enlightenment. On the classic path of meditation one only gets to these nondual states by already severely emptying out the separate-self/identity towards being largely impersonal/empty. And the rest gets kicked and emptied out in these nondual infinite awakened states. That doesn't happen in psychedelic nondual states to the same high degree (magnitudes lower), and that is why the true (nondual and so on) Awakenings later get hijacked by ego. One gets the nondual states for free without paying the empty/impersonal/ego-transcendence price. And that backfires... He truly believes that a full enlightened being has falling for the delusion of identifying/thinking of himself as enlightened. Which indeed would be a delusion, and that often happens after some smaller enlightenments. Thats the true part to the story (nobody is smart enough to be wrong all the time). With Full Enlightenment, it is absolutely clear that this move is one more idiotic delusion-mechanism ("the enlightened person") on top, and even that has to go. Together with each and all mistaken identity/I-thought/I-feeling arisings. And THAT understanding/realization is final. It brings bliss, peace and freedom from fear. It shows ones true immortality, and the essence of each and any (alien-, n+1) realm. And that essence is Ones True Self. There is no other, in any and each realm, never possibly could be. That is all manifestation/relative stuff/mechanisms/realms. There also was no one really confused and ignorant, just the illusion-arising of that happening. There CAN'T be any other higher Awakenings/Realizations than that. Only more Awakenings/Insights into more understanding of manifestation mechanisms of various realms, or these (alien for example) realms themselves. Of which there is (the bummer) an Infinity of them. Which God is exploring. Forever and ever and ever. And Leo has hijacked Gods job of doing that (as a mere mortal), has become addicted to it to ease his suffering, and is now suffering for ever more of that wonderful blissful Awakenings (they are beautiful, but still passing) in a grasping way. And selling this as path to salvation. Bravo, well done! Instead of chasing Porsches, Yachts and Villas, we chase AWAKENED STATES and understandings into Alien Realms, N+1. I would have no problem with him doing that for himself until wising up. But he is promoting and selling this to partly young & vulnerable beings which risk crashing their life on a relative level (education/professional career/friends/relationships) by doing unhealthy transdence (grasp for the higher + dislike/disassociate/neglect from the lower levels of being = opposite of healthy development which is defined as transcend and include and integrate, and not transcend and disassociate/dislike/hate (the relative, including humanity) and no integration - anybody seen this with Leo?!). That is the direct path to sick development, instead of healthy development/growth. So, then some little predictions from my side: The enlightened ones will never change their position on these points of Full Enlightenment. Because a) self-evident and b) final. And apparently a few ones are already haunting this lovely forum. Leo will probably not accept that until he himself is fully enlightened, or being severly humbled by suffering. Since he is not even aspiring or keeping the possibility of Full Enlightenment in an open-minded way (which is the cardinal sin in spirituality), he will go chasing higher Awakenings until being severely humbled up, probably by severe suffering & crash burn. Or he will just continue in grasping, seeking and suffering ways for ever higher Awakenings, and act the "lovely" way he does as ONLY AWAKE BEING on the planet. And just act more or less narcissistic and inflate his Ego as God. Like in ONLY ONE AWAKE ON THE PLANET, instead of the less insane (but also illusory) MOST AWAKE of everyone he knows of. He needs to belittle Full Enlightenment to keep his perspective of the superiority of ever more AWAKENINGS n+1 going. Which is a fulminant cul-de-sac preventing further growth towards real impersonal (non-narcicisstic, non-ego) Full Enlightenment. And its not the first time that the psychedelic-only path has been tried. It never worked. Here is Ken Wilbers comment on it: "The downside comes with people that only use psychedelics or drugs and I found that over the years they just become mean. That if somehow it just kind of closes them down. It's like you keep doing it and you keep doing it you keep doing it doesn't quite cause the transformation it can cause a peak experience but generally not a transformative experience". Sounds familiar? Water by the .... River!

Yes, but you are teaching a dangerous psychedelic path to the masses, claiming it as superior to anything else (including Full Enlightenment). Don't be so sure that nobody else is doing the (psychedelic) path of exploring higher realms or has done it. Christopher Bache, Stanislav Grof. Harri Aalto. David Buckland. And many more, on request. From all I can see, the forum is flooded with egos who think they are God in narcicisstic and solipsistic way. Boosting their ego, not transcending it. That goes on your Karmic bill. Read a bit of Jürgen Ziewe how these negative energies caused by the suicides and other trainwrecks when your fanclub destroys their life on a relative level will haunt you (literally) in the afterlife and next life. I live by this here: Although my view is higher than the sky, My respect for the cause and effect of actions is as fine as grains of flour. – Padmasambhava And it has served me very well. I have a beautiful life on the relative level, and the bliss of Reality has become very very stable in my mindstream. For heavens sake, stay a bit agnostic on the topic of superiority of Full Enlightenment vs. AWAKENING n+1, and put some warnings/disclaimers on this dangerous path of yours for your followers. And maybe a little bit tell your following that the ego/separate-self is supposed to be transcended and let go, and not boosted to solipsistic narcicisstic God-like dimensions. Water by the River

Very true. See also Harri Aalto for that. But this reduction of Consciousness to "baseline/fundamental/nothing nature" is done by Leo, not by those truly enlightened. Reality/Infinite Consciousness IS everything, every realm, every manifestation, literally. So how can that be reduced to "baseline"? Nothingness, highlighting the impersonal nature of Absolute Consciousness, is just a teaching tool, a pointer. There are all kinds of celestial refined visions of how exactly Reality/Infinite Consciousness creates Reality on the fly, see Haari Aalto or David Buckland. So claiming that Full Enlightenment reduces everything to baseline consciousness (and that Leo is exploring the higher areas of the x-axis) is just wrong. But a necessary move made by Leo to declare the lower the higher and vise-versa. I am sure you would like the book by Harri Aalto "The Landscape of Enlightenment: With Doors and Windows to Our World". Enlightened as a child, consciousness in deep sleep as early adult, and now seeing via celestial vision/refined perception exactly HOW Reality/Infinite Consciousness creates this world on the fly, its mechanisms and endless realms/dimensions. Without psychedelics. All of that stuff that fascinates Leo, but Harri Aalto has that on a permanent ongoing basis, plus Full Enlightenment. Being the elephant and not only touching its facets part-time, but being aware of the manifestation-mechanism and endless realms sobre. There are cases of that in all spiritual traditions, across all times. One just has to look...

With that quote from LuciaLorn I agree, because SHINING forth AS something is describing manifestation of the Infinite Absolute. One of the first manifestations and roll-out patterns for any realm/manifestation/world: Love. And of course the Infinite Singularity/Absolute is always one and always has been one with love. The essence of love is the Absolute, gold and ring metaphor. The Absolute doesn't manifest the Infinite SIngularity, IT IS the infinite Singularity, without an opposite to it. The One without a second. Not just the One. That is why in the end you can describe its manifestations, but you can not limit the Absolute by putting any (duality) word/label on IT which it is supposed to be. A word only has meaning in terms of its opposite (language IS duality), the Absolute HAS no opposite. Reality has no opposite. That would limit it. So the manifestations of the Absolute have properties, tendencies and so on, and its even ok to say that the Absolute has the tendencies to manifest in certain ways/patterns (like love). But saying the Absolute IS love is a mistake, because that would limit it. The Absolute is beyond all of that. And the hallmark of True Enlightenment is exactly realizing that, and not deviating one Iota from that. As soon as labels gets put on the Absolute as being this or that: "This or That" is a "facet" of the Absolute, an "experience"/"Awakening" of it: The blind touching the elephant and proclaiming something about its manifestations (trunk, ears, legs ...). But not truly BEING the whole elephant. There are more or less good pointers (like Nothingness, Infinite Consciousness, Absolute love, and so on) that drop being near to the summit of the mountain. But they ALL FAIL on the final step, Full Enlightenment (including Nothingness and Love and Infinite Consciousness). The final step is becoming IT, or realizing that one has always been IT, and not the clouds of the former ignorant illusion-separate-self. Death of former identity. And of all labels.

That is how it looks like when one has not reached Full Enlightenment. Full Enlightenment is the realization of what everything is (Reality), and what oneself truly is. By BEING it. He thinks he has it with his Awakenings, but I agree with Inlightened1 and Osaid that he confuses the lower with the higher. Leo is busy engaging in the exploration of that which is already manifestation and form, although of the higher/highest realms of the manifestation of consciousness. But still manifestation occuring IN the Absolute and not being/realizing Absolute itself by being it fully and truly. Impersonal. And that exploration can easily become an addiction and disfunction. To ease the suffering of the ego/self-contraction that is not transcended. Hence, no Awakening in sobrestates , because the self-contraction is in the way and not cut off/transcended fast enough in real time. No nondual awakened states sobre, because the untranscended self-contraction/ego prevents it. And guess what this untranscended separate-self/ego is doing in AWAKENINGS? Misinterpreting the Awakening, and what the true self really is. Although it doesn't see that all these Awakenings are interpreted though the lense that the self-contraction constitutes. Ego = God. Wilber on that in Religion of the Future. Chapter Dysfunctions of the 3rd-Tier Structure-Views, Violet Meta-Mind: "The “visionary” nature of the violet meta-mind is fundamentally due to the growing perception that the entire Kosmos is indeed a coenaction of consciousness itself, and the present given universe, as normally perceived, is merely one of hundreds or even thousands (or more) of other worlds (and this, indeed, is one interpretation of the string theory of modern physics). On the one hand (from one perspective), these are all different aspects of One World; on the other (from another perspective), they are all completely separate and different worlds altogether. Individuals often have the sense that they can “penetrate” or “step into” one or more of these other dimensions —the world is just such a wildly open, transparent, diaphanous, sheer, gossamer, filmy place that one can walk right through it and intoother worlds. And the Present moment itself is often the doorway; it is not by “transcending” temporal duration entirely that one can penetrate to an alternative reality but by entering into this Present with more and more Presence. One can step deeply enough into the timeless Now to step into another dimension altogether—just step right here, and push hard. It’s easy to get lost in those worlds, which are, at bottom, simply different dimensions and perspectives of one’s own (violet) consciousness (although, as noted, from another angle, they are all real, ontologically different realms because they are each genuinely co-enacted by a different perspective in consciousness). Given that this stage is the first great transition from “earthly” realms to “heavenly” realms (as a permanent structural enaction), getting lost in these “higher worlds” is indeed one of the most common dysfunctions of this level. The deeply transcendental, otherworldly, electrically visionary nature of consciousness at this altitude makes fixation to this side of the street an incredibly inviting and alluring venture. This is likely to couple with the dysfunction, discussed earlier, of standing in heaven and giving a blistering critique of life here on earth, with all the semiprophetic pomp and pomposity that comes with it." And for the claim that no one has reached or explored what Leo tells about with all the Alien Awakening and so on stuff, because no one is telling/writing about it. I disagree here: Maybe check Harri Aalto, Christopher Bache, David Buckland, Stanislaf Grof and Jürgen Ziewe (and his descriptions of the Superrealms). And many others more on request. I have not seen one fundamentally and structurally really new description of the explorations he claims that has not been described before. I doubt he has read much about other explorers of these realms, and that is why he thinks he is the only AWAKE. And when he claims he is the most AWAKE on the planet: Little Public Relations-recommendation: The most awake on the planet of all those he knows, read or heard about. Or better claim clairvoyant skills (able to judge each person on the planet) right from the beginning. Water by the River

I agree that in this way an enlightenment experience can be misused for form an enlightened-person/enlightened separate-self. That would be an Awakening/an Enlightenment. But: The nondual state can become permanent. From peak to plateau to permanent. And then, when having rested long enough in awakened nondual states, the separate-self remains can be seen through/transcended/cut-off for good, and the True Nature of Reality and oneself can be directly realized. And that is then called Full Enlightenment. That normally happens after a long time in awakened (and already nondual/unity) states in which the remains of the separate-self are gradually transcended/dissolved.

I have no proof concerning the Rainbow Body, yet I personally believe its legit in some cases. Essentially that happens from longterm Dzogchen Trekchö/Togyal-practice, which is essentially stabilizing enlightened/awakened states when the visual field has become nondual, infinite and mere groundless appearance (Tibetans call that clear light. Very similiar to Bucklands or Haari Aaltos descriptions of divine refined perception) on a sustained basis. Basically Full Enlightenment, and living from that state in a stabilized way in daily life for a long time (Ken Wilber peak-plateau-permanent).

@Water by the River So where do you see the difference between full enlightenment how you view it and Rainbow Body enlightenment? How come some masters realize the rainbow body (full dissolution into light) before the physical body dying, while other manifest it upon death where they only leave hair and nails, while other masters don't manifest it at all despite being fully enlightened?

All good and valid points you write and ask. Finally, you have to get there to fully answer that for you. The Absolute is unmistaken. Depends on the definition of Nothingness. Most cases claiming No-Self, or Emptiness, or anything like that is not the full Nothingness, but "something/somebody (quite subtle)" perceiving some "emptiness" or "void". (That something goes from identifying with emptiness instead of the persona to being in nondual Unity with the field and the separate-self having become so empty that it is just a very subtle feeling and nothing else). That is not the true nondual realization or True No-Self. That of course sparks a nightmare of not matching definition. A good pointer to the Absolute is Nothingness in the meaning of not describable in any way (no opposite), which is the same as truly infinite. Some call it Infinity, but that can also be something else. Even before having these realizations in place: There is some logic to the intuition that when there is literally nothing there as separate-anything (no center, lense, feeling of a separate anyting), or in other words impersonal empty and in nondual Unity with the everything arising, then from this boundless nondual Unity the Absolute can be intuited or realized what is beyond that. Because how can one understand what the nondual bubble of the visual field is (or what is beyond it) if it is not already nondual? That beyond is NOT consciousness (of something), because there is nothing there to be consciousness of. Consciousness can arise in IT/Absolute/You when something manifests or moves. And that can be very subtle. It has the capacity for awareness, but only if something arises. That is what he means with the following: He uses here the term Infinite Consciousness as the container of manifestation. It is a question of how to use the terms. I have read Bucklands book, and his term/realization Parabrahman fits nicely to the Absolute. Before that (or a stage below) in his system comes Brahman, or the totality of manifestation, Ken Wilbers upmost lower causal. He wants to avoid that people imagine a dry nothing as the Absolute when using the term Nothingness. Nothingness correctly used as pointer implies this Pure Divinity aspect of Infinite Potential for manifestation. And here he says that Nothingness is not IT. On which I agree, because Nothingness is only a pointer, and used in this way it isn't IT. The Absolute is, as Nagarjuna has already defined it millenia ago in the Madhyamaka totally undefinable, without opposite, always present. So technically, it is not even as Nothingness. And Buckland equates the Absolute with Pure Divinity (another pointer signifier, pointing to a referent that is a realization that a being can have). That is why the pointer Nothingness should be balanced with the pointer Infinite Potential if there is a risk of mistaking it for nothing/emptiness/void. Yet, they are all only pointers (including pure divinity) to the referent. Yes, pretty confusing. Because the terms (like Nothingness, Absolute, Pure Divinity, and so on) are not defined, and used differently by different authors. What all agree on: For the Absolute to be realized the separate-self-arisings need to go/transcended/cut off/ died to on the way there a Nondual Infinite Unity develops including all that is arising (Enlightenments, Awakenings along the path) And from this boundless nondual awakened state the Absolute beyond it can be realized (Full Enlightenment, knowing what one truly is, sudden shift or insight what Reality or oneself truly is. Final, and the rest is relative stuff that can be explored). The Absolute is unchanging, uncreated, timeless, infinite and so on, and contains all the rest of relative manifestation which is in nondual unity with it, and of the same essence. So from there on, it is all relative or manifested stuff. That becomes clear with that realization. And with that realization, one can go live ones life in peace, reorient the invidual body-mind top to bottom to confirm to that realization in daily life, and if one wants go exploring the endless wonders of manifestation or its manifestation mechanisms, or help others, or go grow a beautiful garden. In other words, live pretty happily ever after. Those who have not seen the end of the path as that beyond all changing states need an endless further ladder of higher awakenings/states/experiences/understandings/whatever (and of course proclaiming these as superior to finally getting rid of all the ignorance covering the Absolute/ones True Being) to ease the suffering and grasping. Which in my humble opinion describes the show going on here quite well.

@Water by the River How would you know, you are not mistaken Nothingness for Pure Divinity? I understand that your measuring stick for full enlightenment is the complete falling away of seperate-self arisings (however sublte). This is already the case upon realizing Nothingness. But still, a few teachers manage to go a step further and realize Pure Divinity. To quote David Buckland on Pure Divinity: "It is not easy to describe as it is without form. It is prior to all creation and any distinctions. But it is with a power and potency beyond conception. We discover even infinite consciousness that contains all of creation is but a pale shadow of divinity." In another blog article he writes: "Before awakening, we engage in self development. This is a person getting to know its strengths and limitations and moving towards self-actualization. Most people are oblivious to their own cosmic nature. After awakening and throughout the development of the stages of Self Realization (Cosmic Consciousness) and Unity, the focus shifts to infinite and eternal consciousness. This is discovering our deeper nature and its dynamics. It is consciousness getting to know itself in essence, then in forms and phenomena. And yet, just as the person obscured our deeper nature, the screen of consciousness acts as a covering for what is beyond it. This is just like a movie screen hides the speakers and equipment behind it. When we go beyond consciousness and the subtle duality of Being, we have the chance to recognize the origins of consciousness. We can see how alertness and liveliness stir each other into Consciousness, then Consciousness becomes aware of itself and expression begins. Consciousness becomes its own observer and screen. Beyond consciousness is Nothingness. Nothingness knows itself. We might say Nothingness is conscious but is not self-interacting, just self-knowing. And yet, what is the origin of those core aspects of consciousness? What motivates any experience at all? Nothingness doesn’t answer this. When we settle deeper into Pure Divinity, the source of the source, we come to know the origins of all. And yet Pure Divinity is uncreated. It is sufficient to itself. This latter development is primarily a development of clarity and refinement. We have gone beyond consciousness so cannot know Divinity through that. As with Nothingness, the pure divinity of Pure Divinity can be known only by itself. The first stage of Pure Divinity requires it be recognized in the physiology. We have to be it to know it. This may be experienced subjectively as Divinity moving in to the cosmic body (which would already be recognized as one with the local body, hence experienced “here”). Of course, Divinity was always here but because of the nature of Shakti to flow, the opening can be experienced as flowing in. This is essentially the alertness value of Divinity coming on-line here. We also recognize the flows of consciousness are actually the flows of the Shakti’s of the Divine. In time, there is a dissolution of the sense of a distinct cosmic body. It and the physical form merge into a body of divinity. All become aspects of one totality. In Pure Divinity, Stage 2, I outlined a second stage of this – a deeper embodiment of Divinity in a descent, and a further shift from the Nothingness perspective. This is in the nature of the profoundly networked Shakti and a taste of the self-knowing of Divinity. Stage 3 is like another awakening but vastly more subtle. The shift can be like a quiet click. Then it kicks in. This time, it is liveliness coming on-line, the power of Divinity. This is the power that gives rise to all experiences in all time in all beings in all universes simultaneously. Its potency cannot be over-estimated. When it kicks in, it has a rather large value of intensity that takes longer to adjust to than prior openings. As before, the alertness amps way up in our normal daily experience. The awakeness in deep sleep becomes greater than that of the prior waking state which was already vastly more awake than earlier. I’m not sure how much of this is standard and how much related to the process here. Others are having a similar process but language is tricky in such profound abstraction. There is always variations in emphasis and what is noticed.”

Well, I understand and agree to all what LuciaLorn writes. The are Awakenings/Enlightenments towards the Shift to Full Enlightenment, and fully realizing what one is. Before the full shift, these insights are still interpreted through the lenses of a separate-self/agent/lense/filter, however subtle that may be. Most traditions clearly have this order of Awakenings/Enlightenments (realizing facets of the Absolute), which then culminates in Full Enlightenment, or understanding the elephant fully by being it. The rest is then just relative stuff to explore (or not). Ralston is clearly writing from Full Enlightenment. That decisive deep shift or Realization is indeed not gradual as the Awakenings/Enlightenments before that. And it is unmistaken.

'Open mind' was used as a figure of speech, not to point out that it has anything to do with the mind, but to point towards the possibility that realizing Truth/gaining clarity into your True Nature comes as a process of unfoldment, and although once there has been a certain consciousness established about what is what, there are still aspects that have not been realized when for example pointing out the difference between realizing Nothingness and Pure Divinity. @Osaid @Water by the River I am aware that teachings like Peters go into saying that Truth is already Truth and you either get it (get clarity on) or you don't. But this is just one style of teaching, an artistic choice that makes it seem like gaining clarity is a binary thing (you either become conscious or you don't). On the other hand, you have teachings that emphasize on levels and shifts and walk you through each level of realization until culminating in enlightenment. I am aware that this culmination is nothing that is not the case already now, but nevertheless the whole shebang is usually not revealed in one fell swoop. Hence I was pointing towards the possibility that was has been described as 'Pure Divinity' might still hold the potential to be realized by both of you. A deeper dive into Pure Divinity can be found here. To rephrase the original intention of my post, another quote by LuciaLorn: "Awakening to being the unbounded pure Awareness in which all experience happens is only the beginning, not the end. It's the basic platform upon which Consciousness can begin to unfold the finer, more comprehensive realities of itself. Consciousness shifts to broader and broader perspectives and perceptions of itself as it opens to the greater expanse of its infinite wholeness. It reveals finer, more divine dimensions of itself, which have been right in front of you, in the appearance of the body, surroundings, nature, world and universe all along. From the perspective of Awareness itself, there are no levels. There is only one homogeneous wholeness. The idea of going through different levels or states, to become what you already are, is a joke to Consciousness. It is just another concept and barrier to enlightenment. It is only after Awakening to being pure Awareness itself, that you can begin to appreciate what is really meant by higher levels and states of consciousness. The term "Higher States of Consciousness" refers to the increasingly more expanded perspectives that Consciousness experiences of itself after Awakening to being unbounded pure Awareness. It is not the individual mind that awakens to being pure Awareness, nor is it the individual mind that experiences higher states of Consciousness. It is pure Awareness itself, your real Self, that shifts to broader perspectives of itself and reveals finer perceptions of its own divine fullness. It is not possible to understand, or even imagine, what it is like in these States until they are experienced. The mind cannot comprehend that which is beyond its experience and which words are incapable of expressing. After Awakening, there are unmistakable shifts to even broader perspectives of Consciousness of itself that cannot be missed. Once clearly experienced and firmly established, there is no falling back from them. In each state, Consciousness experiences a wider frame of reference and greater clarity of itself from a completely different perspective. Knowledge, perception and reality are experienced different in each state, even though its basis is always the same one field of unbounded pure Consciousness. Writing about these states of Consciousness is not meant to add more knowledge to your storehouse of concepts. You should know that there are indeed higher states of Consciousness that are simply clearer states of experience of reality as it is. They are revealed in the natural course of the unfoldment of Consciousness to the natural state of full enlightenment."

I guess the shadow is the ego or dark or unconscious side of us that we are not fully aware of that can lead us to do harm to ourselves or others. By mindfully studying it within ourselves, we can learn to transcend it. But can it ever fully go away? Is full enlightenment just the full transcendence of our unconscious side? I've definitely seen people who are more pure in intention and action than others but I have yet to find anybody that seems to have fully transcended their shadow. What do you guys think?

You are right that Full Enlightenment can't be transmitted by words. Nor fully described. But it can be very well pointed to. The stages/states up until that can be described quite well, since duality has not broken down yet fully, and language can work with duality quite fine. Of course, if the referents of certain meditation experiences are not there yet, they have to be created/trained first. But they can be described in such a way that they can be recognized then. Maybe you find that perspective of Dr. Daniel Brown interesting. Quote from Pointing out the Great Way: "PUTTING MEDITATIVE EXPERIENCE INTO WORDS A good deal of Western scholarship on religion assumes that mystical experience is ineffable. Mystical states are said to be so profound that they are indescribable. This view is wrong. Rechungpa, a contemporary of the great Tibetan saint Milarepa, wrote an extremely detailed work on all the changes that occur in the body and mind at the moment of enlightenment. The most striking feature of his Clear Wisdom Mandmudra is the extreme technical precision used to describe internal states. As a tradition, Tibetan Buddhism is perhaps unique in the level of technical precision used to describe meditation experience; there is nothing comparable in Western mystical literature. Western mysticism largely has been restricted to individual practitioners, small groups, or time-limited movements, wherein the mystics either didn't express their spiritual attainments in much detail, or expressed these attainments in idiosyncratic ways according to their unique realizations and cultural context. Tibetan Buddhism, in contrast, is a highly organized lineage tradition that has been around since the seventh century, with Indian roots that go back much further. The early oral tradition spawned a loose but extensive network of itinerate practitioners who shared or traded teachings and specific spiritual exercises. The monastic tradition beginning in the eleventh century was characterized by tightly organized, stable communities of large groups of meditators who engaged in continuous dialogues about meditative attainments. They developed an elaborate inner science of spiritual development. During this period the technical language for spiritual development became more consensual, technically sophisticated, and refined as standards for discussing attainments developed. This body of technical knowledge was transmitted from generation to generation until the present day. The central problem then for the Western reader in understanding spiritual development in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition is not its alleged ineffability but the opposite: namely, understanding the vast and sophisticated technical language of internal meditative experience. This book is designed to give the reader a precise map of internal meditative states." https://www.drdanielpbrown.com/buddhist-meditation-teacher In his dissertation, he translated single-handedly the main texts of Theravada-Buddhism, the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali, and Mahamudra from their original languages, and looked for the deep structures "behind" all these systems. Excerpts from the summary of his dissertation in "Transformations of consciousness, chapter 8" "In this chapter, Daniel Brown addresses the second question by presenting an in-depth cartography of meditative stages drawn from three different traditions—the Tibetan Mahamudra, the Hindu Yogasutras, and the Theravada Vipassana (this cartogra-phy was subsequently cross-checked with other contemplative texts, Christian, Chinese, etc.). The results strongly suggest that the stages of meditation are in fact of cross-cultural and universal applicability at a deep, not surface, analysis)." Selling Water by the River

Yes. That is what I can confirm, and that sequence one can also find in every spiritual tradition. The bold parts of your text are excellent. Welcome home to a home you never left. What was your practice/path? The normal sequence is: 1. Practice (or just Karma/"luck". But I would estimate from what I have seen that for 90% it was practice). Efficient way: Meditation + psychedelics + integration work + many other things. 2. Many Awakenings (some traditions already call these Enlightenments)/ into stabilizing awakened nondual and empty/impersonal Awareness states: Into all these aspects (some aspects of Absolute Reality show up, like emptiness or nondual unity, love, timelessness, Infinity, and so on... But the separate-self is STILL yet not fully seen through). The separate-self gets more and more transcended, ones identity more and more empty and more like Pure Awareness, and then it gets nondual/unity with the whole visual field/manifestation. These Awakenings (field getting nondual and ones identity more and more just empty awareness) are normally caused by the practice that makes accident-prone. And then comes the accident that is called Enlightenment (that can't be willed, since that would be a spearate-self wanting that which is already the case, and by doing that covering it), and for which practice makes accident-prone. Enlightenment tends to happen for most only in very specific Awakened States (nondual/unity AND impersonal/empty). For that, I have written elsewhere (Mahamudra stage 3 (Awakened states of nondual and empty) "One Taste-Yoga" to Mahamudra stage 4 (stabilizing these states without doing anything) "Yoga of Nonmeditation). Bliss: These awakened states are already very blissful without needing external experience for that. 3. (Full/Basis/Great) Enlightenment into the True Nature of Oneself: Infinite Reality = Infinite limitless Impersonal and totally Empty Consciousness CONTAINING Infinite Manifestation, in an infinite Unity/Totality. The essence of every appearance/manifestation is the same Suchness as Infinite Consciousness/Awareness. A deep identity level shift, away from a separate-self to being aware that "one" is and always was the Totality/Infinite Reality/Infinite Impersonal Consciousness. Phase 2 is gradual(!), Phase 3 (Shift of Full Enlightenment) is a sudden and complete understanding into the eternal and immortal nature/essence of all of Reality (limitless) and ones True Self (Awareness/Nothingness containing all manifestation). It can not be mistaken, is sure, doesn't need any external validation (understanding it by being it, and IT is infinite/all there is and can be). It is totally beyond "any further" and beyond any need for any confirmation. It is self-evident. This insight/understanding/realization is "more assured/ultimately assured" (beyond any chance for being shaken again) because anything else can only possibly just be more phenomenal arising (including any sensory-arising like visual arisings, but also including any other (I-)thoughts/concepts/I-feelings/n+1). Why? To quote Ralston: IT IS YOU. Infinite Consciousness containg any possible appearances. Limitless. Infinite. Any limit would appear in IT. Empty. Any arising (tree, thought, I-feeling, anything) appears IN IT. Impersonal (onself can be nothing specific or personal, since one contains it all). And its Pure Awareness (without any location, without any second) itself. Potentially unaware if nothing arises. But always right here, never can not not be here, independent of whatever happens/appears IN IT. It is waking up. Its essence is understanding that the separate-self as independent "anything" DOESN'T exist (just appears as illusion IN THAT), and never existed (was always an illusion), and can/will never exist (even if in another life illusions-arisings will occure again in ones True Being/Reality. The Awakenings (2) are insights/understandings into aspects/properties of the nature of Reality/True Self/Infinite Consciousness. That then evolves, towards nondual/unity awakened states. And THEN the final big shift of full Enligthenment can happen, in which the nature of Infinite Reality/Ones True Identity as Impersonal Infinite Consciousness/Infinite Reality is revealed. 4. Stabiling this Enlightenment, and letting it reorient the character top-down and back again towards love/openness/staying in nondual impersonal Suchness ("BEING the Totality"). Even then still, the separate-self character can still hijack the show (peak, plateau, permanent), but the separate-self-character and its associated suffering has lost its mirage-like seductive power. Its essence (Suchness/Infinite consciousness) is immediately seen when feeling into it. And that holds true for all building blocks of the separate self. So lapsing after Enlightenment is just a hang-over from a long time of illusion , and once noticed any emerging separate-self-arisings can be killed/transcended by just looking into it. Bliss: A lot and growing, since the awakened states now get even more stabilized and are always accessible. When True Nature is known, and if the separate-self-character "hijacks" again the show: Just look into these arisings and realize again their essence as manifestation IN the Infinite Reality/Consciousness that one really is, and return to what one really is. While after (only) Awakening(s) (stage 2), certain elements of the separate-self-character are not seen fully through, or are NOT understood. One of the last stages is a very nebulous empty separate-"something" that is already in nondual unity with everything manifesting. But there is still an "Understander" or "a not yet fully understander" or some "seeker" -arisings there.... Roger Thisdell stage 4 vs. stage 5. Stage 4: stage 5: Maybe that is helpful for some. Please don't beat me. Selling Water by the River

Well, it is, like often, not either/or. How to integrate all these diferent perspectives? Even Full Enlightenment develops. The Awakenings before that also. Or as Ken Wilber said: From experience, to plateau, to permanent. Yet, Enlightenment is a decisive shift, or realizing/being/understanding for the first time fully the nature of ones True Being and of Reality. Daniel Brown, Pointing out the Great Way: PATH WALKING: ENHANCING THE REALIZATION [after Full Enlightenment] Just as certain conditions serve as obstacles to maintaining enlightenment, other conditions, properly understood, serve to enhance it. Theterm path walking (lam 'khyer) pertains to the type of lifestyle, behavior, and specific practices engaged in after enlightenment that serve to enhance and consolidate the realization as an enduring condition of mind.The term lam hhyer means "to walk along a path." A traveler who crosses over a mountain needs a plan for discovering the new territory. Likewise, the practitioner whose mind crosses over from seeming individual consciousness to the enlightened mind is more likely to stabilize and consolidate the realization with a plan for everyday behavior and activity. The path-walking instructions provide that plan." So again from peak to plateau to permanent. "Tashi Namgyel lists a variety of everyday situations that best serve to enhance the realization. These include when there is attachment to ordinary experience, when the practitioner is caught up in passion and hatred, when the practitioner is meditating and is finding it very difficult to settle the mind, and when the mind is so much at rest and happy in everyday life that he or she is less likely to recognize the real nature of idle thoughts (TN, pp. 619-20). The best time to practice is when there are passions (hhu phrig), and especially when these passions are intense (drag po; TN, p. 619). In short, any difficulties (dka ngal) encountered in everyday life become good vehicles for consolidating the realization, and the more intense the better. Awakening already brings a lot of bliss, but not yet all tools necessary to move towards freedom from suffering/psychological resistance. Basis-/Full-/Great Enlightenment (different names for different traditions, basically understanding/realizing what one really is and what Reality is) brings for the first time the possibility for sustaining bliss by dissolving progressively the hangover/remains of the separate self during/over(!) the following years/life-time. Awakening does not bring that potential yet fully, because there is still somebody who "awakens". And of course most remaining "hang-overs" of the separate-self will let themself know by what they do best: Causing suffering. But now, after Enlightenment, there is a tool available to work with what has not already been dissolved: Looking into their essence, AND into the being doing the looking. Even Ken Wilber said in the Interview-Audio series Kosmic Karma on the question of Tami Simons: Anybody 24/7 permanently in realization, including deep sleep, with zero lapse? Answer by Ken Wilber: A clear no. But that is not a bad thing. Enlightenment gives the chance the reorient the remaining character/body-mind fully (or as much as possible) during the rest of ones lifetime. And when the remaining character is not aligned or has a lapse and goes into separation again: clearly noticed by suffering. Suffering and fear reduce dramatically, and a door/method is opened up to progress towards dissolving what remains of bliss/fear/suffering, or the remaining character which is not yet fully aligned. Ken Wilber gave a description on the possible (longterm) enlightened outcomes, depening on the character. Ken Wilber, The Eye of Spirit, Chapter: The Eye of Spirit: Ken Wilber also wrote in "One Taste" that one can remain an enlightened jerk. Or that realized Dzogchen adepts are sometimes depicted as looking incredibly bored (seen IT, done with it). Nisargadatta smoked a lot until it finally killed him. Adi Da ran quite some cult. The list of less-than-integral Enlightenment-expressions is long.... But also the enlightened archetypes of the link above are possible. So it depends a lot on the personality that was there before Enlightenment. There seems to be a huge variability. And the soul ripens also after Enlightenment, over many lifetimes (Christopher Bache, LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven, Dustin DiPerna: Earth is Eden, and Jürgen Ziewe). Enlightenment is not the end of the soul, just the end of the "separate-soul". There seems to be a long path also afterwards, and not just the crude Nirvana-extinction-gameover of early Buddhism. Buddhism developed a lot towards that view in the following centuries/millenia (see Rainbow Body for example). Selling Water by the River

Thanks for describing your experience. I do agree with that, based on my own experience. And thousands of others in all cultures and centuries described it like you do. That is a very important element of the path. It probably sounds quite a bit nuts, boring and strange. At least I would have interpreted it like that a few years ago... But that is exactly how the Impersonal (Silent/Pure/Empty) Infinite Consciousness perceives all of its manifestation in certain awakened nondual states, watching itself, perceiving itself, being itself and the world, by itself, for itself. (1) That starts to happen when the self-contraction/separate-self is seen through, transcended and cut off either with high enough speed & proficiency, or with some more energetic state-change techniques. So the resulting flow of bliss makes it no longer possible for any grasping/contracting thought/feeling-arising to grip & contract the focus/attention (and cut the nondual field into two, or duality), and create bad emotions/stop the flow of bliss. And motivating the separate-self with that resulting suffering again for searching or avoiding certain experiences to eradicate the suffering, and relax the contraction again. That process you describe is the natural way that leads the transition to the deep identity level change to ones True Nature, the Infinite Silent and peaceful/blissful Abyss of Pure Consciousness without location or any kind of objective appearance... When not finding IT (or Consciousness, or oneself), at some point the localization of consciousness dissolves, making every appearance (thought, feeling, cloud, tree, the whole world including ones "small self") just an appearance arising in the Infinite, silent & empty and not-personal Eternal Reality of Ones True Being, Infinite Consciousness, or Reality itself. (2) And when it is seen that even the "Understander" of this Nondual and Awake Realization is nothing more than a bundle of "understanding"-thoughts arising WITHIN THAT, then Full Enlightenment is finally seeing that there never was a separate-self besides an illusion, and nobody (besides) an Illusion actually woke up. Pure Infinite Consciousness/Being was there throughout, undisturbed, just containing some illusion-arisings. And yet, that Realization or waking up of that perspective of Indras Net makes all the difference in the dream of that perspective, finally dissolving the self-contraction/separate-self illusion even of the "Understander" of all of that for good. Selling Water by the River PS: (1) are the stages of dissolving the separate-self into nonduality, and (2) is going from Nonduality/Unity towards even relaxing/dissolving the "Understander"-separate-self-illusion of that into Infinite Consciousness/Reality itself. More on that in this post: PS PS: For Infinite Reality to create a separate-self/self-contraction/ego and to maintain it, there are just two emotions needed that have to regularly occur in cycles (not permanently, that would also kill the separate-self) : 1) suffering (in the meaning of non-satisfied-ness, or "non-bliss" , and 2) boredom. That starts all of the projects for getting back again the bliss via certain experiences (whatever that may be varies a lot). A bliss that would be there if not the separate-self-contraction would stop its flow via contracting. Of course, that can only be seen after having touched the natural bliss of ones True Being, because if that would be seen earlier the whole process would be shut off immediately. But if there is no technique available to just cut off the contraction/suffering, one has to stick to grasping for certain experiences, because that is then all one has...

Also on that I agree. Fully. As long as it is a fully enlightened Alien Consciousness on a stable basis. Imagine a little very happy and blissful Alien Consciousness, fully aware pretty much all of the time of its True Natrue, basking in the bliss of its True Nature. So lets go up the ladder of enlightened beings, and why the higher ones probably smile lovingly on the fully enlightened primitive human. One can have a fully enlightened human, and then a fully enlighened angel (or whatever one wants to call that), and even probably an fully enlightened planetary consciousness. Then fully enlightened Galaxy-Consciousness. Fully Enlightened= knows its True Nature, and that of all appearance, of all realms, all dimensions, of all that is possible. Short form: Knows Absolute Infinite Reality/Consciousness. The essence of all(!) possible realms/dimensions. And probably quite early above the Human level, full enlightenment is given or pre-requisite. See Christopher Baches "Diamond Light Lucidity Beings", LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven Then an enlightened entity (also a, although huge, enlightened perspective in Indras Net, encompassing holarchically many other perspectives, but not as dominant monad perspective, but as group holon, yet with its own agency) creating, maintaining and managing a Universe. An enlightened entity managing a group of Universes. For sure extremely Alien already here. Next: An enlightened entity containing, reflecting and managing an enlightened entity managing a group of Universes. Thinking about which kind of Dimension to create next. Next: An enlightened entity containing an infinity of the entities above, defining the charateristics of appearing universes so alien to ours that they would be barely reckognizeable. Next: An enlightened entity containing an infinity of the entities above, Next n+1, and the mathematical move of n towards infinity. That is a class of Infinity, and STILL not Infinite Absolute Reality. Still not all of Reality. Still not God. And now comes to kicker: A holarchie of enlighened beings upwards to infinity. That is btw. Ken Wilbers perspective (although he holds back): Holons upwards to infnity, and downwards (or we will never find the final quark/string, whatever). And what contains all of that? The INFINITE Absolute Reality/Consciousness. God. The Singularity that can very well be realized. Not on animal level, but starting here on human level on this lovely little planet of ours. Sure, there is nothing else to do until all of eternity than exploring exactly all the realms/dimensions/consciousnesses and so on. Hopefully in a fully enlightened way, basking in the bliss of True Nature. Maybe that helps getting an idea why yours truly is not too much grasping and suffering for certain insights/Awakenings going up that ladder towards Infinity and ever more Alien stuff (and giving up staying in True Nature/bliss while doing so). Health in an eco-system (or Holarchie) is also defined as functional fit: Knowing ones role/being/limitations, and having healthy exchanges on all levels of being, up and down the Holarchie. And there is plenty of juicy job-opportunities described in the ladder above, for all of eternity and every next life still yet to come. And on all levels, Empty Mirros are very welcome, see signature. Water by the River

Allow me some further musings on the topic. In stage 3 Yoga of One Taste (One Taste = Nondual), Nonduality starts showing up. But Nonduality is not Impersonal Infinite Consciousness, because one can be in nondual Unity and still think that one is an "enlightened person", or any other crappy concept or self-identity for that matter. The ripening of Nonduality goes from stage 3 Yoga of One Taste to stage 4, Yoga of Nonmeditation. Nonmeditation, because the meditation has become so automized that the need for any separate-self agency feeling doing anything is no longer necessary and is discarded and also cut off. And then one is accident-prone to the possible accident of Enlightenment, Impersonal Infinite Consciousness realizing itself. At that stage, doing anything is just creating another cloud hiding the sun of ones true being, because doing anything would be another thougt/feeling-movement in Infinite Consciousness/Mind/Reality. And psychedelics are very nice for helping the whole process, and for exploring the Multiverse and other interesting stuff. But for transcending the last subtle separate-self-identity-arisings (subtle separate-self thoughts and feelings), and cutting off the sometimes arisings-non-bliss-feeling-bad-arisings (in other words: suffering) that are a part of the separate-self-package, I have yet to see one case (just a single one would be very interesting) where that has been done mainly on a stable basis/outcome in daily life with only psychedelics. That can be very well had with meditation practice. Meditation: Actually, from all I have seen, getting rid of all the clouds of the separate-self takes a long time in certain states (boundless, timeless infinite consciousness, nondual and the separate-self already nothing but a feeling of "individuality", some "nothing" watching the nondual totality), 100s of hours. Maybe 1000s. For most practitioners at least, including yours truly. On the stage 3 and 4 of the stages of Yoga of One Taste and Yoga of Nonmeditation alone (and these are not boring or annoying sitting meditation hours by then, but blissful and wonderful hours in daily life in something called Post-Samadhi-Meditation (or off the pillow meditation) in the book). And in that 100s or 1000s of hours subtle separtate-self identities/arisings get spotted, seen (subject->object), transcended and cut off. And I can assure you, oh boy, these are sometimes really sneaky and subtle. When all of that is transcended, the sudden Deep Identity Shift/Understanding can happen. "Yes, there is nothing else than THAT, and "my" essence is that, and what "I" thought I was was just a movement/arising of thoughts/feelings/centers within THAT. My True Being is all of Reality. But nothing specific. No separate-anything. The whole enchilada without center and core". But its not a elaborated thinking. It is Infinite Consciousness UNDERSTANDING/REALIZING itself, and there is nothing else than THAT, never possibly could be. The understanding in thought-form gets elaborated LATER, after Infinite Consciousness/Reality has understood itself, the nature of the world and its own nature (nondual). Psychedelics: bring a lot and strong forms of the Awakened States (nondual, infinite, mere appearance, and a lot more). States that one would only get by meditation if already very empty, or the separate-self-arising (thought/feeling)flow already cut a lot. So the states are very awake/nondual/infinite, but the separate-self-arisings is still colouring the experience. Although they can also be very subtle/empty at that state. And that is my little theory that explains all phenomena and examples I have seen so far: There is just not enough time and deeply cut-off/transcended separate-self-arisings in psychedelic states to cause that deep Identity-Level Shift of Full Enlightenment. And often, and maybe even much more problematic than the point just mentioned, there is a lot of nonduality/Unity in psychedelic states but a lot of separate-self-feelings/identites/... still left. Not a pure and impersonal Nonduality/Unity, but rather a Unity loaded with not-so-impersonal-stuff. And that doesn't fully count as these 100s or 1000s hours mentioned above, because they may be not so flashy consciousness/awakened, but are already quite nondual/Unity and very very impersonal/empty/nearly-no-separate-self still left. Only last fragments, being dissolved as time goes on. Short form: Meditation: Unity/Nonduality/Awakened States only when very large parts of separate-self-arisings (thoughts/feelings) are already gone/transcended Psychedelics: Lots of Unity/Nondual/Awakened States EVEN with separate-self-arisings (thoughts/feelings) in large parts not seen trough, even with the help of the psychedelic. Full Enlightenment: And for the sudden Deep Identity Level Shift of Full Enlightenment the separate-self-arisings/thoughts/feelings need to be ALL seen through/Transcended/cut off (which at the same time is also a huge boost of Nonduality/Awakenings, making the whole field an infinite nondual groundless mere appearance field hovering within ones timeless true always here Being, and Infinite Awareness Space with separate-self-center/Individuality fully gone. Just THIS). In Full Enlightenment, there is no agent left that is still believed, no center. So one IS Reality itself. And literally everything that could ever appear is a manifested/imagined arising/appearance, imagined by "the" Infinite Mind/Consciousness. And that "Mind", or Reality, dreams and is deluded until "It" realized there is only itself, watching itself, fooling and believing itself in endless appearances. If there is "someone", or arisings of a "you" that thinks "it" is enlightened: Welcome, that is another illusion-layer (as Leo correctly points out). It is maybe an Enlightenment (Nondual Unity with the Infinite Void), but not Full Enlightenment. And for the impersonal aspect: Sounds horrible, in practice its wonderful: One is this life "oneself", next life maybe life something else completely: Different personality, different body, Human, Alien, whatever. Impersonal Consciousness open up exactly that. Like dreaming being someone/something else at night. But the price of transcending this specific bodymind has to be paid. And since its only an illusion, only has some fear-defense-mechanism BEFORE the Gateless Gate of waking up to ones True Identity, Infinite Impersonal Consciousness, or Reality itself. Water by the River

@Water by the River ok, then full enlightenment is the complete dissolution of individuality and identification with absolute reality without limit. and according to you that eliminates suffering. Ok, agree (with suffering let's say, minimize it). let's see, you give great importance to thought, and you focus the process of enlightenment on mastering and understanding the source of thought. Maybe it's necessary without psychedelics. the source of thought is obvious: reality, like everything else. it is not necessary to stop the thought but to see through it, understanding what the thought is, and paying no attention to it. dissolve individuality completely and identify with infinity, ok, let's call it enlightenment. It is not the end of the matter, it is the beginning. Before to this point you are insane and your life is a nightmare. after this point, freedom begins, you flow and understand. but the reality of what you are is unlimited, as you will perceive if you have really transcended the limits, then you will see the need to explore, to go deeper. Do you understand the pattern of existence that it means to be a human? the layers of code that make up this experience, what are they? everything opens, unfolds, and psychedelics are the key. psychedelics are a key into the code that this experience is. They are nothing foreign to you, they are you. and you don't use them? impossible. Limited. But of course, anyone have their preferences, and no one is the good one

What is full enlightenment? Could you describe?

I agree that some Awakenings can't be had without psychedelics. And that what you call Alien Consciousness is for sure cutting edge. And I do consider you a pioneer, and have read so far most of what you wrote, and watched most of your videos. "Alien Consciousness is completely beyond everything those Buddhists understand or have ever achieved." That I don't know, since I don't know what every Buddhist has achieved. But it is very well possible what you write, since they didn't have 5-MeO and other stuff. They had psychedelics [ Secret Drugs of Buddhism: Psychedelic Sacraments and the Origins of the Vajrayana ], but not all what is available now, and not pure. But some exploration they did: https://www.psychedelicsangha.org/paisley-gate/2019/5/8/the-supreme-array-scripture-a-psychedelic-stra-for-buddhist-psychonauts-pp3zz , Yet, I consider Full Enlightenment becoming that Ultimate Reality as a Deep Identity level shift, with no more filters of the separate-self not seen through or covering that Realization/Deep Identity Level shift, no more filter on any of these Awakenings/Enlightenments. True Self, because every being is that already, with some illusion-clouds on top. Not projecting Absolute Reality on separate-self remains, but pure Impersonal Infinite Consciousness. And since that brings bliss and liberation in daily life. I consider it highly valueable. Summum Bonum [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summum_bonum ] So lets continue exploring and awakening to ever higher, larger and more encompassing [Alien] perspectives in Indras Net of Reality, since that is one of the reasons why we are, and one of the reasons God is playing that game/Lila. I just propose doing that from a consideration of the basis of the Summum Bonum mentioned above. Considering that suffering = continued search for further experiences/understandings/realization and end of suffering = resting in ones Deep True Identity as Reality itself, there is a "little" pointer given by Reality via suffering on that issue. Specifically: Placing the importance/value of Alien Consciousness on the same level as striving for Full Enlightenment, i feel fine with that. As long as the Alien Consciousness doesn't drag home some less-than-healthy consequences. Why? Because the paths for both goals go towards more Consciousness, not less. They run parallel, or at least normally not opposed if one doesn't get lost in these Alien Awakenings. Which probably can be avoided. Placing anything higher as the striving for Full Enlightenment is in my perspective choosing suffering, which is not a permanently sustainable strategy. That is the only reason why I am writing all of this. Besides that, I am a big fan Leo! The world needs more people like you. The more pioneers we have, the faster the Wild West is explored. And the faster we know where the rattlesnakes are hiding, which branch-off of the path leads to Death Valles and which leads to California. Water by the River