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@The0Self If you feel infinite Love, it is such a transformation that you know nothing and no one can threaten the existence of that state of mind. Love is ever eternal and non-destructable. Only in the ego's delusional mind, it seems as if Love is weak and feeble. But love is the fabric of the universe and cannot be destroyed.

@Shiva99 Good work! Being radically honest with yourself is a great start for transformation. I'd suggest to get with someone who specializes in repressed desire. Someone understanding the subconscious mind and identity and how to work on that.

Claudio Naranjo heralded the end of Patriarchy in a way. He published three books on the Enneagram of Personality, as well as The End of Patriarchy, which is his interpretation of social problems as the expression of a devaluation of the nurturance and human instinct and their solution in the harmonious development of our "three brained" potential.,,,,, ,,,,,His most recent book (2010), Healing Civilization: Bringing Personal Transformation into the Societal Realm through Education and the Integration of the Intra-Psychic Family, is both a continuation of and a turning point in Naranjo's lifelong work. For in this book, which has a foreword by Jean Houston, Naranjo explored what he saw as the root cause of the destruction of human civilization (as evidenced in the 2000s (decade) as war, violence, oppression of women, child abuse, environmental endangerment, etc.)—patriarchy—and brought both the problem and the solution home to an intra-psychic level. Patriarchy, he said, has taken root over millennia in the workings of our own conditioned minds.[citation needed] He also offered a remedy, which derives from the work of Tótila Albertregarding the "triune" being of our nature: the "Inner Father" (corresponding to the head), the "Inner Mother" (corresponding to the heart), and the "Inner Child" (corresponding to the instincts). As people learn to integrate these three "brains", Naranjo believed, they may bring about a functional, even divine, family within. And this, he believed, in addition to transforming education oriented to personal and collective evolution, could bring about the healing of civilization.[citation needed] In the Watkins' Mind Body Spirit Magazine he was listed as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People of 2012.[7] From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Naranjo My own two cents is that a part of the deal is the need for women to take the initiative in ending the notion of romantic love relationship. Expressed in A Course In Miracles as ‘the special relationship. I put the burden of this on women because they perpetuate this cultural ideal more than men. Perhaps my thinking is skewed here. A bit from ACIM- VII. The Needless Sacrifice 1. Beyond the poor attraction of the special love relationship, and always obscured by it, is the powerful attraction of the Father for His Son. ²There is no other love that can satisfy you, because there is no other love. ³This is the only love that is fully given and fully returned. ⁴Being complete, it asks nothing. ⁵Being wholly pure, everyone joined in it has everything.⁶This is not the basis for any relationship in which the ego enters. ⁷For every relationship on which the ego embarks isspecial. 2. The ego establishes relationships only to get something. ²And it would keep the giver bound to itself through guilt. ³It is impossible for the ego to enter into any relationship without anger, for the ego believes that anger makes friends. ⁴This is not its statement, but it is its purpose. ⁵For the ego really believes that it can get and keep by making guilty. ⁶This is its one attraction; an attraction so weak that it would have no hold at all, except that no one recognizes it. ⁷For the ego always seems to attract through love, and has no attraction at all to anyone who perceives that it attracts through guilt. 3. The sick attraction of guilt must be recognized for what it is. ²For having been made real to you, it is essential to look at it clearly, and by withdrawing your investment in it, to learn to let it go. ³No one would choose to let go what he believes has value. ⁴Yet the attraction of guilt has value to you only because you have not looked at what it is, and have judged it completely in the dark. ⁵As we bring it to light, your only question will be why it was you ever wanted it. ⁶You have nothing to lose by looking open-eyed, for ugliness such as this belongs not in your holy mind. ⁷This host of God can have no real investment here. 4. We said before that the ego attempts to maintain and increase guilt, but in such a way that you do not recognize what it would do to you. ²For it is the ego’s fundamental doctrine that what you do to others you have escaped. ³The ego wishes no one well. ⁴Yet its survival depends on your belief that you are exempt from its evil intentions. ⁵It counsels, therefore, that if you are host to it, it will enable you to direct its anger outward, thus protecting you. ⁶And thus it embarks on an endless, unrewarding chain of special relationships, forged out of anger and dedicated to but one insane belief; that the more anger you invest outside yourself, the safer you become. (ACIM, T-15.VII.1:1–4:6) From https://acim.org/acim/chapter-15/the-needless-sacrifice/en/s/196 You can do a search on this site and get more regarding the ‘special relationship. For me the question is what would our culture and our lives look like with no notions of romantic love. It sounds far out but I’ve been wanting to express this for a while. In my mind it’s up to women to lead the way out of patriarchy and then the world will be their oyster. What do you think?

@Leo Gura Yeah but then I feel that stage 2 should care about stage 1 like an adult cares for teenagers. I should understand them, empathize with them, give them a break because they are at a lower school class sort of speak... But then I don't and I feel guilty that I don't. And like you (that's why I asked you personally too) I also feel that my life purpose is to teach this stuff. So I can not just ignore them and mind my life purpose because my life purpose IS literally them and their transformation to higher degrees of consciousness and reality understanding. @RendHeaven I do admittedly come out as strongly opinionated and I can't help that, because my opinion has very solid roots in fundamental concept analysis, epistemology and logic (logic as logics, as the science of doing logic and creating true statements, not as we usually use this word airy fairy like the opposite of feelings or whatever) and has a sound core structure that is not based on some stage green group thinking deeply ideological propaganda that has its roots in the internal need of belonging somewhere and has zero conceptual understanding because it usually has zero contemplation work done.

Don't do death penalties. Don't put them in prison so they won't have a social life. Make them do hard labor. Their punishment will be to do immense service to society, (forcibly) Death penalties and prison time only destroys them. Their hard labor will create a new them. Simply put jail guards with guns around them to ensure they don't do anything bad. Labor is one of the best forms of transformation. Not therapy. Not personal development. Not spiritual enlightenment. For these criminals, LABOR is the best medicine. Not only does it help them, but it will help our society Invest money on having them to hard labor effectively. Just putting them in jail and stew in their filth not only is a waste of money, but they won't learn anything about love and goodness through that. Their labor will save us money. We just need to invest in some money in the beginning that's all. The results will come Just like the Nazis made the Jewish do hard labor. Learn how the Nazis did it and emulate it. (Not a knock on Jewish people, but we can all learn from out enemies)

Young Leo before he got into self-improvement. But in all seriousness, the transformation from fat Leo to current Leo is like the inverse of what happened with young Vaush to current Vaush.

The masculine approach: taking a stand against what no longer serves the feminine approach: creating an environment friendly and ideal for healing/transformation to take place the question is: who’s actually seeking to evolve their patterns/truth? It’s futile to change another’s beliefs, however, to plant seeds is a step in the right direction Speculation is a form of ignorance, an imbalance in ones receptivity to challenging beliefs and or forms of truth

@mandyjw at least it would be natural... likewise it took me time to understand why people would get it, once i opened up to that potential truth, it showed itself. Basically it can help/assist in the transformation of light/cell expression (dna structure), even though it may evoke fear or discordant energies to arise to the surface. These have the potential to overpower the individual, keeping them bound to separation/division till death. We are one with all, on a journey into the light of pure serenity It's still deemed unnecessary in my less is more mentality toward health/vitality

Thinking about this in terms of static quantities prevents you from seeing the obvious truth that tigers don't compete with plants for soil minerals. Competition arises out of lack of differentiation not out of supposedly limited resources. Relative reality isn't static, it's dynamic, so competing for resources is grounded in not understanding transformation. Instead of trying to be a plant because you saw a plant, be yourself and use what you need to give your gift.

(I’ve added notes from the book in this summary. There are videos on George Leonard’s book “Mastery” on youtube. Here’s two worth checking out: Animated Book Summary (6 min), Summary and Review (8 min)) 9. Summary: “Mastery” -It’s hard to be fulfilled and successful when you don’t have Mastery over anything. Mastery is a mindset and process of becoming excellent at whatever you choose to do. (Read “Mastery” by George Leonard) -Mastery can be achieved by everyone, not just the “naturally talented.” Mastery says there's a methodical, scientific way to achieve excellence. -Mastery is paramount to personal development because it applies to everything you want to get good at in life. (Health, Success, Relationships, Life Purpose, Love, Sex, Business, Cooking, Sports, Hobbies, etc) It’s one of the most important topics. -Mastering meta skills that improve everything will compound all your efforts (superlearning, health, discipline, emotional intelligence, epistemology, relationships, etc). A tide that lifts all boats. These core skills you master will be part of you forever. They will pay huge dividends over your lifetime. It’s what makes people seem magical. -The biggest obstacle to Mastery is naive, unrealistic expectations. Having realistic expectations means you won’t be blindsided when reality hits. -There’s the Imaginary Mastery curve and the Real Mastery curve. -The Imaginary Mastery curve falsely says progress is easy, constant, linear and predictable. This mindset sets you up for failure. It’s also what most people believe. -The Real Mastery curve is like a staircase with deep steps, small rises with long plateaus. True progress challenges your comfort zone. -A plateau is a period where you're putting in effort but not seeing any improvement. You may even regress a little bit. This throws most people off, but it’s normal. Don’t get disheartened! -No one can avoid plateaus, not even the “naturally talented.” No one experiences smooth, steady upward growth. You need to get comfortable working while being on a plateau to become truly masterful at anything. -You deal with the plateaus by expecting them and bracing yourself. When you commit and work at it you'll get some progress, but it’ll be erratic. If you're putting in deliberate practice, working everyday, improving what needs to be improved, trust you're moving along the Mastery curve. -Mastery takes time. It takes time to practice and condition the Mastery mindset. It’s easy to forget that and get demoralized, especially during long projects. -When you see a top performing athlete, actor, entrepreneur, it's because they've developed Mastery through this gradual process of improving bit by bit. They didn’t find one overnight quick-fix scheme. ◦ In Japan, top sushi chefs start by learning to properly prepare rice for two years. ◦ Mozart put in 10 years of practice before writing his first world class concerto. (Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers”) ◦ Chris Evans did 13 years of theatre, tv and movies before booking his first superhero movie which bombed with critics (Fantastic Four). He then spent another five years acting before booking Captain America in 2010 for which he got $300,000. His payday in 2019 was $43.5 million. (such a poor ugly overnight success ) -Consumerist culture promotes shortcuts, novelty and distractions. It’s anti-Mastery. It’s focused on “get rich quick” schemes. Marketing is a huge contributor to this. “Give me what I want now, without any effort on my part.” -What’s wrong with shortcuts or luck? Luck runs out if it’s not based on skill and work ethic. Shortcuts are unsustainable because they worry about results instead of learning skills or finding joy in the process. -Ironically, the “get rich quick” mindset gets promoted by the culture, but it's not actually rewarded by the culture. Mastery, however, is devalued by the culture but highly rewarded. Three Common Anti-Mastery Attitudes that Lead to Failure: —The Dabbler: Always seeks novelty, chases the highs. Gives up when it gets hard and makes excuses. Bounces from one thing to the next, never building anything substantial. —The Obsessive: Unsustainably gung-ho. Thinks he can avoid plateaus by overextending himself. Hitting the first plateau is a surprise which leads to frustration, then crashing and burning. Chaotic and unstable, high highs and low lows. —The Hacker: Learns just enough to get by. Not willing to go past his comfort zone. Gets stuck on a plateau. Progress is halted for fear of hard work. Can do okay work, but doesn’t accomplish anything great. Boring, doesn’t grow. Mastery is a Mindset -The Master does not worry because he has grounded success in himself. The non-Master lives in fear that they’ve stumbled their way into success. They know their success could be taken away. -When you’re masterful you can create results on demand, consistently, not based on luck. This gives you confidence. Even if you lost everything you would be able to replicate that success again. -There’s emotional richness in doing what you really love and working hard at it. This is one of the best things about being on the path of Mastery and staying on it. Visualize your success to stay motivated. You are amassing this power within yourself through self-development, through Mastery. That feels amazing. -Mastery is Process Oriented, Not Results Oriented Process oriented means you’re focused primarily on doing the process well and enjoying it. Not just getting a result. -Masters Create an Upward Spiral. Masters focus on joy and learning because they love the practice. Because they love it, they do more of it, and the more they do the better they get. The better they get the more they enjoy it. -No One Can Sustain 10 Years of Grind. (Maybe a year or so) If it takes 10 years to become great at something, you won’t sustain that on a short spiky burst of emotion. You’ll become resentful, and you still won’t be great. Mastery is consistent, even keeled, the tortoise not the hare. Don’t worry about your results. Track them, but don't chase them like a thirsty blood-hungry dog. -A sustainable pace is one you could do for the rest of your life and it won't cause you energy problems or money problems. Think long term. (episode: Develop Patience) -Consistent, good, imperfect practice is better than short, unsustainable practice. 10 years of sustainable productivity is better than 1 year of fast unsustainable growth. -Love the minutia of what you're doing. Be fully present and detail oriented about your craft. Minutia isn’t boring. The essence of boredom is found in the obsessive search for novelty. Satisfaction lies in mindful repetition, the discovery of endless richness as subtle variations on familiar themes. It's a pleasure, not a grind. Learning slowly forces you to look deeply at the process and discover the incremental steps that you might otherwise gloss over if progress came easily. The master develops subtle distinctions (episode:Learning = Making Distinctions) ◦ Kobe Bryant describing the process of Mastery. Challenges to Staying on the Path of Mastery -Homeostasis: Our body, brain and behaviour have a built in tendency to stay within very narrow limits. Psychological homeostasis is your mind's tendency to go back to how things have always been, whether or not that’s healthy. Your mind is like a thermostat that has been set by past experiences. Learning a new skill will require shifting this thermostat, and your body will naturally resist this. Your mind will refuse to do new stuff unless you push it out of its comfort zone. -Discomfort or fear from trying something new is actually a sign of growth. It’s not to be avoided. If the learning doesn’t challenge your comfort zone you’re probably not growing much. Negotiate with your resistance to change. Plan for two steps forward, one step back. (Understanding Resistance) A non-Master would go gung-ho, not expecting resistance, like those people in the gym on Jan 1st who quit after a week. Resistance is proportionate to the size and speed of the change, not to whether the change is favourable or unfavourable. Too much change too quickly creates a backlash, reeling you back to your comfort zone. Focus on one thing, one new habit, at a time. Don’t wear yourself out. Acknowledge the negative and accentuate the positive. Denial inhibits energy while realistic acknowledgement of the truth releases it. -If you refuse to adopt the Mastery mindset you’ll waste years of your life frustrated, bouncing from one thing to another, not making any progress, never getting what you want. You might get disenchanted with the whole process of growth and you’ll settle for mediocrity. That’s not the life you want to live. “To practice regularly, even when you seem to be getting nowhere, might at first seem onerous. But the day eventually comes when practicing becomes a treasured part of your life. You settle into it as if into you favourite easy chair, unaware of time and the turbulence of the world. It will still be there for you tomorrow. It will never go away.”—George Leonard Five Guidelines on the Path of Mastery 1. Be aware of homeostasis. Expect resistance and backlash. Don't give up at the first sign of trouble. 2. Negotiate with your resistance, by using pain as a guide to performance. Play discontent, the inevitable escort of transformation. Keep pushing, but not without awareness to the warnings. Pushing your way through despite the warning signals increases the possibility of backsliding. 3. Develop a support system of other people who share the joys of the change you're making. 4. Regular practice - the path of mastery for its own sake. A stable base during the instability of change. 5. Dedicate to lifelong learning. The lifelong learner learned to deal with homeostasis, because he is doing it all the time.

By early 2013 I found myself quite deeply disappointed that we had not experienced The Singularity Event which I had been expecting on December 21st, 2012. I began the following conversation with my Ego, to seek some answers. As so often happens, I received a great deal more than I had hoped for. My Ego used the opportunity to share, in some depth, who he really is and what his role in this reality has been. To me personally this was a revelation! Greg: Anybody home? Ego: I am here. Greg: I am a little puzzled by something. Quite confused, in fact. Ego: Ah. Have you noticed how some of our very best conversations, featuring some of the richest realizations begin when you take that position? When you are willing to admit to your internal dissonance, describe it carefully and then open yourself to a new transcendent understanding you do a special kind of magic. An alchemical transformation. Lead into Gold. Fear and discomfort into love and delight. And of course we are going to do the same thing right now. And it all begins when you describe your difficulty. Greg: The experience called The Singularity Event. A wonderful, exciting, blissful moment when we will all FEEL and KNOW that we are one with the Oneness. And then after that everything will be different. Ego: I am familiar with the subject. Tell me your problem. Greg: Well, 2012 has come and gone (it’s January 2013 as I write this) and I thought this was going to happen in 2012. I mean, it wasn’t exactly PROMISED that it would happen, but with all the hype around December 2012 I had hoped just a little bit would happen then. So I suppose I am wondering if this is still going to happen. And if so, when? Ego: There are many different answers to your question because the answer depends entirely on who you are creating yourself to be. Your perspective is everything. You held a particular perspective on the day in question. What perspective are you now willing to take? Who are you, right now, willing to create yourself to be? Greg: Okay, I’ll play. Here is who I am creating myself to be right now: I am a spark of eternal, divine light who has chosen to express itself in physical form. One who is currently, momentarily, experiencing incarnation as a human being on Planet Earth with the name of Greg Margolis. How’s that? Ego: I like that. Now tell me, is Greg Margolis a powerful creator being or a victim to his experiences? Greg: A creator being, of course. I am becoming more and more aware, as I wake up and discover who I really am, that I actually do create my experiences with my deepest beliefs and choices. Ego: So do you wait for someone else to give to you the things you seek, or do you create them? Greg: The latter. I guess that is what being a creator being means: you create, right? Ego: Right. And so, you need to take a moment and see that you created a small paradox for yourself on December 21st, 2012. The Singularity Event, which is an experience of that which is most real and true. An experience of The Oneness cannot be given to you from outside of yourself. It can not come, like a Santa Clause in the night and leave presents for you depending upon whether you have been naughty or nice. Because something as inherently TRUE as a direct experience of The Oneness of All cannot begin with you being a child like victim awaiting gifts from some outside agency. I remain silent. Ego: You are silenced by what I have said. Somewhat shocked and some deep disappointment is beginning to well up. But before your mind begins to run circles, before you leap to any conclusions at all - let me remind you of something that, by now, you know well: If you can’t see the perfection, you are standing too close to the picture. So what I am saying is that this too is perfect. And you will, over the course of this discussion, come to see how that might be so. Greg: But why could I not get this new “perfect” version of the story back on December 21st? Ego: Think back. Think back carefully on who you were then. Who you were able to create yourself to be. Think of your inner struggles then. Think of your fears about your own inadequacy, your victim mindset, your self limiting beliefs. There is still SO MUCH you fail to understand. Firstly, I said The Singularity Event cannot be given to you from outside of yourself. Greg: So it can still happen? I can create it by MYSELF? Ego: If you are willing, then absolutely, yes, it can happen. Indeed, that is the only way it CAN happen. And if you enact your creator nature then it WILL happen.

Is your last letter of your myers briggs type 'P' by any chance? That sort of behavior is called Prospecting and it's quite usual for xNTP/xNFPs. Remember your purpose isn't some field or some set of tools. Biology, math, chemistry, these were just sets of tools created by some people in order to help them achieve their vision. Biology in itself isn't the purpose, engineering human life is. Fields come and go, there was trapanation, now there's neuroscience, none of these are the actual purposes, your purpose is basically answering the question "what would you like to create" then you just pick up the necessary tools to achieve it. I would say that you aren't dabbling, but prospecting because you are looking for a deeper understanding of life rather than some field to study. And since these fields are almost always bound by the same paradigms you tend to lose interest fast when you see it isn't going anywhere. However at the same time you are also picking what's good from each one and making your own theories and tools on the way up. Fields are just a bunch of biases nothing more. It's very likely that your purpose will be a vision for a certain kind of transformation in society which you think is critical for making the world a better place. Transformational/Transmutational mindset is the new paradigm of society that's coming to replace the old static shit that doesn't work (e.g. medicating people as if they are a static sculpture not a living system) so it's very likely that you are starting to wake up to this truth and you want to participate in the distribution of this new paradigm in society in some way shape or form. Maybe you feel that non-actualized people are why society is so fucked up and ape-like and you will want to become an actualization coach. Maybe you feel that the old medicinal paradigm is why so many people are sick so you want to become a holistic functional medicine practitioner and guide them towards the new paradigm that restores health rather than suppresses symptoms. The key to your answer lies in understanding Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how the current society relates to it as well as in contemplating transformation/transmutation rather than trying to pick some field as if the field can tell you want you want to create.

Well, lazy people are dangerous for a dude who wants to be active and active people are danger for lazy people's laziness. Both get challenged. Don't bother, do your thing. Let that pain lead to transformation and Self-acceptence. Over time you will develop more and more self-trust, when you act and see your models working.

More likely to "heal" them by avoiding the trap of forcing transformation on someone out of their natural predatory self; most of these things occur because it has alignment with reality so it's better to have an outlet for rape destruction and evil through virtual reality/roleplay or use drug therapies because rape/destruction/evil/torture is good when both the perpetrator and the victim are benefited/feel pleasure from the acts which isn't the case in our immediate reality; loving someone with the exclusive intent to transform their behaviors is not full love or rather in a way it lacks the constructive hate of the love/hate duality this constructive hate means that you should feel "hate" for the universe and it's fundamental mechanics themselves because then at least the observer, the perpetrator and the victim are in some level of agreement; people are too obsessed with sentience/social ego they forget the entire universe and it's mechanics are involved. One example, the observer can have his guru power trip/victim mentality healing fantasy fulfilled through whatever means(including me as a 4th observer); the perpetrator can have his rape and get away with it with zero karma(just one example in the space of possibilities) and the victim can have pleasure or fulfillment from being acted on again with zero karma or even positive karma; you can then maintain the complexity of the play and all the general regular actions of a universe where suffering exists but with no suffering like "revenge" and "recovering from trauma" by the victim; the "healing" from the observer through preventive measures and therapeutic assistance; "trying to get away with your assault" from the perpetrator or/and "getting reformed through therapy". Just a super metaphysical gamified version of reality where you can maintain everything but also change anything and it still makes perfect sense and the spookiest thing is even though I personally experience suffering I cannot say this gamified reality is not already the case; extremely clumsily explained and simplified here but you guys are pretty smart. My view of true love where hate/evil can exist without suffering being involved and also allowing evolution as if hate still hurts just as much.

I would say the reason for this is just the rapid transformation of lifestyle from a hard-working labour worker to incredibly sedentary (often lazy), fat and eating garbage. Here in UK, 8/10 people in streets are obese or overweight, asthmatic, eat junk, have chronic stress and at least 5 major addictions. These are the main reasons for all the cancers and diabetes. I assume the situation among poor suburban areas in US is even worse. These people make a majority of statistics for cancers and mental disease. Of course there will be some small dose chronic level of toxins but compared to the huge shitload of other lifestyle factors I just can't imagine it being that much of a concern if all the above are fixed. That's not to say you should go and sniff a glue or use the shitties pan but I think the type of coating on the pan is peanuts compared to the other factors that most people haven't even looked at.

I was wondering whether anyone else had experienced Kundalini as a Goddess. During the initial stages of my awakening, during 2011-2012, I experienced Kundalini as a serpentine energy, as descibed by most people and classical works on the subject. During the latter stages, the sensation became physical and whenever Kundalini was active inside me, I experienced a black serpent wriggling around in my body, along the spine, gradually rising ever further upwards and bumping its head against energetic blocks in my body in a rhythmic fashion. When the serpent got stuck, just above the heart chakra and couldn’t push its head through the knot found there, I experienced intense chronic chest pain, heart palpitations, neurological symptoms, such as memory loss and slowness of movement. I then prayed for divine intervention and the Goddess appeared to me in person, performed shaktipat on me, then united with me energetically and allowed me to experience enlightenment, a breakthrough at the final knot at the top back part of the head (I believe this is called Brahmarendra, the cavity of God), which broke with an audible cracking noise. Then, liquid light came roaring in, I expanded in all directions in an ecstatic bliss and became boundless and all-knowing, at least for a short while. In that state, I felt universal and understood everything about reality, universe, life, or whatever else you can think of. When i eventually returned to my body, I only retained a tiny portion of the knowledge I had access to in the universal state. I also felt constrained and suffocated by my own body, but I gradually returned to normal consciousness. The Goddess aspect of Kundalini is rarely emphasised, or if so, usually only in abstract terms, but I wonder how many people have been visited by her as a living Goddess and how common this is? I found a reference in the book of essays, Kundalini Rising, by Lawrence Edwards, whose experience closely mirrors my own. I’m not sure how much I can quote from his work, before triggering the copyright bots, so I’ll try to quote only the most succinct sections, that are most relevant to this point. Chapter: Kundalini Her Symbols of Transformation and Freedom LAWRENCE EDWARDS, PHD THE GIFTS OF MAHA KALI “ Once a renowned author who had written about Kundalini came to meet my guru, Swami Muktananda. Baba, as my guru was known, was revered for his exalted visions of the Kun- dalini and his rare ability to give shaktipat. The author, too, had visions of Kundalini, but to him she appeared quite unimpressive, looking like an ordinary woman, not like a God- dess at all. As he waited outside the room where Baba was receiving visitors, he was astonished to have a vision of the Goddess Kundalini herself entering the room where Baba was—only this time she appeared in her most regal and resplendent form, magnif- icent and awe inspiring … Baba, he asked why it was that she appeared so ordinary to him, while for Baba she came as the Goddess of the Universe. Baba replied simply, “Because I worship her.” … The intense practices I began doing culminated in a series of meditation experiences in Baba’s ashram meditation hall during a weekend retreat in 1982. Various forms of the Goddess began appearing fully and spontaneously in meditation, as real as any person standing in front of me. I worshipped each in turn, trembling and awestruck as I did and only able to do so because of the strength the Shakti gave me in the moment to withstand Her Divine presence. Goddess after Goddess appeared until finally Maha Kali was present there before me. I prayed with all my heart to be able to stay conscious. Her skin was blacker than black, like deep black velvet in a darkened room. Yet in some miraculous way Her form was radiant, revealing Her own richly magnificent blackness. A thought ap- peared in my mind: “My God, this is Kali! She’s the Great Mother, Goddess of the Uni- verse, creator and destroyer of all that is!” But She was in the most exquisite, beautiful, loving form, not the fearsome presence She is usually depicted as having. This was Her hidden form. I did the only thing I knew to do: I did puja to Her, an ancient Indian form of worship, while shaking with a mixture of fear, awe, and overwhelming love. Tears flowed down my cheeks. Then the Goddess came forward and embraced me, wrapping Herself around me. Everything slowed down. I could feel myself gradually merging into Her, and I could hear Her laughing the wildest, most ecstatic laugh! We disappeared from the ordinary world. My awareness shifted, and I could see the whole solar system with all its planets, and then stars and galaxies being withdrawn into Her. The entire universe was merging into Her, and all the while it was merging, the infinitude of the cosmos rever- berated with Her ecstatic laughter. Finally, I disappeared into Her as I dissolved into infi- nite Light and Love, and then into a nothingness beyond even that, beyond the mind, be- yond any duality of experience. There simply was no “me” left; I was gone, gone, gone be- yond. … The experience ended; feeling profoundly grateful, I bowed to my inner guru, my Goddess Kundalini. This had all unfolded as a re- sult of shaktipat from my Siddha master, Muktananda Baba, years earlier, and my prayer to know the highest form of worship of Kundalini. Complete worship merges you with the one you worship. Through worship and prayer, the Goddess reveals the mysteries of Her creation to Her creature: the seeker—you! … No words can describe how overwhelmed and truly awestruck I was by the appearance of the Goddesses classically depicted in the chakras, followed by Maha Kali Herself. These were the Goddesses that Kundalini manifests, as well as Her primal form as Maha Shakti, the great power, that takes the form of Maha Kali, the Black Goddess. It is this highest power that dissolves the universe as She merges into the sahasrara, creating it once again as She descends from that transcendent realm. … Just as the aspects of Divine Consciousness were being presented to my awareness sym- bolically in the forms of the Goddesses, in the same way the union with those Divine forms was symbolized by sexual union. Readers familiar with the experiences of mystics of many spiritual traditions will recognize that this is a common way for union with the Di- vine to express itself. Very often the Tantric traditions, both yogic and Buddhist, that deal with the Divine Feminine depict union in this way. Carnal symbolism and the experience of that form of symbolic merger in meditation are often confusing for people, especially Westerners, who take it literally. From: Kundalini Rising: Exploring the Energy of Awakening. Sounds True Inc. Short Excerpts from pages 294-298 “ So, this is really interesting to me, as it is so close to my own experience of Union with the Goddess and her many visits to me. Maybe it is a bit esoteric (on in other words, Tantric), but I would really like to hear from others who may have experienced this.

@justfortoday You are much more advanced than I am but I see a clear blind spot. It is called the full circle. This is was very common in ancient Egypt and it was the last secret revealed. When one arrived to a super conciousness state by mastering all paths (wisdom, devotion, Mind, non-dual...) one arrived to a see through the ilusion and understand the core of all existance, which then formed everything else. Therefore, the master asked to reconstruct from this core existance layer by layer again his ego reality, for it is also real in the sense that an ilusion is real and also must be understood. Understanding how from the God-Head of his being all the transformation and alchimical processes happened till one finds himself in this existance where, even though it's pretty clear it's nothing, it's also pretty clear there is more. This is at least the main blind spot I see in all masters, where the are enlightened about enlightenment but not about non-enlightenment (Unless they are God-Realized where then this is all non-sense). For the one that is truly interested in Truth, it is not only enough by going to the source and understanding it but by also how the whole game of existance is played. Because this is not just random nothingness, this is armonious beyond our understanding. For it is deconstructed to know the most juicy insights, then it must be constructed to engage in the divine game of existance. For this is a great cosmic play. Knowing that the dream is a dream is also a dream, that insight must be had, that insight must also be left, as well as all those that have been stated here. If u wanna Truly be liberated.

Cool! I’ll add a little more with some links. Facets of Unity is just about my favorite book on the enneagram. By the way, I’m a counterphobic 6. Mapping Certain Levels of Reality We use the Enneagram as a tool and a map at specific junctures in our work of spiritual unfoldment. Initially, we use it as a psychological map that aids self-observation and study. Students also work with our theory of holes (see Essence, Almaas, 1986), which describes the loss of Essence and the consequent development of the personality. Then the work of uncovering the essential aspects proceeds. The theories of depth psychology on object relations, narcissism, and the like, constitute a major portion of the tools used to access the various essential dimensions. The Enneagram is then used at particular points as a map of certain levels of reality, in order to facilitate spiritual transformation. For example, work on the Passions and Virtues helps students in the process of purification of the soul. The Enneagram of Holy Ideas is most useful at the juncture between personal and cosmic realization of Being, as previously mentioned. As with other concepts from various schools, our approach utilizes the Enneagram for the purpose of direct, experiential understanding. It is not used only for psychological observations and typology, nor only for guiding various spiritual practices, but specifically for guiding and supporting open inquiry into one’s experience. Facets of Unity, pg. 16 This is the forth of nine excerpts. Link just below https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/enneagram-and-diamond-approach https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/enneagram-holy-ideas O https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/enneagram-specific-delusions https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/enneagram-specific-difficulties https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/enneagram-specific-reactions

Dunno, I focus on doing various kinds of yoga 4 hours a day, an ocassional retreat, or a psychedelic trip here and there. But I would like to have a meaningful work, like really helping people, easing their suffering, but I have no idea how to put myself into this position. It's not money or time that constrains me, it's something psychological, that requirement of transformation. Leting go of who you are to become someone else. It's not scary or anything, just... hard. I am not a kiddo anymore, but being 23 yo I still have a lot to understand about the world and even a few things to figure out about who I really am, as a human, not in a spiritual sense. I mean, the spiritual, too, but the human aspect gets priority for survival reasons. Sometimes I feel like there's not much in this world to live for, I mean material stuff, like travel, luxurious apartments and expensive gadgets. It's worth so little and gets old so fast. But loving people, loving life is cool. Being useful to others is cool, too. Yeah, observing stuff is always good idea, can't go wrong with that.

I need to get back on it. I’ve taken a break from the last two. I’ve just had so much transformation recently it seems kinda silly to watch videos.

I've been getting back into music making through guitar and electronic production and was seeing what some of the younger musicians were doing. I started watching this one lady's Indy electronic interviews and discussions she had on YouTube. I looked at her face & her I though her nose was very straight & odd. I figured maybe she was born like that. I didn't think much about it. Like with most beautiful women, the comment section was filled with typical one-track minded guys talking with their trousers warming their ankles. So as I went backwards in time on the videos & discussions to watch her creative process & the gear she used, just a few years ago, a place showed her apartment & "Holy Shit", it was like I was staring at an entirely different human being!!! The previous form of this human being was not as pretty as the one I'd been watching. However, after seeing the old version, I thought the new version looked entirely fake. After watching that video of her "before" face & then watching some afterwards, I could no longer listen to what she was saying. I was completely put off by the fact that the face I was looking at was a surgical creation...done for no reason than vanity. And also hearing in that last interview how the discussion went from music production to the dull world of money & business (the kind where you sign other artists & take a cut off the top or commission). I had to stop watching her & this transformative process from ugly, music producing person to beautiful, business/money-oriented person. I daresay I found it quite repulsive. At any rate, I recall Leo saying as one of his missions was to get us to improve ourselves in such a way that in 10 years time, we would no longer recognise ourselves! I can't think of any other more extreme measure in personal transformation than getting plastic surgery! I mean, once your face is altered, you're treated differently in the environment. For instance, in the above example, the woman went from no real comments about her looks in her normal form, to every guy wanting to fuck her & saying so in the comments section. Her looks "trumping" her talents by offering an improved illusion of flesh. It's not something I've normally seen with someone so young before either. But I was curious: does it work? If you get your face fucked with by the knife, wouldn't that lead to unrecognizable transformative effects? I'm sure there's a lot of risks, but you see shit-tons of people doing it. Like tattoos I guess. Anyone know anyone with positive plastic surgery effects to self-development? Maybe we should get nose jobs? hahaha.

Many people think being 'selfish' is a no-no word. Something that's bad, something that's not spiritual. Also, people often think that being selfish means hurting others. It may happen that other people get triggered and thereby they basically hurt themselves, but that's not your fault as long as your intentions are pure and that your intention is not to hurt anyone. It is perfectly possible to be selfish yet being compassionate and at the very least be aware and caring towards the feelings of others. Sometimes, however, you will have to do certain things that others may not like but which ultimately is for the better. In reality, existence is an interplay of giving and taking/receiving. It's just that you make sure that when you take or receive you generally want to try to make it a win-win situation. Mind you, something being a win-win situation might not look like a win-win situation. For instance, if you're in a phase where you really want to develop a sense of autonomy where you want to listen to what feels right to you, where you want to protect your boundaries, and where you want to learn how to do what YOU want, you might for instance simply refuse to do certain tasks other people ask from you if this strains you too much or takes too much energy for you. What allows you to be able to justify that for yourself is to see how important it is for you to learn to really listen to yourself an protect yourself, and to see that what you're doing is for the greater good; especially if other people asking you to do certain things is just something they do habitually, but which wouldn't really hurt them if they did it themselves. Take my own example; it's maybe a bit extreme and I'm certainly not saying this is the ideal life or even the ideal outlook, but there are important lessons to be learned from this: I went through a phase where, living with my parents, I refused to listen to anything they told me I should do. I didn't clean up anything, I didn't want to study so I didn't, I didn't want to do any work; All I did was to really be in my room, read spiritual literature, to contemplate a lot and think about life, to entertain myself with Youtube video's and start getting some enjoyment in my life, and to do video gaming. Eventually I also decided not to eat with them at the dinner table anymore, because every time there was dinner there would be this tension between us and I could just sense the tension, and sometimes my parents would indeed start saying I should do certain things or I should change, which I really didn't want to do, so eventually I started to avoid them even there. All of this was to protect myself from the outside world and its demands and expectations. I wanted to shape and create a life that I wanted, that I saw fit, not what other people wanted me to do or become. I wanted to live towards the vision that I saw for myself. I understood that I was triggering people but I had not intention to harm anybody. In fact, the anger that people towards me was not because I was doing something to them, it is because I was not doing the things they wanted me to do. I failed their expectations but I wasn't actively trying to bother anyone. In fact, I wanted to keep things as much to myself as possible, to be as independent as possible. I understood that other people being triggered and angry wasn't necessarily my fault, but that this was a part of themselves that they were responsible for, not me. Whatever emotions are yours, you are responsible for them, not the other, and the same applied to them, I knew. But that also means you are responsible for the conflict and distress you will come to feel if others get triggered by you And all of this I understood was important because I was important. I don't mean that in some egoic comparative sense, that I am superior and better than others. That's not what I mean. I mean that I knew that there was great potential within me to be a great force of love, light and Goodness to the world, and that it was my time to cocoon, to form my shield and go through an inner transformation comparable to when a caterpillar becomes a cocoon to start forming a butterfly. A cocoon needs a strong protective shield and it needs to a certain degree hide from the world in order to fully focus on its transformation, to fully focus its energies on its inner journey. Too little people take full ownership over their lives. Too little people are willing to take the steering wheel and boat their ship, listening to their inner voice to go into the direction that that inner voice is telling them to go, even if the whole world including their social conditioning is telling them otherwise. I'm not saying that saying f*** it to the world and being as selfishly as possible is the ultimate solution. We do however grow impartially, so taking some years to really focus on yourself, to follow your intuition, your vision and your desires certainly isn't a bad thing. It's the growing of the roots. Learning how to set boundaries means you're creating a shield for your energetical space (your aura, you could say), and now that this aura is protected you have the chance to really work on it without constantly worrying about it being affected from interference from the outside world, which is distracting and disregulating you. Learning how to fend for yourself, how to protect your energetical space and following your intuition, gives you a great sense of grounding and confidence. You get to know who you are and what you want, and you start to become clear about what it is that serves you, and what it is that does not serve you, and you will be able to communicate this very clearly and directly to others. You know who you are and what you want, and therefore it is not difficult and therefore it is not difficult to say NO to someone or something if you know that that is not going to serve you in the greater good. Mind you, there is mature selfishness and immature selfishness. Be very conscious about that distinction here. Immature selfishness means you're blaming others for your own situation, feelings and shortcomings. You do not take responsibility and as far as you are concerned the whole world is at fault except yourself. Mature selfishness sees that these things are your responsibility, and that you are responsible for solving them, and that you're willing to set boundaries to first close off interference from the outside world and then correct these situations, feelings and shortcomings by taking responsibility for them and working with them. Immature selfishness refuses to do certain things for others because one feels offended by someone else trying to burden them with something, and refuses to cooperate out of anger, hatred or bitterness. It is much more like a middle-finger approach. Mature selfishness may also refuse to cooperate or agree with requests or demands, but here one does not refuse to do such things out of anger or bitterness, but because one is conscious that one wants to utilize their time, energy and resources for things that one sees to be more valuable at that point for their psychological, energetical or spiritual development. One has a vision for themselves which is a top priority, and many things that are not in alignment with that vision have to be left aside, at least for the time being. On top of that, things that are being asked or demanded from the outside world may also simply be experienced as very stressful, draining or demanding and here one realizes that doing things from this negative place is ultimately not going to do anyone any good, not in the big picture at least. In a nutshell, immature selfishness is about blame and bitterness, mature selfishness is about self-protection, ownership and authenticity To come in better contact with this capacity of self-governance or ownership of your life, just start asking yourself questions as to why it is or as to why it could be important. What purpose does selfishness fulfill? What does it give me? What does it allow me to do? What do I sacrifice for not protecting my own boundaries? How, in the big picture, can me being selfish also serve others in the long-term or even short-term? (Very important question!) How can me developing these qualities ultimately serve the greater good? (because it certainly can and does). Contemplate these questions, and really go deeply into it. Then you will start to see that there is much more depth and validity to selfishness than you would have previously imagined. Also, if you're maybe afraid to make changes to take more ownership over the direction of your life, ask yourself these questions: What am I willing to make sacrifices for? If I don't take certain risks or make certain sacrifices, is the life I will have then going to be worth it? Is the bad really going to outweigh the good that could come from this? If you have any more personal questions or comments, you are free to send me a private message

Also, notice that when you walk you have the impression of moving with the current of time and it seems like you go from one place to another. In fact every move you make and any distance you walk, no matter how far you go, only what appears to be the world of form changes it's content, but the existence you feel that you are is static just like a movie. "Wherever you go there you are." As an analogy, what happens in the movie is in a constant transformation yet the screen is not going anywhere. Same thing with reality. You've always been Here. But not here as in the same dream, here as the eternal consciousness. Here as not affected by time or space. Since time & space are part of your dream.

The meat industry is cruel but killing animals or any life form for food isn't cruel. It's simply the nature of transformation. Believe it or not you can kill with respect and appreciation, just look at the reverence Native Americans have for their hunt. In fact you keep killing all the time whether you want it or not. You kill millions of bacteria as you breathe, you kill millions of insects with your cities and you even kill millions of animals with your plants. As long as you transform one energy form into another that has a higher potential you are fulfilling the purpose of your DNA, but if you are transforming that banana or that steak into a psychopath CEO scheming to rob people of their savings, then you should probably leave any food alone and not survive.

I don't think surrender is a good word. I think transformation and embodiment is better.