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@OBEler This is uncanny. I recall you mentioning this before, and since then I had a session with a female who was also a victim of rape, bullying, and who also lost her groove, her LP mojo, and was years into suffering. She awakened in one session. If she is interested in talking, the link is in all my posts. Respect the inner kyra, and leave it to her (don’t request the session for her, let her decide, and take the action or not). Godspeed, take care of yourself. ?

Unimaginably more conscious, I can be in a peaceful thought-less, clear state of mind, almost all the time, all thanks to Self-enquiry, meditation, Kriya Yoga. I was emotionaly numb, zombie like person depressed as fuck almost in my entire life. These practices saved me from getting to a shitty suicidal state caused by those strong sadness and depression So i was like this till the last year which i couldn't survive the suffering anymore so i watched all the Leo's spiritual videos, and a door to a whole new world opened to me. Ps: Self-enquiry was the most amazing, effective, life changing practice among them for me which awakened me and opened my eyes to see my true self.

The above Story is an incomplete story. Is there anyone who can complete it? Here is some of the story I know after that: So That Lion is still suffering even after awakening because he has got the glimpse and knowledge that He is Lion but deeply he is not able to become a real Lion. That Lion wants to come out of suffering and live an awakened life in all kinds of situations but He doesn't know how to reprogram his conditioning which he got in his whole life through his birth. After awakening now He needs reconditioning and training so just not know that he is a lion instead he can become a lion and live a life of a lion not of a sheep. Now that lion (sheep) is wandering around for help. What do you think? How can he become a lion instead of just knowing that truth? Thanks

It is actually pretty darn simple It is just another mind body Another self defender etc No need for those ideas For those realms He himself kinda is confused clearly Being mad at what he's creating y Mad at his own imagination ish This is very very absurd ish Another one like me kinda Another body mind entity Another patty entity This is so weird So darn weird He is imaginable in all those ways He also mirrors my expectation This can be a fun journey tho It kinda means that to me It is another feslegen ish Another reactive ing ish And it can be enjoyed It is my own thought My own view kinda He is indicating to me also in a sense He is not awakened like that also There is no such awakening No such enlightenment Same thing in a sense Hurting mode kinda Oneness of being Alignment etc In that sense Imaginary Clearly Darryl Being Imagination yet in its own being ish Individual and me also in a sense Kinda like ozge in a sense No need to know them That's not the point The darn etc point They are myself My own focus Inside ish It is so y They can be like parallel versions y Parallel and infinite imaginings y Parallel olympos beings kinda My expectations in a sense These are my own minds Parallel awareness meh Vortexverse maybe Amongst infinity Endless ideas Vibrations Digging y

No honey i am using that i, to have cool experience like making awakened folks go rehtoric. ? anyway i dont want leo or mods to close this thread for getting low. im out ❤

Oracle Deck 2 1. Earth Star Chakra. Initiation 2. Root Chakra. Ground and center 3. Sacral chakra. Core of creation 4. Solar plexus chakra. Radiant illumination 5. Heart Chakra. Back to love. 6. High Heart Chakra. Ecstatic bliss 7. Throat chakra. Express your truth 8. Third Eye chakra - pineal perspective 9. Crown chakra. The unlimited self 10. Soul star chakra. Emerging with the divine. 11. Aether. The seamless unspeakable. 12. Water. The overflow 13. Air. Paradigm shift. 14. Earth. Nurture. nature. 15. Solaris sublime. 16. Loving compassion 17. Awakened Awareness 18. Alignment 19. Balanced forces 20. Beyond the mind 21. Communication co-creation 22. Crystal keys 23. Endless Opportunities 24. Evolution 25. Freedom 26. Full Spectrum 27. Furred and feathered friends. 28. Gracious Receptivity 29. Harmonic flight 30. Healing 31. Home 32. Internal Explorer 33. Journey to Wholeness 34. Life force Energy 35. Lumin Essence. 36. Manifestia. 37. Mount Shasta 38. New Blueprints. 39. Our Ancient future 40. Radical Expansion 41. Realm Bridger 42. Reclaim your energy 43. She of the lotus 44. Shine your light 45. Starseed elemental 46. Star seer 47. Stepping through 48. Surrender 49. The infinite 50. The portal keeper 51. The sound of the universe. 52. The violent flame 53. Transformation 54. Trust your innocence 55. Unique gifts 56. Vulnerability.

I think it can be helpful for some people. It clearly was helpful for me, and what I learned from them is still helpful to me. I just agree with Mooji and Rupert Spira in the sense that one does not need them to experience oneness. I don't think it is necessary. And I even think it can be placebo kinda. There are some experiments that indicate this idea and my own experiences as well. They in my opinion help with taking you deep into your self and show you who you are, that you are the self. But I definitely think that we don't need drugs to be who we already are. I think that it is like teachers, like taking some lsd and being like in the presence of an awakened being. Maybe it is because something like those drugs having their own like consciousnesses which you can like resonate with when you take the substance.

So, I am obviously on the spiritual path to enlightenment and Truth. I started this path probably like most of you; I wanted to know the Truth and I wanted to transcend suffering. Leo has said in the past, the entire idea of transcending suffering is selfish. Therefore, is this somewhat counterintuitive.. Am I missing something? I want to live a fearless life with no regrets.. but I'm afraid. Logically I know this life/ego will die but I'm so attached. I can recognise that I do things for my survival at a metaphysical level, but I'm still anxious/ fearful alot of the time. I can't seem to transcend this anxiety. Has anyone overcome this at the root level. And I'm talking, completely awakened and become so conscious that it no longer bothers them? Have I not done enough spiritual work? Am I completely missing the point?

@Johnathan Gautam careful not to turn this into a belief less you become lost in your own mind. Do the work then come back and let us know how you feel when you have awakened. - God

@Flyboy Not knowing seems to be important. Infinity is tricky, its like... Imagine living 7 lifes... boooooring too long. Total awakening is ungraspable perhaps out of God's self love idk. I don't fully believe anyone has 'fully' awakened or become God. There are many awakenings. I still don't have enough self trust to trust myself or my understanding of others and the nature of reality. I am accepting I don't understand it despite lots of trips. It is the ungraspable.

Whenever one fights or opposes something, it only makes what one is fighting more powerful. In the Fourth Way it’s stated as - To oppose second force increases second force.iME, this is what Red Hawk was getting at, in the quote I put up above. As humans, we have the tendency to either dismiss, explain away, or make excuses for our discontinuity of consciousness. It might be called a change of moods or perhaps the activation of a sub personality, the result of temporary stress, etc.,, Terence McKenna pretty much dismissed the contemporary diagnoses of schizophrenia. In a roundabout way, his view aligns with a core element of the Gurdjieff Teaching. Earlier in this journal I metaphorically labeled myself as a ship of fools. This metaphor I borrowed from Robert Deropp, a biochemist of the early 20th century and student of Ouspensky. He authored a book about the path to higher consciousness and enlightenment called The Master Game which became a classic in the early 1970’s. The Fourth Way teaches that we’re more fractured psychologically than the majority of contemporary psychologists and academia will allow. Transpersonal psychologist Charles Tart coined the phrase “cultural consensus trance” . A beautiful description of the result of the fracturedness prevalent in modern humans which creates the collective ego This element of fracturedness is susinctly delineated in an article written by Ralph Losey called The Problem of the Subtle Sybil effect. http://www.lawsofwisdom.com/course-overview/opening-statement/the-problem-of-the-subtle-sybil-effect/ It’s very difficult to change our habits but it is possible to transform our habits of mechanical behavior over time. It’s why in the Work, it is advised to not try and change ourselves but to just objectively observe. This observation will allow Conscience to awaken through remorse. Remorse of Conscience will make transformation of our mechanical behaviors much more possible than the route of self criticism, blame and guilt. It makes our transformation of lower self and lower chakra energies a conscious endeavor by way of awakened conscience. Awakened conscience is the same in everyone unlike acquired conscience which changes over time and from culture to culture. Awakened conscience is called by some, the intelligence of the universe. Jesus Christ and the Buddha taught non-violence and forgiveness through letting go and not judging or keeping accounts. The path of awakened conscience. By awakening, we leap out of our graves, as Ocke deBoer humorously puts it. Awakened people are not over burdened with false seriousness, they’re light hearted.

Earlier tonight, I had my first awakening, ever, of The Self. That's new to me. Before this, I've only known about it and understood it in theory, since I've already awakened to no-self and have had many Samadhi experiences with it, and due to the fact that both types are identical in non-duality. I've awakened to multiple facets consecutively, but I'm not sure about labelling them correctly. I'll try to list all the differences & similarities that I've noticed between the two types of awakening: Perhaps the most important and clear difference between the two is that with no-self awakenings, there's no self to experience anything. So, awakening occurs, but there's no self to register that it's an awakening. It happens without a perceiver so to speak. It feels empty. And you only realize it was an awakening in retrospect when you think about it later. The Self awakening, however, has an Omnipresence component in it. You're there, and you become completely present that your awareness extends beyond the human experience. You know that it's an awakening during too, and not only afterwards. Self awakening is an awakening to the everythingness of reality, while no-self is an awakening to the empty container of the illusion. I am everywhere vs. I am nowhere. I am everything vs. I am nothing. Of course, these dualities collapsed during the awakening. Both carry the sense of ultimate peace within them, aka Samadhi experience. Peaceful fearlessness. Everything is me. I don't even exist. What is there to fear? The path towards no-self awakenings is different from the path towards Self awakenings. Recently, I started embracing the ego instead of trying to diminish it. I think that's what yielded in my awakenings tonight. The recent events that have been happening to me and how I have been reacting to them, I've faced all of that directly tonight. And I was able to overcome and transcend it. While in no-self awakenings, there's no facing of events or fears or anything. Instead, they're more about direct letting go, kinda like bypassing, but not really bypassing cuz there's a progress being made. Both aren't just temporary states of consciousness. They're actual awakenings that can be locked down permanently, with spiritual work. The awakening experience fades away, but it leaves marks. I use the word awakening for the things that can be permanently obtained, realistically. There is definitely progress regarding these awakenings, as opposed to "infinite love awakenings" or what I call: Narcissistic Delusions (which I have personally experienced naturally, in different facets, at different times, and for prolonged periods of time). I used the quotation marks to highlight the fact that these "awakenings", as great and healing as they may feel, but they're just temporary states of consciousness that cannot ever be locked down permanently. They're simply elated emotional states. They don't have an absolute truth component to them because they're limited to the human condition. They have the component of Omniscience, which is utterly delusional. While none of that applies to Self and no-self awakenings. And still, Self and no-self awakenings have healing properties, because of the accompanying Samadhi experience.

@Thought Art I was not answering the question. Just because first there are no persons and second or you are awake or asleep there aren't degrees. Each morning you don't say I don't know if I'm awake or not. Knowing this understanding of the question, I answered what the person that was asking desired to be answered. The person who embodied more divine powers and was awake. He wasn't interested in his wisdom, just in what was showing to the world, I asume because he also wants to be "a person awakened" and then be a powerful person in that superior state of awakening. Understanding all this, just gave him what he wanted. But if you ask me, there is no difference between an awakened being and an asleep being, rather than the one that himself belives to be in; that doesn't add anything to Unity.

@The_Alchemist Because you are blind and are asuming what people should do or not do when they see. Until you see, you won't understand. Lot's of saints, after a full awakening they keep living, they don't see any problem in people being awakened or not. It's the divine plan, they love all existance so much that they wouldn't change anything. Again, apes without hair tend to assume a lot about things they don't know. Just watch scientist talk about what was before the big bang. So please be more humble, because by all that are here, it is seen that spirituality in you is just an egotistical desire. It is just another form of masturbation, while thinking you are waking up you are only getting more and more asleep. That is why you are getting all this answers. So please, I encourage you to take seariously the pathless path, be humble, be kind and do not only understand at a mental level: because if only you experienced a glance of all what u talk with that much confidence you would turn crazy. Be humble, be kind, be loving. Have a nice day!

God (Adonis, also Hero) Whether a great worldly power or a great physical specimen, the God archetype represents the ultimate in male dominance. On the positive side, a God can be benevolent and compassionate, willing to use his powers to help others out of love for humanity. The shadow God easily becomes a dictator or despot, oppressing others with those same powers, or using his physical attractiveness to get what he wants without ever returning the affection he elicits. To claim this archetype among your support circle of twelve, you need to have a life-long sense of great power, used either selfishly or selflessly. You may feel a powerful connection to a particular deity, so here are a few from the Roman/Greek: Jupiter/Zeus: father god, head of the pantheon Bacchus/Dionysus: wine and revelry Mars/Ares: war Neptune/Poseidon: the sea Pluto/Hades: death and the underworld Goddess (also Heroine) The oldest religious tradition on earth may well be Goddess worship, which some archaeologists trace back further than 30,000 years. It was certainly natural to worship the archetype of woman as the Source of all life, especially in the age before male warriors replaced Her with their combative sky gods. The connection of fertility with exaggerated sexual attributes found in ancient statues of the Goddess survive in modern worship of screen goddesses such as Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. The Goddess can be inspiring to women, embodying wisdom, guidance, physical grace, athletic prowess, and sensuality. This aspect is awakened by our relation to the goddesses of various spiritual traditions, including Kali, Durga, and Uma in India, Tara in Tibet, Quanyin in China, and the many manifestations of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in Western belief, such as Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Black Madonna of Czestochowa. The shadow side of the Goddess emerges from the exploration of the feminine power, including the exploitation or over-indulgence of movie stars and fashion models. Identifying with a goddess figure as a major archetype in your chart requires that you review life-long associations with the image and personality associated with it. Athena is the able-bodied warrior woman as well as the classic “powerful woman behind the throne.” Today we see this power re-emerging in popular form in neo-mythic characters such as Xena the Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer–attractive women who are also strong and capable. The energy of Venus (Aphrodite) is prevalent in women who form their self-image strongly around their sexuality. Study the specific qualities of each goddess and evaluate how much of your sense of self is reflected in one of those patterns, beginning with a few of the most familiar names from the Roman/Greek pantheon: Venus/Aphrodite: love and fertility Diana/Artemis: nature and hunting Minerva/Athena: strength, clear thinking Ceres/Demeter: motherhood Juno/Hera: queenship and partnership Proserpina/Persephone: mysticism and mediumship Sophia: wisdom Gossip (also Networker)Guide (Guru, Sage, Crone, Wise Woman, Spiritual Master, Evangelist, Preacher) The Guide takes the role of Teacher to a spiritual level, teaching not only the beliefs and practices that make up established religions, but also the overarching principle of seeing the Divine in every aspect of life. Clearly you do not have to be a professional Preacher or Guru to have this archetype, as we can all learn to lead others spiritually through developing our own intuitive spiritual awareness and passing on whatever we have learned with genuine humility. To count this archetype as part of your support group, however, you will need to discern in your life a continuing pattern of devoting yourself to teaching others from your own spiritual insights. This presupposes that you have gained wisdom through some combination of self-disciplined practice and study and perhaps spontaneous spiritual experiences. Wisdom also comes with age, and so the Crone or Wise Woman represents the ripening of natural insight and the acceptance of what is, allowing one to pass that wisdom on to others. The shadow aspect of the Guide is visible in many modern televangelists and gurus of various traditions who are more interested in financial gain and controlling their followers than in imparting genuine spiritual insight.

Hi guys. This is rather an odd question that my friend asked. 'I kind of know I'm ot the ego, but still for some reason I can't be fully awakened all the time'. 'My guru said that it's because I love myself too much. How do I stop wanting to love myself? When I see the Earth or just big crowded places, I kind of become afraid of how actually meaningless and small I really am. It absolutely terrifies me. I always want to be recognized as superior and this will is driving my life. And because of this I feel like hating myself more and more every day. I'm so narcissistic but I can't help myself!' I laughed at her being over dramatic. But have all of us let go of our ego image? Are we too, afraid of the emptiness? How do we stop this?

this movie is about a man who's bloodline traces back to one of the primary figures in a creed of assassin's 500 years prior, that fought against the corruption of man and continually fought to prevent the kings of men getting what's called the apple of eden (a transcendental sphere with God like power to control all of free will). He gets captured by his ancestors' enemies and put into a reality simulator called the animus which synchronises him with his ancestors memories (which are allegedly stored in his DNA/blood) and he relives really cool periods of.his ancestors life. The apple.still exists and it's location is hidden somewhere in the main characters memory (his connection with his past ancestor). What you realise soon is that every time he syncs with his assassin ancestor, he's actually waking his ancestor up within himself and they become one, awakened in his body. Then after his ancestors senses his from the past, and enters the main characters mind. The main character starts "hallucinating" without the machine and hears his ancestors speaking to him as the barrier between projection and reality fade Super cool movie. Very cool lense to look at it through.

Truth at it's best here. Particularly this: "Paradoxically, a form of ignorance similar to nihilism , is often found in contemporary Advaita teachings (neo-advaita).It is only normal for an ignorant who believes to be realized to tell his students that they are already realized, for he knows no better. This instant form of enlightenment is trendy in our culture of instant gratification.The teacher has ended his/her quest too early, based on a purely intellectual understanding that “form is emptiness and emptiness is form”(i.e., no self). Since he had no revelation of Transcendence (key word here), his teachings lack the poetry, the love, the supreme intelligence and the sense of awe that we find in Rumi, Buddha, Jesus, Ramana Maharshi, Jean Klein, Krishna Menon and other truly enlightened beings." Anyway.here's the full article: Truth is beyond the mind just as the mirror is beyond the reflected images that appear in it. The reality of the images is the mirror, but the reality of the mirror is not an image. The mirror exists independently from any of the reflected images. In other words, this Presence is both immanent in the perceptions and transcendent in their absence. The belief that it is only immanent is ignorance, the experience that it transcends the mind is enlightenment, and the actual continuous experience of both its transcendence and its immanence is self-realization. The denial of the transcendence of Atman was a major heresy of Buddhism. Also known as nihilism or as the Anatman doctrine, it was a subject of controversy between buddhists and advaitins in Shankara’s days. However this denial is not found in the original teachings of the Buddha or in those of the Chan and Zen masters. Atman is what they refer to as “our Buddha nature”, “our true nature”, “our original face”. This heresy is still fairly common in contemporary Buddhism. It originates from a misunderstanding of the saying “Form is emptiness and emptiness is form”. To understand this saying correctly, let us take the metaphor of a white page with a red apple painted on it. The red apple is the form, the remaining white portion of the page is the emptiness. But we can look at it differently, the white portion of the page being the form, the red portion being the emptiness (= absence of white). It follows that “Form is emptiness and emptiness is form”. The transcendence, the Atman, The Brahman, “our Buddha nature”, “our true nature”, “our original face”, is the piece of paper, the support of the red and of its absence. The saying “Form is emptiness and emptiness is form” is used as a warning about a state of mind reached by practitioners during meditation in which an absence of thoughts, an emptiness is experienced. The disciple is simply reminded that this absence of form is still a form, and that enlightenment has not been experienced at that stage, because the transcendence, our Buddha nature has not been revealed yet. Paradoxically, a form of ignorance similar to nihilism is often found in contemporary Advaita teachings. These paths in both cases lead to a “second class” type of enlightenment which is no enlightenment at all. The teacher has ended his/her quest too early, based on a purely intellectual understanding that “form is emptiness and emptiness is form”. Since he had no revelation of Transcendence, his teachings lack the poetry, the love, the supreme intelligence and the sense of awe that we find in Rumi, Buddha, Jesus, Ramana Maharshi, Jean Klein, Krishna Menon and other truly enlightened beings. Because he is not awakened to his own Presence, his presence doesn’t awake the Presence in the student. The final truth there, seems to be “there is nothing to do, your current condition is already that of a realized being”. It is only normal for an ignorant who believes to be realized to tell his students that they are already realized, for he knows no better. This instant form of enlightenment is trendy in our culture of instant gratification. However it doesn’t correspond to the sudden enlightenment the Chan masters spoke of. To them “sudden” didn’t mean “right away”.The only problem with this “enlightenment on sale” is that it falls short from bringing about the peace and the happiness we seek. In some cases it may create in the student a form of resignation, the belief that there is nothing to find. Most disciples will remain stuck with their pseudo enlightenment; others, disenchanted with the whole “truth business”, will revert for a while to their previous life style; the most eager ones will continue the search and find a true teacher whose silence, words, demeanor and actions will take them to the apperception of their true nature and who will guide them on the path until they are established in unshakable peace. This leads me to a final remark. That which matters is not what is said about the Truth, but where that which is said comes from. If it comes from ignorance, no matter how advaitically correct it seems to be, it will never have the incendiary power of a single line of a Rumi poem. And that which is said is marginal compared to the silent transmission that takes place in the guru’s presence, the highest form of teaching according to Buddha (remember the episode of the flower and of the Buddha’s smile), Ramana Maharshi, Atmananda, Jean Klein, etc… And yet this silent teaching is carefully ignored by many contemporary teachers, both buddhists and advaitins, because they cannot speak of an experience which is not theirs, even so they claim to teach the same non dual realization as these illustrious teachers. Ultimately, the truth has to be heard “from the lips of the guru” according to Atmananda’s formula, for it’s apperception to occur. Mere conversations over the internet won’t get the job done. They can at best convey a “sample” of the causeless joy of our true nature, which will resonate in the heart of those who have “eyes to see and ears to hear” the Truth that cannot be uttered. Love, Francis

Well, I much prefer the question of "why", to the question of "so what"~ but the answer would be the same, Breakingthewall! I had a thread called "So What" on the daobums forum, but I haven't been able to locate it. Some of my threads here on the Actualized forum are adapted from topics previously published on other venues, but this one (The Essence of Reality) was started from scratch just a few days ago. The "curtain" is one's own mind not seeing in terms of selflessness. Dropping the façade of the personality's habitual perspective (unbeknownst to anyone else) draws the "curtain" aside. One doesn't act differently than ordinarily. One's own mind (no different than that experienced in the Absolute) is the nature of "who", seeing by virtue of the created conditional scene before the person. The "person" is not one's absolute identity, yet "who", is not something else either. Awareness is itself "who." "Who" be you. That's your own mind right now. The alternative is ordinary delusional bondage in karmic rounds of birth and death based on habit-consciousness. Either there is no habitual self-referencing inner dialogue accompanying sensory perception, or there is. Inner observation of self-reifying thought and/or open consciousness in turn, this 24/7 observation is called continuous subtle concentration. One's unbending intent maintaining the practice of continuous subtle observation is the basic method of self-refining practice. Formal meditation regimens carried out by beginners are only an introductory exercise for entering into authentic self-refining practice in the midst of ordinary situations. It is a huge mistake to consider zazen meditation as the pinnacle of solitary "spiritual" life. It may very well be, but unless such practice is "proven" in the context of real situations, it is a relatively powerless method of comfort. It is not an illusion that we live as separate individuals, but in dealing with everyday ordinary situations, conditioned activity is comprised of the sensory habits of ordinary people, or else the subtly non-reifying open consciousness maintained by those who dispense with self-conscious interaction with the situational environment and proceed with the forward step in full acceptance of one's inherent spiritual function of enlightening being. The illusion of time can actually be manipulated, in terms of oneself. Just consider the way time is experienced when brushing one's teeth in a hurry compared to how long it takes to boil an egg. So, the manipulative aspect of illusion is really not a barrier at all as it is all there is to work with, and so, strictly speaking in the context of enlightening self-refining practice, we use it beyond any discriminatory perspective of personal gain in terms of habitually complacent opportunism. So, in that sense, we use illusion for the purpose of self-refinement by not using it. We use it constructively in terms of self-refinement by exercising our initially faint ability to see the situation before us without habitual employment of selfish pattern-consciousness. There is nothing wrong with selfish pattern-consciousness, per se— it's the habit-energy that is the problem. There is nothing wrong with personal gain. It's just that habitually complacent opportunism being selfish activity does not serve to diminish the illusion of the false identity of the psychological apparatus that is usurping the functional power of one's natural inherent enlightening potential. The essence of reality just is. Those partaking of its potential already had that potential in terms of the situational milieu, but were unaware of it and only began to explore its potential at some point in their lives. Those who are still unaware of the essence of reality are just unaware and therefore unable to access the potential of the essence of reality. It does not change reality. This is the point: reality does not change. Illusion changes and the ignorant change along with illusions. Enlightening beings see Change and go along or not consciously. But in seeing Change, one absorbs its potential dynamically without being caught up in karmic momentum as created energy. As I mention from time to time, it is necessary to work with what is the same. If one works with polluted, creative energy by seeing potential as created things, or else works with psychosomatic energy in the various body-aware methods of so-called "inner alchemy" and other sexually-transmitted grafting techniques, still, all one has accomplished is relative to the created, and the created is nothing but birth and death— no matter what the temporary benefit is conceived of. On the other hand, in seeing the essence of reality by virtue of recognizing the inherent potential of illusionary, created cycles in terms of situational karmic evolution, one not only absorbs its potential for further spiritual evolution, but one also diminishes influences of karmic retribution and further dissolves accumulated accretions of karmic residue cloying the aperture of perpetually upwelling incipient potential (Dharma-eye). Yes, the secret of spiritual realization is simply "evolving" in terms of refining away the conditional aspect of habit-energy (karmic momentum). "Evolving", per se, is only a matter of discovering what's already completely intact without ever having originated. Pablo Picasso said , “We have invented nothing new”, after seeing the ancient cave paintings at Lascaux, France. “After Altamira, all is decadence.” The paleolithic "Stone Age" is an immensely long prehistoric period of time in which people were being people, same as ever. We have invented nothing new, other than the tools of "progress" which keep us occupied in the realm of convenience by virtue of all-consuming technological manipulations and processes— not that I'm complaining… Enlightening activity absolutely does not save on suffering— in fact, it faces it fearlessly; "neither courting honor nor avoiding ignominy." So, in terms of "why", it's just a matter of realizing and exercising enlightening potential by virtue of the natural essence of reality or else striving to maintain one's ignorance of that very same nonoriginated unconditional nature underlying the conditional illusion, albeit unawares. The conditional and the unconditional are the same, in essence, whether one knows it and acts like it or not. Reason is essential for this side (in terms of this side) for those unaware of reality. For those who are aware, there is no "side" to speak of: it's all the same. Nevertheless, enlightening activity adapts enlightenment to conditions, and such activity isn't void of situationally contextual "reason". Ordinary people do not know of enlightening activity, one way or the other— even while accomplishing such virtuous adaption. Those awakened to potential do not have a monopoly on "enlightening" activity. Action independent of thought relative to self and other, only deployed by virtue of spontaneous sensitivity to situational potential IS enlightening activity. Enlightening activity is absolutely inconspicuous, as it "makes sense" in terms of the situation. This is because potential is itself inherent in the created situationally karmic cycle comprising the situation in the first place. The "other" side isn't somewhere else and isn't even something else at all. It's just a matter of dropping the habitual self-referencing perspective one perpetuates from birth, and awakening to what is, without perpetuating personalistic views of self and not-self 24 hours a day. Just this is authentic meditation. Just this is the day-job of enlightening beings harmonizing enlightenment to conditions. ed note: swap out five words at end of 7th paragraph

It's just seemingly important for me to point out that the "neo-advaita" way of thinking can replace your old paradigm with a new "awakened" paradigm. If you apply the nothing matters paradigm in your day to day life you might find that it isn't suitable for your relationships, goals and other stuff. Maybe it is suitable, what do I know. What I meant with half truth is getting stuck at viewing things in a certain kind of way, when really, reality is not in any way at all. I know what you might think, you might think that I don't get it or that I'm still yet to wake up or something, maybe your right, but what I'm saying is to remember that "normal" life is BOTH real and unreal, to give the real the space to have meaning, purpose and value and to know still that it really doesn’t.

@StateOfMind Great question I feel for you and understand your frustration. I also understand you are actuality just asking one big multipart question but please know it beckons a big multipart answer. For starters, and this is the kind of dare I say crap pat answer I normally try to avoid, but your specific wording and context calls for it; You do just exist as God, but you simply don't realize It. Next, you do not have to do anything to realize You are God except awaken to Reality. In fact, when You do realize this it will seem to whatever is left of your ego that it was always amazingly obvious and you may muse, "why didn't I realize this sooner?!" The big "Why" question can be somewhat satisfactorily and accurately answered by what a couple here have said already; God is playing in form, yet this is far more profound than playfulness purely for fun, although awsome fun it is. This next insight many who think they know or think they cannot know may disagree with, but it is what I have awakened to on "Why" after nearly three decades of intense spiritual exploration. As well established here and in many a sage and wisdom tradition, God is the One, alone. Please understand I write this as a staunch Monist from all points of Being, transcendent experience, theory, and practice. The "Why" is that God, out of pure Self-Love, is engaged in developing It's most perfect Creation: God Itself. This is done outside space-time in a singularity that is everything we experience as space-time. All existence as we know it as human creatures is what is contained within the event that I model as a kind of Divine Cosmic mitosis. Our seeming universe, selves, and Everything is an evolutionary building process within an infinitely complex system that is God becoming God. We and all of perceived existence are: God in training, God growing, God replicating, God teaching God and learning to Be Itself. What implications, if any, does this have on Nonduality, Oneness, etc? I sincerely feel that as God we are in somewhat unexplored depths of Consciousness and are very much looking forward to finding out perhaps again and again now then and when. In the eternal-infinite realm of the formless, forever and now are the same, so happenings as singularities with instant beginning-endings are basically impossible to well describe in a conventional rational way. In human terms, it's likely going to be a Very long time before some seeming material thing (humans will be long extinct) can know, if any material thing can ever know (the completion of the process in space-time is likely the end of the game of this preceived material Universe for All Existence). So anyhow, this is why the fuck it is this way, and it's amazingly, awesomely, joyfully fun when it is no longer frustrating.

There is no problem (beyond one's habituated clinging to psychologically referenced rational dualistic intellectualism), because the actuality is that nothing doesn't exist. "Absence having no precedent" means there is no "nothing". There is no "it" to have something (or not) beyond (it). This is not a philosophical word-game. What this proves (by my description) is that nothing (no things) and not-nothing (things) are BOTH part of the dual nature of the created karmic realm and do not imply any aspect of intrinsic reality. Why? Because thingness and nothingness are both illusion. This means they do not exist in terms of absolute nature. In terms of the Absolute, there is no relative factor. That's why it is called the Absolute. The homeland of nothing whatsoever is void of "nothing" as well. The absence of absence is what proves the reality of enlightenment in terms of the absolute. In the ancient Sanskrit description of Shunyata (emptiness), found in the classic prose of the Heart Sutra, there is a mantra which surpasses the philosophic emphasis implied by the literal meaning encompassed by the term "shunyata": [Om] gate gate paragate parasamgate [bodhi svaha]. This translates as gone, gone, beyond gone, gone beyond. Obviously, there is no limit imposed by "emptiness" at all, much less by the "unlimited." Why? Emptiness, as such, does not exist in reality. Why? Emptiness as a factor of the Absolute would imply non-emptiness as well, and this simply is not the nature of reality, nor its essence. In this sense: "Beyond" is a relative term. The "unlimited" is not a thing. The absolute is actually experienced as is, being your selfless immortal beginningless aware nature without inside or outside. There is no nothing to begin with. Really. Reality has no limit. "The limit of the limitless" refers only to the inconceivable capacity of the nature of human awareness, which is unborn. True, there is no dimension— but your conception of this seems to be an actual point in space. "The unlimited", to use your term, has no distance. In other words, space is not a matter of breadth or expanse, nor is it (I can assure you) cramped. Why? There is no inside or outside. Aside from the nature of inconceivability, undifferentiated unity is just that: complete, whole, perfectly formless, beyond dimensionality. You will just have to experience it for yourself. Therefore: is trapped in intellectual reasoning which is simply the wrong tool to encompass the fact that there is no thing. "No thing" includes its dualistically implied nothing, as well. There is no thing. There is no dimension and no thing without dimension, no emptiness, no point, no beyond the imaginary point, etcetera. I only mentioned the reference to "beyond the limit of the limitless" so people would not be mistaken that the homeland of nothing whatsoever, in terms of "sudden enlightenment" is the ultimate limit of the absolute. Spontaneous selfless insight into the nature of the absolute is not defined (not limited) by sudden realization. The limitlessness of human being's selfless spiritual nature implies a profundity beyond the personality's psychological apparatus, but the extent of the spiritual (nonpsychological) nature of human being is only a very small and inconsequential aspect of the inconceivable nature of the Absolute. There is no end to delusion, but the absolute has no beginning because the Causeless is nonoriginated. THIS is your nature. It is necessary to dispense with intellectualism in order to experience reality— both before and in the aftermath of the sudden. When the psychological apparatus of the being that is going to die finally craps out, there you are, selflessly aglow. The whole point of authentic teaching divulging authentic practice of the Celestial Mechanism is that (hopefully) you will experience the absolute nature of reality (being your own mind) BEFORE you die. When you die, it's too late. Anybody can see the absolute when they die, but seeing reality requires that you are alive in your body and functioning in everyday ordinary situations in order to absorb delusion's unrefined potential for further refinement void of intellectualism by virtue of having awakened to your inherent enlightening function in the first place!! As for: As a manner of speaking, it is said that "the one bifurcates into the two and the ten thousand things manifest therefrom, but, in reality, the absolute does not precede the relative in terms of time. If it did, the absolute would be relative to time, and it's not. In terms of the absolute, there is no time in the same way there is no emptiness (no nothing). In the same way, the absolute and the relative are the same in terms of reality: they don't exist. That's why existence (illusion) is a mystery. It just is. The absolute is not a mystery. That's why it is said that Suchness is neither ordinary nor holy. In the same way, Dogen said "wood does not turn into ashes." Wood is wood and ashes are ashes. Dogen's (or my) writing may not help matters, but the fact is, the absolute and the relative are the same, not different, in terms of reality. How else would one endeavor to absorb potential (uncreated) from within the midst of delusion (created)? If it weren't the case, there would be no basis in reality for authentic teaching having been left behind by all prior illuminates in order to keep the knowledge alive. The real is only found by virtue of the false. They are the same for those who see reality. Those who see reality, see reality because… This means that by virtue of the real knowledge of "nothingness" being identical to "something" without generational attributes, one transcends creation. Since you yourself see in terms of karmic duality being generational birth and death, you follow creation along in terms of the laws of karma. What you see is what you get because karma and liberation are both a matter of the nature of one's selfless clarity in terms of pure awareness (or not). The clear rises and the opaque sinks. Awareness does as awareness is. If you don't see reality you go along with illusion. It's just the way it is and no one knows why…❤︎ I failed to acknowledge my appreciation of your deep comments contributing to this thread at the beginning of this post, Breakingthewall— before creating the first quote-box. I don't know how to place text above the quote-box once I create it~ I'm sorry!! …and you are most welcome, Awayfarer❤︎!! ed note: add 2nd half of 7th paragraph

@Leo Gura 2 things: 1. Am I the only dreamer on this physical plane? Or is everyone dreaming up their own reality in an infinite amount of parallel universes? I assume you don't believe that the other people are empty shelves. Awakening certainly seems like reality is a dream, and I (ego) tried to change the dream, that of course doesn't work for me. The I that dreams, is this a collective dream where everyone influences a certain part of the dream, or does every soul just dreams something else? 2. If the dream ends when you die, you shouldn't take precautions about your own death, no need to tell your family good bye, no need to keep a small (or big) inheritance for your children. Physical death might not be stopping the collective dream either. So it's either this physical plane is Gods dream limiting itself to this character within the dream, or God limits itself to all the separate entities within the dream. Now Leo claims that it is possible to consciously manipulate the dream, but isn't that what is already happening. The I that wants to manipulate the dream is always part of the dream that is dreamt by the higher self. So this would explain why it's not possible for the dream character to lucid dream, it's just possible for the awakened I. But the awakened self doesn't want anything, it already has everything it wants right? So full enlightenment might not make you so okay with the dream that you don't even desire/think to change the dream, because the lower self would have to be perfectly aligned with the higher self.

@BakeJeyner Your perspective is the only perspective that you are likely aware of in direct experience. You can trust direct experience when it is pure and free of: labeling, judgment, chatter, conjecture, stories, fantacy, problem solving/creating, and commentary, etc. This pure direct experience with a quiet unclouded mind is in it's highest form Truth observing Truth, but even when it's not it's the path to Truth and as close to Truth as you can get at any given point in your spiritual journey. I've not watched Leo's "Realizing you are God" video in weeks, but I believe this was the main point it was driving at. Teachers are always trying to say essentially the same few things in a multitude of ways. In this exercise Leo tied together presence, ego "death", and self inquiry to arrive at a very grounded BS free version of God realization. Not at all coincidentally his prescription also touches on the body-mind facet of what it is like to be an awake human Being, yet he said little of the emotional and spiritual components of such an awakened Being. He speaks on these at length in many of his other videos so maybe what would best serve those of you who are feeling bad is to go watch some Actualized.org videos on Love. Look, let's cut to the chase. There are no problems. If any of this is seeming problematic please realize the problems are definitely illusionary/egoicly created. As far as the realities, individual agency, and the general not-being-philosophical-zombieness of others, especially when outside your direct experience, others are every bit as real, sentient, and approximately as aware as you are in the conventional bottom-up human perspective. Yet, you cannot really know this from your own direct experience, so in the order of things it is once removed, a step back, from Truth. Don't let that stress you out or create problematic thoughts and actions. If you ever get to the place where the boundaries between you and not-you really break down and permanently dissolve there is only intense beauty in Being Consciousness. Please understand God knows exactly what it is like to be the egoic human you along with everything and everyone else. You do not lose or permanently forget human level divided consciousness when God-consciousness is realized. They are one in the same, or the seemingly smaller is a subset of the ultimate if you like. When you gain a top-down perspective you will still have a bottom-up perspective at your disposal. All of this concern with solipsism, fear and anxiety over Emptiness, the questioning about feeling no Love, etc, is distraction. I feel for you guys and valuable pointers for awakening have been shared as a result of all this distraction (HA, how you like them apples ego!, lol) but just work through it all as quickly as you can. If you happen to have enough control over your mind to do so, just push all this egoic BS to the side and forget about it or become comfortable with "not knowing" and thereby not worrying. In discussions like this so many are always so focused on knowing so much. It is far more helpful to surrender all knowing and needing to know. This is my advice and I know nothing

I agree with Nyseto that it is important to allow whatever thoughts or feelings arise, without actively resisting them. Whatever you resist, you strengthen. Instead, simply observe them, without being defined by them. It is like sitting by yourself on the back row of a dark theater, and from that distance, casually watching any thoughts or feelings flow across the screen of your mind. It's even better if you are able to let feelings come and go, without labeling them. For example, notice what "depression" feels like in your body, then drop the label. The next time it happens, hmm...there's that feeling again. Allow it to enter, notice it without being drawn into it, and notice when it leaves. Don't give it any more attention than that. Focus most of your attention on the space around the feeling. You are sitting way back in a dark theater, all by yourself, with that little feeling making is way across the screen. You are not the feeling. You are the moviegoer. Also, don't fall into the trap of chasing the bliss that you felt earlier. Anything that you run toward, or run away from, is an attachment that will ultimately make you miserable. Your natural, unconditioned state is inherently peaceful and joyful. There is no need to seek anything, because you already are infinitely abundant. The more you practice this, the easier it will become. This is why meditation and mental discipline are critical, even after you have awakened. The Buddha compared it to swimming upstream. The mind has tremendous gravitational pull, but the more you exercise vigilance, the better you will be at swimming against the current. Be the Michael Phelps of meditation ?‍♀️