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Enlightenment is not easily measured; one can be very conscious and create very holistic art but not fully awakened. However, I think some of the greatest works of art came from people who are at least awake to a degree. But the more conscious the art, the harder it is for it to go mainstream. The closer you are to describing the truth, the more abstract and confusing it becomes. So a lot of the greats are not recognized by the public. You can judge the wholeness/consciousness of the art based on either the art's content or its structure or both. Some arts are very high conscious in their content. Meaning the subject the art is trying to convey is very high conscious (existence, God, love, consciousness, etc.). And some arts are not super conscious in their content, but their structure can create such an extreme sense of wholeness within people. To the point where it can create altered states of consciousness. (A lot of classical music are like this) Some arts are both high conscious in content and structure, and those are the really profound ones. But here is a list of artists that I think are at least awakened to some degree. Or at least can create art that is extremely high conscious and whole. Music: Estas Tonne Jeff Buckley Leonard Cohen Claude Debussy Misk'i Takiy Olafur Arnalds Sam Garrett Dan Deacon Film: Andrei Tarkovsky Alejandro Jodorowsky Novels: Ted Chiang Kana Akatsuki Manga/Anime: Hiromu Arakawa Poetry: William Blake Charles Bukowski Architecture: Christopher Alexander Games: David OReilly Tetsuya Mizuguchi Hidetaka Miyazaki

There is no evil from an absolute perspective. This does not mean evil does not exist. Evil exists as a relative interpretation of reality created by humans or other survival-focused organisms to further the survival agenda. Every mainstream spiritual master has been ego driven. A fully awakened being would not feel the need to teach, preach of Love or God, etc. Jesus and the Buddha are not the highest. The ones you’ve never even heard of are, but it ultimately does the relative world a lot of good that these mainstream partially awakened people did what they did.

@Phyllis Wagner I saw this the other day and thought the entire thing was really, really good. I especially loved how he described the two extreme viewpoints on how to get awakened, that you can force it into being or that there's nothing you can do. The "suffering helps too a little bit *chuckle*" remark really got me. ? I immersed myself in his books and videos years ago. He had the deepest teachings I'd ever found that were making an enormous impact on my life but I had no spiritual community to speak of or any knowledge of other teachers. That was probably for the best at the time. Once you go back to listen you realize the depth of understanding was a limitation of the filter of "you" more than the teacher.

Cause it’s not a thing, and because there is much to express in you. Love is no thing. All “things” are apparent, and of the apparent continuum, in the sense “reality”. All things share that the more you give away, the less of that thing, you have. No thing is the opposite. Give it away! Give it away! Give it away! You only ‘have’, ‘know’, ‘feel’ more. I’m speculating, but perhaps ‘race’ is not meant like a competition, like race cars, but in the sense ‘human’ race, that we are not a human race, but the race of love, that is love. Love is all there is. There can’t be a lack of all there is. Paradoxically perhaps, what the world could use most, is the love that the world is. This is due to the simple fact that infinite can not know finite. In love terms, there is no finite, only the belief that there is, similarly, there is no lack of love, only the belief that there is. There is no “more love”, there is “the fall”, or, “the fallout”. For infinite being, which is unconditional love, to experience, infinite being must be that very experience, and thus infinite being ‘forgets’ it’s own infinitude, of and as love. There isn’t. It’s an appearance of the light & love that (eternally, infinitely) is. While someone is collecting shoelaces, someone else is building nuclear bombs. I take “silliness” to mean nonsense. That which does not resonate with the true nature. The song “Royals” by Lord comes to mind. “We’ll never be royals. It don’t run in our blood. That kind of lux just ain’t for us, we crave a different kind of buzz. Let me ? be your ruler, you can call me queen b, and I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule...let me live that fantasy.” Jesus used the word “me” in the same way, pointing to the true “me”, the true nature. To me, this points to the end of the hierarchy of the race, the “royals” and the “peasants”, and us all living the ‘real’ fantasy, a world awakened to the true nature of the world.

The more you watch D'angelos video the more you see how much pain he is in, how much black and white thinking he ascribes too, how little research he has done, how self biased he is. Awakened people need not worry about the opinions of unawakened people. Though, yeah its hard. Don't give your authority to anyone. The universe is your teacher. And, maybe keep some things to yourself for now. Not everyone needs to know how smart you or leo is. People are going to be wary of Actualized.org being a cult and rightfully should be. Our minds are valuable and people want to make sure they are protecting themselves and their family. Leo talks about a lot of deep subjects which are very sensitive and it is a great responsibility. The goal is to open your mind, so remember to read many sources, contemplate, do the practices and open your mind as much as you can.

I need new perspectives. I wanted a partner in my life. A man. So, I imagined him holding me when I sleep, imagined him kiss me while I wash the dishes, slapping my butt...all the good stuff. I used the emotional charge I had from falling in love with a man who didn't want a relationship (and I realized he was in my life to bring out unseen aspects of myself, in interactions with men, to take me to embrace my feminine more) I write three pages every morning. One night I had a dream. I was on a rooftop, (it felt like home) and my man just came home. He was a tall, strong man. With long, dark hair and a long beard. He had this air of punk-rock...I grabbed his beard, played with it, and said 'My painter!'. Then kissed him. In my dream, I was the woman and the one seeing the whole picture from afar - awareness wasn't veiled in that dream We laid on a lounge, there on the rooftop, under the stars... I then woke up. I asked, thinking about this painter: 'Who are you? Where are you? When will you come?' As I felt he was the one I was waiting for. I wrote about the dream that morning, in my three pages. 7 days later I went to a lake in my hometown. The sun finally came out. I wanted to feel it on my skin, and have a bath in the icy water. I took the opportunity to shoot a YouTube video on 'How to have an Ice Cold Bath' (part of my work) Two days later, I edited and posted the video. That night, one of my subscribers, made a love statement in a comment: "I wanna be yours right now and for forever, you look like a world of fun omg can't stop smiling and being amazed :)) running that trail to the lake and then on top of that a cold bath, now that's FUN :))) be mine!" This was a guy I had met 15 years ago. He wanted a transfer from one art class into another. I wanted a transfer from a normal high school to the Arts Highschool. Our first encounter was some five hours, sitting in a classroom, just the two of us, drawing and talking. We saw each other two years during school, as friends. Not much. We then went our separate ways. I didn't know anything about him until about a month ago when he wrote to me, saying he saw my videos, and he appreciates my work. He asked me when I'll shoot the next, how I am...all that. He told me he is working on his master's degree in painting. He said he would like to go and fry some mushrooms outdoors with me, one day (turns out we're both vegans) I found it exciting to hear from him, back then. As I kinda liked him when I first saw him. We had a similar style. I am quite punkish myself. But that was it. He didn't write again. When I saw his comment on YouTube, I was amazed. I wanted to see him. I hadn't seen him in 15 years. I wanted to know how he looks. But he didn't have any pictures on social media. Except a few from 10 years ago. I did, however, said yes. I wrote him and told him to come kiss me. He showed up at my door and I was amazed. He was the painter I had dreamed of 10 days prior to this encounter. Medium, dark hair, exact same beard, same body, same feeling...I instantly knew it was him. We spent some 10 minutes looking into each other's eyes, hugging, laughing. There was this strong recognition. He said something like: "I've been waiting for you for so long!" My feelings were mutual. We spent a few hours together, hugging, kissing staring into each other eyes. It's been four days. We have spent a few hours each day. I have come to learn that he is a brute force of nature. And I love this about him. I find him fascinating. I have awakened to the nature of reality a while back. I have been working to create a life for me, that is in tune with my understanding. I gave up all drugs, for a few years now. I've built good, strong habits. Good morning routine. Plans, actions, creation. I still work to embody my understanding in the process. He, on the other hand, has come to see the nature of reality and has taken a different path. His approach is more on the complete freedom of being. And he feels like a tornado sometimes. He rises like a dragon, he even makes sounds like one. He has a strong passion and desire to punish people for their ignorant actions. He has great compassion for animals, but not much for humans. He doesn't really want to hurt humans, but his way of waking people up is through shaking their reality, like an earthquake. He feels a lot like God's justice sword. On my journeys, I have shown people the nature of reality through embodying kindness, love, compassion, self-sacrifice, to such a degree, that people couldn't remain ignorant and made them rethink their approach to life. He, on the other side, made people rethink their approach through his violent joy, absolute freedom of being. Drugged up, drunk, composed, spreading love through force (approaching sad, stressed people on the street with some silly games, roars, buffooning around ). You know your classic punk junkie. We talked a lot about his ways, his experiences. I can see his role. It makes me wonder what is his role in my life. Is he my partner? He has a tough time caring for himself. And he seems to enjoy being homeless (he had some three weeks of living on the streets and he enjoyed it) Can't say that I blame him. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be homeless. To let yourself go completely into the hands of God. I have this fantasy of owning nothing but a backpack with some clothes, my laptop, my phone, my Nikon, crayons, paint, sketchbooks, taking Europe on foot, sleeping wherever, taking photos, shooting videos, drawing, writing about my experience, and showing it to people. On the other hand, there is this dream I am currently working towards - becoming an English teacher. Teach teenagers about life, while they develop their knowledge of the English language. Continue writing, and painting. Take my part in society. And then I wonder if society is worth keeping. I guess this is where he comes in. He doesn't want any part in it. He only wants to shake it to its very core. What do you make of this experience?

By my definition of enlightenment, it is a tiny proportion of people, and even they don't fully meet the standard, because they are still human. Enlightenment means "to be filled with light", which is the dissolving of every attachment, and perpetually being unconditional love. If what you are asking is why awakened people meditate, it is primarily because the practice strengthens their spiritual discipline, and makes it easier to swim upstream, against the current of their conditioned mind. Waking up is only the first step in the soul journey back to our unconditioned Self.

I have the impression that If there is still suffering then it's not a full awakening. Fully awakened people who can meditate because they feel bliss when they do. There is no goal behind the meditation.

I am confused about the point of enlightenment work, especially at the ultra-high levels. How do we reconcile the following (this is my terrified interpretation): On the one hand, no possible life can have true happiness, fulfillment and peace of mind, even if all your wishes were met and you dominated the world, without becoming spiritually enlightened. The most fantastic life we can conceive of would be nothing compared to being enlightened. On the other hand, to enlighten oneself is to annihilate oneself. And further, to realize one is God, Love, Infinity, and all the rest, is just too much to take. To go into that territory I must kick and scream and burn in purgatory. If I knew what I really asked for, I would not want it. @Leo Gura says "YOU DON’T WANT IT." Jed McKenna says "Waking up is kinda dumb." When we say "You don’t want it", we mean "I, me, the ego, this person right here talking, yes me!" don’t want it, but do we also somehow point to something beyond "me/I" that don’t want it, whatever that even means? I mean can there be resistance to deeper awakenings even long after one sees through or "destroys" the ego? How is it possible to not be able to stomach deeper awakenings if there is no ego at all to have preferences and have to "stomach" things? See I can’t help but think somehow one could regret having awakened, or at least becoming conscious of specific things (God, Love, etc.). I’ve got the impression that some awakenings can be so deep and radical that they’re just too much to handle EVEN for someone who has lost their ego long ago and have no stakes in life or preferences, that beyond a certain point awakenings will only be more hellish. Behind reality’s final curtain there is eternal hellfire. In short, it is simply not possible to completely surrender and not suffer at the deepest of the deepest insights of reality. It seems twisted that pursuing deeper and deeper awakenings can lead to greater and greater hell, but I know that to have a nihilistic view of spiritual enlightenment is to misunderstand it. Yet this is my impression that I’m trying to sort out. I don’t know what do make of it and what to do with myself. I hope what I’m asking makes sense, but in short it boils down to the question: How is it possible to not be able to stomach deeper awakenings if there is no ego at all to have preferences and have to "stomach" things? Or simplified: How and why are deeper awakenings beyond ego-death challenging and difficult? Thanks! Gustav

It is said that a great military general has the breadth of heart to take hearts. Enlightening being is having the heart to take the heart of creation, according to the time. The heart is not taken in terms of a motivational desire. The heart of Creation is taken over in terms of the situation. The heart of creation is the heart of heaven and earth; essence is total, yet it is accessed by one's own "heart of heaven and earth" via an initial breakthrough called the aperture of the Mysterious Female. From then on, all the elements and processes of alchemy are found therein. Desire is the phenomenal aspect of compassion leading one along precisely, in a commitment to seeing the inevitable end (of each particular energy cycle), which is karmic. No, there is no end, ultimately, as situations are the stuff of eternity …meanwhile all sorts of things keep popping up and fading out. So what does one's commitment to inevitability depend on? It is up to the time, which is a very peculiar thing. It is not linear, and it is repeatable. It can be compressed. It turns over on itself. And it has gaps. It is really a strange thing, to write about changing or not changing in the midst of whatever is changing or not changing as if it matters. It’s not called subtle adaption by mistake. In the final analysis, one’s freshness of potential, ongoing, through thick and thin, is what passes through, or, rather, essence is the fundamental expression of Unity without remainder. In terms of abiding in unity, arrival is perpetual. To say one resides in the highest good is the same as saying, in perpetuity, the result is nonoriginated. Just this abiding in the pivot of aware presence, neither coming nor going, is resting in the highest good. When you go along with changes, it’s a new old thing; in not going along with changes, the same fresh energy abides. Actually, it’s the same energy either way, yet in seeing potential, there is actually something to this bit about immortalism, after all. To speak of it in terms of reversal is just a device. Actually, there are no words. Adaption is an unchanging process of alternations, yin to yang, until you die. Circumstances themselves are literally a random inert agent. Pure selfless open sincere desire is the motivation for compassion seeing through each cycle. What takes the heart is the knowledge of timing, and the timing is such only by virtue of one’s access to the impersonal awakened real knowledge I refer to as seeing. The Dharma Eye sees through cause without destroying its momentum, or, rather transforming psychological momentum into potential. It's not that seeing changes anything, one just sees reality as is without originating the personality's habitual pattern-awareness perspective. This means that one’s active duty to inevitability is determined by the celestial timing visible through the course of events by one’s awakened Dharma eye. This is another meaning of using the false to arrive at the true. Situationally karmic cycles are the means by which one discerns the real by increments in the situational context. This is the gradual path en total. We use the gradual aspect of incremental temporality to gather the potential reality of the sudden in order to first, see eternity, then step over it, and continue on in the endless path of refining the immaterial energy body naturally. Eventually each one’s karmic momentum is worn out like an old shoe. For example, in theory, as one's situational involvement starts out, one is barefooted. Otherwise, If you're not barefooted, it's not a new energy cycle, or you are wearing shoes where bare-feet are appropriate, and your basis for spontaneous interaction is cloyed— further compounding falsity. Old polluted energy (psychological/karmic momentum) concretized by the fallacious personality, is perpetuating ignorance of reality by virtue of habituation to carrying the burden of cause from created cycle to created cycle. The point is that being barefoot doesn't depend on thoughts or actions; it depends on reality— and that cannot be forced. By pure acceptance in selfless wonder, without enabling clinging energy or concepts of cessation, through a long process of self-refinement, conditioned psychological energy can be seen to slow down naturally and without accruing additional momentum. Eventually, what's left is… bare feet. The allusion to innocence is not accidental. What ultimately needs to be accepted is that the personality is only a circumstantial element, insignificant in and of itself, permitting facilitation of process within the context of nefarious realms of compounded incremental existence. Accepting it in terms of its function, not in terms of one's identity is most advantageous. Why then is it necessary to be able to see the nature of creation as eternity? Because it is a monumental error to conceive of eternity as being of the nature of the celestial, the immortal, the inconceivable. Eternity is the whole of creation. Creation is ultimately the dregs. When people can see creation as it is and know that its essential nature as eternal is not celestial, then they might hesitate to get bogged down in its particular aspects and ramifications relative to the person. Karma is eternal. Yet one must never forget that it is, above all else, created— so enlightening beings do not work with eternity, they just see it for what it is, and without entertaining self-reflective fascinations, they step over it, without rushing ahead. Continuing on, in terms of presence, is not relative to conditions. It is, rather, that eternity moves on by its own conditional momentum. Awareness in itself, has never moved. Reality is neither relative nor absolute~ this being the raison d'être of enlightening activity. Enlightening beings are whole in the midst of karmic cycles coming and going. This is what I mean by continuing on. It is not that one “moves on” and gains “closure”, in terms of situations. “Closure” is the phenomenon of people successfully rationalizing their denial when they cannot rely on the power of ignorance to forget. Earlier I wrote (in another thread), “Closure is for wimps”. What is the basis of continuing on? Although it is the intent of inherent essential nature presently functioning transcendently in the midst of conditions, it is habitual perspectives of the human mentality hopelessly lost in particular aspects of eternity bound to endless karmic rounds of suffering that stultify the spirit of one’s natural transcendent function. As such, the psychological posture of "continuing on" is evidence of karmic bondage, not innocence. The point of penetrating, activating, and then eventually realizing one’s essential nature is that Eternity can only be transcended by the awake, practiced and developed knowledge of the beginningless, of the causeless. One can simply fall into this realization and benefit by it instantaneously for no reason. No reason is what open sincere intent is. Camping out in one's inherent unborn mind results in seeing. Yet one must learn to act on this knowledge or the memory of sudden illumination itself becomes a barrier, no different than eternity, to advance enlightening practice. How can that be? It is mind alone. Holding the absolute in referential terms to the facetious knower, thinker and liver of life, liberation reverts to bondage on the spot. It is unborn mind. In order to be it, one must continuously see it. And that, alone, is authentic self-refining practice of subtle continuous concentration observing mind. This your own mind right now, as is. This is just your own functional awareness right now. It is not a matter of philosophy because there is nothing whatsoever to understand. Your real identity is Unborn Mind. It's not the experiential absolute— that's just interruption of consciousness. Your own mind right now is the unborn, as such, void of self-reifying pattern awareness. Just see reality as is without thinking right or wrong, good and bad; leaving out personal values for all time. Of course that means nothing to anyone on an intellectual level. And it also has no power for people who are habituated to using awareness in the most limited ways imaginable. Due to habituation solely to the personality’s center of reason/talking that conceives sensuality to be the only means of perceiving and relating to particulars, people cannot awaken to the power and freedom that nothing to understand is something literally and figuratively beyond reason. The beauty of unbending impersonal intent is that it can be used powerfully to facilitate the very (dis)function that reason craps out in the first place. To do that, one must first penetrate causelessness, and set up camp in terms of nonorigination, so to speak. This is the place where one can begin to see. Anyone can understand understanding, yet only a sage can understand not-understanding. Delusion and enlightenment is the same mind whereby the enlightening function can operate freely within delusion, yet delusion is already deluded within delusion, and cannot fathom enlightening perspective in its midst. Truth be told, enlightening perspective has no perspective, as it is the nature of no-mind. When someone doesn’t mind (in the conventional sense), it is not necessarily that they don’t care, it is that there is nothing to understand (relative to their personal habits, whims or perceived vulnerabilities). This is understanding not-understanding perfectly, as knowledge is a matter of nothing to know. That’s really how it is. It’s “What’s to know?” Penetrating perception based on this what’s to know is reality perceived without bias or inclination in the midst of affairs. Mind is the ever-awakening nature of no-mind aware of its unborn, natural inconceivability functioning beginninglessly and presently in perpetuity. Intellectually biased ignorance must be stripped away in order to see this mind by a long long process of correctly oriented self-refinement. It’s not the equivalent of ego as you might know it, or anti-ego as you might imagine it. If you knew that the real aspect of ego is just a function facilitating the personality of the being that is going to die, you might be able to intuit that the function of your real identity is equally selfless and nonexistent. Perpetuation of ego depends on reason, whereas awakening to and penetrating the function of nonoriginated selflessness depends open sincere intent. Intent’s intent is openly sincere open sincerity. This intent is already inherently in a state of potential until the moment you permanently drop your selfish habitual antics perpetuating the false self and awaken to presence as authentic impersonal spiritual function. "Awakening" to this does not depend on sudden enlightenment. It is simply "nonoriginating" delusion by awakening to the Unborn mind. Nevertheless, stabilizing this awakening comes by fits and starts, the very reason for self-refinement. Ego-consciousness fixating of accomplishing "sudden realization" is to be pitied— even should it succeed. Why? It is analogous to picking a fruit too early. It's not ripe. It's not edible, or if it is, it won't beneficial or as beneficial to the being as if it had been left alone until it "dropped off" naturally. Ask me why I know. Please don’t be hung-up on the personality as you’re stuck with it (mine and yours)!! I’m living proof of that for those of you who are hung up on my supposed narcissism. The personality doesn’t go anywhere. In effectively realized individuals, it just takes up its position in service of the autonomous illumined being within, which has never entered the sphere of the created. Nothing changes except a little swap, like musical chairs whereby the personality permanently attains balance naturally, and continues on by not clinging to situations, places, people and things— because finally, much less is invested in ego function's perpetuation. So, the world at large is not created, while the self-observer (awakened to one’s own unborn awareness) isn’t created as well— and one proves it in everyday ordinary affairs again and again and again. It’s an all-at-once, all-or-nothing proposition (not to discount ones inexorable fits and starts). It is seeing that all things are the nature of awareness, which is unborn. Stabilizing this perspective is the gradual work of self-refinement before and after (in the case of the sudden, should that happen). It’s called work because the world doesn’t know… Creation is a bitch. Do you think she’d go along with you, if she knew? If she knew, she’d get your ass AND whatever’s going along with it too. That’s what she already got your ego to do. Ya gotta give that bitch the slip (without its knowing) and steal back your inherent presence. AND THAT’S NO JOKE. It is called inconceivable spiritual adaption taking over creation and stealing its potential without admitting one’s own power for a reason, it seems. ed note: typo 12 paragraph

Love does not know awakened people, limited and crude forms of love, relative selves, capacities to love, nor stages. Love is ‘who’ you are, which is why these concepts feel off to you love. Love is unconditional, and doesn’t even know people who aren’t awakened.

Leo said that Enlightenment is what fully raises your capacity to love, but even awakened people can have limited and crude forms of love if they're at a low stage of development, no? Therefore an awakened person can improve their life by developing their relative selves which raises their capacity to love? And for people who aren't awakened, raising their capacity to love by developing their ego would bring them closer to awakening?

We need more people like him. What ever this level of awakening is, its wonderful in comparison to the average unconscious person. This trend of awakened bodybuilders/athlete/celebrities is great stuff. Frank, Conner, Mike tyson...

Lots of assumptions here. #1 - The time frame one has participated in this stuff matters. Is it true? There are people who meditate their whole lives and don't get anywhere and there are those who go to 1 satsang and have an awakening. Which one is more awake? #2 - Meditation tends to not enlighten people in a short period of time. Again, everyone is different. #3 - Where you come from matters. Does it? Wayne Liquorman did coke for 20 years before he went to India, met his teacher and got awakened. Does that mean his awakening is not real?

I find it hard to really fully explain, but I know I awakened some time ago when was I high off my balls on weed. Basically, I came to realize my own life was something truly unknowable and that unknowable-ness is the very fabric of the universe, and the two just became one. I felt selfless for a time, sadly to my own detriment but after a while my ego came back but perhaps, more detached? I'm not entirely sure. I liked debating politics, society and god, all that stuff with other "enlightened" minds beforehand. It made me feel really smart and unique then but looking back I did nothing but intellectual masturbation. I had some nuggets of awakening before, but not to the scope of my enlightenment so I was still stuck in a "trapped in a body within a physical world" type of thinking. After my actual enlightenment, I don't really want to talk about anything with anyone, it all seems done and dusted. I asked myself the greatest question and found the one true answer, so discussions about politics, society and god seem so radicicolous and restricting to me even in the most radically open minded spaces, including this one. The more I come to see how silly everything really is, the less I want to defend my position and just let things be, even within myself. I'm not entirely sure what to ask but if anyone has any advice, it would be highly appreciated.

I definitely didn't know I was God until 5meo I didn't really resonate with this. I reality this goes pretty deep and you can be more of less God like. Everything IS God. You are God whether you know it or like it or not. But there is a difference between being part of God, and being awakened and God like.

I used to be subscribed to him. I'm very aware of what he has done. I hadn't followed him for years because his 'spiritual content' just feels so full of delusion and there's a ton of better stuff out there. The dude has been on 3 vipassana retreats, I think he should cool his jets a bit. Honestly, it seems he's made progress, but I feel it's very unlikely he's as awakened as he claims. He's also gotten better at parroting spiritual concepts, but he always falls flat on his face once he goes off of the script and makes his own philosophy.

By development, I mean developmental stages. Would it be easier to be awakened at say, Stage Yellow/Turquoise than at Stage Blue/Orange? Since you're not clinging as much to your ego as the latter?

Through meditation alone very difficult. But with sober techniques in general, more plausible. I've awakened to God, Love and that life is a dream sober. However, there are degrees. My current degree is a lot deeper than a few months ago. But probably incomparable to Leo's 5meo awakenings. But I believe I will get there eventually Your best shot is a combination of many different tools. I've done / have experience with following: kriya and kundalini yoga RASA transmissions shamanic breathing, wim hof breathing, DMT breathing self inquiry experimented with 30+ meditation techniques mystical experiences during dreams devotion, bhakti yoga dark room retreat sleep deprivation help and transmissions by spirits advanced law of attraction / manifestation techniques fasting masturbation and orgasm exhaustion trance hypnosis brainwave entrainment subliminals mantras prayer certain music (2 psychedelic trips) Many of them I do on a regular basis. And I'm working on mastering sleep yoga. The next step would be time dilation in lucid dreams. And then taking psychedelics in these time dilated lucid dreams. If I manage that, that will be the ultimate technique. My advice is: EXPERIMENT. And combine as much as possible. I've experimented with countless techniques and developed a powerful meditation technique that combines every hack / trick that works for me. A benefit of awakening sober is that your baseline consciousness is naturally very high. If a normal person experienced my baseline they would be in a psyche ward within 10 minutes lol.

Even though awakening often occurs after a whole lot of spiritual obsession, I'm not convinced that means the awakening was the result of that. In fact, upon awakening, it's recognized it was always that way -- there was never anyone there. Just identification with an idea of who you are. "I am awakened" is an example of a perfect oxymoron.

does-development-make-awakening-easier By development, I mean developmental stages. Would it be easier to be awakened at say, Stage Yellow/Turquoise than at Stage Blue/Orange? Since you're not clinging as much to your ego as the latter? ........ Yes awakening will depend on the development stage. I don't believe that stage red people would be capable of having an awakening consciousness of they were only concerned with survival needs and never thought beyond that. Much of this thinking leads to greed (although highly conscious survival is also a great possibility to consider) but as we see it in the world being too fixated with survival has its own downsides. Stage Red is about domination and making rules for survival. This can also lead to relentless mindless competition to survive mindlessly at the expense of others. Which is in no way close to awakening. Much of awakening can only happen from stage green to Tier 2 phase where unity is realized and a form of higher consciousness provides a Fertile soil for further awakening.. For me a combination of standard models developed over the last century make a lot of sense. Putting them together - the Chakra system, Spiral Dynamics and Maslow's Heirarchy of needs all come together to force a person to climb upwards. Of course, essential needs cannot be ignored. Only then you will focus on higher needs. Sometimes it is possible to forgo lower needs like yogis who give up sex or shelter or basic security in exchange for higher consciousness and liberation. However this is not completely necessary. It varies from person to person. A more holistic system would combine the benefits of both optimal survival as well as spiritual consciousness. Also Maslow's hierarchy of needs only focuses on need based Actualization.whereas spiral dynamics focuses on integration. Of value vmemes and subsets at different societal and developmental levels and basically relies on group worldview and integration.. Yes, but if you think you can rely on development to awaken you, you'll be very disappointed. It won't. If you want awakening, the only way to get it is to work your ass for it with intense focus and clarity of purpose. No hardcore spiritual practices, no awaken. It's that simple. Which is the reason 99.9999% of people are not awake and will never be awake. Yes I agree with this perspective. If it were that simple, then we would have people only focusing on the Maslow system to give us all the answers. Even Spiral Dynamics is not enough to explain reality. You have to do tons of work in terms of contemplation, psychedelics and meditation and exhaustive work to have some level of awareness and awakening. I feel it is more so the other way around awakening makes development easier, awakening gets you to realize what is true, & development is a lot easier when you are in line with what is true. You are painting a picture called you, and it is perfectly what it is, to change it is alright & to not change it is alright. Not being attached to needing to change or needing to stay the same makes everything a lot more enjoyable. Developing yourself can also make awakening easier as well, as there might be less neurotic stuff going on, but it is harder to develop a self when you believe you are a self. I totally agree with this.. It's much easier to gave high levels of development once you have awakened yourself. Because development begins to look like a quick snapshot. If you have learned how to do drums, creating music is easier. Same way. You're learning advanced things and basic stuff gets much easier. However this does not mean that we should abandon development for awakening. Development is a must both on the Maslow and the spiral. And awakening is the icing on the cake. Also I think that all development eventually crumbles in the absence of awakening.

Awakened = there’s no ‘you’ nor ‘your ego’. “Clinging as much to your ego” = thought attachment = pretending there’s a separate self. You’re actually supporting your suffering with complicated theories and models which have nothing to do with thought attachment.

The LOC model of Ramaji & Ananda has always gotten a lot of flak on here from most, and I get how it can come across. For those who can’t relate to the numbers & what not, Rupert explains in this video how not all awakenings / Non-Dual teachers are talking about the highest truth, and in fact, most aren’t. It is essentially distilling 1000 into a 10 minute video, also has some nice points that not all awakened beings will end up as teachers, in fact the majority will carry on as “normal citizens”

I didn't want to address the following until things settled down… Breakingthewall wrote: What do you mean exactly when you say that reality is not originated? Originated for your mind? Creation is what it is in terms of karma, time , infinity, birth and death because it is originated. The nature of awareness is nonorigination itself. It could be said that awareness works the way it does by virtue of nonorigination itself. Why? Simply because that's its nature. Since awareness is already your true identity and the nature of awareness is nonorigination, awareness obviously has never fallen into the created realm. Our own everyday ordinary awareness is not created. Your own mind is not created, but it goes along with creation unawares; that's delusion. The fact that awareness is nonoriginated is how and why beings are inconceivable, whether they know it or not. Beings have the potential for not only experiencing their nature, in terms of the absolute, but beings can also experience their inconceivably transcendent nature in the midst of creation simply because creation's nature is the same inconceivability. It's just the way it is and no one knows why. The buzz-kill is habitually mistaking your brilliantly effective ego-function for your identity. Why? Ego isn't real. Why trade in the innate enlightening function for the innate psychological function? At least the innate enlightening function is itself transcendent accord in reality before the first thought. Habitually self-reflective thought is a killer. As for reality, which is neither absolute nor created, since it is itself the realm of transcendent nonorigination as the scene before your eyes, by seeing potential where ordinary deluded people see things to exploit, enlightening beings (those awakened to their innate spiritual function) don't go along with creation. Not going along with creation is simply a matter of seeing potential, which isn't apart (differentiated) from enlightening being. Not using the mind to differentiate self and other is automatic nonorigination on the spot. In this respect, one's self-refinement is carried out by not-doing. Simply nonoriginating conditioning before the first thought is transcendent enlightening activity unbeknownst to anybody. When I say that reality is nonoriginated, that means, by virtue of its nature (no different than who you really are), there is no reason to deliberately or unconsciously go out of your way to follow birth and death, not to mention get hung up on all kinds of fascinations in the process of accruing and perpetuating karmic burdens. I don't know about your mind, but… MIND IS ITSELF REALITY. THERE IS NO REALITY OUTSIDE OF MIND. NONORIGINATION IS SUCH DUE TO MIND ITSELF. MIND IS NOT A THING AS OPPOSED TO REALITY AS A THING. THERE IS NO THING. THE ABSOLUTE IS YOUR NATURE— BUT THE PERSON DIFFERENTIATING THOUGHT ISN'T IT. Enlightening accord in reality is simply abiding in the nature of mind which is nonoriginated, whereby one simply transcends creation's karmic rounds of situational and energetic rounds of birth and death. All that means is that it is possible to save a hell of a lot of energy that naturally and automatically goes towards fueling your spiritual evolution without end (as long as you don't set up your mentality as a checkpoint for discriminating self and other relative to ego). You have a choice: either maintain ego-reification at all times and go along with delusion and experience endless rounds of karmic evolution or forget self-differentiating habit-consciousness in order to spontaneously absorb creation's spiritual potential. All authentic teaching points toward the latter option. The two terms italicized in the quote above may serve to clarify certain notions frequently associated with the tathagatagarbha literature, specifically, the "natural purity of mind” (cittaprakrtivisuddhi). Creative potential is another term for "unrefined potential." Unrefined potential is the "raw" element inherent in the created aspect of situational evolution (karma) that spiritual adepts key into as is, instead of seeing (mistaking) potential as objects of speculation. Unrefined potential is the basic element of spiritual alchemy "absorbed" by enlightening beings in the course of subtle selfless adaption to temporal realms. Such potential is "absorbed" simply by seeing. Seeing is perception which is not relative to the person. Those who dwell in nonorigination and deal with situations in terms of reality as is (without employing self-reifying consciousness) absorb karma's inherent unrefined potential and seal it away void of intellectualism. The process of enlightening function is simply a matter of experiencing life without habitually referencing ego-consciousness. All wonder arises naturally from simply abiding in nonorigination. Taoism calls this "resting in the highest good." ed note: add quote and the following two paragraphs at the bottom

@IAmReallyImportant If you can't tell that Daniel and Bret are smart guys, your head is screwed on backwards. Of course smart does not mean awakened or God-realized or perfect. Smart people can still say dumb things. And I have heard both these guys say a few dumb things. But that doesn't mean they aren't smart. Nuance.