Replace years of self enquiry with 5-Meo

[Mips]

This is a question for @Leo Gura really. I’ve just read the instructions for self realisation on the website, which I’ve included below. Years of doing this for 60 minutes a day would be a huge task, especially as my family life allows for a couple hours of meditation/body awareness a day and not much else.

Now we’re almost 7 years after that post, having taken your extensive journey with 5-Meo, would you now say it’s possible to replace these years of self enquiry with multiple ever-deepening 5-meo trips?

 

Instructions:

Leo's Patented () Step-By-Step Process To Become Enlightened:

Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit alone. (You don't need to sit cross-legged.)

Turn off your smart phone and disconnect from all distractions

Set a digital timer for 60 minutes

Now sit silently and start to genuinely wonder: "What am I if I'm not the body?"

Do NOT meditate!

Sit and carefully observe your direct experience.

Notice that direct experience is THE ONLY THING you have of reality. Nothing else is real. Realizing this should make you very "present".

Try to locate yourself within direct experience.

Be very specific and clear with yourself: What are you? Are you a foot? A hand? A face? A mind? A brain? The envelop of the skin? The picture of yourself in the mind's eye? A feeling in the chest? What?

Seriously! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?????????????

Notice that anything you might point to as being "your true self" cannot be true, because that's just another experience arising. Here's the logic of it: Firstly, it isn't constant. It fades in and out throughout the day, so it cannot be you. Secondly, you are observing it, so it cannot be you because "you" are the one doing the observation.

So again, WHAT ARE YOU?

Open your mind to the possibility that you are mistaken about being a human body or mind.

Just sit there and keep genuinely wondering about what you really could be. Try to locate the one who's perceiving things.

Do not philosophize or come up with theories. Focus 100% on what your direct experience is telling you. This is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL!!!!!!!! The bulk of the work happens right here at this step. You have to slowly become aware that all your thoughts and ideas and feelings about "you" are not really you. They are just symbols and stories. For example: notice that the image of your body that you have in your mind is NOT actually your body! It's just an image! And the same goes for the feelings that make up your body. Those feelings are real, but they are not actually you!

As any theories arise of what you think you are, notice that what that is, is a thought! And no thought can be you because you are the one perceiving the thought, and also because your existence does not depend on any particular thought's existence. Notice you don't cease to exist in between thoughts.

Just sit and keep doing this for 60 minutes without getting distracted in irrelevant thoughts.

As your mind wanders off track (and it will wander a lot) don't beat yourself up. Just bring your focus back on the self-observation.

After 60 minutes, stop and notice what happened. Notice if your mind feels "elevated" or more aware.

Frustration and confusion are OF COURSE going to arise. Do NOT be discouraged by frustration or confusion. Believe it or not, these are signs of progress.

Do not expect instant results. You must be very methodical and patient like a crocodile.

Repeat this process every day for at least 60 minutes for the next few months. Be very patient. It will take several months just to start to get your bearings straight. And by that I don't mean you will become enlightened. I mean you merely begin to realize the magnitude of your ignorance. In this time span of 3 months -- let's say -- you will get a strong sense that it really isn't possible to locate yourself. This may seem like you've failed, but actually this is a huge advance. Now you've finally started to realize that you've never really met yourself before. Now the journey towards enlightenment can begin in earnest!

Just keep doing the process without discouragement. At some point, your mind will crack and you will surrender to the realization that there's no one home. That life has always run with you. And BAAAAAMMMMM!!!!!!! Enlightenment has occurred! Notice, I did not say YOU got enlightened. Rather, enlightenment has occurred.

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by Mips

[Leo Gura]

43 minutes ago, Mips said:

Now we’re almost 7 years after that post, having taken your extensive journey with 5-Meo, would you now say it’s possible to replace these years of self enquiry with multiple ever-deepening 5-meo trips?

No amount of sober self-inquiry will ever result in the highest levels of Awakening.

But doing 5-MeO will also not allow you to sustain the highest levels of Awakening once it wears off.

[Mips]

16 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

No amount of sober self-inquiry will ever result in the highest levels of Awakening.

But doing 5-MeO will also not allow you to sustain the highest levels of Awakening once it wears off.

Ahh ok - so does 5-Meo not raise your consciousness permanently at least to a degree? Or is it always just something that shows you the way rather than permanently raising your baseline consciousness and providing anything lasting?

[Thought Art]

@Mips not really sort of