Jetsun

On an energetic level a chakra is a functioning part of your system, without them you would probably die or at least turn into a confused mess. I pretty much guarantee I could sense all your individual chakras one by one even those of you of think they have gone beyond them or unified them. When the energy goes out the top of the head it creates temporary samadhi like unified bliss consciousness, which isn't the same as awakening as awakening is about going in and through the heart. As per the way Ramana describes it anyway. Out the top of the head is temporary experience, through the heart permanent shift.

On the one hand you have the theory of rising the energy up through the Chakras until it comes out the top of the crown. Which is more a classical description. On the other hand you have the theory proposed here of going beyond the Chakras and merging them. These are two very different things and it sounds like Jonesboy is saying one and Dwai is saying another but assuming they are talking about the same thing.

Non-duality doesn't really explain anything though , it just means not two. Not that anyone can really explain this space very well but I am interested in people's takes on it. On one level we are individuals with boundaries and on another deeper level there is no such distinction, I own and am this deeper being as much as anyone else is. So it appears like a paradox. Working out the functions of this space is traversing the mystery. Merging chakras makes no sense to me, it's like saying merging your internal organs. Chakras function as energetic entities regulating your energy system, I am not aware of any tradition or lineage where the object is to go beyond or merge chakras, that seems to be something unique to you and Jeff. So I still don't really understand what you mean by going light.

What does "going light" mean? If others are inside you then you are also inside them, who owns the space? A good line of discussion is how it is even possible to be inside another person as in doing things like remote connection, what is it that makes that possible. There has to be some kind of shared ground at a certain level otherwise such a thing would be a intrusion on somebodies boundaries. What is the shared ground, who does it belong to?

Yeah I agree. I like listening to Adyashanti as there may well be people who have a deeper realisation than him but I haven't found many who can articulate it like him, clearly in his own words. This is largely due to his own teacher who very early on when he was young put him on the spot and forced him to articulate his realisation by leading group meetings when nobody was interested in him or what he had to say. Articulating it I guess is a skill which can be learned like any other skill, do it under pressure and constantly enough and you get good at it.

If im not at the top then it is incorrect, as I'm clearly the most awake and enlightened. Also the most humble

This is more like life teachings rather than anything to do with awakening. How to lead a more successful life in Samsara. Awakening (at least as I see it and understand it) doesn't obay such formulation or is confined to such beliefs. For example there are many stories of people awakening who did no practice or put in any effort. There are stories of people awakening in Prison after leading a life of ill virtue like Kenny Johnson , https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/?speakers=kenny-johnson , many people say Tucci Williams had a spiritual awakening in prison and he was a violent murderer who founded the Crips gang. As far as I can see our ultimate nature can express itself in any way it wants in any situation, the way we think it should go or would like it to go doesn't come into it.

Out of all the awake people I have met not a single one has been into internal martial arts as far as I'm aware. So I guess it depends on where you look.

Yeah I did, as I'm one of the few people on here who post about Gurdjieff I assumed it wasn't spam. It seemed just like a normal blog talking about Tao , no malware I'm aware of or security alerts

I got the same message

Ok, but you didn't answer what it is that is merging? Is it mind, emotions, energy, soul? The deepest aspect of your being is already merged with what is, beyond separation. If two beings merge with one another there is still the rest of the universe which is other, and therefore two things still going on, therefore a merge isn't non-duality in any ultimate sense.

So when a being is merging with another being what is merging with what ? Obviously on a physical level the only thing approaching physical merge is sex, but that is a course level. Then on an emotional level people can merge whereby they take on others emotions , which is the most common type of merge which happens a lot in relationships especially in co-dependency , and with gurus, but that is a merge in neurosis in a way rather than anything healthy. So deeper, can a soul merge with another soul?is it even desirable? . At the ultimate level of basis, space, stillness, silence, doesn't even make sense as everything is already just as it is and merging doesn't alter that.

Yeah I would say it is a lifetimes work (or maybe surrender) to integrate the two, to bring that peace to all of those places which aren't on board yet and still exist in struggle and a sense of separation.

If you are still there then it isn't non-duality as there is still you and not you, ie two, and if you aren't there then what is there to experience it? If you aren't there then there is nobody there to achieve it, nobody to be proud of it, nobody to even share it with. You get absolutely nothing out of it and it is completely pointless to us. Non-duality has nothing to do with a merge with another, as what it is that is aware and non-dual is there if you are merged or not. A child is merged with the world and merged with their mother, yet they aren't usually in non-dual realisation. Merging is usually a sign of codependency and a way of avoiding the true intimacy where you are nothing and everything, with a substitute intimacy with one other. People even merge with their pets which is why people start looking like them as a way to try avoid it lol. There is an inbuilt mechanism within us which can guide us back to where there is no more separation which is called yearning, yearning to return home to wholeness, so follow that yearning home like a thread, or not, but (spoiler alert) the ending of the story is that you never make it and all all your hopes and dreams are completely dashed.. which is wonderful

The author of the article seems to be lamenting the lack of ritual and tradition in Western Buddhism, but the reason for that is that ritual and tradition are cultural and therefore most Westerners can't relate to it at all, it doesn't transmit anything to them and it doesn't resonate. So I don't really see what the solution is and the author doesn't supply one.

The belief that it is hard work and the belief that it is difficult to achieve may just be two more beliefs which need to be let go of on the way to Enlightenment ☺️

The truth of our being is always non-dual, all the time for everyone, it is more a matter of recognition. *Oops I posted this by accident phone in pocket

If you resonate with Tony Parsons then yes I would say you are at a threshold or gone beyond. I went to see Tony in person and what I saw is that many people couldn't stand what he says and left at the earliest opportunity, not because he is rubbish but because he only resonates with a few people who are at a certain stage or point in their path. So I would say keep going, you aren't going crazy or anything, there are plenty of other teachers around who can help, my personal preference is Adyashanti. Batgap.com has plenty of others

But it can change the way one approaches this whole thing, it means it isn't about achieving anything or ascending to a higher plane or getting away from anything. For many people I think that is a very useful recognition, even if it's just a glimpse of the truth.

One can have a non-dual realisation and still have all sorts of subconscious programmes and karmic stuff going on, in fact that is the normal state of affairs. The idea that one has to be completely purified and fully conscious of everything going on in their system to awaken is a common fallacy. Regarding smoking, Nisargadatta smoked his whole life and he had one of the clearest expressions of non-duality which has been put down on record.

Sorry dwai I'm not saying quite that, I'm saying the I am is the stage before the root, or after that depending on what way you look at it. You could call it the first stage of delusion, there is still a need to go beyond that to find truth

In my experience those people who talk about non-duality no matter the tradition always ultimately fail to describe what it is, it is impossible for the mind to grasp it because the mind only works in duality, so it is a completely different realm of experience than anything conceptual. When you get established in that realm you can put the raft of spiritual teachings down whether Buddhist or Vedanta Yet I don't think the "I am" is the same as non-duality, think of it like different levels of a tangible sense of identity turning around on itself towards its source 1- I am => a father, brother, fireman, male, a European, a loser, a democrat, a victim - etc defining yourself as something 2 - I - Sense of I existing before labels 3 - Am - Sense of existence itself 4 - => <= Space, mystery, non-duality As per Nisargardatta's teaching staying in the sense of "I am" is the gateway to what I label as level 4, to non-duality rather than being non-duality itself. Adyashanti describes it as if you stay in the sense (a tangible energetic sense) of "I am" it is like standing on a cliff edge, you haven't yet gone over the edge, or been pushed or blown over, but if you spend enough time there it is more likely to happen.

For physical things like that western medicine and surgery is best as a first port of call, obviously a long term a holistic approach is useful, but for the issues you mention don't trust alternative medicine, especially anyone who will try charge you money. I am speaking as someone training as an energy healer. Energy healing is subtle medicine while the human body is the densest part of our being. Adjustments on the subtle level are useful but once the issue has already manifested physically the first option should be a physical therapy and western medicine.

In most non Islamic countries the chains of Patriarchy are gone, in the sense it isn't generally dangerous for women or men to break the system, but the conditioning of Patriarchy remains. Conditioning can only really be dealt with internally, blaming the current crop of men only maintains a state of false victimhood and powerlessness and shifts the responsibility out of ourselves (not that I see that blame going on in this thread but is quite common in the world at the moment) https://journal.thriveglobal.com/the-world-needs-motherhood-e9b174acb82c A matrichical society would benefit everyone, both men and women , how to bring it about is the question

Which one, Semple or Cleary ?