Somebody help me, i feel like porn is a tool from the darkness, it saps my light i know people and children are being exploited and trafficked but i still keep coming back to it, my mind attacks me everyday nonstop, how do you break free from this psy op?

No matter what state the world was in when you were born
You would have adapted
No matter the severity
So when I think of unlearning
It’s such a hard concept to grasp for me because, yes, we can unlearn the things that we just simply don’t like
But on a deeper level, how can we reprogram ourselves out of the daily routine without knowing what else is possible?
Like how can we even begin to fathom what it looks like to completely unlearn if we only know one way?
And even that way has been so perfectly constructed that it doesn’t even allow us to dream bigger than the reality that has been created for us
We think our dreams have no ceiling
Yet, we only dream of what we can fathom
I know for a fact that I’m dreaming too small
But for me, my dream is to travel and see the world, meet new people
Experience new experiences that we would never have known existed had we not been to that corner of the earth
To me, those are the ways we can begin to fathom the the unfathomable

I’ve been thinking about the connections between Hindu mythology, neuroscience, Kundalini, rituals, manifestation, and collective consciousness. The more I explore these ideas, the more I wonder whether spirituality can help us understand not just a divine power beyond ourselves, but also our own minds and our place in existence.

What if the gods and demons in Hindu mythology can also be understood as representations of the different forces within us?

Shiva might represent transformation and detachment, Vishnu preservation and balance, Durga courage, and Ganesha wisdom and discernment. Ravana is an interesting example because he was learned and powerful, yet his knowledge did not prevent his downfall.

Perhaps his story reminds us that intelligence without self-control can become destructive. These are psychological interpretations of familiar stories, not necessarily their original or only meanings.
Maybe the battles between Devas and Asuras can also be understood as conflicts within the human mind. We all experience desire, fear, anger, compassion, ambition, discipline, and reason. Sometimes these forces work together, and sometimes they pull us in opposite directions.

Perhaps the real challenge is not to eliminate certain parts of ourselves, but to understand them and stop any one impulse from controlling us completely.
This idea reminds me of Advaita Vedanta, which teaches that Atman, the deepest self, is not ultimately separate from Brahman, the absolute reality. It raises a fascinating possibility: what if individual consciousness is not entirely independent, but connected to something more fundamental? This does not mean that our everyday ego, with all its desires and insecurities, is God. Rather, it invites us to question whether our ordinary sense of identity captures the full nature of who we are.

I also wonder whether spiritual awakening can be understood as a process of bringing our inner world into greater harmony. The brain contains interconnected systems involved in emotion, memory, motivation, and attention. The limbic system and paralimbic regions contribute to these functions as part of a much larger network. Thinking about this makes me curious whether Kundalini practices, meditation, and spiritual discipline can help us become less controlled by habitual thoughts and impulses, allowing different aspects of our inner lives to work together more coherently.

Mantras and bhajans make me think along similar lines. Repetition, rhythm, sound, breathing, attention, and devotion can draw the mind into a particular state. It is almost like tuning different instruments in an orchestra until they begin to work together. Chanting and contemplative practices can influence attention and emotional regulation, but the idea that particular sound frequencies correspond to specific deities or invisible energies remains unproven scientifically. Still, the experience of feeling calmer, more focused, or more connected through these practices is worth exploring.
This also changes how I think about rituals. Lighting a diya, performing aarti, chanting mantras, and gathering for worship can create moments of reflection, connection, and emotional grounding. Alongside their religious and cultural significance, these practices can shape how we direct our attention and experience our emotions.

I sometimes wonder whether we become so focused on asking God for money, success, protection, or other material rewards that we overlook what these practices might help us discover within ourselves. Could prayer and ritual also be opportunities to reflect, develop discipline, find peace, and change how we respond to life?

At the same time, I don’t want to romanticise the past or assume that rituals were originally designed only for psychological well-being. Early Vedic rituals often involved offerings to deities, requests for desired outcomes, and beliefs about ritual efficacy. Indian traditions later developed a wide range of approaches to ritual, meditation, knowledge, devotion, and liberation. These different purposes can coexist. A ritual can be an act of religious devotion and also have psychological and social effects.

Manifestation offers a simple example of how our minds shape our experience. If I decide to look for blue cars, I may suddenly start noticing them everywhere. The cars were already on the road, but my attention has changed. Something similar happens when we focus on a goal. We may notice opportunities we previously ignored, make different decisions, and act more consistently. Intention can influence our lives through attention and behaviour, even without assuming that thoughts magically rearrange external reality.

Then there is the idea of collective consciousness. We often think of ourselves as separate individuals, each living inside a private world. But biologically and socially, we are deeply interconnected. Our bodies contain complex microbial communities, our survival depends on ecosystems, and our beliefs, language, identities, and emotions are shaped by other people. We influence one another constantly, often without realising it.

Could this interconnectedness point towards something deeper? Could individual minds be different expressions of a universal consciousness, each experiencing existence from a different perspective? I find the possibility intriguing, although biological and social interconnectedness alone does not establish that all minds share one consciousness. That remains a philosophical and spiritual question.

Perhaps this also helps explain why stories about saints and mahatmas are so compelling. Through sustained discipline, meditation, devotion, or self-inquiry, some people describe becoming less reactive and less attached to their ordinary sense of identity. Some report experiences in which the boundary between themselves and the world seems to dissolve. I wonder whether these experiences reflect a profound integration of the self, a glimpse of a deeper reality, or some combination of interpretations we do not yet fully understand. The experiences themselves deserve attention, even if they do not prove that universal consciousness exists.

Another important part of this exploration is how we interpret ancient texts. The Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and later yogic traditions emerged in different historical contexts and have distinct histories of composition, transmission, and interpretation. Vedic oral traditions preserved canonical wording with remarkable care. It would be inaccurate to assume that these texts were simply rewritten freely over time. At the same time, preserving words does not mean that interpretations never changed or that every later explanation reflects the earliest understanding.

The historical controversy over the supposed canals on Mars is a useful reminder of how easily expectations can influence interpretation. Some astronomers interpreted faint markings on the planet as artificial canals. Later observations did not support that conclusion. The observers were not necessarily inventing what they saw; they were interpreting ambiguous evidence through the ideas available to them.

We can make a similar mistake when reading ancient texts. If we already believe that Hindu mythology contains modern neuroscience, we may start finding brain science in every god, demon, or ritual. But the opposite mistake is possible too: dismissing every psychological insight simply because it comes from a religious tradition.

I think we need to separate four things: what a text actually says, how later traditions interpreted it, what we infer from it today, and what science can independently demonstrate. A modern interpretation can be meaningful without proving that an ancient author intended it. Equally, an ancient text can offer valuable reflections on human experience without using the terminology of modern science.
When I bring all these ideas together, a possible pattern emerges. Mythology can offer symbolic ways of thinking about our inner conflicts. Rituals can organise attention and strengthen social bonds.

Mantras and meditation can shape our mental experience. Spiritual discipline may change our relationship with habitual thoughts and our sense of identity. And our interconnectedness raises deeper questions about the nature of consciousness itself.
The idea that all consciousness is literally one universal reality is not scientifically established. But I don’t think that means the philosophical question is meaningless. It simply means we should remain honest about the difference between an interesting possibility and a demonstrated fact.

Perhaps spiritual practice is not only about asking something outside ourselves to change our lives. Perhaps it is also about becoming more aware of what happens within us. Maybe defeating our inner demons means learning not to be controlled by them. Maybe balance comes from understanding our impulses rather than blindly obeying or suppressing them.

And perhaps the divine can be understood in more than one way: as a being worshipped through devotion, and, in some philosophical traditions, as the deepest reality underlying both the self and the universe.

That is what the phrase **“I am God”** makes me think about. Not that my ego is supreme, that I am all-powerful, or that I stand above anyone else. Instead, it raises a more difficult question: could the deepest nature of the self be inseparable from a greater reality?

Maybe we are separate beings searching for the divine. Or perhaps we are expressions of something deeper, temporarily experiencing ourselves as separate individuals.

I don’t claim to know the answer. I am exploring an idea that sits somewhere between spirituality, philosophy, and our growing understanding of the human mind. I want to examine the connections without forcing every piece of evidence to fit my theory, but also without dismissing a possibility simply because it challenges the boundaries we have drawn between these fields.

Should I try having these things?

I've heard that advance people taking these and attain a high state of mind

How do you spend a lifetime if nothing is of interest anymore?

All feelings, attraction looks meaningless. Existence looks meaningless. I have no clue what do when I am not working.

Every time I watch something seemingly important like with the president of vice president while on shrooms there seems to be some kind of shield that prevents me from reading the energy like I would with any other programming or show. I remember watching a press conference with Donald Trump and everything he was saying including the way he was saying it felt so intentional. And like he has a shield that prevented me from "reading" his energy. Usually in high dose of shrooms, I can feel people's aura and can usually tell if someone is lying or acting or pretending but for some reason it felt neutral while watching the conference. Like it was blocking me from reading into the energy. Anyone else notice this?

My theory is that maybe my brain processes it as important and filters what im seeing and hearing through a different filter than if I was watching regular entertainment. So maybe I perceive it through a more sober lense because my brain works harder to focus and prioritize what I'm seeing and watching as important.

I lived a dark live of drug use for a very long time... i got clean last november 2025 i woke up in january and sat at the side of my bed i look at the wall for a second and on the wall paper there is lines and shapes on it but flat normal wall paper i was amazed with what i could see and i could see 3D coming of the wall i ran down stairs to the kitchen to tell the family it was so exiting and when i got to the kitchen i could see energy waves like viberations now any where i go i see the structures behind all flat surfaces i feel free when with nature i see viberations and energy coming from all trees and plants its beautiful so iv learnd some meditation and can activate my pinealgland at any given time iv learnd how to cross over im able to see all the beautiful colors and the way they swirl and move iv got to see my dead brother and butterflys the faces of mudras budda ... this is real very real iv lost contact with every other systems and plat forms and connected deeply with my own my frequency is tuned into mother nature mother earth i have connected to the hire being whitin me .. my my peace and love be with you all my you feel my energy through this message

I'm not a native English speaker I'm Polish but I believe I'm quite good, it's important to the story. In the last year I couldn't help but notice while watching movies and tv series that some words are being pronounce differently then I remember. I can't remember those words it hits me while watching something, but I'm certain I learned them to pronounce them differently. It wouldn't be overstatement to say I use English more then polish so it's like one of the words in my native language became different over night. I really don't know what to think about it.

Recently I have tried mushroom, expecting to have a spiritual and mystical experience, but what I had is a mild high and eventually it wore off. I have tried the golden teacher and I know the one that I have got is genuine.

So is there anything wrong with me or my body, that I'm not reacting to it, or is my dosage not enough to have a mystical experience?

Can anybody explain?

Hello everybody!

I thought I would share some of the teachings of the Buddha. The word enlightenment is loosely defined nowadays it seems, but the way the Buddha used the word was very clear.

According to the Buddha, enlightenment is the full realisation of the unconditioned state, also known as Nibbana. The fully enlightened being is through this realization freed from all future states of being and from all emotional distress in this life. With the breaking up of the body the fully enlightened being is extinguished. That is not to say that there is no existence however. It's also not say there is existence. There is however no more endless birth and death.

The way to this realisation of Nibbana and liberation from endless birth and death is the eightfold noble path. It's not a very complex or abstract path, but a collection of instructions which when followed will lead to some stage of enlightenment (there are four).

If you have further interest I can highly recommend Ajahn Sona on YouTube!

May we all be at ease! :)

I grew up in finglas had my hands in all the wrong business ended up on drugs and lost all fitness.....feel my pain its running through my vein making me go insane dont no what my brain is saying touching the sky as if im flying in a plane feeling the highs of the cocaine down she goes then she slows here comes the lows body curled up and she folds no light no fight no bite no flight...no hope scruffy dirty no shower no soap best friends with a bag of coke hopeless homeless life feeling as if its a joke ....

I am a lost wreck wreck i have lost all self respect on the streets of dublin city sleeping in lane ways all dark and pissy full of pain and misery people look on with so much pitty while the drugs and volience still goes on up and down the liffey Sirens screamming sirens beamming sun rising birds chirping council men on the streets cleaning a new day of struggle to find lifes meaning. he stuck it in his arm he said the feeling is great it will do no harm whitin weeks he lost his soul and all self charm he went deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole as the lighter burns his face goes black as if he was playing in coal exhale and out blows his soul .. where am i going walking the streets all alone no where to go no home down comes the rain soaked to the bone as i lay on the ground and cry i look up i beg plz god just let me die... the old life i lived

But really. Everyone cut themselves some slack. What matters is that you find peace with yourself. The rest will fall naturally into place.

For the past 14 years, like many others in this group, I’ve been relentlessly searching for answers, even though I didn’t know what the question was or what I was searching for. I devoured Eastern and Western philosophy and religious texts, thinking that knowledge would provide the answers. I deceived myself and went through a period of egocentric intellectual superiority, during which I felt above the general population, my family, and my friends, believing they were deceived by social conditioning.

I’ve experimented with psychedelics, attended silent meditation retreats, and even completed a 500-mile pilgrimage on foot. I’ve taken paths through the labyrinth of self-discovery that led me to dead ends, and returning meant humbly recognizing that I had taken the wrong path. I’ve been on the brink of psychosis and felt detached from “reality.” I became isolated and alienated from society, lost many “friends” and relationships, and, ironically, ended up feeling more lost than ever before.

I moved to a new city, trying to escape, but I realized there was no real escape: I had brought everything with me. I started therapy and began reading psychological texts obsessively.

All these previous experiences were necessary for me to reach certain conclusions. Perhaps some lessons must be learned the hard way, but I wish to share mine with you:

Knowledge will give you understanding, but it will never satisfy you. Be humble and beware: knowledge breeds arrogance.

Always question your beliefs. Ground yourself in critical thinking.

Study and reflect on your personal history. Examine the circumstances that shaped your personality, recognize your insecurities, and acknowledge the regrets and shame you may be carrying.

Be truthful with yourself and with everyone around you. Self-deception, hypocrisy, and lies have become normalized by society. Seek the truth amid a sea of lies.

Love is the answer; love is all we need. To find love within ourselves, we must first face the sorrow within us. And yes, it is painful—that’s why we try to escape from it. Once your heart is full of love again, you’ll be able to share it with those around you, and you’ll see life anew.

Does anyone here ever think about the effect that engagement bait, AI, and any other bait and switch, lie, misrepresentation or generic letdown has on our trust?
Worldly concerns, for sure.
But yeah, trust. Eroded away, one insignificant unimportant little let down at a time. Jaded.
Aware that posting this here in the enlightenment sub might only yield answers like “it doesn’t matter”, and maybe that’s true from one perspective, namely the extreme big picture, and that’s a handy option to have, but what about everyone living this reality?
Is there anything we can do about this?

Do you know how you get a person to believe anything, or be okay with anything?
Get them disinterested in truth.
The same way a person can “lie” to themselves - you can’t actually Lie to yourself because a lie means the liar knows and the person lied to doesn’t. You can only bullshit yourself, which is different.
You bullshit someone by having them invested more in lies, or escape, and/or by wearing them down until they just don’t care anymore.
Then we’ll all be yearning for the easy answer, the convenient easily understood soundbite, the cult leader, the fake master, the snake oil salesman, and so on.

Is enlightenment about the fuzzy feelgoods, or seeing a little more clearly bit by bit?

Prometheus is a Titan who defied the Olympian gods by giving fire to humanity, symbolically in the form of technology, knowledge, and civilization.

Due to this disobedience, he was condemned to eternal torment, bound to a rock, with an eagle feasting on his liver. His liver would grow back overnight, only to be eaten again, and again.

Sounds absolutely tragic. I’m sorry, Prometheus. You got a bad deal. And what the hell, Zeus? Kind of an overreaction…

Jokes aside, I feel like I might be seeing what the original authors were hinting at, so explore with me here.

No other animal can maintain or use fire like humans do. We do not think about it much now because we have electricity, which is relatively new. For much longer, we depended on fire and lived with it every single day.

Research on early controlled fire use at Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa -(https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3356665/)

Imagine what this may have done to us. With fire, we became separate from the world around us.

We were the only species using fire. Everything stayed away from it. Fire had incredible power. It gave warmth, protection, light in darkness, and safety against predators. So naturally, we felt power too. And in many ways, we did have it. Fire helped give us the ability to spread across the planet and become the dominant species. It helped make us who we are today.

But... at what cost?

Fire gave us safety. Safety gave us time. Time gave us the ability to time-travel, meaning we can think about the past and think about the future. We can get lost in deep thought, plan the architecture of a whole building, replay libraries of memories all while imagining infinite possibilities. It is our symbolic mind. This is part of what separated us.

Other animals live much closer to the present moment. We can leave the now and soar upward into thought, into imagination, into meaning, into complete new worlds. And because of that ability, we became who we are today. Our books, our progress, our culture, and our understanding, came from the power of symbolic thinking.

But it is this exact power that is the glitch: mistaking imagination for reality.

Our bodies can react to a story in the mind as if danger is happening now. And because of this, we suffer. We can’t stop thinking. This is our ability! This is what makes us human!

Maybe that is why Prometheus was punished the way he was.

The eagle, flight, a creature of the sky, high above the earth, may represent thought itself. The mind that rises upward into imagination, memory, fear, and future. Each day, it returns to feast on our liver, and we feel the wound through our emotions as our spirit starts to wither..

That is what thought can do when we do not understand it. It can descend from the clouds and tear into us with rage, regrets, anxiety, and dread. With stories that can rip the meaning of life from us.

But knowing this, and not knowing it, is the key difference. Because once you know the glitch, you can recognize what is happening. It is simply biology, our body reacting to imagination. And once you know that, you can begin to step out of it.

This is what I do.

When I catch myself in negative thought loops, worrying about the future, trapped in the past, feeling sadness or anxiety over things I cannot control, I tell myself this.

This is the glitch.

Then I come back to the present. To what is real. To what I still have agency over.

When the eagle returns, remember: this is the glitch.

And come back home.

That's what I've gathered.

I choose to believe that enlightenment isn’t the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s more about how you choose to carry your light through the world.

I believe it’s about living in sync with your soul out loud.

Not a single moment, rather an every day continuation of choosing right over wrong, good over bad, the feeling of an energetic yes running through your body over biased perception, and so on.

The words in your head are flesh / The words in your head are not flesh

Anyone that understands shadow work, I will deeply appreciate any help or guidance you can give!

 I am always thinking about true love and what it really means. Does it mean compatibility, whether emotional or physical? Does it mean finding security by fulfilling our weaknesses through our partners? Or is it an animal instinct that drives us to reproduce and bring better offspring into the world, with love acting as a natural tool to facilitate this process?

Is love simply an instinct to keep our genetic legacy alive in this world, something every species tries to achieve in its own way, expressing similar emotions? Are we really any different?

I think about so many questions, yet I find no definitive answers about love. Somehow, however, I inherently know that nothing else quite belongs in the category of love.

Slowly and steadily, I have begun to understand the different emotions human beings experience and how these emotions shape us as we grow and evolve. One of the most important among them is desire — our emotional desires and our longing for recognition. People want to be recognized and praised for various qualities valued by society, such as beauty, intelligence, position, and power.

Our social system is designed to sustain itself. It pushes us to earn more money and secure a position within the machinery of society so that the system continues to function, operate, and survive. It prepares us to become part of that system. Needless to say, some people work at the top, some in the middle, and others at the bottom.

Throughout this process, an image of ourselves is created. Our attachment to that image is what we call the ego.

Can we say that the thoughts and emotions generated by the ego will lead to right action or ultimately guide us towards unconditional love?

Unfortunately, most of our actions seem to arise from desire, which often brings chaos, unfaithfulness, and further conflict into our lives.

Sometimes, we are told to keep the glass empty. An empty glass can be filled. But what does this really mean? Does it mean freeing ourselves from our biases and questioning the image we have created of ourselves?

As we search for unconditional love, it becomes important to understand one fundamental question: Who are we?

As seekers, we need to understand what lies within us and what is actually seeking fulfilment. Is it the image we have created of ourselves, constantly looking for security, pleasure, and power? What is it within us that is seeking these things?

Are we trying to escape our deteriorating relationships, the sorrow we carry, or the emotional wounds we have accumulated over time?

These causes may prevent us from understanding love because we are too occupied with fulfilling our desires and protecting our identities.

Love, however, seems to know only one path: the path of unbiased truth. Truth emerges through silence and observation — through the ability to observe every action and the emotions that give rise to it without immediately judging or justifying them.

So, what should we do to recognize this truth?

1. Recognize the image you have created of yourself.

Question it. Examine it. Be willing to shatter it if necessary. Sometimes, the image we create of ourselves is merely a mask designed to hide our weaknesses and insecurities.

2. Recognize the biases you have accumulated over time.

Question them rationally. Try to understand where they come from. Are they simply survival strategies? Has the mind created them to provide security or help us fit into society?

If you look deeply enough, you may discover that you have been carrying these biases like a burden throughout your life without ever truly examining them.

3. Observe what remains when you begin to question these images and biases.

Perhaps you will find loneliness and silence. Perhaps you will encounter a heart filled with pain, a heart that has long felt ignored, suppressed, or overpowered by responsibilities and external influences.

You may find yourself constantly comparing your life with that of others: Look at the Chatterjees. They have bought a car and a house.

Amid these comparisons and expectations, your own inner voice is rarely heard.

These three points may seem simple, yet putting them into practice can be difficult.

Some people become monks, leave society, or separate themselves from their families in an attempt to free themselves from their biases and attachments. They try to break away from their social identities, only to enter another system in which they believe they have attained moksha — liberation.

But do they truly understand maya, the illusion that can bind the mind? Perhaps they have simply fallen into another trap, becoming attached to a different identity: that of a liberated person.

Sometimes, I wonder whether people search so desperately for love that, when they cannot find it, they end up inventing God.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna also brings attention to the distinction between attachment and love.

Recognize the difference between attachment and love.

The statement sounds simple, but what I understand from it is the importance of recognizing the chain of actions that arises from attachment and distinguishing it from the actions that arise from love. Doing so requires deep observation, freedom from bias, and awareness.

Attachment brings sorrow, while love points towards liberation.

Attachment arises from desire — from the urge to become something or someone. Once we become what we have desired to be, that achievement can become another image constructed by thought. We then begin to act in ways that protect and sustain that image.

Just observe the faces of people working in offices. They may have good salaries, impressive positions, and material comforts, yet deep down, many may still be unhappy. They have been pushed or compelled by circumstances and expectations to follow a path that may not reflect what they truly want.

They carry their sadness behind artificial smiles.

I can now see and recognize the actions that arise from attachment more clearly. However, actions that arise from love remain a mystery to me, because I first need to understand what love truly is.

My search is still ongoing.

I will keep this article short for now, as the journey of exploration continues. I will share more in my next article.

But what does unconditional love mean to you?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and perspectives.

Hello everyone! It is nice to see this room exists!

I need to feel supported in this next phase of work. So I will get straight to it. My original awakening happened about 12 years ago…. I was spontaneously pulled into the white light. I’ll keep this short. I suffered 2 near death experiences exactly nine months apart (Peruvian Shamans made a big deal about it but when they began to fight about it so I walked away) My visions are strong, people and animals are quick to attach to me and become possessive (I am working on detachment concepts). I am not sure why I am being asked to come out of the shadows like this, I do not seek outside validation or attention but this was what I was asked to do. I understand this very post takes me outside of my comfort zone so I know I can expect insight, kindness and respect, and growth…..