Just realized I’ve been a lifelong member of a very exclusive club-the Human Cult. We meet daily, have an unspoken dress code, and our main ritual involves convincing ourselves we’re all separate from each other. Membership is automatic, and the irony is, nobody remembers signing up!

@TheMiddleWayWithRay

24 күн бұрын

Amen

@So-Awake-

24 күн бұрын

Indeed 😊

@Roland-0-0

24 күн бұрын

@@So-Awake- What a gift 🎁 …… 🙏

@fubarrepublic

22 күн бұрын

Ha! 😁👍

Thankfully I woke up but I was born and raised in the Mormon church cult and believed until 7 years ago! I’m now 64 and so very happy to be out and on this new path!

@alexhansen6648

23 күн бұрын

Same. Mormonism didn't seem like a cult while I was in it, but seeing it now from a distance gives me a whole different perspective. I left 2 years ago and sometimes look back and can't believe I was under that delusion for that long. I guess all humans are under delusion lol. But it led me here so I can't be too upset. Good luck on your path!

OMG! This was my AA group. Not the organization but the small group that love bombed me in the beginning. I was so vulnerable and so stupid.

This just wrecks me. So much of this applies to my experience in medical education

Plenty of families operate like a cult

@ingeningeningen

18 күн бұрын

So true, mine does and I didn't realize it until life took a turn that made it visible.

This conversation has some hilarious moments… I love “ when it comes to human beings, it’s all about holes and ways to fill those holes….. They try to fill the holes with people, they try to fill the holes with food, you can never put enough in your hole… “ and then writing A check for Josh, for hole filling😂

@n-xsta

24 күн бұрын

😂😂😂

@So-Awake-

24 күн бұрын

🤣🤣🤣

I spent 7 years in my early 20s in an evangelical Christian cult; the amount of fear running the show was ridiculous and terribly traumatizing; it reinforced the early childhood trauma and is a good example of Freud's repetition compulsion (the tendency to repeat what we've lived through until we remember it and see through it). I've seen similar dynamics working in a number of less mainstream religions like the Jehovah's Witnesses or Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) when I work with clients who've left such religions.

This whole process reminds me of that Abbot and Costello skit "who's on first"😂😂😂 I always end up laughing🤣

i love the authenticty of these conversations

It's interesting that a lot of cults/religions start when someone has some sort of insight or awakening and then their ego co opts it

@pamelaolson5259

22 күн бұрын

It's a dangerous moment when a human has a valuable insight. Which path you gonna take? More humility, or trying in a new and clever way to stuff your ego hole?

Brilliant, thank you both for the pointers, i swear i had like 3 shifts in this single video. Love from New Zealand.

@So-Awake-

24 күн бұрын

😲

@n-xsta

24 күн бұрын

@TeWhetu275 I’m from Aotearoa too bro 😎 glad to see another Kiwi I thought I was the only one 😅

@TeWhetu275

23 күн бұрын

@@n-xsta Im here with you brother. Did you see that reddish Aurora over our country the other day? Wow

@n-xsta

23 күн бұрын

@@TeWhetu275 wahine my bro 😅 Pretty cool how this realization is making it’s way around the world and Angelo’s stuff is pretty awesome especially for identifying the pitfalls etc 🤍

@TeWhetu275

23 күн бұрын

@@n-xsta Sorry, sister. haha I grew up in a religious family who were devoted followers of the prophet Ratana who died 4 generations ago. I knew there was something more to it than just being a member of a religious organisation regardless of how noble the intent. Long story short, I craved true wisdom and here I am, investing time in my soul. Angelos words help with my unconditioning and openning my heart to a nasty world. haha love and light to you sister, may you recieve heaps and heaps of grace on your journey haha.

Loving these conversations, they are so refreshing. Breaking into metaphors and koans, riffing down punny rivers, finishing each other's sentences....ha ha. I look forward to connecting with you all at some point! The playful nature of this interaction-transmission makes it easy to see how I could coax this muse/monk to come off this mountain top at some point. Maybe a retreat 💜 Like you need more Leela! 🤣🐒Would be interesting to hear conversations/interviews/double barrel on the Neurodiverse awakening process, stream entry and beyond. I am finding some very interesting territory after self diagnosis at age 59.

Love it, you two together are so much fun :D

I just played the last 30 seconds on 0.25 speed... 🤣🤣🤣 Funniest thing ever.

❤have you read Longchenpa? Basic Space of Phenomena, The Way of Abiding. His writing is so clear. You guys remind me of him ❤

Thanks for addressing this important topic! At the moment, I'm in the later stages of a forensic psychology graduate program, so I'm glad you discussed the findings of the Milgram electric shock experiment and the Zimbardo Standford Prison Experiments. Incidentally, these were highly controversial experiments which, in my opinion, should have been shut down early on by the researchers. Today, it would be crystal clear that such experiments are crossing an ethical line (I hope). But the studies did demonstrate how susceptible people can be to deferring to authority even when it seems likely that people are being harmed. Authority, obviously, can be represented by a white coat, a job title, a political office, robes, or a religious title. You discussed a number of important red flags which are seen over and over where cults are concerned. Manipulation, whether triangulation, guilting, gaslighting, or outright intimidation should not be present in these spaces. These approaches are more consistent with pathology than realization. I have spent a fair amount of time engaging with the Buddhist tradition over the years and now find myself more in line with Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta practice. Fortunately, I have not encountered the red flags discussed here. I hope people will keep in mind that traditions like this stress reason and inquiry, not blind obedience or faith, at least as it is conceptualized in Abrahamic traditions. Think of the Buddha's advice to "be a light unto yourself" or the Parable of the Raft. And Vedanta, like other Indic traditions, stresses the importance of Ahisma, honesty, and generosity. If one keeps these aspects of the traditions in place, hopefully they can serve as protective factors that mitigate the possibility of getting sucked into an exploitative or dangerous situation. Thanks again and be well 🙏

@ronjenks4133

24 күн бұрын

Are we really monkeys making learned noises? Lol.

@davidhummels4162

24 күн бұрын

@@ronjenks4133 nowhere to troll, nothing to do ☯️

Just love this conversation 😃🤣🙏❤️

Thanks That was really fun 😊 lol❤

Love all this

Brilliant. Love this chat

I'm only a half hour in but it's interesting that there's a conversation going on about cults and the only thing you can read on Josh's t-shirt is..."always follow". 😂 Perhaps the bottom of said shirt reads "your own heart"? 🤞❤️

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

24 күн бұрын

😂😂😂

@So-Awake-

24 күн бұрын

It ends with "the breadcrumbs"

I'm glad you made this video as the last few weeks I had been wanting to comment about this context. Discernment is important 😊

Love it❤🥰🤗🌞😃

Laughing so much with you guys. I needed that.

I had a subtle shift with big implications the morning after I saw this, (today). It was after a few days of Leaning into suffering with inquiry. This morning something popped.

@So-Awake-

21 күн бұрын

😮

@nickibinski

21 күн бұрын

@@So-Awake- 💗

Hi Angelo, the subject of validation is a very interesting topic as it is so intrinsic to our interactions, particularly with social media. I think it’s fair to say that your own channel offers rewards, for example, shoutouts to new members which as far as I can see, can only be appeal to the self’s need for validation. What would you say to that? Also, could I please get a like and a shoutout 😂

23:40 This is one interpretation of that quote "If you see the Buddha walking down the road, kill him"

Such an interesting conversation. Thanks guys. You’re awesome ❤

@So-Awake-

24 күн бұрын

❤️

Loved this. Lots of transmission here. Thanks.

Really enjoyed watching you guys, ❤❤❤❤❤

Amazing convo !

This is very good, thank you!

More videos like this please. So many wonderful pointers.

I’m new to your channel and don’t leave comments but couldn’t resist because I had you on .75 speed. I’ve not laughed so much in years! Realized the ridiculousness of ‘serious’ spirituality. How tired a true master must be! Thank you! I’m going to try .50

Such a potent conversation. Thank you, Lads. Possibly a bit frightening to understand how pervasive this behaviour is.

i have a question about what angelo said at 55:20. you say that you have a hard time imagining 3 dimensional environments but that you used to do that a lot in the past. is it possible that these faculties can be maintained by continuing to practice them after no self? i am on my way to getting a master’s degree in math and visualization, logical structure, temporarily fixing truth values in the mind, etc. seem to be necessary to do certain kinds of math. however, i also notice that these mental faculties are also like muscles which can be trained and sharpened with practice. will i maintain the ability to sharpen my intellectual faculties throughout the realization process? thank you very much for everything you do

@johnpienta4200

24 күн бұрын

I'm not certain everyone experiences this alteration in perception with full liberation. Also it is possible that it could be trained, it is also possible that his experience of his perception is limited and his actual competence in manipulating 3-D objects mentally is decreased while his ability to perform tasks depending on that are unchanged. For as long as I can remember I have been unable to visualize anything whatsoever in "my minds eye" and yet I could tell you where some piece of information was on a page while studying for an exam, etc. I was exceptionally good at doing three dimensional orientations of objects, like in rotation groups and organic/inorganic chemistry, but I can't actually see anything that I'm picturing. So maybe this helps.

@ianmccall1789

24 күн бұрын

@@johnpienta4200 thanks for the response. i relate to your description of not seeing anything in your minds eye but still being able to identify spatial relationships between structures. i don’t see colors or hard boundaries in my mind’s eye and so i would say i have aphantasia. it is still possible to manipulate these conceptual structures though, even rotating them or looking inside of them. so, i call this capacity “visualization” even though there are no visuals. very curious as to how this space might transform with certain identity shifts. i’ll probably have to find out for myself to really satisfy that curiosity though. cheers!

This whole liberation thing makes illusion and resistance to our innate flow-state highly uncomfortable until all involved intentions are clarified. Clear seeing is clear being. 🎉🎉🎉 All cults, fame and fortune are a wish of solidifying our own stink. We think we are the shit, but we really are the fart. 🎉🎉🎉 Zen-stink is the greatest teacher. 😂

I don't think you are cult-y for many reasons, but part of my mind still keeps asking, But how do we know we're not all just being taken in by the power of suggestion? All this trippy stuff might be an alternate brain mode that happens to keep us peaceful and pacified. Not like it's a conspiracy theory, necessarily, just a quirk of our minds, a pathway that clicks in and makes us think we have all the answers, either for comfort, as a totally random by-product, or as a failsafe device The Designers included to keep the sharpest of us from looking anywhere else or questioning things too deeply. That's about the most heretical thing I can think of to say. We'll see if I'm excommunicated 😛

@So-Awake-

24 күн бұрын

There is a relative difference, although subtle. Surrender and complacency look alike on the face, yet on this path we investigate everything and defer to immediate first hand experience, while complacency is deferring immediate experience to authority in spite of our own intuition and instincts The alternate brain state theory is interesting though! Ultimately it doesn't matter what's taking place. The more liberated we become, the more we seem to recognize manipulation and control. Really great comment!

@pamelaolson5259

22 күн бұрын

@@So-Awake- My point is that it could be an alternate brain state that makes us believe our own first-hand experience is somehow authoritative, when in fact it is just a more clever simulation that we spin new stories about. The alternate brain state thus stops us from looking any further than that, kind of by definition (within our minds / experience). The ultimate manipulation and control. My brain is probably just really reaching and grasping. I've always had a mind that wanted to get to the very, very bottom of things and is terrified of not knowing what's going on. Maybe now it wants to be Queen of the Matrix -- the Chosen One who will seek and see farther than all the other Copper Tops. Even more than Morpheus. My ego has a lot to work with, and a lot to overcome... Taking Angelo's advice, I don't take any of this too seriously, certainly not at the "level" I'm at now. But this is the kind of caper my mind gets up to.

Man, I sort of thought you were playing this KZread con game, taking hints of insight and implying the impossible... But I swear to myself, I think you changed my life quite drastically just now, after watching "Awake". I almost had a full on impossible realization watching another one of your videos a while back too. I don't know why or if I'm flattering you, but I think you aren't bullshitting this. Real deal... to me anyway

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

20 күн бұрын

Awesome!

@So-Awake-

20 күн бұрын

Yes, real deal

❤❤❤

In Three Pillars of Zen there’s detailed description of meditating students (mostly Japanese men iirc) getting bashed with a stick to jolt them. That’s clearly physical abuse, right? Time and place sorta deal?

@renko9067

24 күн бұрын

Wiki: In Zen Buddhism, the keisaku is a flat wooden stick or slat used during periods of meditation to remedy sleepiness or lapses of concentration. But yes, I found Rinzai zen to be militaristic, in the Japanese style.

@James-3000

24 күн бұрын

@@renko9067 Good way to put it, militaristic. I guess culture always works its way in, even the awakening process!

@renko9067

24 күн бұрын

@@James-3000 Both the military and zen are trying to break down your identity (albeit for different reasons) with shaved heads and uniforms (brown robes in zen). There’s also a zen hierarchy (when I was there anyway) with those ‘higher up’ wearing a rakusu around their necks and as I recall different adornments for different ‘levels.’ The zendo monitor was like a drill sergeant.

Cults all the way down

I guess another framing of this, which makes it extremely difficult to frame, is that it's not inevitable that people see through "the cosmic joke". For many people, and I've personally known about a half dozen people who have not gotten a chance to see beyond the veil because they ended their experiences. This framing is conspicuously absent. And frankly I expect this comment to magically disappear like many of my others. It's a funny joke when you've awoken until you see them all gone. What do we do then?

45

Major Applewhite? LOL! Better than upright citizens brigade! Bruh!

@So-Awake-

20 күн бұрын

🤣🤣

What’s the difference between religion and a cult? Time 😉

I recognize much of what you both say. Not all things.

Yogi Bhajan…