FORCE VS FINESSE FORCE VS FLOWRESISTANCE VS ACCEPTANCEEGO VS THE SELFForce and finesse aren’t just strategies.They’re states of consciousness.One comes from fear and control.The other comes from awareness and alignment.And the moment you recognize which one you’re operating from…your entire relationship with yourself changes.Force is effort driven by resistance.It sounds like:“I have to fix myself.”“I can’t be like this anymore.”“I need to become someone else.”Force comes from the belief that who you are right now is not enough.So you:Suppress emotionsOverride intuitionIgnore exhaustionCompare yourself constantlyAnd yes—force can produce results…but they’re brittle.You get discipline without peace.Success without fulfillment.Confidence that collapses the moment pressure hits.Force doesn’t lead to self-realization.It leads to self-conflict.Finesse is not laziness.It’s precision with awareness.Finesse says:“Let me understand why I feel this way.”“What is this resistance teaching me?”“What happens if I work with myself instead of against myself?”Finesse comes from observation, not judgment.Instead of forcing confidence,you remove what’s causing insecurity.Instead of forcing motivation,you align your environment, energy, and intention.Self-realization doesn’t happen when you overpower yourself.It happens when you see yourself clearly.So if you’re exhausted…if self-improvement feels like self-punishment…if you’re doing “everything right” but feel disconnected—Maybe the answer isn’t more force.Maybe it’s finesse.Maybe it’s awareness.Maybe it’s finally realizing that you don’t need to fight yourself to become yourself.

“Gnostic” comes from the Greek gnōsis, meaning direct knowledge—not book knowledge, but experiential knowing. Gnosticism wasn’t a single church or movement; it was a loose family of spiritual traditions that flourished mainly in the 1st–3rd centuries CE, around the eastern Mediterranean.They emerged in the same cultural soup as:early ChristianityPlatonismJewish mysticismPersian (Zoroastrian) dualismEgyptian religious ideasSo think cross-pollination, not a clean origin story.Major Gnostic groupsSome of the better-known schools:Valentinians (the most philosophically sophisticated)SethiansBasilideansManichaeans (later, more global)They were eventually branded heretical by emerging orthodox Christianity, which favored:faith over knowledgechurch authority over inner revelationsalvation through belief rather than awakeningMost Gnostic texts were destroyed—until 1945, when the Nag Hammadi library (Egypt) was discovered, giving us firsthand access to their writings.2. The Gnostic worldview (in simple terms)At the heart of Gnosticism is a radical spiritual diagnosis of the human condition.Core ideasThe true God is transcendent and unknowablePure consciousness, fullness (pleroma), beyond the material universe.The material world is flawed or fallenCreated not by the highest God, but by a lesser being (the Demiurge).This world is not evil in a cartoon sense, but ignorant, distorted, asleep.Humans contain a divine sparkA fragment of the true God is trapped within some humans.This spark is buried under conditioning, fear, and false identity.Ignorance—not sin—is the real problemWe suffer because we don’t know who we are.Salvation comes through gnosisAwakening to your true nature.Remembering where you come from.Seeing through the illusions of the world and ego.This is why Gnosticism often sounds existential, mystical, and even psychedelic by modern standards.3. Gnosticism and self-realizationThis is where the connection gets very direct.Self-realization = gnosisFor Gnostics, to know God is to know yourself, and vice versa.A famous line from the Gospel of Thomas (a Gnostic text):“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.”That’s not metaphorical fluff. It’s the entire program.Key parallels with modern self-realizationGnostic Thought Self-Realization LanguageDivine spark True Self / AwarenessIgnorance Identification with egoDemiurge False authority / conditioned mindArchons (rulers) Psychological patterns, fear, belief systemsGnosis Awakening, realization, enlightenmentFrom this angle, Gnosticism looks less like a religion and more like an early liberation psychology.4. The inner journey (how awakening happens)Gnostic myths weren’t meant to be taken literally. They were maps of inner experience.The process looks like this:Discomfort with the worldA sense that something is “off”Feeling alienated, exiled, or homesick for something unnamedRevelationThrough teaching, inner insight, or symbolic storiesNot imposed from outside—recognized from withinDisidentificationYou stop identifying fully with:social rolesthe bodyfear-based narrativesThis doesn’t mean rejecting life—just seeing it clearlyReintegrationLiving in the world, but not psychologically owned by itActing from awareness rather than compulsionThis is strikingly similar to:Advaita VedantaZen awakeningmodern nondual teachingsJungian individuationDifferent language, same underlying shift.5. Why Gnosticism was suppressedSelf-realization is hard to institutionalize.Gnosticism threatened early church power because:it said authority is internalit minimized the need for intermediariesit framed salvation as awakening, not obedienceA person who knows themselves as divine is… difficult to control.So orthodoxy won historically—but the ideas never really died. They just went underground.

In this video we go over in depth the hidden dangers of delta brain wave training. Unfortunately many people are now doing delta brain wave training in an attempt to acquire siddhis or powers, unfortunately they may be harming themselves instead in addition they may be influencing people against their will...

Delta done with alpha is an attempt to deliberately induce a hybrid brain state in which high delta activity (normally associated with deep non-REM sleep) is present while alpha and some beta activity (associated with waking awareness, attention, and ego function) remain online (Niedermeyer & Lopes da Silva, 2005).This configuration asks the nervous system to be simultaneously in deep sleep physiology and waking executive control—a state that is not a natural baseline for the human brain. In advanced contemplatives, similar states may emerge gradually and stabilize over many years through endogenous neuroplastic adaptation (Lutz et al., 2004). However, when forced through practices such as aggressive neurofeedback, this can lead to thalamocortical dysregulation, where sensory gating typical of sleep conflicts with cortical activation required for waking awareness (Steriade,2006). This mismatch disrupts the Default Mode Network (DMN)-the neural system underlying narrative self, time continuity, and ego coherence (Raichle et al., 2001)-leading to symptoms such as chronic dissociation, depersonalization, derealization, brain fog, visual snow, and fragmented identity (Simeon & Abugel, 2006).

Artificial waking-delta training can also disturb sleep architecture, suppressing restorative slow-wave sleep and flattening REM cycles, contributing to insomnia, chronic fatigue, and the subjective sense of being "never fully awake or asleep" (Walker, 2017).From a psychological and psychiatric perspective, the risks become more severe and clinically significant.Sustaining egoic monitoring (alpha/beta) on top of delta dominance is strongly associated with dissociative disorders, including depersonalization-derealization disorder (DPDR), identity diffusion, and emotional numbing (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). In vulnerable nervous systems-especially those with bipolar predisposition, trauma history, psychedelic exposure, or chronic sleep disruption-this hybridization can precipitate hypomania, psychosis, grandiose or messianic delusions, and thought disorganization (Goodwin & Jamison, 2007; Carhart-Harris et al., 2018). Chronically elevated delta during waking also suppresses dopaminergic and limbic activity, leading to anhedonia, motivational collapse, and affective blunting (Panksepp, 1998; Berridge & Kringelbach, 2015).

Most critically, "ego + waking delta" is inherently unstable: delta activity dissolves perceptual and self-boundaries, while ego function requires stable boundaries for agency and coherence. This conflict produces oscillation between loss of agency and compulsive control, manifesting as panic in silence, existential terror, and fear of disappearance. In clinical spirituality and psychiatry, this pattern is documented as unintegrated ego dissolution or spiritual emergency, a known pathway to spiritual trauma and emergency psychiatric admissions during intensive contemplative practice (Grof & Grof, 1989; Lindahl et al., 2017).

#neurofeedback #neurofeedbacktraining #deltabrainwaves #neuroscience #biofeedback #biofeedbacktraining #deltabrainwavetraining #deltaneurofeedback #spirituality #alphabrainwaves #thetabrainwaves #gammabrainwaves #betabrainwaves #BrainwaveEntrainment #BinauralBeats

In this episode we investigate the secrets if the Egyptian Book of the Dead and how it is a manual for Self Realization.

1. What the Egyptian Book of the Dead actually isDespite the name, it’s not one book and it’s not about “death” the way we think of it.Its real name is “The Book of Coming Forth by Day.”That already tells you a lot.“Coming forth” = emergence, awakening“By day” = into consciousness, clarity, light. It’s a collection of spells, hymns, affirmations, and instructions meant to guide a soul through the Duat (the underworld) and into eternal life.But here’s the key: The Duat isn’t just a place. It’s a state of consciousness.

2. Death as transformation, not an endingFor the Egyptians, death = initiation.They believed: You live many lives. Each life is a chance to remember who you really arePhysical death mirrors an inner process you can begin while alive. So the Book of the Dead is really about: How to die to the false self and awaken as the eternal oneThat’s straight-up self-realization language.

3. The soul’s components (this is huge)The Egyptians didn’t think you were just “a body + soul.” You were layered:Khat – physical bodyKa – life force / vital energyBa – personality, individualityIb – heart (seat of consciousness, not emotion)Ren – name (identity)Sheut – shadow (unconscious aspects)Akh – the luminous, awakened beingSelf-realization = integrating these parts into Akh. You don’t escape the self—you refine it.

4. The Weighing of the Heart (core teaching) This is the most famous scene for a reason.After death, your heart (Ib) is weighed against the feather of Ma’at (truth, balance, cosmic order).If your heart is light → you passIf it’s heavy → it’s devoured by Ammit (ego dissolution)Important twist: The heart test isn’t moral in a religious sense.It’s about alignment with truth.A heavy heart = lies you tell yourself, unconscious attachments, fear-based identity. Self-realization angle:You cannot awaken while clinging to false identities.

5. The “Negative Confessions” = self-knowledgeThe soul declares things like:“I have not stolen”“I have not caused suffering”“I have not obscured the truth”These aren’t commandments. They’re statements of inner clarity.They function like:AffirmationsPsychological inventory Ego detox Basically:“I know myself, and I am not ruled by distortion.”That’s self-realization in ancient form.

6. Knowing the names = mastery of consciousnessThroughout the Book, the soul must:Know the names of gatesKnow the names of guardiansKnow the names of godsIn Egyptian thought:To know the name of something is to have power over it.Symbolically:Gates = inner thresholdsGuardians = fears, instincts, archetypesGods = forces of consciousness Self-realization means:You no longer react unconsciously—you recognize what arises in you.

7. Osiris: the archetype of the realized self Osiris is killed, dismembered, resurrected, and becomes lord of the afterlife. Psychologically: Ego death Fragmentation of identityReintegration at a higher level Osiris represents:The part of you that cannot die, only transform.To be declared “Osiris [Your Name]” after death meant: You’ve realized your eternal nature You are no longer bound by time or fear

8. “Coming Forth by Day” = enlightenmentThe final goal isn’t heaven.It’s:Freedom of movement between worldsConscious participation in realityUnity with Ra (the solar consciousness)That’s classic self-realization:Being fully awake within the world, not escaping it.

9. The hidden messageThe Book of the Dead was buried with people, but its wisdom was meant to be practiced while alive.In modern terms:The Duat = your unconsciousThe monsters = unexamined fearsThe spells = intentional awarenessThe judgment = radical self-honestySelf-realization is:Making your heart so light that nothing needs to be defended.

10. Summary: The Egyptian Book of the Dead is an ancient guide to awakening—teaching that immortality is not given, but realized through truth, self-knowledge, and inner balance.

QUOTES FROM THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD

Quotes from the Egyptian Book of the Dead by Muata Ashby

https://bookroo.com/quotes/the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead

GOLDEN HEART MEDITATIONIn this video we do a golden heart meditation to increase the great attributes of living kindness, empathy and compassion. These attributes are vital to Self Realization. #meditation #yoga #spirtuality #selfrealization #realizetheself #ramanamaharshi #love #lovingkindness #empathy thy #compassion #heartbraincoherence #heartmeditation

In this video we go over exactly what Self Realization is, not in my words but in the words of the great Ramana Maharshi.From: DAY BY DAY WITH BHAGAVAN 17-8-46From the Diary of A. DEVARAJA MUDALIAR

WHY PSYCHEDELICS CAN BREAK YOU INSTEAD OF HEAL YOUPsychedelics and plant medicines can produce powerful experiences, but they also carry real psychological, neurological, and spiritual risks that often get minimized in popular discourse. 1 Brain Waves & Neurological DisruptionPsychedelics like psilocybin, LSD, DMT, ayahuasca, iboga, and even strong plant medicines (e.g., salvia, peyote) significantly alter brainwave patterns:Psychedelic impact:They suppress the Default Mode Network (DMN), the brain system that maintains identity, ego, self-narrative, and psychological boundaries.This causes:Ego dissolutionLoss of identity coherenceBoundary collapse between self and environmentHyper-association of neural networks (brain areas communicating that normally don’t)Risks:Identity destabilizationCognitive fragmentationDissociation disordersDepersonalization/derealizationLong-term perception changesHPPD (Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder)Not all brains reintegrate smoothly after this disruption.2 Ego Backlash Effect (Psychological Rebound)When ego structures dissolve too fast or forcibly, the psyche often responds with defensive overcompensation afterward:Common ego backlash patterns:Spiritual narcissism (“I’m awakened / others are asleep”)Messiah complexesIdentity inflationSuperiority delusionsHyper-meaning attributionGrandiosityDependency on substances for meaningEscapism cyclesLoss of groundedness in ordinary lifeThis happens because the ego isn't healed — it’s shattered, and it rebuilds defensively.3 Forced Transcendence vs. Organic DevelopmentPsychedelics create non-earned transcendence:You experience states your nervous system has not been trained to integrate.This causes:Psychological bypassingEmotional bypassingTrauma bypassingSpiritual bypassingIdentity confusionFalse awakening statesTrue development is structural (nervous system, emotional maturity, psychological integration). Psychedelics create state experiences, not structural development.This mismatch creates internal incoherence.4 Psychosis RiskOne of the most serious dangers:Psychedelics can:Trigger latent schizophreniaTrigger bipolar maniaTrigger psychotic breaksActivate dissociative disordersAmplify paranoiaCreate delusional belief systemsCause persistent perceptual disordersSome people never fully return to baseline.5 Trauma Amplification Contrary to popular belief:Psychedelics don’t automatically heal trauma — they often amplify it.They remove psychological filters that normally protect the psyche.This can cause:FloodingRe-traumatizationEmotional overwhelmNervous system overloadPanic disordersPTSD activation6 Dissolution Without IntegrationIntegration is the missing piece in most psychedelic culture.Without integration:Experiences become confusingMeaning becomes distortedIdentity fragmentsSpiritual ideation replaces grounded psychologySymbolic hallucinations become belief systemsArchetypal imagery becomes literalizedThis leads to:Magical thinkingConspiracy ideationFalse metaphysicsDelusional spiritualityEscapist cosmologies7 Dependency & EscapismEven “non-addictive” psychedelics can create psychological dependency:Chasing transcendenceAvoiding realityAvoiding responsibilityAvoiding emotional workAvoiding relational workUsing substances as meaning-makersThis creates spiritual addiction, not freedom.8 Nervous System OverloadStrong psychedelic experiences can overwhelm the autonomic nervous system:Chronic anxietyPanic disordersDerealizationDissociationInsomniaSensory hypersensitivityEmotional instabilitySome people develop long-term dysregulation.9 Cultural & Ceremonial RisksEven in “sacred ceremony” contexts:Unsafe facilitatorsNo psychological screeningNo trauma trainingNo integration trainingSpiritual authority manipulationSexual misconductFinancial exploitation“Ceremony” does not equal safety.and more!

In this episode we go over Plato's Cave Allegory which is a direct symbolization of Self Realization.Self Realization is the secret of all secrets and this information could not be shared with the masses.----------------------------------------------------------------------Plato's Cave Allegory describes prisoners chained in a cave, mistaking shadows on a wall for reality, representing ignorance and illusion; one prisoner escapes, experiences the painful but true world outside (the realm of Forms and the Good), and returns to enlighten others, but is met with hostility, symbolizing the philosopher's difficult journey to truth and the resistance to challenging comfortable misconceptions. The story illustrates the difference between sensory perception and true knowledge, the transformative power of education, and the philosopher's duty to guide society, even against opposition. The Allegory Explained:The Cave & Prisoners: Humanity trapped in the physical world, perceiving only copies (shadows) of reality.The Shadows: Illusions, opinions, and sensory experiences mistaken for truth.The Escapee: The philosopher ascending from ignorance to understanding.The Outside World: The intelligible realm of perfect, unchanging Forms (Ideas).The Sun: The ultimate source of truth and knowledge, the Form of the Good.The Return: The philosopher's duty to share true knowledge, often facing ridicule and danger from those content in the cave.

#platoscave #realizetheself #selfrealization #enlightenment #yoga #meditation #plato #socrates #knowthyself

In this episode we continue our reading of my new book coming out next month: Realize the Self. In this video we finish the first chapter and the second from pages 9-22.

Chapter 1 KNOW THYSELF

Chapter 2 THE HAPPINESS MYTH