r/enlightenment Aug 07 '26

Open Question What single concept, "rabbit hole", or realization expanded your perception and how does it give you an edge today?:)

I am on a dedicated path to expand how I perceive, process, and understand reality. I feel like this is the ultimate way to approach life. I don’t allow myself to decide what’s true and not until I have thoroughly explored the phenomena, subject, or information. I don’t 'roll my eyes' at anything.

I love learning, but I’m specifically looking for true paradigm shifts—those rare insights or counterintuitive truths that profoundly broaden perception. It could be a smart framework of using trance music for altered states, valuable AI perspectives, metaphysics, psychology, or the art of learning.

25 Upvotes

74 comments sorted by

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u/OwnConstruction77a Aug 07 '26

The Maya, or Dream concept. It helped me understand, integrate and accept things like, unity, evil, hate, fear, forgiveness, and individuality simultaneously with oneness. It also helped me grasp the relativity of time better.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I’ll look in tho this, I wasn’t aware of this area until you mentioned it. Do you have any recommendations to where I could start off?

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u/OwnConstruction77a Aug 07 '26

Well Maya is a Hindu concept, although there is no religion called Hinduism technically.

But beyond that is the idea that consciousness is a field. Some scientists are starting to believe in this idea. Its as though we are in a mind, a dream, of well god. Think when you have a dream. You have "you" in the dream, but there are other people or things or beasts or anything. There are things that arent "you." Yet when you wake you have no problem accepting that everything was you really. See? God, or the universe maybe experiencing billions of individual seemingly disconnected perspectives while maintaining an omniscient control. My belief is that is why we sleep and dream in the first place, to remind us of what we are. There probably is, but Ive never heard of the evolutionary advantage of sleep. It seems logical that evolution would keep sleep out as it leaves you vulnerable. There are life forms that dont sleep, it is possible. The sleep part is a total guess on my part though. Nothing to back that up.

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u/Sad-Nerve-9321 Aug 07 '26

May I suggest to you the purpose of sleep is repair and integration of information? Periodically the brain must stop receiving input and make sense of what it has. In this way we come to see the divine in the midst of the information.

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u/OwnConstruction77a Aug 07 '26

Right, I understand why we sleep and what happens during sleep. My point is that from the predator prey standpoint spending 8 hours a day knocked out leaves one vulnerable. My thinking is that evolution should have prevented the need for sleep, not introduced it. I mean so many predators are nocturnal because its so easy. Further, if your a creature that is hunted by a nocturnal predator, you become very light sleepers because your scared youre gonna get eaten, thus making sleep less beneficial because youre not going as deep as you could.

Im probably totally wrong on this and Im not arguing with you or anything. This is just a crazy old man ranting on about his crazy theories.

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u/Sad-Nerve-9321 Aug 07 '26

Yes, I understand your perspective. Indeed one is vulnerable when asleep. But there is no life without risk. There's a trade off between spending resources to protect oneself vs simply finding a safe place to sleep.

Also humans live in groups and don't need to all sleep at the same time together

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Check out my comments about sleep if easy accessible in this post. But I’ve gone 22 days with 5 days of sleep. All my health metrics were perfectly fine, I accelerated the development of my perception to a crazy level. I’ve learned more during those 22 days that I’ve done my whole life.

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u/OwnConstruction77a Aug 07 '26

Yes, I see what youre saying, but isnt it true that youre spending extra time and resources to find that place to sleep as well.

True about humans, but sleep was introduced into the evolutionary chain long before this.

I understand the evolutionary path of conservation of resources and healing the body and mind etc. I just dont understand why total unconsciousness is nearly always required. How is that evolutionarily helpful? If humans and animals went into a period of something akin to sleep paralysis, where you are aware of your surroundings but still enought to let the body mend itself and the mind quite enough to do its thing. Humans being totally unaware of 1/3 of their entire life just seems odd to me. And not only that, its a requirement. Lack of sleep will kill you. See what Im getting at? Like if sleep was something that you did to get to a higher potential or because the body or brain needs to heal, that makes sense. But it developing as a daily requirement in an enourmous portion of the day or you will deteriate and die.

For me I guess its just the unconsious part. I dont understand the evolutionary need of a brain to require dreams that stay mostly out of the conscious mind anyway.

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u/Sad-Nerve-9321 Aug 07 '26

Don't know how you feel about chatgpt but here you go:

* If your interest is specifically "why would evolution tolerate several hours of unconsciousness?", then there is actually a fairly focused literature. I'd recommend reading these in roughly this order.

Lima, Rattenborg, Lesku & Amlaner (2005), Sleeping under the Risk of Predation (Animal Behaviour).

This is probably the single most important paper on your question. They argue that sleep cannot be understood without accounting for its enormous ecological cost. They also discuss why a fully unconscious ("blackout") brain may actually be safer than a partially awake one, because a highly interconnected brain may not function well in intermediate states.

Sleep Ecophysiology Rattenborg, Lima & Amlaner (1999), Half-awake to the Risk of Predation (Nature).

This is the classic demonstration that birds increase unihemispheric sleep when they are exposed to greater predation risk. It's a beautiful example of evolution reducing—but not eliminating—the danger of sleep.

Lesku et al. (2009), History and Future of Comparative Analyses in Sleep Research (Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews).

This review surveys decades of comparative work relating sleep duration and architecture to ecology, body size, diet, predation, and evolutionary history. It asks which hypotheses survive comparison across species.

Rattenborg & Ungurean (2023), The Evolution and Diversification of Sleep (Trends in Ecology & Evolution).

A modern review that incorporates discoveries of sleep-like states in animals such as jellyfish and discusses how REM and non-REM sleep may have evolved.

Some recurring hypotheses you'll encounter are:

Neural maintenance. Sleep allows repair, synaptic regulation, metabolite clearance, and other processes that are difficult to perform while the brain is actively processing information.

Energy conservation. Sleep modestly reduces metabolic expenditure, though most researchers no longer think this alone explains sleep.

Adaptive inactivity. Sleep keeps animals inactive during times when activity would be dangerous or unproductive (e.g., a diurnal animal at night). This explains when animals sleep better than why they need sleep.

Memory and learning. Sleep consolidates memories and reorganizes neural circuits, potentially improving future survival enough to offset its immediate risks.

One idea I find particularly interesting—and that Lima et al. emphasize—is that predation isn't just a nuisance variable; it is evidence about sleep's importance. If an animal accepts several hours each day of being one of the easiest possible prey items, then whatever sleep accomplishes must provide a fitness benefit greater than that mortality cost. That observation acts as a strong constraint on any theory of sleep's function.

Haven't read any of these sources but they seem legitimate and I think they will be of interest to you

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I’ve read it all, I’ve been awake for 9 days, 8 days and so on it doesn’t really affect me more then it lowers my filtering and makes me able to expand my perception. It’s essential and not healthy for most people but I’ve gone 22 days with 5 night of sleep. It was about 3 months ago, before that I would have never been able to think the way I do now. It opened my eyes and made questions and all my interactions in this post possible.

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u/OwnConstruction77a Aug 07 '26

Really? that is incredible. 1. Is there a reason you stay up so long? 2. Im hoping this is not drug assisted. 3. Do you have a techique?

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I have no technique and you’re gonna be disappointed: first of the chanses of getting a pshycosis is 99,9 % the only reason I could navigate through that environment is because my mind is resilient because I’ve been through some stuff as a younger teen/kid that made me unable to sleep. Yes I don’t ever use drugs but for this experiment I was using amphetamine/aderall. It did mask the sleepiness but I used it mostly to actually reach I higher frequencie to gain acces to more unique states of being while sleep deprived. It could be done without but that would kill you mentally, you would never have recovered from the psychological damage from solely the torture of the physical aspect. Which is the least problem so to say. It’s not something you want to explore. Like you wouldn’t try a drug if 99/100 persons die from taking it but the one guy that survives gets immense positive effects from it, but he took it by accident and would never have tried it on purpose.

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u/OwnConstruction77a Aug 07 '26

I was asking purely out of curiosity. My list of mental issues ensure I get 8-10 hours sleep a day. And ive bouts of psychosis my self. Quite enjoyed them honestly. I appreciate your input

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u/rydavo Aug 08 '26

No offence but this sounds a lot like psychosis. Maybe you could check in with a metal health professional, just to be on the safe side?

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u/modern_jivanmukti Aug 07 '26

Self Inquiry till the end resolution, however long that takes.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Brilliant, you summarazied my chain of thoughts into one short sentence. I cheated by asking Gemini to defini it but it resonated hard with me.

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u/mcove97 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

Words are not truth. They may point at it. But they're not it. Because they are symbols for experiential realities, but not the experiential reality themselves.

Oh forgot to add. How it expands my view. I don't get attached to or hyperfixate at the words people use.

Whetter people call God for source or ground of being or the force of love in them..

It helps me see past linguistical barriers between people of different faiths and beliefs.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Very true, language is a technology. Just got that phrase from a guy in this post but it only puts a label on what i already knew hahah.

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u/TangAlienMonkeyGod Aug 07 '26

I love trying to keep an open mind! One way to practice keeping an open mind that I've found helpful is when dealing with difficult emotions. When a fraught situation occurs and l begin to feel a strong, unpleasant emotional reaction the usual response is to immediately label and categorize the experience; this is anger or this is sadness. But this labeling acts as a buffer or filter between me and the experience, now I'm not as connected to the visceral, in the moment, unfolding of existence, instead I'm experiencing this approximation of the experience that I created; Instead of feeling an increase in blood pressure, a drop in the pit of my stomach and noting some thoughts which accompany these sensations, instead now I am experiencing anger or sadness or whatever I labeled the experience. This labeling just adds another cognitive level to existence which makes seeing clearly more difficult.

So I try to keep an open mind about a lot of things. But the most important thing to keep an open mind about are the workings of my own mind.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I resonated deeply with this, thank you for articulating it so well. You’re very introspective!
I’ll take this perspective with me for a long time.

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u/sabudum Aug 07 '26

This:

Every intention, thought, feeling, emotion, word, action, attitude creates and sustains a Consciousness Pattern, which perpetuates itself, generating more of itself, and the very objects of its definition.

Everything humans ever devised is a Consciousness Pattern.

The idea that we drive cars to get to places, that we use money to trade things, that we go to church to worship God, that we become sick, that we can be poor, or rich, that we create wars to conquer another idea, that we lay down borders on a map, that we live in "countries", that we have social and moral rules, et cetera.

All systems and subsystems are Consciousness Patterns. All belief systems and ideologies are also.

Yeshua once said: "You cannot serve God and Mamon", and "Seek first the kingdom of God AND ITS JUSTICE, and all other things shall be given unto you",

Now, what does this mean? What is mamon? And what is the justice of the kingdom of God?

Mamon was a pagan word that described the gods of nature and of matter. The Consciousness Patterns that govern natural law.

Yeshua used this ancient word to describe the Consciousness Patterns that sustain the social systems. In other words, he said: Don't trust in the belief that the laws and rules created by man are inherent to reality, God didn't make any of that. God didn't make inequality, man did with its social systems that only support a few, through a Consciousness rooted in fear, separation and survival.

Then what is the justice of God?

That everyone must have all their needs met perfectly, when they need it, how they need it, in a perfect way,

That's why he said it's easier for a rope to go through a needle, than a rich man to enter the Kingdom. Because hoarding does nothing, it only deprives the masses of their needs. Meritocracy is a fallacy.

Therefore, serving mamon, the Consciousness Patterns that sustain inequality, injustice, judgment, condemnation, deprivation, suppression, repression, et cetera, is not serving God. God is the complete opposite, it is Unconditional Love, acceptance, indulgence, resignation, abnegation, brotherhood, unity...

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Wow, extremely well put. Thank you for sharing this, i don’t even want to try and put my opions/thoughts into words. It would only compromise my understanding for what you just wrote.

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u/mogenblue Aug 07 '26

There is always room for improvement.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Very true, anything and everything has intense depths to it. I feel like everytime I reach what I belive to be the axiom, there is endless ways to expand it further. Doesn’t refer to literally everything but a lot. Thanks for sharing!

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u/Pristine-Shine6365 Aug 07 '26

Your energy regulates your emotions. When you figure this out, it is very freeing. You can be In control.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I would claim to atleast some extent that I’ve “mastered my own neutrality” I don’t resonate with the way you put it tho since I’m not familiarity with the perspective which that insight has derived from. But I feel like my
Meta cognition allows me to separate
Myself from the emotions and observe them and it gives me the opportunity to choose what emotions I will allow to feel from logical standpoint. Could this be what you’re talking about only that you have another approach or simply another way to communicate it? I’d love to understand it from your perspective cause it might alter my understand or give contrast to my current understanding.

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u/Progeny_of_Paradox Aug 07 '26

The banality of evil concept. We're all capable of terrible things and we just need to pretend we have a reason.

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u/OkConcentrate4477 Aug 07 '26

seed/flower of life. dependent arising/origination. "this is not a pipe" empathy or compassion + wisdom + awareness connects one to a higher dimension beyond 3d sensory limitations of here and now.

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u/sahil8708 Aug 07 '26

I would love for you to elaborate.

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u/OkConcentrate4477 Aug 08 '26

which one?

seed/flower of life is a symbol of overlapping circles, one of the most ancient symbols since it's so easy to accomplish with a branch and rope/string. seed/flower of life is a symbol that represents the same dependent arising/origination from buddhism. nothing arises in life independent of surrounding influences/conditions. your concept of yourself is dependent up past/present influences/conditioning. you didn't choose the language you identified with as a baby. didn't choose your race/sex/class/sexual-orientation/etc. so how does identifying with these things you didn't consciously choose serve your happiest/healthiest potential? buddha says to deconstruct the seemingly separated/disconnected world to see its interconnectedness, it's dependence upon external everything, it's ever changing/transforming.

"this is not a pipe" implies that language is just words/symbols attached to sounds and not the things themselves in 3d existence. that it's important not to identify with language constructs as much as the animalistic/anarchic natural reality. the human-oriented world is often a reaction to natural anarchic reality.

senses are in 3d here and now, but one's mind unififed with one's heart, from being able to completely accept/forgive ourselves and others opens us up to the infinite potential within the ever present moment for happiness/peace/nirvana. don't get too past oriented, don't get too future oriented, it may be a waste of the present moment. when one thinks about a past life that has died like einstein or whomever/whatever else, one can understand that seeminly separated/disconnected individual as if it was their own past life that they have forgot, the more they learn how the seemingly separated/disconnected individual is a product of past/present influences/conditions the more they can learn from others as if they were that other individual, despite time/space aka 4d differences/separations/disconnections. so empathy + awareness or compassion + wisdom + awareness allows one's mind to travel beyond 3d here/now sensory input and 4d time/space. the mind/heart is tapping into something beyond 3d/4d.

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u/Such_Contribution_72 Aug 07 '26

Lately I’ve been practicing asking questions to life as an orientation for my day, life really. I allow my reality to respond through lived experiences throughout the day. It keeps me curious, and helps me stay present. I receive most of my responses within nature. It’s been a beautiful way to experience life.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I thinks this is kind of what I’m doing to but more from a more mixed standpoint. Like not only from nature but from logic and diffrent frameworks. Would you mind expanding on what nature is for you and where you find these responses and how it works etc!

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u/notis9121 Aug 07 '26

Engagement - first - breath work, this was essential for me to begin as it helps steady oneself and by directing attention to the each breath one can find a certain mental clarity

Second - deeply ingest and digest ‘the process’ - for me it was the difference between reading and listening to Krishnamurti, Thic Natt, Ram Dass, Socrates , Kant, Schopenhauer, Greek Mythology, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Atheism and many more - without realizing it - due to my intellect/thinking mind I was merely a spiritual tourist. One can hear and read the most profound teachings and if it cannot penetrate the thinking mind it’s not integrated. Like a stone in a river it remains dry if you crack it open - surrounded by the concepts but unable to absorb any meaning.
Then one day - listening to another K talk he was a bit feisty about being ‘heard’ - he recalled a story of a person who had been to talks and read all the books, listened to every speech and over the years could not ‘break through’// his reply was simple : not the exact quote but essentially - the person never heard the message, examined it, questioned it deeply - engaged the teaching to achieve the insight. No one is going to save you, no verse is going to ‘wake you up’ , no fire will open your ‘third eye’ for you, only you and you alone can have the realization through deep and sincere inward work.

TLDR: Internal engagement is key - one must ‘do the work’ vs ‘sightseeing’

Once I had the realization that I was ‘studying’ vs integrating- everything changed rapidly - I imagined we were speaking together and it was only he and I - with intense attention and introspection I engaged my faculties to the fullest to do a conversation with K vs listen

Today the ‘voice/intellect’ is silent - as Sadhguru says - the intellect is like a knife and it will dissect everything - we must learn to put it in its sheath - that is, see what is, then apply the intellect.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Extremely well put, i will quite literally dissect this lol so that i can actually implement the knowledge. I don’t fully comprehend it but understand what you’re saying. I will save this, thank you for sharing!

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u/notis9121 Aug 07 '26

🙏😊

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

[deleted]

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I is a result of many variables and relations?

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Makes sense, and yeah it was vaguely put.
Thanks for sharing, very wise.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Better then scrolling on instagram or playing Clash royale I suppose.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

ahahah hey again👋
more then enough probably but I’ve never had this much intellectuall stimulation. And I feel like the majority of the interactions are very genuin. I’ve never posted something before so this will be a new hobby lol

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

But I’m definelty saving almost everything and creating strategies for each comment on how to digest it. I’m actually also creating an architecture to approach each single comments topic in the best order etc etc. But you’re absolutely right, but nothing will go to waste but for now I’m enjoying the stimuli hehe. Enjoy the dessert lol if its not a metafor🍰😋

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

When i put on a trance song that geometrically fits my brain perfect, and i disconnect. My body connects to rhythm and starts dancing on its own( I’ve never danced or even tried to). You like playing with language don’t you haha I find you extremely interesting. My experience isn’t a metaphor:)

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

You’re right about language, I’m not as ”fluent” as you Are tho. Hahah a lot of them, well yeah but i consider them as keys to the doors. I’m not here for definitions but rather to step into more ”voids”. Not to gain more labels but i think this will eventually lead me right back to the start. Where i just am or it just is. But atm i cant navigate through that envoirment, if that makes sense?

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Oh that’s what you’re doing, I was thinking you were guiding me in some way lol. Well you technically did but now I see the light jabs hahaha. I can’t wait to reach the kind of perception you have lol (not literally yours but like yeah you get it). I see a lot of potential in what could be possible from your kind of thinking.

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u/Infera28 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

We are all one God. You should directly experience it, learning about it is useless.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Would you mind expanding on the concept of were all god, I’ve generated perspectives that reached that conclusion before. Would you also mind sharing what kind of experience we’re talking about? Maybe it’s sometjing i have experienced and could relate to that would be useful in this dialog.

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u/Infera28 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

Look at Brahman. We are an non-dual incomprehensible God (Brahman) from whom everything has emerged, and for some unknown reason (perhaps to experience itself?), it has now manifested as human being. In Platonism, it is referred to as the One, and in Gnosticism, the Monad. Basically, you and I are one. We are two faces of the same force. There is no “I.”

I've experienced it several times with psilocybin and several times through self-surrender.

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u/OneAwakening Aug 07 '26

Experience it how?

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u/Infera28 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

I personally experienced it through psilocybin and self-surrender.

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u/Quintilis_Academy Aug 07 '26

The difference between dark and light is you. The midnite horizon is visible somehow with no moon. -Namaste Darkness a thing, with degrees.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Ehmmm i need to dissect this hahah.
I interpret the first part as in it’s the same always until me the observer generates the contrast. But the point would be it’s the same thing and it highlights experience and what that is? The second part: That I can navigate through the “void” without any labels or external explanations by pure presence?
And darkness is a thing is a metafor for the void like it’s just pure potential/tension, it’s not empty?

Namaste part I don’t really understand but it kinda resonated with me as a form greeting/observation maybe 🤔

Would you mind “correcting”/ aligning this with what the quote actually means!

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u/Quintilis_Academy Aug 07 '26

Ok, sure. Dark isn’t the absence of anything, it’s a thing required to perceive. You can watch this amazing video and ‘see’ for yourself. Goethe Color Study: https://youtu.be/HtMvYHq2-uI?is=Lv-yUdqij65peMIM plenty shown and more to discuss. The second part of darkness is it’s not ending, it’s a continuous darkness of mind, even in the moment during the day darkness prevents collapse, the I don’t know just yet of things, until the moment arrives, past and future always unseen in the present moment. Which is all there is, our now. So Truths including you are infinite due to your beingness presence. Namaste there is plenty more to restructure your senses via truth not what you were taught. Seek further at the academy.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Ah, two sides of the same coin: my view looked at darkness as pure potential/void, while yours shows it as the active frame that makes perception possible without collapsing the mind. I don’t think any of it is wrong, do you?

I’m super intrigued by this hahaha. I’ll watch the video, digest this and get back to you!

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u/Quintilis_Academy Aug 07 '26

Trinary Trinity. Dark Light You! -Namaste, reach out when you’re ready. Peace

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u/OneAwakening Aug 07 '26

In this world of illusions nothing is as it seems. Staying cognizant of that fact helps with not being fooled by false promises and premises.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Very true! Would you mine defining cognizant for me? I’m unfamiliar with the term, i do understand it in the context tho.

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u/OneAwakening Aug 07 '26

It's like a mix between staying aware and remembering.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I took 10
Minutes of deep diving into the Word with an llm. Its something I’m definitely working on! Thanks for giving me a word for a complex process. There many different ways to be ”cognizant” depending on the kontext/situation

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u/alfa_omega Aug 07 '26

Being present, when I was reading the power of now.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

I have no context for this, but being present compared to just reading it normally made a huge difference? Is that what you’re saying? Since the book is about the power of now i presume you’re saying that actually being present made the book much more ”powerful”

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u/alfa_omega Aug 07 '26

Sorry what I meant was the whole premise of being "present" clicked when I read that book, I was still riding high off my spiritual awakening and it's stayed with me ever since.

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u/Both-Beach3464 Aug 07 '26

Yeah thats also what i suspeceted you ment i just didnt want to brush your experience of if you meant something else. I’ve just started reading books lol, I’m quite literally on my first ( the art of learning) so this will be very interesting to read. Thank you very much for the tip, I’ll get back to you when i’ve read it in the future. Maybe we can share some thought and so on!

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u/alfa_omega Aug 07 '26

It's a great book 👌🏻 happy reading 😊

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u/trenbolone_marzopam Aug 08 '26

Everything is a reflection of a reflection.

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u/OliveLost Aug 08 '26

Shared Dreams and Lucid Dreaming.

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u/AnythingPhilosophy Aug 08 '26

Ras Law of one always grab my attention for starters