For me spiritual development is the path I'm on every day. It's a constant transformation that comes by with facing my subconscious. It is made up of confronting my fears, anxieties, confronting the deepest part of myself.

I do this with the help of psychedelics, meditation, reading. Even the passing of my best friend helped me with this, of which I am grateful for every day. It might sound strange but that's how I feel about it.

Where it will lead me, I have no idea, but I have the feeling I am starting to like myself more. Just like you I try to accept the good and the bad, the tears and the laughter. I do believe that spiritual development happens on multiple levels.

I am curious to know which teachings you talk about?

vawksel I would argue then what is a dream, what is illusion, and what is real? If everything I've ever experienced has just been a dream and my dreams that I have at night other dreams and the dreams I have of one day being a famous writer just another dream then really all we're saying is that consciousness and self-awareness exists in all of these states. That said, they're still different states of beingness. The essential nature of water is H20 and while it can take on the state of being a gas, a solid, or a liquid, it's nature is still H20.

The essential beingness of edge2054 is there when I sleep and it's there when I'm awake and it's there when I'm thinking about one day writing a book. To call all of these states of beingness dreaming to me is like calling all states of H20 gas.

It gets back to the brain in a vat argument. Are we just brains connected to machines somewhere 'thinking' up this reality? Does it make a difference? Dreaming and 'this reality' are still different states regardless of rather or not there's a 'more real state' outside of this one.

Elop and AlberKLloyd, if you'll both forgive me for butting into your conversation, I think you're both right in many respects and on that note I'll just say my own peace. I've been working a lot on self-acceptance. Why I like the things I like, who I am, how to get away from my own feelings of shame and guilt, stuff like that.

I don't know if happiness is the 'goal'. I cry more freely now when something upsets me. I feel more compassion and empathy for other people and this of course leads to more tears. I've given myself permission to be sad, to be angry, to be loving, to be caring, to be kind. I'm learning to express myself and my truth without being ashamed of my own perspective and I'm also learning to be more open minded about the perspectives of everyone else (less defensive) and how to place less expectations on myself and everyone else. Allowing people to be who they are instead of who I think they're supposed to be, myself included.

This is my truth and to me what I felt the Buddha and many great sages have meant about the world of illusion. I think we, as a species, have generally gotten very good at putting on a mask or a false front for the sake of social norms. Of pretending that we're someone we're not so we can fit in. Just learning to be real.

Afterall, when I look at a painting I want to see colors! When I hear a song I want to hear notes! I don't want to just hear happiness, happiness, happiness, repeated for all of eternity. I want to know every color of human emotion. I want to sing the song that is my life in every note that it takes to express it.

Jed McKenna is most likely a fictional character.

His personality and life story seems to be based on Richard Rose, and his teaching is reminiscent of Adyashanti.

Not that it matters, if you take his book seriously then you should be testing his claims against reality (even if he is a real person).