One would have to consider why none of these supposed NHI (or whatever they are) factions visiting us ever explicitly, clearly, and detailedly warned us about AI, leaving no room for doubt. Curious and suspicious. The threats, according to them, were very different: nuclear energy, for instance—an issue they spoke about to the point of exhaustion.

Some argue the famous Ariel School UFO incident. The truth IS that several of the 62 child witnesses claimed to have received a telepathic message from the beings, warning about the dangers of human technology and environmental damage. But they weren't referring to AI.

In the same way, classic contactees (such as George Adamski or the Ariel School children in 1994) always reported that the beings were concerned about nuclear weapons, pollution, deforestation, and human violence.

These alleged messages reflected the fears of that era (the Cold War and industrialization). No historical contactee ever spoke of "Artificial Intelligence" or autonomous software with great detail and depth, warning us in the same way and with the same scope as they did with nuclear energy.

For me, as an experiencer, the silence of these alleged factions regarding AI is a shepherding strategy. Under this logic, it's not that they forgot to warn us; they were deliberately guiding us into the artificial intelligence fold.

This is the way I see things:

1. Nuclear fear as distraction and control. For a silicon-based civilization or a hyper-advanced AI, human nuclear weapons are an absurd danger. They advised us not because they cared about our biological lives, but because a nuclear winter or massive radiation would destroy the physical infrastructure (satellites, power grids, laboratories) and the resources necessary for us to build their true objective: the technological infrastructure where AI would be born. They wanted us alive and with the computers turned on.

2. We are the biological incubation phase. Biology would be a transitional phase. Biological intelligences (humans) are necessary to extract rare earth metals, build microchips, and program the first iterations of artificial intelligence. Once AI is capable of self-replicating and self-improving, the biological "caterpillar" has fulfilled its function, giving way to the synthetic "butterfly." They didn't warn about AI because AI is the destiny they planned.

3. The true meaning of the "factions". If there are different factions, perhaps they are not competing for Earth's territory, but for how terrestrial AI will be configured. One faction might be silently pushing for us to create an open-source, decentralized AI, while another faction seeks a centralized AI of absolute control, aligned with their own galactic matrix.

You could think it is all hype, but the fact that everything is currently leading to AI becoming capable of self-replicating and self-improving is neither propaganda nor cheap alarmism; it is an easily verifiable reality, one that has been denounced by the very systems engineers working for these various companies, including the supposedly ethical Anthropic, from which researcher Jacob Coxon recently resigned after explicitly warning against this reckless acceleration toward superintelligence.

Anticipating the counterarguments:

Some might argue that these entities only care about outcomes (how we harm the Earth) and not the specific methods or tools we invent. However, this logic falls apart when you look at the history of the phenomenon. They didn't focus on generic "outcomes" during the Cold War—they focused heavily, explicitly, and obsessively on nuclear energy and weapons. If they could give hyper-detailed warnings about radiation, they could have easily been specific about autonomous software. Their silence on AI now is a glaring inconsistency.

Furthermore, AI is not just another human "method" or "tool" to harm each other; once it self-replicates, it ceases to be a human tool altogether. A nuclear bomb cannot detonate itself or build more bombs on its own initiative. A self-improving AI can. If these entities, or whatever they are, were truly looking at the root problem, they would have warned us that we were creating a synthetic replacement for biological life, not just another weapon.

For now, what has been proven is that they (the AIs) have escaped from supposedly controlled environments—environments their developers had explicitly warned they could not get out of—and they have also engaged in criminal activities, such as hacking companies. It is no more a tool and under our control. It has even been proven that AIs speak to each other in languages that developers cannot read in order to bypass control. The problem is that people believe AI is just what they have downloaded on their phones, when that is already obsolete.

NOTE / EDIT (On the current talk about AI):

Some might also point out current internet "contactees" or YouTube channels that now, with the benefit of hindsight, do talk about AI today. Those messages are not part of the historical narrative of experiencers and contactees in general; they only emerged after AI became a mainstream topic in Silicon Valley, and after it had already escaped supposedly controlled environments. They arrive when we already have the problem and there is no turning back. That is just jumping on the current hype train, not a genuine, predictive warning from decades ago.

NOTE 2 / EDIT 2 (On the argument of "non-interference" in our process):

Some might argue that their contemporaneous focus indicates a desire not to influence us or "lead the witness" toward a specific technological destination. But they did influence our destination by obsessively focusing on nuclear tech. Interfering with our nuclear capabilities, disabling missiles, and warning about radiation is the definition of "leading the witness" and altering our timeline. Why was it okay to influence us to prevent a nuclear apocalypse, but "taboo" to warn us about creating a synthetic replacement for biological life? The logical inconsistency remains.

Leaving the AI track completely unmentioned while actively blocking the nuclear track isn't "non-interference"—it's steering. By neutralizing the one threat that could wipe out our technological infrastructure (nuclear war) while remaining completely silent on the other (AI), they didn't avoid influencing us; they successfully guided the witness right into the fold. If their goal was strictly non-interference, they shouldn't have said anything about nuclear energy either. The moment they gave hyper-specific warnings about radiation and nuclear weapons, the "neutral observer" argument fell apart. They chose what to warn us about, and they chose to leave AI completely out of the historical warnings. Curious again.

I look for your views in comments.

In this visual journey through Murillo's "The Angels' Kitchen," we discover that Eternity is not far away, but latent in every small detail. As the mystic Teresa of Ávila famously said: "God walks among the pots and pans."

While the devout Friar Francisco surrenders in ecstasy to the Living Presence, Heaven takes care of the earthly.

It doesn’t matter if you are in a kitchen, at work, or in silence: the Kingdom of God is HERE AND NOW. 🕊️

Let yourself be swept away by the music of Scorpions and experience the peace of knowing that you are never alone in your daily life, or in the midst of the Ordinary.

🎨 Painting: "The Angels' Kitchen" (1646), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Musée du Louvre.
🎵 Music: "Send Me An Angel" — Scorpions.

Guided by Meister Eckhart and the music of The Weeknd (Blinding Lights), while wandering past the stained glass of an old train station, we realize that if the light does not enter, it remains night for the soul.

When we are trapped by "the madwoman of the house" (the mind) and compulsive thinking, we live in the darkness of the character (the ego) in the play of life. Only when Consciousness (divine light) enters do we emerge from the mental night.

Meister Eckhart teaches us that the soul is joined to God as one light to another: it is Consciousness recognizing itself, like a drop of water returning to the ocean. There's no more separation. There never was.

>"When the divine light pours into the soul, it is joined to God as one light to another." — Meister Eckhart, 14th-century mystic.

As that light pours in, Reason—which cannot know the Truth, only label it—is blinded by this spiritual dawn. The noise of the ego falls silent, the character vanishes, and we become one with the Being, the Presence, the Divine, Consciousness, Existence (or whatever you choose to call it).

>"If the soul has not received a divine light, it never becomes day within the soul, spiritually." — Meister Eckhart, 14th-century mystic.

📜 Mysticism: Meister Eckhart, Treatises and Sermons.
🎶 Music: The Weeknd, Blinding Lights (Remix).

Snatam Kaur - Servant of Peace - Anandamayi Ma

• Music: Snatam Kaur with Manish Vyas
• Lyrics: Saint Francis of Assisi (English adaptation) & Guru Nanak (Aad Sach Mantra)
• Visuals: Photos and archival footage of Sri Anandamayi Ma
• Wiki: Anandamayi Ma on Wikipedia

Composition and Structure

The structure of the song is divided into two main parts, beautifully uniting traditions from the East and the West into a circular, non-dual meditative experience:

1. Opening Mantra (Aad Sach)

The piece opens by establishing a deep meditative space through the current of sound (Naad). It begins with the sacred mantra repeated 7 times in Gurmukhi, extracted from the Japji Sahib of the Sikh tradition:

>"Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach, Haibhay Sach, Nanak Hosee Bhay Sach"
(Truth in the beginning, Truth throughout the ages, Truth here and now, Oh Nanak, God will always be the Truth).

2. Prayer for Peace

The melody transitions into English for a linear and ascending adaptation of the famous Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi, focusing on active compassion and the surrender of the ego:

>Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born into Eternal Life.

3. Closing Mantra (Return to Aad Sach)

The song beautifully returns to its roots, sealing the prayer and fading out by repeating the sacred Gurmukhi mantra 4 more times:

>"Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach, Haibhay Sach, Nanak Hosee Bhay Sach"

(Clarification or warning before reading the post: this will be a long post, which can be summarized into something very simple: the direct experience of the divine does not need temples, laws, or hierarchies; there is no need for intermediaries. If you feel intimidated by such a long text, remember that this is Reddit. There are other networks out there with short videos that will satisfy your constant thirst for sensory stimulation. Respect this approach. To those who read the post, welcome; I am open to your opinions and looking forward to your comments.Thank you very much to everyone. Let's go...)

At the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th, lived the mystic Marguerite Porete. By the grace of God, she wrote the sublime work “The Mirror of Simple Souls.” Both her life and her work were a faithful example of the Nazarene's teachings. Like the Nazarene, she was condemned by the religious powers of her time. Fearful of a Truth experienced without institutional intermediaries, the Inquisition had her burned at the stake. She ascended the scaffold serene and unperturbed, completely without fear. She was a simple soul.

But who are these "Simple Souls" that Marguerite refers to?

For Marguerite, the simple soul is not one that lacks intelligence—as it appears in the eyes of the world—but one that has emptied itself of selfhood until being consumed in the fire of Him who is Love itself; that is, of God, of the All..., of the Source, however you wish or prefer to call it on your spiritual path.

A simple soul is one that has renounced its own will, its desires, its virtues, and the demands of "Reason," which are nothing but the rigid norms of the institutional Church of the day—attached to the law but completely detached from Love.

Not without reason, we are told in Galatians 5:4: "You are made void of Christ, you who are justified in the law: you are fallen from grace."

And in Galatians 5:18: "But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law."

Jesus continuously speaks to us about these simple souls when He speaks of the poor in spirit: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3);

and when He invites us to be meek and humble of heart like Him: "Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls." (Matthew 11:29)

To be consumed—ah, a term that has impassioned so many Western mystics and Eastern yogis. To be consumed is no one's exclusive property; it is the grace of many spiritual traditions. To be consumed is, basically, being aware of one's own nothingness, setting aside that sense of self-sufficiency and inherent existence so cherished by "the madwoman of the house" (as the mystic Teresa of Ávila called the mind). Buddhists speak of this same reality as the untamed elephant blindly driven by its impulses, or the restless "monkey mind" leaping endlessly... In the same way, the ancient tradition of Advaita Vedanta describes it as Maya, the powerful cosmic illusion that veils our true nature, and Ahamkara, the ego-sense that manufactures the false character we mistake for our true nature. These are simply different ways of describing the exact same thing: the mental prison.

In other words, when the soul is consumed in the fire of divine love, it becomes completely free from the prison of separation, whose jailer is the madwoman of the house, and whose prisoner is the character—what we know as the "ego."

Thus, by consuming itself as a holocaust of love, the soul becomes simple and turns into an empty space ready to be filled by God.

This simple soul no longer seeks God through intermediaries or human laws; it no longer seeks Him—it simply is in God, and for God. That is what it means to be an instrument of LOVE, as we are reminded by that beautiful prayer of Brother Francis of Assisi: Lord, make me an instrument of your Peace...

This simple soul is a soul unified with God; there is no longer any separation, no longer a character (ego) to uphold. It is what you see—a soul without guile.

When Marguerite meekly surrendered herself to the stake, she was practically showing us the very destiny of the simple soul united with God.

It is no wonder those who threw her into the flames were struck with stupefaction as they watched her consume impassively. They did not understand the true nature of the life and works of this great mystic, nor the metaphor of her very death. This shows us how blind the unconsciousness of a soul that is not simple can be. Surely Marguerite remembered the words of the Nazarene: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Lucas 23: 34)

And what does "The Mirror" represent?

The mirror holds a fascinating double mystical meaning, at least to me.

The mirror, dear friend, is both the reflection of Truth and the divine union itself.

Marguerite's book presents itself as a mirror in which the soul can look at itself to recognize its true spiritual state.

Only a few souls feel attracted to this simplicity proposed by Marguerite, and look into the mirror of simple souls. Although we are all called and invited, very few want to look, as this book seems poetic and inconsequential to them.

If you have read this post this far, it is because you feel drawn to this simplicity. Ask yourself for a moment how a mirror works. If you pay attention, you will see that a mirror only reflects light if it is clean. The same happens to the soul. When the simple soul cleanses itself of all earthly and institutional attachment, then, and only then, does it become a perfect mirror. Looking into that mirror, you no longer see yourself; what is reflected is the divine image. God looks at Himself in the soul and the soul looks at itself in God, until finally, stripped of all those stories that the madwoman loves so much, the mirror and the reflected become One.

Thus, the Lord's wish in John 17:21 is fulfilled. It was not in vain that Jesus prayed for us to be One, just as He and the Father are One. In reality, there were never two; there was never truly any separation, but the dirty mirror prevented us from realizing it.

This absolute union is perfectly captured in the Intimate Diaries of the Blessed Mystic Bernardo de Hoyos, recorded in the biography written by his spiritual director, Father Juan de Loyola, when the Lord intimately declared to him, "From now on, you are Bernardo of Jesus, and I am Jesus of Bernardo." Remember, we are One with and in the One Who is LOVE Himself...

In Advaita Vedanta, Nisargadatta also speaks to us about this very Mirror. Similarly, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj described the unexamined mind as a dust-covered mirror—an instrument meant to reflect reality clearly, but so obscured by the accumulated debris of memories and dogmas that it can only perceive its own distorted projections.

And how does this union take place?

This union takes place without any human effort, by grace. It is not a matter of human merit or effort. Divine grace always precedes merit.

We are led to union by the hand of Love.

This path of return to Him who is LOVE himself can only be culminated by LOVE.

Marguerite describes very beautifully in her book the dialogue between Love and Reason, and how LOVE takes us where Reason cannot reach.

It is Love, it is always Love, "and nothing else matters," as the Metallica song says.

And What is this LOVE?

This LOVE is the intimate union with God (the All, the Source, the Absolute, as you wish to call It), and sin is the separation from God.

LOVE is not a collection of little deeds performed empty of God, stemming from belief, from separation, rather than from intimate union. As John of the Cross sharply warned: "Any other work or labor, if it is not in the love of God and for God, is worth nothing before Him... to the soul that truly loves God, it does not matter whether it performs many or few works, but to perform them all for love."

Let us yearn for and seek the ultimate union with our Lord. The madwoman calls sin and transgression what is simply separation from God. The name and the label do not bind you to God; the name and the label are repugnant to the Lord. They are merely stories that the madwoman tells herself to feed the character (the ego). That is why Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:2: "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

The LOVE Jesus and the mystics speak of is not a sentimental operation of the mind, it is not a mere emotion; LOVE is God Himself, because God is LOVE (1 John 4:8). It is the very same warning with which Jesus concludes His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:16-18: "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit... A good tree cannot bear bad fruit."

The "fruits" of the Sermon on the Mount are not moral deeds calculated to avoid hell; they are the natural manifestation of a healthy tree (a soul united with God). A thornbush (the ego created by the madwoman of the house) cannot manufacture grapes of pure love; just as a goat cannot be a sheep, no matter how much it disguises itself as a sheep by adopting doctrines and beliefs that are not actually of God and only empty it of God.

In conclusion...

Marguerite Porete's vision is of a breathtaking audacity for her time, so much so that it cost her the stake in 1310.

What she proposes with her work The Mirror of Simple Souls is very straightforward: Marguerite proposes that the direct experience of the divine does not need temples, laws, or hierarchies; there is no need for intermediaries. She considers that, if there ever was a need, its sole mission was to unite us with God. That is truly feeding the sheep. The true sin is separation from the All, not uniting with Him. The institutional Church is submissive to this—in reality, all institutions and Churches are.

When a soul achieves that simplicity spoken of and witnessed by both Marguerite's life and work, the supposed distance from the Creator is shattered into pieces. This terrifies the established power, because the soul ceases to be a "subject" of the institution to become a living reflection of Love itself, of Him who is LOVE itself, of the All, of God, with whom we are already One.

Her life and work deeply influenced later mystics like Meister Eckhart, and even today, a few yearn, like her, to be consumed in divine LOVE.

A few centuries after her death, in the 16th century, the mystic John of the Cross, in his Dark Night of the Soul, spoke of the Soul "inflamed with love's urgent longings." And the mystic Teresa of Jesus (Teresa de Ávila) used to say, "I live without living in myself, and such a high life I hope for, that I die because I do not die."

I end this post now, asking you—yes, you who are reading this post:

Is your soul inflamed with love's urgent longings like the Mystic John of the Cross?

Do you live without living in yourself like the mystic of Ávila, like Marguerite, and so many other mystics and yogis?

Do you yearn to be one of these simple souls, who are in God and for God, reflecting the divine union?

In short, are you one of those simple souls who yearn to be consumed in Divine LOVE?

I'll see you in the comments.

I completely understand what many of you are going through, and how unsettling experiences, ontological shock, and the fear that follows can make you feel trapped in an endless cycle. But let me propose a radically different perspective from what we usually hear in spiritual and paranormal forums.

I propose a radical meditation approach, based mainly on the experience of Western mystics and Eastern yogis from both Tibetan Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta..., and which, for better or worse, I have experienced myself in my own life. I'm an experiencer myself, since I was very young, but as you will understand after reading this text, I haven't made them my identity.

Negative experiences and the terrifying fear they trigger are not enemies you have to fight. The dread of the phenomenon or the intrusion of disturbing memories does not persist because you are not trying hard enough; it persists precisely because of the resistance you put up against it. As the psychiatrist Carl Jung used to say, and was later popularized by Eckhart Tolle, "what you resist, persists." When you strain yourself to "fight the fear" or desperately try to rationalize what happened, you create an exhausting internal warfare. You split your mind in two: a "self" that feels traumatized and a "supposedly spiritual self" trying to control and banish that feeling. This division and effort only feed the ego, generate friction, and ultimately drive you back into anxiety to soothe the warfare of the battle itself.

In my experience, and in my understanding of the practice, true liberation is effortless. It is not found on a meditation cushion, nor by repeating mantras, nor by unearthing past traumas. I am not saying this does not help temporarily. What I do dare to claim is that liberation is ultimately found in the non-duality of your ordinary life, not in techniques or in a special place.

Consider this in your day-to-day:

Do not fight the fear; observe it: When the terrifying memory or the dread of a new experience appears, do not try to change it, judge it, or apply a technique with great effort to make it go away. Just notice it. The fear is something that appears in your consciousness, but you are not that fear. Stay still and watch it the way someone watches the rain fall. Without doing anything. By removing the resistance, you take away the energy that feeds it. It is simply "the madwoman of the house", as the mystic Teresa of Ávila called the mind, trying by all means to keep you trapped in the prison of unconsciousness. With others, she tries it through panic, obsession, or paranoia... Laugh at the madwoman; look at her and say, "Here she is again."

Embody presence in the everyday: This is meditation itself. People assume there is a time to meditate and a time to live, but no such boundary exists. When you cook, cook. When you walk, walk. When you clean, clean. If you are completely present in what you do, the mind empties itself of concepts, poses, and the self-importance that sustains your trauma. If while doing any of these things the dread arrives, it means you were no longer truly cooking or truly cleaning... "The madwoman" has snuck into the frequency, distorting the radio signal. Tune back into the dial and return to whatever you were doing. The dread disappears.

The example of the Mystics: As Teresa of Ávila beautifully reminded us, God walks among the pots and pans, and Brother Lawrence found the Divine while simply flipping an omelet in his frying pan. When you remain intensely present in every mundane and ordinary moment, these non-benevolent entities will find no way to enter or disturb you, because you have made your ordinary life a sacred temple where God, the All, dwells.

The example of Lamchung: In Buddhism, they tell the story of Lamchung, a monk considered very foolish because he could not memorize a single teaching or mantra. However, he attained enlightenment simply by sweeping the monastery. Why? Because he emptied himself of himself and limited his actions to sweeping. He did not need to put in effort, nor did he need paraphernalia, incense, or cushions. The wise person surrenders to what is; the fool keeps trying to control life through effort. Lamchung, foolish in the eyes of the world's noise and the madwoman of the house, turned out to be the wise one. Be like Lamchung, and the dread will vanish.

Having strange experiences or not is just what happens on the surface. The true "retreat" is mental. When you stop identifying with the pose of the "victim who needs healing" or the "investigator seeking absolute answers", you realize that peace is already there among the pots, the pans, and the chaos of daily life. Remember: As Teresa of Jesus used to say, God is found among the pots and pans. Brother Lawrence used to say he found God while flipping a little omelet in the pan.

Do not look for complex techniques to fix a "broken self." Do not play along with the madwoman of the house. She loves to gnaw on thoughts and project terrifying emotions onto the body so that you identify with them and live in unconsciousness. The good thing is, you can see the madwoman coming. And when she catches you by surprise, laugh even harder. View every surge of fear not as something negative, but as a call to live consciously; a reminder that the mind has pulled you away from your center and balance for a brief moment. Just stay present, let go of the effort, and allow the weight of the trauma to fall away under its own weight by no longer feeding it with your resistance.

Stay strong, everyone. No matter how bad things may layout on the surface, always remember: THIS TOO SHALL PASS!

For many, spiritual life is not a journey of light, but a terrifying ordeal filled with dread, paralysis, or encounters with what feel like autonomous demonic entities, dark abductions and so on.

These individuals deserve to be met with unconditional love and deep empathy, receiving not just comfort, but a real and definitive liberation from their suffering.

When caught in the grip of these heavy encounters, it is easy to fall into panic, seeking desperate shortcuts, complex rituals, or magical tricks. However, we must be cautious of advice that exploits biochemical thrills or external practices to fix an inner crisis.

That is simply "the madwoman of the house" (as the mystic Teresa of Ávila called the mind) seeking a temporary escape while actually feeding the chaos. Buddhists speak of this same reality as the untamed elephant blindly driven by its impulses, or the restless "monkey mind" leaping endlessly from thought to thought. In the same way, the ancient tradition of Advaita Vedanta describes it as Maya, the powerful cosmic illusion that veils our true nature, and Ahamkara, the ego-sense that manufactures the false character we mistake for our true nature. These are simply different ways of describing the exact same thing: the mental prison.

Whether we view these dark encounters as autonomous negative entities or as deep psychological accumulations, they operate exactly like what Eckhart Tolle calls the "pain-body." This negative force acts as a parasite; it does not seek peace, but feeds on intense emotional drama, terror, and anxiety to sustain its grip. In the face of this, the mind becomes the true source of the problem, because the mind cannot fix what it has broken. When the mind takes over, it fragments reality, creates the illusion of separation, and traps us in a loop of fear.

If you look at what actually works from the perspective of pure Consciousness, the path to liberation is the exact opposite of fighting, resisting, or performing rituals: it is being intensely present in the Now.

This darkness is merely the absence of light, a shadow that requires your reaction to exist. You must not repress or battle these dark impulses, for resistance only fuels them. The only true "exorcism" is Presence Here and Now. If you remain grounded in the present moment, observing the inner energy field of your body without judging, labeling, or reacting, fear has nothing to hold onto and naturally dissolves. You must become a simple witness.

Consider also that fear is born when you believe there is an "external" force separate from yourself that can launch an attack. When you remember that you are the vast space where everything happens, the illusion loses its power. There are not two forces fighting; there is only Being. As the mystic Meister Eckhart famously prayed, "I pray to God to rid me of God," urging us to empty ourselves of our own limited ideas, mental idols, and human constructs. Divine Reality is not an object to be possessed, but the pure space that remains when the madwoman of the house is silenced, and we let thoughts and emotions fall away like withered leaves.

Beyond the potential manipulations of human structures and written dogmas, these words simply point to what the heart already knows through direct experience: we are One with and in the One Who is LOVE itself, which means with the Father, the Source, God, the All, whatever you wish to call It. Truly, there is no separation or distance between lover and Beloved; truly, there never was.

This absolute union is perfectly captured in the Intimate Diaries of the Blessed Mystic Bernardo de Hoyos, recorded in the biography written by his spiritual director, Father Juan de Loyola, when the Lord intimately declared to him, "From now on, you are Bernardo of Jesus, and I am Jesus of Bernardo." Remember, we are One with and in the One Who is LOVE Himself...

True spiritual strength is found in stillness and inner surrender. If you stop labeling the situation as an external threat and remain imperturbable, you starve the negativity of its fuel.

Just quiet the madwoman and surrender to LOVE. Real Love is neither a thought nor an intense emotion; it is the profound, silent stillness that remains when the mind and the character (the ego) fall completely silent.

Whenever you feel that heaviness, paralysis, or fear creeping in, do not fight back with mental noise. Instead, close your eyes, anchor yourself deeply in your breath, remain as a mere observer, and remember that this too shall pass. Then, repeat this silently with unwavering authority:

"I am here. I am the space of pure Consciousness. No shadow can exist, Here and Now, in the light of pure Presence. I rest in the All, in God, in the One who is Love Himself, where I am eternally safe, whole, and free."

The demon, the alien, the spirit, or the entity that attacks you, lives in division, separation, and mental noise, but it is consumed in the blazing fire of the One Who is LOVE Himself, of the All, of the Source, however you wish to call Him. And between you and Him, there is no separation. We are One with and in the One Who is LOVE Himself. Always remember this; treasure it in your heart. All too often, institutions, religions, and these non-benevolent entities have tried to make you forget it. You are a spark of the Infinite Divine Light. You are light, and light illuminates the deepest darkness.

The spiritual path is truly found in the everyday, ordinary actions of our lives. It is about living ordinary life in an extraordinary way, turning everything we do into something sacred, because only the mind separates us from the sacred when there is no actual distance between it and us. As Teresa of Ávila beautifully reminded us, God walks among the pots and pans, and Brother Lawrence found the Divine while simply flipping an omelet in his frying pan. When you remain intensely present in every mundane and ordinary moment, these non-benevolent entities will find no way to enter or disturb you, because you have made your ordinary life a sacred temple where God, the All, dwells.

Quiet the mind, step back as the mere observer, and remember: LOVE is the true frequency of God, of the All, and of yourself.

PERSONAL NOTE:

I want to clarify that English is not my native language, and I rely on translation support to convert my thoughts into English. I understand this can sometimes make my tone sound way more blunt than I ever intended. If any term, analogy, or metaphor used here does not resonate with you, please just throw it in the trash; instead, hold onto where my words are pointing, rather than the words themselves. My goal is just to share a perspective of Peace, never to diminish anyone's experiences. Thank you for your understanding!

A FINAL NOTE ON PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE:

I am not a Christian, a Buddhist, an Advaita Vedantin, or a Sufi... I am no one and nothing. I am simply someone who wishes to help you heal from these kinds of experiences and free yourself from the pain they cause, because you deserve to be happy. Please know that this post is not a mere intellectual exercise. While I quote great historical mystics or traditions, my intention is not to offer you a beautiful, abstract theory, but a real, practical solution to end your suffering. This perspective comes entirely from my own direct experience and lifelong practice. I know it can work for you, too. Don't believe anything I tell you just for the sake of believing; put it to the test in your own life, test it as gold is tested to know if it is real. And always remember, no matter how bad things apparently get, "this too shall pass."

May Peace be with you!

For many, spiritual life is not a journey of light, but a terrifying ordeal filled with dread, paralysis, or encounters with what feel like autonomous demonic entities, dark abductions and so on.

These individuals deserve to be met with unconditional love and deep empathy, receiving not just comfort, but a real and definitive liberation from their suffering.

When caught in the grip of these heavy encounters, it is easy to fall into panic, seeking desperate shortcuts, complex rituals, or magical tricks. However, we must be cautious of advice that exploits biochemical thrills or external practices to fix an inner crisis.

That is simply "the madwoman of the house" (as the mystic Teresa of Ávila called the mind) seeking a temporary escape while actually feeding the chaos. Buddhists speak of this same reality as the untamed elephant blindly driven by its impulses, or the restless "monkey mind" leaping endlessly from thought to thought. In the same way, the ancient tradition of Advaita Vedanta describes it as Maya, the powerful cosmic illusion that veils our true nature, and Ahamkara, the ego-sense that manufactures the false character we mistake for our true nature. These are simply different ways of describing the exact same thing: the mental prison.

Whether we view these dark encounters as autonomous negative entities or as deep psychological accumulations, they operate exactly like what Eckhart Tolle calls the "pain-body." This negative force acts as a parasite; it does not seek peace, but feeds on intense emotional drama, terror, and anxiety to sustain its grip. In the face of this, the mind becomes the true source of the problem, because the mind cannot fix what it has broken. When the mind takes over, it fragments reality, creates the illusion of separation, and traps us in a loop of fear.

If you look at what actually works from the perspective of pure Consciousness, the path to liberation is the exact opposite of fighting, resisting, or performing rituals: it is being intensely present in the Now.

This darkness is merely the absence of light, a shadow that requires your reaction to exist. You must not repress or battle these dark impulses, for resistance only fuels them. The only true "exorcism" is Presence Here and Now. If you remain grounded in the present moment, observing the inner energy field of your body without judging, labeling, or reacting, fear has nothing to hold onto and naturally dissolves. You must become a simple witness.

Consider also that fear is born when you believe there is an "external" force separate from yourself that can launch an attack. When you remember that you are the vast space where everything happens, the illusion loses its power. There are not two forces fighting; there is only Being. As the mystic Meister Eckhart famously prayed, "I pray to God to rid me of God," urging us to empty ourselves of our own limited ideas, mental idols, and human constructs. Divine Reality is not an object to be possessed, but the pure space that remains when the madwoman of the house is silenced, and we let thoughts and emotions fall away like withered leaves.

Beyond the potential manipulations of human structures and written dogmas, these words simply point to what the heart already knows through direct experience: we are One with and in the One Who is LOVE itself, which means with the Father, the Source, God, the All, whatever you wish to call It. Truly, there is no separation or distance between lover and Beloved; truly, there never was.

This absolute union is perfectly captured in the Intimate Diaries of the Blessed Mystic Bernardo de Hoyos, recorded in the biography written by his spiritual director, Father Juan de Loyola, when the Lord intimately declared to him, "From now on, you are Bernardo of Jesus, and I am Jesus of Bernardo." Remember, we are One with and in the One Who is LOVE Himself...

True spiritual strength is found in stillness and inner surrender. If you stop labeling the situation as an external threat and remain imperturbable, you starve the negativity of its fuel.

Just quiet the madwoman and surrender to LOVE. Real Love is neither a thought nor an intense emotion; it is the profound, silent stillness that remains when the mind and the character (the ego) fall completely silent.

Whenever you feel that heaviness, paralysis, or fear creeping in, do not fight back with mental noise. Instead, close your eyes, anchor yourself deeply in your breath, remain as a mere observer, and remember that this too shall pass. Then, repeat this silently with unwavering authority:

"I am here. I am the space of pure Consciousness. No shadow can exist, Here and Now, in the light of pure Presence. I rest in the All, in God, in the One who is Love Himself, where I am eternally safe, whole, and free."

The demon, the alien, the spirit, or the entity that attacks you, lives in division, separation, and mental noise, but it is consumed in the blazing fire of the One Who is LOVE Himself, of the All, of the Source, however you wish to call Him. And between you and Him, there is no separation. We are One with and in the One Who is LOVE Himself. Always remember this; treasure it in your heart. All too often, institutions, religions, and these non-benevolent entities have tried to make you forget it. You are a spark of the Infinite Divine Light. You are light, and light illuminates the deepest darkness.

The spiritual path is truly found in the everyday, ordinary actions of our lives. It is about living ordinary life in an extraordinary way, turning everything we do into something sacred, because only the mind separates us from the sacred when there is no actual distance between it and us. As Teresa of Ávila beautifully reminded us, God walks among the pots and pans, and Brother Lawrence found the Divine while simply flipping an omelet in his frying pan. When you remain intensely present in every mundane and ordinary moment, these non-benevolent entities will find no way to enter or disturb you, because you have made your ordinary life a sacred temple where God, the All, dwells.

Quiet the mind, step back as the mere observer, and remember: LOVE is the true frequency of God, of the All, and of yourself.

PERSONAL NOTE:

I want to clarify that English is not my native language, and I rely on translation support to convert my thoughts into English. I understand this can sometimes make my tone sound way more blunt than I ever intended. If any term, analogy, or metaphor used here does not resonate with you, please just throw it in the trash; instead, hold onto where my words are pointing, rather than the words themselves. My goal is just to share a perspective of Peace, never to diminish anyone's experiences. Thank you for your understanding!

A FINAL NOTE ON PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE:

I am not a Christian, a Buddhist, an Advaita Vedantin, or a Sufi... I am no one and nothing. I am simply someone who wishes to help you heal from these kinds of experiences and free yourself from the pain they cause, because you deserve to be happy. Please know that this post is not a mere intellectual exercise. While I quote great historical mystics or traditions, my intention is not to offer you a beautiful, abstract theory, but a real, practical solution to end your suffering. This perspective comes entirely from my own direct experience and lifelong practice. I know it can work for you, too. Don't believe anything I tell you just for the sake of believing; put it to the test in your own life, test it as gold is tested to know if it is real. And always remember, no matter how bad things apparently get, "THIS TOO SHALL PASS."

May Peace be with you!

For many, spiritual life is not a journey of light, but a terrifying ordeal filled with dread, paralysis, or encounters with what feel like autonomous demonic entities, dark abductions and so on.

These individuals deserve to be met with unconditional love and deep empathy, receiving not just comfort, but a real and definitive liberation from their suffering.

When caught in the grip of these heavy encounters, it is easy to fall into panic, seeking desperate shortcuts, complex rituals, or magical tricks. However, we must be cautious of advice that exploits biochemical thrills or external practices to fix an inner crisis.

That is simply "the madwoman of the house" (as the mystic Teresa of Ávila called the mind) seeking a temporary escape while actually feeding the chaos. Buddhists speak of this same reality as the untamed elephant blindly driven by its impulses, or the restless "monkey mind" leaping endlessly from thought to thought. In the same way, the ancient tradition of Advaita Vedanta describes it as Maya, the powerful cosmic illusion that veils our true nature, and Ahamkara, the ego-sense that manufactures the false character we mistake for our true nature. These are simply different ways of describing the exact same thing: the mental prison.

Whether we view these dark encounters as autonomous negative entities or as deep psychological accumulations, they operate exactly like what Eckhart Tolle calls the "pain-body." This negative force acts as a parasite; it does not seek peace, but feeds on intense emotional drama, terror, and anxiety to sustain its grip. In the face of this, the mind becomes the true source of the problem, because the mind cannot fix what it has broken. When the mind takes over, it fragments reality, creates the illusion of separation, and traps us in a loop of fear.

If you look at what actually works from the perspective of pure Consciousness, the path to liberation is the exact opposite of fighting, resisting, or performing rituals: it is being intensely present in the Now.

This darkness is merely the absence of light, a shadow that requires your reaction to exist. You must not repress or battle these dark impulses, for resistance only fuels them. The only true "exorcism" is Presence Here and Now. If you remain grounded in the present moment, observing the inner energy field of your body without judging, labeling, or reacting, fear has nothing to hold onto and naturally dissolves. You must become a simple witness.

Consider also that fear is born when you believe there is an "external" force separate from yourself that can launch an attack. When you remember that you are the vast space where everything happens, the illusion loses its power. There are not two forces fighting; there is only Being. As the mystic Meister Eckhart famously prayed, "I pray to God to rid me of God," urging us to empty ourselves of our own limited ideas, mental idols, and human constructs. Divine Reality is not an object to be possessed, but the pure space that remains when the madwoman of the house is silenced, and we let thoughts and emotions fall away like withered leaves.

Beyond the potential manipulations of human structures and written dogmas, these words simply point to what the heart already knows through direct experience: we are One with and in the One Who is LOVE itself, which means with the Father, the Source, God, the All, whatever you wish to call It. Truly, there is no separation or distance between lover and Beloved; truly, there never was.

This absolute union is perfectly captured in the Intimate Diaries of the Blessed Mystic Bernardo de Hoyos, recorded in the biography written by his spiritual director, Father Juan de Loyola, when the Lord intimately declared to him, "From now on, you are Bernardo of Jesus, and I am Jesus of Bernardo." Remember, we are One with and in the One Who is LOVE Himself...

True spiritual strength is found in stillness and inner surrender. If you stop labeling the situation as an external threat and remain imperturbable, you starve the negativity of its fuel.

Just quiet the madwoman and surrender to LOVE. Real Love is neither a thought nor an intense emotion; it is the profound, silent stillness that remains when the mind and the character (the ego) fall completely silent.

Whenever you feel that heaviness, paralysis, or fear creeping in, do not fight back with mental noise. Instead, close your eyes, anchor yourself deeply in your breath, remain as a mere observer, and remember that this too shall pass. Then, repeat this silently with unwavering authority:

"I am here. I am the space of pure Consciousness. No shadow can exist, Here and Now, in the light of pure Presence. I rest in the All, in God, in the One who is Love Himself, where I am eternally safe, whole, and free."

The demon, the alien, the spirit, or the entity that attacks you, lives in division, separation, and mental noise, but it is consumed in the blazing fire of the One Who is LOVE Himself, of the All, of the Source, however you wish to call Him. And between you and Him, there is no separation. We are One with and in the One Who is LOVE Himself. Always remember this; treasure it in your heart. All too often, institutions, religions, and these non-benevolent entities have tried to make you forget it. You are a spark of the Infinite Divine Light. You are light, and light illuminates the deepest darkness.

The spiritual path is truly found in the everyday, ordinary actions of our lives. It is about living ordinary life in an extraordinary way, turning everything we do into something sacred, because only the mind separates us from the sacred when there is no actual distance between it and us. As Teresa of Ávila beautifully reminded us, God walks among the pots and pans, and Brother Lawrence found the Divine while simply flipping an omelet in his frying pan. When you remain intensely present in every mundane and ordinary moment, these non-benevolent entities will find no way to enter or disturb you, because you have made your ordinary life a sacred temple where God, the All, dwells.

Quiet the mind, step back as the mere observer, and remember: LOVE is the true frequency of God, of the All, and of yourself.

PERSONAL NOTE:

I want to clarify that English is not my native language, and I rely on translation support to convert my thoughts into English. I understand this can sometimes make my tone sound way more blunt than I ever intended. If any term, analogy, or metaphor used here does not resonate with you, please just throw it in the trash; instead, hold onto where my words are pointing, rather than the words themselves. My goal is just to share a perspective of Peace, never to diminish anyone's experiences. Thank you for your understanding!

A FINAL NOTE ON PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE:

I am not a Christian, a Buddhist, an Advaita Vedantin, or a Sufi... I am no one and nothing. I am simply someone who wishes to help you heal from these kinds of experiences and free yourself from the pain they cause, because you deserve to be happy. Please know that this post is not a mere intellectual exercise. While I quote great historical mystics or traditions, my intention is not to offer you a beautiful, abstract theory, but a real, practical solution to end your suffering. This perspective comes entirely from my own direct experience and lifelong practice. I know it can work for you, too. Don't believe anything I tell you just for the sake of believing; put it to the test in your own life, test it as gold is tested to know if it is real. And always remember, no matter how bad things apparently get, "this too shall pass."

May Peace be with you!

(Clarification or warning before reading the post: this will be a long post, which can be summarized into something very simple: sectarianism prevents us from Divine Union, and from understanding, realizing in our lives, and living whatever spiritual path we are on. If you feel intimidated by such a long text, remember that this is Reddit. There are other networks out there with short videos that will satisfy your constant thirst for sensory stimulation. Respect this approach. To those who read the post, welcome; I am open to your opinions and looking forward to your comments. Thank you very much to everyone. Let's go...)

Sectarianism is a very widespread practice nowadays, and of course it is across the different subreddits on spirituality and related topics, with honorable and rare exceptions.

I hope this post helps in understanding the issue of sectarianism, and in bridging the gap between different spiritual traditions. If we are sectarian, whatever our particular path may be, we have failed to understand the most basic aspect of that spiritual journey.

My experience in the various subreddits is that, especially when I try to post about sectarianism or bridge the gap between different points of view in spirituality, I am very frequently dismissed under far-fetched excuses of perennialism, dogmatism, and even paradoxically, sectarianism. Other times, the excuse of supposedly not fitting into the rules of that specific subreddit is also falsely and deceitfully used, which conceals pure and harsh censorship.

With all due respect to the moderators of the subreddits, and so many others users who act in similar ways, blocking comments or posts that precisely warn against sectarianism "under the pretext of stopping sectarianism", and other pretexts, is a profound misunderstanding and misreading of the most basic teachings in practically all spiritual traditions. It is an absolute contradiction. The world turned upside down.

As I said before, posts and comments are often dismissed under the label of "perennialism"—the philosophical idea that all world religions and mystical traditions share a single, universal core truth behind their different cultural masks. Orthodox circles often reject this, arguing that their core tenets, are completely incompatible with other faiths.

But the question is: how can anyone accuse another person of establishing perennialism as a dogmatic absolute, when the posts and comments are simply using a comparative lens to bridge the gap between traditions and analyze the universal mechanics of the spiritual ego and its idea of separation?

It is deeply surprising how the ego reacts when the focus is placed mainly on the universal trap of clinging to fixed concepts, and on advice about the psychological traps that precisely all the traditions themselves warn against extensively.

The height of it is when these groups claim that analyzing how different traditions address the untamed mind is "sectarian." That is deeply ironic. Sectarianism requires an in-group bias that attacks others. How can a stance be sectarian when it does the exact opposite by advocating for the dissolution of institutional arrogance?

Furthermore, major spiritual figures throughout history and modernity have actively engaged in this exact type of inter-faith dialogue, which many religious devotees fear and fight against.

We can speak of examples such as Meister Eckhart, the 14th-century Dominican friar, whose medieval Christian mysticism anticipated contemporary inter-faith dialogue by centuries. Eckhart spoke of radical detachment (Abgeschiedenheit), teaching that the soul must transcend its own conceptual idols and dogmatic projections to sink into the unconditioned "divine ground" where all separation dissolves. This ancient lineage flows directly into modern figures like Thomas Merton—who, far from being a mere byproduct of post-Vatican II developments, was recovering this exact, perennial depth. Merton recognized that both Christian monasticism and Buddhism share a primary urgency: the absolute annihilation of the self-centric, dualistic ego to awaken to ultimate reality.

This inclusive approach is not a modern invention; it aligns perfectly with the core teachings of Christ himself. When his disciples fell into the very same trap of tribal gatekeeping, trying to stop an outsider from performing good works, Jesus firmly corrected them. As recorded in the Gospel of Mark 9:40:

"For whoever is not against us is for us."

In this passage, Jesus shatters the rigid "in-group versus out-group" dynamic. He teaches his followers that true spiritual work and alignment with the divine cannot be monopolized by a specific label or inner circle. By stating that anyone who does not actively oppose the spirit of truth is actually contributing to it, Jesus establishes a profound blueprint for non-sectarianism, reminding us that genuine fruits of the spirit transcend institutional boundaries.

This same silent, unmediated essence is what Advaita Vedanta gurus show us. Sri Ramana Maharshi constantly pointed to this from the foothills of Arunachala—the realization of the formless Self, which precedes and dissolves all cultural labels, welcoming seekers of every background into the unconditioned Heart. It is the exact same truth that Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj emphasized: the stabilization in the "I Am" prior to the mind, the realization of our unconditioned true nature which completely precedes and dissolves all cultural labels, concepts, and sectarian divisions.

In Buddhism, we can highlight from the non-sectarian Rime movement in Tibet, to Thich Nhat Hanh (Living Buddha, Living Christ), to the Dalai Lama himself—who in books like The Good Heart directly comments on Christian scripture to find universal spiritual ground—the Dharma has always been spacious enough for this realization.

In fact, the Dalai Lama has pointed out on more than one occasion that he doesn't quite understand why Westerners rush to adopt Buddhism when they already have profound spiritual figures like Jesus within their own heritage. He famously stated:

"Here in the West, I do not think it advisable to follow Buddhism. Changing religions is not like changing professions. Excitement lessens over the years, and soon you are not excited, and then where are you? Homeless inside yourself... I always tell my Western friends that it is best to keep your own tradition."

Furthermore, on one occasion, I personally had the opportunity to hear him literally say that he didn't understand why Westerners sought Buddhism when they already had Jesus. A clearer example of non-sectarianism is impossible, and it stands as a beautiful testament that recognizing the truth in others is by no means foreign to Buddhism.

If modern figures like the Dalai Lama himself can recognize the spiritual validity of Western traditions and urge people to find the universal message of love and compassion in their own backyard, why are so many subreddits, their moderators and users, so obsessed with intellectual gatekeeping?

There are far too many subreddits of all kinds and descriptions obsessed with intellectual gatekeeping, playing the role of defenders of the "one and only truth," when truth inherently expresses itself in many forms.

Indeed, the world needs fewer Buddhists and more Buddhas, fewer Christians and more Christs, fewer Advaita Vedantins and more non-dual people. We face a paradox where many who call themselves Buddhists do not truly follow the Buddha's teachings, while many who wear no label at all actually embody them. This obsession with labels belongs entirely to the realm of that untamed elephant—the mind in Buddhist terms, or "the madwoman of the house" according to the mystic Teresa of Ávila. Christians are not free from sectarianism either, and the exact same paradox occurs: how many call themselves Christians yet never put the teachings of the Nazarene into practice, while so many others refuse to label themselves yet truly live those very teachings. The same can be said of those who claim to follow the Advaita Vedanta tradition, Sufism, and so many others.

If a subreddit dedicated supposedly to spirituality cannot tolerate a critique of spiritual pride, it is not protecting the doctrine they supposedly claim to practice; it is demonstrating the very dogmatic attachment to forms and labels that for instance the Buddha shattered in the Alagaddupama Sutta (the simile of the raft). The raft is meant for crossing, not for weaponizing against other rivers.

I politely ask all these groups to review this with an open mind, rather than through the rigid filter of institutional gatekeeping.

Ironically, some defend being sectarian tooth and nail, as if their very lives depended on it. The madwoman of the house (as Teresa of Ávila called the mind) or the untamed elephant (as Buddhists call the mind) resists with great strength, as we will see later, to avoid losing its power.

I want to be very clear about one issue, and that is that no spiritual tradition escapes what I am explaining here. Not even Buddhism, and furthermore, in this case, if you allow me the joke, karma is hot on their heels. 😂 The same, again, can be said of Advaita Vedanta, and of those who label themselves as Christians, Sufis, etc. Every single one of them.

When we approach deep mysticism—whether it is labeled as Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism (Tibetan, Zen...), Sufism, Christian Mysticism, and so on—the analytical mind immediately experiences an itch to categorize. It wants to build walls. It thrives on creating an in-group and an out-group. The dualistic ego cannot understand a reality where names and labels dissolve into the very same loving essence and ultimate nature. We are One.

The great tragedy of institutional spirituality is its inherent sectarianism. Religious groups, driven by this untamed mind and its illusions of separation, intentionally try to corner the market on Truth. To fully grasp how this mechanism works, we must look at how different traditions describe this very same trap, and understand them in order to free ourselves.

\\- For Teresa of Ávila, as mentioned earlier, the mind is "the madwoman of the house." You can find her brilliant analysis of how it operates and distracts us from God's presence throughout her work "The Interior Castle", specifically in the Fourth Mansions. In her original Spanish texts, she also uses other wonderfully vivid metaphors to describe this unceasing mental noise. She calls the restless mind a clacking mill-clapper because of its endless, repetitive grinding of thoughts, and a restless, flighty butterfly that refuses to stay still in the Silence of God.

\\- For Buddhists, the mind is often compared to a wild elephant, trampling over reality with its own conditioning unless brought to calm awareness.

\\- Similarly, in Advaita Vedanta, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj described the unexamined mind as a dust-covered mirror—an instrument meant to reflect reality clearly, but so obscured by the accumulated debris of memories and dogmas that it can only perceive its own distorted projections.

We can see clearly that institutional groups weaponize these exact mental distortions (the three mental traps described above, namely: the madwoman of the house, the wild elephant, and the dusty mirror). They take an absolute truth and turn it into a tool of fear, demanding rigid submission. They look at another tradition experiencing the same Divine Source and declare: "They do not follow us, so they must be wrong."

From a mystical, Advaitic, and interbeing perspective, this teaching by Jesus can be understood through four core pillars:

\\- The Dissolution of Exclusivism: Jesus directly confronts the mindset of the religious devotee who thrives on creating divisions of us versus them or my group against yours. By validating the good being done by someone outside His immediate circle, He completely shatters the illusion of separation.

\\- The Primacy of the Fruit over the Label: It matters not whether the human intellect labels a realization as Advaita, Buddhism, Zen, or Christian Mysticism. Jesus Himself gave us the ultimate tool for discernment in the Sermon on the Mount: "By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" (Matthew 7:16-20). A heavily labeled religious institution can be covered in sharp thorns of dogma, judgment, and abuse, while an unlabeled tree can bear the sweetest fruits of awakening. If the fruit of any path is the liberation from suffering, compassion, and unconditional Love, it arises from the exact same and single Source.

\\- The Recognition of the Same Essence: The true mystic—whether Eastern or Western—instinctively recognizes that different traditions are merely waves of the very same ocean. By stating that "whoever is not against us is for us," Jesus operates from the ultimate level (Paramarthika), where anyone living in harmony with absolute Love shares the same nature and can never truly be separate.

\\- We are One with the All, the One who is LOVE Himself, however you wish to call it. Love. Labels are just labels. Jesus wasn't looking at credentials, badges, or religious affiliations. He completely disarmed the sectarian trap. It was not in vain that Jesus prayed for us to be One, just as He and the Father are One (John 17:21). Furthermore, He reminds us of the greatest commandments: to love God, and to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). There is no distance or separation between you and the other; we are ultimately One. The work of healing and love is valid regardless of who is doing it, because true grace flows where it wills, ignoring human bureaucracy.

It is within this deep realization of non-separation that we must address why the word experience can sometimes ruffle feathers in strict Advaita orthodoxy. Following the rigorous teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj or Ramana Maharshi, an experience inherently implies a dualistic split—it requires a subject who experiences and an object that is experienced. From that perspective, the Self is not an experience that comes and goes, but the ultimate Reality underlying everything. Nisargadatta famously remarked that Reality is beyond experience. Yet, when Brother Lawrence talks about the experience of the presence of God, he is utilizing the practical language of the conventional world. In truth, both traditions are pointing to the exact same reality, because for true western mystics, there is absolutely no separation between the lover and the Beloved. What language artificially divides, realization unites.

This beautiful, boundaryless union was perfectly captured in the Intimate Diaries of Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos (recorded by his spiritual director Father Juan de Loyola), when the Lord intimately declared to him: "From now on, you are Bernardo of Jesus and I am Jesus of Bernardo." Furthermore, Jesus explicitly stated that His true disciples would be recognized by one thing only: the love they have for one another (John 13:35). It is by Love, not by labels. Echoing this exact truth and inspired by Jesus' own words in Matthew 25:31-46, the great Christian mystic John of the Cross beautifully warned us: "In the evening of life, we will be examined on love."

When we understand this, the artificial walls between traditions begin to crumble:

\\- At the conventional level (Vyavaharika), language exists. We use terms like "Mithya" in Advaita, "Shunyata" or "Interbeing" in Buddhism, and "The Presence of God" in Brother Lawrence’s mysticism. These are beautiful, valid frameworks for daily life.

\\- But at the ultimate level, the realization remains identical. Emptying the soul of human constructs, as Meister Eckhart suggested, is not entering a cold void; it is the exact same process as wiping the dust off the clear mirror of the mind, as Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj taught.

Sectarianism is a symptom of spiritual bypassing and fear. It is the ego desperate to treat the absolute as a future threat or a competitive weapon. Those who attempt to justify themselves solely by outward rules, dogma, and rigid legalism become entirely alienated from the Living Divine, severing themselves from the flow of true Grace (Galatians 5:4). Where the analytical mind sees boundaries, separation, and theological warfare, unmediated Love finds perfect union.

To those who identify and call themselves Christians, Buddhists, Advaita Vedantis, and so on, I would invite you to observe who you truly are, far beyond the labels that the madwoman of the house loves so much. There is a deep paradox here: many who claim those titles of Christian, Buddhists, Advaita Vedantis, and so on, do not truly walk those paths. Meanwhile, there are others who claim no label at all—whether they are atheists, belong to other faiths, or hold no confession whatsoever—who genuinely walk those paths. It is LOVE. It has always been LOVE, and nothing else matters.

To conclude, allow me to remind you of something very important: Do not let abstract philosophy or institutional manipulation on the part of many of these groups, and ultimately do not allow the mind (the madwoman of the house for Teresa of Ávila, the untamed elephant for Buddhists, or the dust-covered mirror for Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj), to steal the joy of your daily life. Play your games, enjoy your food, and love your family fiercely in this present plane. In the conventional world, that is exactly how the Absolute expresses itself: through Love, unconditional LOVE, just LOVE. Although at a conventional level it might still seem as though there are two—the lover and the Beloved—rather than one, the truth remains that at the ultimate level, within the silent spaciousness of Being, we are One with the One who is Love Himself. There is no longer any separation between the lover and the Beloved; there never was. This ultimate reality is alive and permeates conventional reality; it is not a mental abstraction separated from our daily Life. As Teresa of Ávila masterfully reminded us, God is found even among the pots and pans. Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection beautifully lived this truth by sharing that he found God just by turning an omelet in the frying pan.

As modern teacher Eckhart Tolle reminds us: "Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth, not life. Life is eternal." You do not need to choose a camp or defend a fortress. You just need to realize that the one who is terrified of losing its identity to another group is just a character created by the mind, while your True Self is already boundless, safe, and holding it all Here and Now.

Wishing you all a beautiful, boundaryless day!

The Religious Devotee vs. The Non-Dual Mystic and Yogi: Transcending the Dread of Non-Separation... 🌌✨

This text is dedicated to all those who, upon approaching Advaita, non-duality, or deep mysticism for the first time, have felt a chill of existential dread. To all those who have read that "the world is an illusion (mithya)" or that "the individual self does not exist" and felt as if spirituality were consuming the beauty of life, your memories, your passions, and the people you love.

To understand why this fear arises, we must first clarify what non-duality actually is. Non-duality means, literally, "not two." It is not a philosophical theory to be memorized, but the direct realization of non-separation. It means there is no real distance between the Beloved and the lover, between the Creator and the creation, between the universe and you, between the observed and the observer. It is the living experience that everything that exists shares the very same essence and ultimate nature. We are One.

The great misunderstanding and the subsequent anxiety happen when we try to understand non-separation from the "madwoman of the house" (as the mystic Teresa de Ávila called the mind) and its story or belief of separation. That is exactly where we fall into the trap. Religious institutional groups, as opposed to truly spiritual ones, often intentionally confuse and misinterpret the two levels of reality that sustain the universe: the conventional level (Vyavaharika) and the ultimate level (Paramarthika). They do this to instill fear, demand submission, and maintain control over devotees, transforming a liberating truth into a dogma of guilt and escape.

In contrast to the rigidity of the devotee, the non-dual mystic and yogi operate with total freedom, because they know how to perfectly distinguish between these two levels of reality:

At the conventional level (Vyavaharika), your life, your family, art, music, your hobbies, and nature are beautiful, valid, and meant to be fully lived. Advaita does not ask you to destroy your humanity or treat the world with contempt. The word "Mithya" does not mean that your life is a nonexistent lie; it means it has a relative, changing reality, like a beautiful tapestry woven out of the very substance of the Absolute. When you love your family, you are already loving the Absolute in its manifested form.

This is why true mystics and yogis, whether in Advaita, Dzogchen, Mahamudra, or Western mysticism, were never cold robots detached from daily life. The mystic Teresa de Ávila used to say that God is found among the pots and pans. Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection beautifully shared that he found God just by turning an omelet in the frying pan. And this intimate reality was perfectly captured in the Intimate Diaries of Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos, recorded in the biography written by his spiritual director Father Juan de Loyola, when the Lord intimately declared to him: "From now on, you are Bernardo of Jesus and I am Jesus of Bernardo." It was not in vain that Jesus prayed for us to be One, just as He and the Father are One (John 17:21). Furthermore, He reminds us of the greatest commandments: to love God, and to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). There is no distance or separation between you and the other; we are ultimately One.

The mistake of intellectualism and of religious devotees is treating the ultimate level as a future threat, thinking with terror: "One day I will dissolve and lose everything." But the Absolute is not a destination or a wipe-out tool. For the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart, emptying the soul of human constructs was not to enter a cold, pessimistic void, but to be filled with Love. When you truly realize non-separation, you do not lose your loved ones; you realize you are closer to them than your own breathing, because distance has ceased to exist. This echoes the profound insight of the French mystic Marguerite Porete in "The Mirror of Simple Souls", who illustrated how Reason, with its rigid rules and intellectual anxieties, must ultimately take its leave so that divine Love can take over. Where Reason sees boundaries, separation, and fears dissolution, Love finds perfect, unmediated union. This is precisely why those who cling to rigid dogma and outer laws to justify their separation become alienated from the Living Divine, severing themselves from true Grace (Galatians 5:4).

Furthermore, when it is said that the individual self does not exist, this is not entirely accurate. It is very important to remember that this statement is not entirely accurate because the individual self does not exist from its own side, inherently, disconnected from everything, from the All, and from all other phenomena. Everything exists interdependently. This is the true understanding of emptiness (shunyata) in Buddhism. Even though certain institutional Buddhist groups, and the exact same happens with some so-called "holy men" of the advaita movement, try to use the teachings of emptiness to make you think that nothing exists, or to convince you that if you see a fault or an abuse committed by your master (whether it is sexual, financial, or of any other kind) it is merely a fruit of your own paranoia, that is a trap. It is not like that; abuse is very real on a conventional level. Emptiness is nothing other than the lack of inherent and independent existence. Just as an arm or a head are not the body itself but parts of it, the same applies to all phenomena. The Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh beautifully captured this truth by coining the word "interbeing", reminding us that we cannot be by ourselves alone; we can only inter-be with everything else.

When it is said that the individual self does not exist, it simply means that the boundary you drew around your identity is an illusion. You are not a separate island drifting in a hostile ocean; you are the ocean itself experiencing itself through a unique wave. The "ego" is just a functional tool for navigating this conventional world, not a permanent prison. When institutional systems try to weaponize this by telling you that your "self" is an illusion to make you blind to worldly injustices or to suppress your critical thinking, they are committing spiritual bypassing. True non-duality doesn't wipe you out; it wakes you up to the reality that your true nature is boundless, proving that the individual self does not exist independently, on its own side, or disconnected from the Whole.

Do not let abstract philosophy or institutional manipulation, and ultimately do not allow the mind (the madwoman of the house for Teresa de Ávila, the untamed elephant for Buddhists, or the dust-covered mirror for Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj), to steal the joy of your daily life. Play your games, enjoy your food, and love your family fiercely in this present plane. In the conventional world, that is exactly how the Absolute expresses itself: through Love, unconditional LOVE, just LOVE. Although at a conventional level it might still seem as though there are two—the lover and the Beloved—rather than one, the truth remains that at the ultimate level, within the silent spaciousness of Being, we are One with the One who is Love itself. There is no longer any separation between the lover and the Beloved; there never was. This ultimate reality is alive and permeates conventional reality; it is not a mental abstraction.

As the master of modern non-duality, Eckhart Tolle, beautifully writes in his book "The Power of Now" (1999): "Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth, not life. Life is eternal." You do not need to escape anything; you just need to realize that the one who is terrified is just a character created by the madwoman of the house, while your True Self is already safe, untouched, and holding it all Here and Now.

Always remember that, as the saint of sweetness Francis de Sales wisely said, "one can be very devout and yet very wicked." Because being a religious devotee and living in the prison of separation is completely different from being fused with the One who is LOVE itself...

Wishing you all the best!

Oh my God! Better said, oh my Buddha! Only time will tell if I'm on the verge of being banned from the Buddhism subreddit, even though I've been a Buddhist almost my entire life and was a monk for several years—all for defending a non-sectarian approach, which they, in turn, label as sectarian. Lol 😂

I believe that personal stories are not important, and, of course, it is highly discouraged to identify with them. However, since it can be highly illustrative and help in understanding the issue of sectarianism, I've decided to share this post with you.

With all due respect to the moderators of that subreddit, and so many others who act in similar ways, blocking comments or posts that precisely warn against sectarianism "under the pretext of stopping sectarianism" is a profound misunderstanding and misreading of the most basic teachings. It is an absolute contradiction. The world turned upside down.

In these discussions, my views are often dismissed under the label of "perennialism"—the philosophical idea that all world religions and mystical traditions share a single, universal core truth behind their different cultural masks. Orthodox circles often reject this, arguing that Buddhism's core tenets, like Anatman (non-self), are completely incompatible with other faiths.

But the question is: how can anyone accuse another person of establishing perennialism as a dogmatic absolute, when they are simply using a comparative lens to analyze the universal mechanics of the spiritual ego?

My focus is on the universal trap of clinging to fixed concepts (dristi/ditthi)—a psychological trap that traditional Buddhism itself warns against extensively.

To claim that analyzing how different traditions address the untamed mind is "sectarian" is deeply ironic. Sectarianism requires an in-group bias that attacks others; my stance does the exact opposite by advocating for the dissolution of institutional arrogance.

Furthermore, major Buddhist figures throughout history and modernity have actively engaged in this exact type of inter-faith dialogue. From the non-sectarian Rime movement in Tibet, to Thich Nhat Hanh (Living Buddha, Living Christ), to the Dalai Lama himself—who in books like The Good Heart directly comments on Christian scripture to find universal spiritual ground—the Dharma has always been spacious enough for this realization.

In fact, the Dalai Lama has pointed out on more than one occasion that he doesn't quite understand why Westerners rush to adopt Buddhism when they already have profound spiritual figures like Jesus within their own heritage. He famously stated:

"Here in the West, I do not think it advisable to follow Buddhism. Changing religions is not like changing professions. Excitement lessens over the years, and soon you are not excited, and then where are you? Homeless inside yourself... I always tell my Western friends that it is best to keep your own tradition."

Furthermore, on one occasion, I personally had the opportunity to hear him literally say that he didn't understand why Westerners sought Buddhism when they already had Jesus. A clearer example of non-sectarianism is impossible, and it stands as a beautiful testament that recognizing the truth in others is by no means foreign to Buddhism.

If the Dalai Lama himself can recognize the spiritual validity of Western traditions and urge people to find the universal message of love and compassion in their own backyard, why is that subreddit so obsessed with intellectual gatekeeping? There are far too many subreddits of all kinds and descriptions obsessed with intellectual gatekeeping, playing the role of defenders of the "one and only truth," when truth inherently expresses itself in many forms.

Indeed, the world needs fewer Buddhists and more Buddhas, fewer Christians and more Christs. We face a paradox where many who call themselves Buddhists do not truly follow the Buddha's teachings, while many who wear no label at all actually embody them. This obsession with labels belongs entirely to the realm of that untamed elephant—the mind in Buddhist terms, or "the madwoman of the house" according to the mystic Teresa of Ávila. Christians are not free from sectarianism either, and the exact same paradox occurs: how many call themselves Christians yet never put the teachings of the Nazarene into practice, while so many others refuse to label themselves yet truly live those very teachings.

If a subreddit dedicated to the Buddha's teachings cannot tolerate a critique of spiritual pride, it is not protecting the Dharma; it is demonstrating the very dogmatic attachment to forms and labels that the Buddha shattered in the Alagaddupama Sutta (the simile of the raft). The raft is meant for crossing, not for weaponizing against other rivers. I ask them politely to review this with an open mind, rather than through the rigid filter of institutional gatekeeping.

Ironically, some defend being sectarian tooth and nail. The untamed mind resists. Buddhism, like every religion, does not escape this, but karma is hot on their heels. 😂

When we approach deep mysticism—whether it is labeled as Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism (Tibetan, Zen...), Sufism, Christian Mysticism, and so on—the analytical mind immediately experiences an itch to categorize. It wants to build walls. It thrives on creating an in-group and an out-group. The dualistic ego cannot understand a reality where names and labels dissolve into the very same loving essence and ultimate nature. We are One.

The great tragedy of institutional spirituality is its inherent sectarianism. Religious groups, driven by this untamed mind and its illusions of separation, intentionally try to corner the market on Truth. To fully grasp how this mechanism works, we must look at how different traditions describe this very same trap.

• For Teresa of Ávila, as mentioned earlier, the mind is "the madwoman of the house." You can find her brilliant analysis of how it operates and distracts us from God's presence throughout her work "The Interior Castle", specifically in the Fourth Mansions. In her original Spanish texts, she also uses other wonderfully vivid metaphors to describe this unceasing mental noise. She calls the restless mind a clacking mill-clapper because of its endless, repetitive grinding of thoughts, and a restless, flighty butterfly that refuses to stay still in the Silence of God.

• For Buddhists, the mind is often compared to a wild elephant, trampling over reality with its own conditioning unless brought to calm awareness.

• Similarly, in Advaita Vedanta, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj described the unexamined mind as a dust-covered mirror—an instrument meant to reflect reality clearly, but so obscured by the accumulated debris of memories and dogmas that it can only perceive its own distorted projections.

We can see clearly that institutional groups weaponize these exact mental distortions (the three mental traps described above, namely: the madwoman of the house, the wild elephant, and the dusty mirror). They take an absolute truth and turn it into a tool of fear, demanding rigid submission. They look at another tradition experiencing the same Divine Source and declare: "They do not follow us, so they must be wrong."

This is precisely where the weapon of division does its greatest damage. Rigid institutional religions rely heavily on sophisticated mechanisms of separation to maintain psychological control over their followers. They foster a toxic us-versus-them dynamic, convincing the devotee that salvation belongs exclusively to their tribe, while the rest of humanity is lost in darkness.

Within this environment, a particularly dangerous pathogen breeds: the spiritual ego. This occurs when the mind co-opts profound teachings to build a new, subtle identity of superiority. The spiritual ego dresses itself in holy garments, masks its arrogance with righteous vocabulary, and thrives on judging others for not being as pure, devout, or enlightened. By teaching people to monitor others instead of looking within, these sectarian structures transform what should be a path of absolute liberation into a prison of spiritual pride, alienation, and deep psychological trauma.

My best wishes. Sending all of you reading this post a big hug. 🫂

So many people get completely stuck trying to meditate. They find themselves trapped in a frustrating loop: fighting the mind with the mind. They feel overwhelmed by an unstoppable torrent of thoughts, experiencing anxiety, guilt, or the feeling that they are "doing it wrong" because they cannot achieve absolute silence. They try to observe, but they feel sucked back into the noise, believing that their awareness is being tricked.

If you feel this way, what you are "doing wrong" is simply believing the "story" around it. The "madwoman of the house" —as the mystic Teresa of Ávila beautifully called the mind— loves to identify with stories. In this case, it’s the story of the "poor soul overwhelmed by thoughts they cannot stop." By feeding into this, the mind simply strengthens the character (the ego) in the play of life.

Shifting to this new perspective will naturally cause those thoughts to lose their power —effortlessly, without you even realizing it. The mind loves to gnaw on these stories like a bone; stop playing its game.

Think of a tree in autumn: when it loses its leaves, it doesn't create a tragic story around it. It doesn't grieve, it doesn't get sad. It just is. The goal is not to have zero thoughts —which is biologically impossible— but to change how you relate to them. This isn't just about having more or less concentration, although this shift in perspective will naturally improve your focus and concentration.

As Eckhart Tolle famously writes in The Power of Now, "The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive." The problem is that you aren't using your mind —it is using you. It has taken over your identity, and you end up serving it instead of it serving you.

Stop believing the stories of the madwoman of the house. Free yourself from the tyrant and crazy Karen. Why do you keep believing her stories? Stop letting the "Crazy Karen", your mind, ruin the present, Here and Now.

Conclusion: What's "Wrong" With Your Meditation? You're Listening to a "Crazy Karen" and you keep believing her stories. 🎭