Ep105: Simply Always Awake - Dr Angelo Dilullo 

The host appears to be relativizing Angelo’s approach. He hears that Angelo recommends emotional work and then slots it into a mental category that exists in his mind (‘west coast american therapy approach’) and seems to think that that invalidates his pointing. It doesn’t though - all authentic spiritual teachers like Adyashanti or even traditions like Zen teach that you have to be totally present and accepting of emotions and not suppress them. Adyashanti puts it really well: when awakeness wakes up within you, it throws into sharp relief all those parts of you that are still in darkness. So unexamined unconscious emotional stuff will simply then arise to be dealt with.

Angelo is one of the, if not the most, authentic, direct teachers with pointings that will take you all the way if you open fully to them. I urge anyone who feels triggered or uncomfortable with what Angelo says to be patient and sit with his pointings a little longer and it may be the best thing you ever do. They may just be touching on the thing you haven’t been looking at! Thanks Dr. Angelo and Guru Viking

Listening to this interview I noticed that the interviewee presented a more cogent view of what awakening is and discussed changes and challenges post awakening. I found that his views were realistic, authentic and very useful. I am surprised that the host appeared to criticize him and his views, which is very acceptable, however is a significant departure from previous interviews. I am surprised that you interviewed many guys who claim to be enlightened / spiritual … many of which where truly delusional and didn’t even challenge them. This is probably the first guest who tried to explain the process of enlightenment where as others just mentioned the term then moved on to regurgitate esoteric wisdom / saying and were applauded !!!

Angelo is a true treasure.

Angelo is one of the very, very few authentic teachers I’ve encountered. incredibly helpful.

Thank you Angelo ! Inspiring as usual. I recommend all who watched it to listen more of Angelo's RU-vids and read the book "Awake".

I can only confirm from my experience what Angelo says "Intuition goes far beyond the conceptual mind" I wish each of you to make such a revelation ! Thank you for the lovely interview ♥

Angelo, I wish you could post this video on your channel. The way you speak is so accessible (not wordy/not in elevated language) and expressed with such clarity that I believe it will help so many people. Also, you cover so much ground! Thank you.

Great interview! I understand what is being said about people pleasing. There’s a huge difference between being kind and people pleasing. People pleasing is chronic self abandonment to gain acceptance from others. It’s usually a trauma response from childhood, where one is conditioned to “keep the peace” and make others happy to gain acceptance, validation, and to “be liked.” The difference between people pleasing and kindness is the motivation behind it.

Thank you for the RU-vid algorithm that brought me here!

Great conversation. Thanks to you both.

There are so many interviews with Angelo Dilullo now online, repeating always very similar questions, but this one is so very different to most of them: lots of very good and critical questions, making you understand, what this "Awakening" is like for a person that got through it. Amazing, thank you very much for that!!!

1:16:00 lead up into explanation of Iowa gambling experiment. 1:19:00 Iowa gambling experiment explanation. This absolutely blew my mind. I've had glimpses of non-duality, non-centrality, non-doership but haven't permanently shifted into those places, however this looks to be a biophysical rationale for the underlying mechanisms. Wild.

At 2:10:00 you can really just tell this interviewer does not understand Angelo’s message.

Great interview! I love hearing such a candid assessment of the various cognitive changes that happen after awakening.

I would have loved to have heard Angelo’s position on cluster B conditions. GREAT interview. Angelo is next level and the most authentic pointer I’ve encountered.

Intellectuals who pursue ‘awakening’ always have a difficult time not conceptualizing ‘awakening’ and until they let go of their ego intellectual mind, will they understand what Angelo is talking about.. the interviewer is clearly an intellectual and reminds me of me a few years ago

Maybe this can help with the certainty question. Not only will they wake up, they already are awake. They already are awakening. They just don't know it. It's not something that is either going to happen or not happen... it's what everybody already is.

This is SO GOOD it’s rich and alive. Thank you both so much. 😊

Fantastic interview. Bothe the interviewer and the guest were amazing. Thank you for this

That's a great interview, I love the tension and how it sharpens the fine points of Angelo's expression.

I don't understand why the interviewer was argumentative with this teacher in particular, when other interviewees have been much more bold and "out there" with less resistance or questioning. It seems like the interviewer has some personal stake and emotional charge in his own belief system that may hinder his role as an interviewer. I understand that it's important to question people who can have a strong influence others, but I don't understand why he is so intense about it...isn't an interviewer supposed to elicit information to open new perspectives?

Profound clarity, amazing....just wow....I listened countless hours to most of the current and non-current non duality teachers, and I guess that prepared me to really get what Angelo is talking about, and it's like coming home.. and soooo pleasurable. my being just soaks in it... or awareness is enjoying itself.. anyway you got it :) there is no agent, I like it.....

Great conversation, thanks to some good probing questions. Especially the last half brought to mind this reminder (from another teacher with a Zen and science background): “There is no Mystery. You already know Reality. You only need to stop talking to yourself, and learn to wordlessly pay attention.” ― Steve Hagen, The Grand Delusion: What We Know But Don't Believe

Loved this episode! Can't wait to read the book! :)

Absolutely mind-blowing conversation.

So beautiful, simple, obvious. Beautifully heard.

I don't know how many people reading this have come across Jung's Model of the Psyche, especially the theory of the Cognitive Functions. In basic format, Jung's life long research has mainly led him to observe that there are four distinct functions of the Human Mind. These four Cognitive Functions are described as: Thinking, Feeling, Intuition and Sensing. Each of these four functions deal with reality in distinct ways, together forming a cohesive and holistic way for us to interact with Reality. As described by Jung, any Mind uses all four functions, yet not all Minds have the same preference for using all functions equally. Some Minds might prefer Thinking over Feeling, some Sensing over Intuition, some Intuition over Sensing, and so on. Along with this, each cognitive function has been described as having two working modalities: an intraverted and an extraverted modality. The Intraverted modality is when a Cognitive Function is oriented inwards, towards the subjective perception of the individual. An Extraverted modality is when a Cognitive function can be oriented outwards, towards the objective perception of the exterior world. For example: the function of Feeling can have two different modalities: Intraverted Feeling - which mainly deals with the subjective feelings and values of the Individual. And Extraverted Feeling - which mainly deals with the feelings and values of the people around (groups, society, etc). And so it goes for all other cognitive functions: Thinking, Sensing and Intuition. Resulting in 8 main cognitive functions: Intraverted Thinking, Extraverted Thinking, Intraverted Feeling, Extraverted Feeling, Intraverted Sensing, Extraverted Sensing, Intraverted Intuition, Extraverted Intuition. Hence, according to Jung, our Psyche constantly uses these 8 cognitive functions to be able to interact and deal with Reality. Yet - as Jung has observed - an individual Mind tends to have a preference for one of this functions over the others. Hence, some Minds might prefer the usage of the Extraverted Sensing function - for example. The Extraverted Sensing is described as the function of the Mind that deals with the exterior sensorial reality, that we can perceive with our senses. The Mind that prefers to mainly use the Extraverted Sensing function, can stereotypically result in a person displaying the image of the body builder, the dare devil, the adventurous out-vert type. Other Minds can prefer to mainly interact with Reality via the Intraverted Thinking function. These people stereotypically show up as the theorist, the scientist, the philosopher persona. Hence, Jung theorises that there are 8 main human archetypes, 8 main archetypical persona - according with the main Cognitive Function each individual Mind prefers to use. Anyone interesting in further deepening this topic can research "The 8 Cognitive functions". Looking at this video, through my eyes, I could see how the interviewer's Mind might look like the Mind of an Intraverted Thinking type. Meaning: a Mind that prefers to use the Intraverted Thinking as its main cognitive function. The Intraverted Thinking function tries to find the implicit logic and meaning in the things around, trying to understand at the base core level .. what does it mean for a thing to be a thing and how things implicitly work. This type of process uses in depth, complex logic and analysing - that the individual grows, adapts and builds over time into a logical framework. The Intraverted Thinking function is also - by nature - subjective. Meaning: the individual's Mind tries to construct a logical framework of reality using the individual's own subjective logical statements as a base. In my opinion, what an Intraverted Thinking Mind works to ultimately achieve is a sort of answer, an idea, a formula - that could bring an all encompassing answer or solution to all our possible questions. Hence, the Mind of the Intraverted Thinker seems to be on a quest of building a sort of subjective Theory of Everything, that could potentially solve all the worlds problems. Intraverted Thinking is also described as a function that tries to dissolute logical inconsistencies in a system, an argument, a proposition. Working at achieving this pure logic of things. Hence, by default, the Mind of the Intraverted Thinker might hear any argument that contains apparent inconsistencies as a scratch on a board. Hence, the Intraverted Thinking Mind might try to find a way to eliminate those perceived logical inconsistencies. Hence, by design, the Intraverted Thinking process seems to have a tricky time in dealing with reality in terms of paradoxes, synchronicities, mystical or unexplainable phenomenas - that appear inconsistent or illogical. After coining these 8 main cognitive functions and the 8 main archetypical personalities that result, Jung continued his work to describe how the goal of a human being would be to activate all 8 functions of the Mind, learning to use them equally as the need arises. Instead of the Mind preferring to use one or two functions and relying mainly on those, the Mind could learn to use all 8 functions in a symbiotic, unified way. This seems to me to have been the apex message of Jung's work: a human Mind needs to integrate the entirety of its parts into one cohesive, holistic entity. And this process Jung has termed as Individuation. When a Human Being achieves its "highest potential" or its own true Nature. Hence, Jung's theory and system was perhaps bringing some clear and trackable steps for how a certain Mind can achieve what mystics have been describing as "transcendence" or "enlightenment". While looking at this video, my Mind perceived how the interviewer was - perhaps unconsciously - projecting its own Intraverted Thinking model of the world upon the descriptions and statements made by the interviewee. Through my own experience I can say that there seems to be zero ways in which Thinking alone can comprehend or understand the Absolute Reality. Before being unified, all 8 functions of the Mind work as separate individual processes. By having this separation deep within our Minds, as much as our Minds might try.. they might seem to fail at seeing reality the way it naturally is, in its holistic - non-dual - way. To experience the Non-Dual state in its truest, fullest form, would mean - in my opinion - to have an integrated, unified Mind. Thinking needs to be coupled with Feeling, Sensing and Intuition - for a certain Mind to "get the entire picture" of a certain situation. Hence, any Mental process working in isolation from the others, might fail at grasping and understanding what the Absolute or Non Dual Reality is. This is why, I think, that even most people that have reached the Enlightened or Non-Dual Awareness - they still need to continue working with their own Human Psyche, so that true symbiosis of all 8 functions can deepen more and more. After true Integration of all cognitive functions, after Feeling has merged with Thinking, and Sensing with Intuition, and all become one singular, holistic "sense" then - I personally think - that's when the "Non Dual" might become something we can interact and and play with, rather then be mere "spectators" of it.

Thanks for the interview! I enjoyed it very much including the deep discussions and the back and forth challenge and response to challenge.

You ask the BEST questions.💞

Love it! Great interview!

The sign that this interview goes off the rails is Steve interrupting his guest while arguing with him on an issue he's brought up repeatedly. It borders on rudeness and is uncomfortable to watch at points.

Oh wow I know the feeling of thinking I can not live with this…. It started in 2nd grade My parents were so uncomfortable with my anxiety and fear and insomnia-that I learned to keep it to myself. And then I learned to keep it from myself.

I started an essay at psychotherapy class with the four noble truths and the question " was the Buddha depressed?". 87% before you ask. Enjoying this guy.

Awakening is a good way to describe it but it never would have occurred to me.

I don't know if he's right, but Angelo's confidence gives me hope!

This is my favourite one Steve. Great questions!

You got him to say a lot, thank you

The host of the show ask the best questions of the author without being offensive and revealing what he's trying to get at excellent job Viking

...the guy is authentic. like it ')...like the old days Dao/Dharma, w/o complicating that which is so simple ;)))

What a great interview- a yin/yang conversation.

We need another Angelo interview! ❤

Right on!

Man great questions. Imho the mix-up around people pleasing was just different definitions. Many people use it to mean “being nice but overly fake and inauthentic”, *definitionally* . Not “deliberate and intentional in communication”(which you made a great case for👍🏻). I think most of us have that idea of people pleasing means fake and manipulative, or saying things that make us feel small later (pretending to agree with stuff we don’t for example). That’s why the difficulty, again imo.

The interviewer is wonderful but the objection against Angelo's teaching having a cultural context is deeply flawed. I am an Indian and grew up in a traditional Indian spiritual system. Finding a new way to God has been the single-minded pursuit of India for last 3000 years. Each one of them has a cultural context. Advaita Vedanta has 'sadhana chatusthaya', and Patanjali has yama/niyama that you need to do as preparation before you can even begin your practice. There are universally recognized sages who say the mere contact with a sense object is a disqualification, while another will tell you without chanting 'Ram' you cannot ever reach God. Cultural context needs to change as the culture changes because the teaching have to adapt to the times. Forget you westerners, us Indians have no hope if we were to take instruction of 2000 year old Indian teaching verbatim. There has never been a time in human history where we have been so preoccupied with the notions in our minds. External world basically conquered all we spend our energies doing is thinking about our jobs, or relationships and success. *This is why therapy and self is needed for these times*. Modern life has wreaked untold havoc on the human mind and completely distorted the sense of self to the extent Shankaracharya or Buddha would be perplexed at what we have done to ourselves. Were they alive today and would promptly send us to the therapist first before we attempt their teachings. A dynamic cultural context in teachings which is alien to people living 2000 years ago and 2000 years from now is the reason why a set of spiritual teaching become successful. This why India recognizes new saints every century. They come and the universal teaching in taught according to the need of the times. For decades you westerners came to India for Truth but it hardly worked. Most went back with nothing because it lacked your cultural context. Now you don't need to because of people like Angelo. He is teaching you, and what some of us in India who caught the bug of western individualism, need according our cultural context. Cherish him, he is precious.

Is this an interview to explore deeply what the guest has to offer or an attempt to debunk what he's expressing? Palpable weird cringy vibe to me. I would exercise my skepticism by asking for even more tips and pointers to test if his claim of everyone can wake up applies to me. Missed opportunity to me.

About the question about pleasing people i can give maybe my own experience. My mother can be triggered by the smallest things so there was a lot of tension that something can go off in a second when growing up. I worked in a homeless shelter for a long time, in my personal life i always tried to help people. But now i see that i pulling me away from facing what is behind it because only you think about how to please and help people. It can be a serious occupation if you think at work about other people and in private life. It's a good strategy from the ego to avoid what is behind it, it's always trying to get something out of it, if i do this then the person woulf be nice to me and see me as a nice person. If it's natural there isn't a tension or a need to help somebody it's just happening in the moment and feels natural and it doesn't want something out of it, it doesn't have a plan.

35:18 Angelo, hi again 😊 when you say things like…it’s not an exalted state, it’s not a super human power…part of me responds…But it is an exalted “state” or whatever. It is a super human “capacity” or whatever. Because for me the ability to love others and myself, to live with the ease to stop and look at a wildflower and experience that moment! That’s everything-that’s exalted that’s super human! That’s not been my life ever. Now, I have those moments and so I know there’s more than this human life I’ve known. Im still super dualistic aren’t I? 🤷‍♀️☺️

There is stages of waking up.The more you wake up, the more your psyche is developed, thinking changed…. Once your psyche has reached a certain level of maturity, you become enlightened. This shouldn’t be confused with mystical experiences, or having siddhis. You can take psychedelics and have a amazing mystical experience.

Great question about Hoffer's "True Believer."

Great questions, there’s a lot to unpack here. The philosophical scrutiny is a breath of fresh air. There’s an interesting issue with his mention of koans. The idea of solving them is problematic. This all goes back to the question of “true emptiness”, and how any representation of “true nature” is not it. No mind no buddha. I found the fox koan proved invaluable after the initial Mu awakening.

WOW!!!!

I don’t know if it’s a logical framework or what but for me, the fact that everyone can wake up has been clear to me since I first heard it happened to someone other than Jesus or Buddha. My logic is this; if a regular person can wake up then every single human also can. Id die on that hill. And I’m not even a enlightened yet.

Would be great if you can interview Dr. Sthaneshwar Timalsina Acharya and Christopher Wallace (Trika Saiva). Thank-you for all the work you do GV.

Really enjoyed this one. It brings awakening into a more grounded sense in society. That you can still function as a ‘human’ and not have to entirely divert your life into being a bhuddist monk in a monestary lol

Your videos have helped me so much. The first day of the covid lock down I was driving across the USA with no cell phone or GPS and these signs that were in my face led me all the way to Arkansas on this mountain where my awakening took place and then so many mystical crazy things followed. I did not know at time what this was at all. It took some time before I found out what was happening. Very bizarre journey and many dreams showing me things . Going into a void that was nothing there. No God just empty strange place and so much more crazy things. I have some questions I would like to ask you if I can find your email. But I thank you for your videos so much. It helps to know that this is normal.

Great interview! Thank you for challenging the interviewee... Powerful. Found the cultural problem in his behaviors to be particularly problematic in terms of being completely detached from egoic/learned/karmic/genetic memory.

Main issue: Not beyond or within concepts. Going beyond is just another illusion. Intuition is just advanced pattern matching. Anything beyond form is more form.

🙏🙏🙏

Nice interview Steve. I'm genuinely not sure what to think about Angelo's disregard for both the objective and the subjective. I wish you would have asked explicitly about ethics! Many of your questions were dancing around this (value hierarchies and discerning helpful vs unhelpful conditioning). My 'intuition' is that one's intuition and spontaneity is not suffiecent to live ethically in today's complicated world. Conceptual thought needs to be deeply engaged and then integrated. That seems a longer and harder path...

Sir I bow to you you are a in the correct path every talk represent the vippassana which ss sathara sathipattanya which helps to clear duality by Lord Buddha

Love this channel....still, How people can get this deep into desire and not talk about the elements, the gunas or karma astonishes me. HELLO

Interesting discussion. I wonder if Dilullo is trying to convey a sentiment similar to 'Buddha nature' when he insists on every person's capacity to wake up. As per the question regarding cluster B disorders as understood according to the DSM, you might enjoy an alternative perspective regarding their classification, such as the one discussed in a recent article titled "Personality Disorders are Dead, Long Live the Interpersonal Disorders." There are also theories surrounding their association with attachment-related trauma, which I think ties into a more conditionally understood framework which - while such things may make 'waking up' more difficult - would not make it impossible either. Who knows, but perhaps the currently held beliefs about such disorders is the veil to their capacity to wake up, and an understanding of such disorders from a different perspective might be more helpful in lifting that.

I don’t believe Guru Viking is getting that one becomes a “no self”. If he sits with this for awhile he probably will.

What's "empty nature" exactly?

I wonder if he is respecting the splice between self and sense-of-self when discussing the non-existence of self.

what kind of room is that .. with close opposing wooden walls with windows ... and a wood stove in a ceramic corner

Is he for real? Great questions

Anyone who wants to awaken will? Ive been wanting to for yeaaars! what if I die soon before that?

The kind of skeptical questions that I have noticed being asked in the past few interviews kind of puts me off. Like pushing someone to paint with sound. So off.

I met someone who experienced a sort of spontaneous awakening, and fell into heroin use as a result. Awakening is a physical process in experience. Realization is direct pointing at the mind.

Self talk

I wonder if Dr Dilullo's partner is liberated, too.

Funny how all the heavy lifting comes "after awakening" according to the doctor, rather than maybe being the work necessary to bring that awakening about. Not sure how much he actually knows about "enlightenment." I wonder whether he conflates or confuses an intellectual understanding of the path with the genuine realization or attainment of it.

Karma for the algorithm.

So we become realized and then do therapy ( or some form of working out of subconscious elements) - something fundamentally wrong in that description - a sort of 'Zen flatliner' perhaps a deluded outcome of a D.I.Y program. You know the old school theory - Guru is necessary! I would say the loss of 'self' as described is not enlightenment in its greatest form, more a secular outcome. No radiance, no joy, no love, no Divine Power, as described, just the waking state, with a 'spanner thrown in the works' to prevent suffering. Also has a fundamentalist feel to it, a one way outcome. Contrast to classical yogis and sages, obviously a partial compromise. However a good interview for reasons of contrast.

2:08:30 I do think Angelo is making a mistake here. It's possible to have a "no-self" transformation and still do some pretty horrific stuff. I mean there was the whole argument within Zen that the Japanese army was the weapon of Karma in WW2. It's completely possible that you can have no-self, no doer, no agency, and mispercieve reality with respect to other people in the world. If we suppose we are all just apes walking around on this planet, running simulations of this world on our brains (which appears to be the case from both a computational perspective, and from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, ie predictive processing theory) you could posit that this liberated perspective is simply a parsimonious version of the simulation. (No need for sounds to refer to your body and a subsequent internal self, because the simulation is creating the sounds, and so instead of imagining a "you" at the center that's hearing the bird flying... The bird just hears itself, right there. No center, no stable self/agent - you're not in the matrix, you are the entire matrix, in a sense) But just because that's completely consistent internally doesn't mean whatsoever that there's not an objective world. It just means that we don't have direct access to it.

This dude is woke af

Strange it seems one dr. Angelo is nailed down he never seems to be specific about technique or anything very direct on how Awakening happens p he's always very vague I've seen various interviews on different programs and I can never get any direction on how to do what he does

Angelo is one of a crowd of nondualists putting up a heap of click-baity videos. He claims Awakening is easy -- under his tutelage -- but his book, Awake; It's Your Turn -- takes forever to get into any meat of awakening. It's more talking about side issues of Awakening than awakening itself. It's a red flag that a nondual book, written by a nondualist ("There's no self!") would put his MD title on the cover! It's ridiculous. Daniel Ingram did the same thing, but at least in his second edition, he took it off.

so bad