Leo Gura

All is one. This is not possible to understand until you experience yourself as empty spirit. Tasting spirit is like pure magic, pure divinity. But it requires an awakening. You cannot see spirit yet because it's so obvious and close that you're overlooking it. Like a fish in water who cannot see the water.

Don't mistake these exercises for mere thinking. They are pointers to direct consciousness. They are to be experienced.

@AxelK You're the one placing all these moral expectations on enlightened beings. Applying today's cultural norms to someone from 2000 years ago is silly. The culture of Arabs 2000 years ago was insanely vicious and brutal. Mohammad was a saint compared to tribal rape, pillage, and lawlessness that was common-day occurrence at the time. The Arab culture is extremely tribalistic. That's true today, but it was 1000x more true 2000 years ago. Islam was a huge pacifying influence at the time of its inception. Understanding the historical and cultural context of Islam is hugely important. What you call "child-rapist" was standard practice just 100 years ago all over the world. Girls have historically been married off and started giving birth in their early teens. Many of the wives Mohammad kept where orphaned or homeless or abandoned women, who keep took under his care. In that culture, a woman without a husband or brother is basically a homeless starving untouchable. The reason Mohammad had to wage war was because all the tribes wanted to slaughter him for his higher spiritual teachings. In that environment, he could only fight back or get slaughtered. Enlightenment does automatically mean peace, rainbows, and butterflies. We live in the real-world, where shit happens. If you live in a warzone, you're not automatically gonna have peace. The Buddha could be peaceful because India had a very tolerant culture. Jesus was slaughtered within a couple of years. Arab culture presented a unique challenge to the spread of spirituality.

@Bookum The real question is, how can you stay motivated if you're merely motivated to please others??? That's absurdity, not motivation. Time for you to face to hard fact that all motivation is groundless. Contemplate this really deep.

@username Yes, but contemplate in your sleep. What am I? Who is sleeping? Who is dreaming?

@Mr Lenny That will yield less results. It's critical that you quiet the mind. In 30 minutes, the mind is only starting to settle. I recommend you spend 100 hours straight doing self-observation. Just to see for yourself the power of momentum. If you do it for 30 minutes twice a day, you may not ever get enlightened. It's just a drop in the bucket compared to the hardcore self-observation required to break through. 100-hour stretches of contemplation are merely child's play compared to what the masters do. And if your excuse is, "But Leo! I don't have 100 hours to contemplate." Well... then you're not really serious about waking up. You've lost all sense of priority, drowning in a bottomless pit of depravity and illusion.

@ULFBERHT Yeah, don't get stuck on any one part for WEEKS. Skip and keep going. You can circle back around to it later. Your priority should be on completing the bulk of the course versus doing everything perfectly. If you finish the course even at 80% of stuff done, that's still a huge net win for you.

I'll still be using 5-meo, but it was never my only tool. I like to research and try all sorts of different methods. I would never hinge the entirety of my salvation any external thing or substance.

No, it's so beautiful no words can describe it. Some mornings I wake up and think, "OH MY GOD!!! It's an infinite illusion!"

Except it IS the case. You've just made a habit of not accepting reality as it is, because it doesn't serve you, and now this habit is very difficult to drop. That's the crux of this matter: stop serving you. Truth is antithetical to self-agenda. Which is why so few pursue it. The best way to hide the Truth is in plain sight. Just make it useless and no one will see it. It's not necessary to "trust" direct experience. It's only necessary to observe it and realize that there is nothing else!

@Mariem So you're basically asking: Would you rather be happy or depressed?

@How to be wise Not really. Life purpose is about finding the kind of impact you want to make and your domain of mastery. A big mistake is to think of life purpose as a single narrow project, like: building a wormhole. That's way too narrow. Nothing wrong with wanting to build a wormhole, but the fact is, you're putting the cart before the horse. You have no idea right now what is and isn't possible within your domain of mastery. Nor should you. What you're really interested in there is physics, or whatever. So isolate the essence of what about building a wormhole appeals to you so much. And then you'll see that not only can you pursue stuff like building wormholes, but also perhaps even better things which you can't even imagine yet. Why are you passionate about building a wormhole? Hint: the answer has nothing to do with wormholes.

@Darrick I would definitely NOT start a new business in California. California is WAY too overpriced, and state income taxes suck. Start-ups need to be lean and agile. There's a reason why Steve Jobs started his start-up in a garage and Bill Gates started Microsoft in New Mexico, not Seattle. You gotta be economical as a start-up. I started my first business in Fort Worth, one of the best-value real-estate markets in the country at the time. It would have been stupid of me to stay in Boston. So the very first thing I did was relocate. As an indie musician, you should be excited to get the hell out of Silicon Valley and live somewhere dirt cheap. Your main focus should be your WORK, not your place of residence. After you're successful, you can live wherever you want. And, BTW, there are much nicer places to live than California for 1/5th the cost. California is overcrowded and overrated. Be more flexible and creative as you pursue your life purpose, otherwise, you'll get stuck real quick. And, BTW, living in different cities is a huge catalyst for self-actualization. It pushes your comfort zone. Never stay in one city for more than 5 years at your age. Check out places like Vegas, Dallas/FW, Austin, Oregon, etc. Consider even moving to a 3rd world country for a while, like Bali or the Philippines or Costa Rica. A lot of business can be done online these days, and your main focus should be on honing your craft -- mastery even more so than business.

@Neo My philosophy is that shadow work is necessary to do beside meditation. Meditation alone is often not sufficient to unwire deep neuroses or traumas. Although meditation is extremely beneficial for people with neuroses and traumas. I feel that personal development work is still necessary alongside any spiritual practices you do.

It's so radical you still stop believing reality is real. I sometimes wake up in the morning and think, "I clearly know this entire reality is pure fantasy. Yet here I am stuck in this dream. Okay, let's get to work."

When I first started this sub-forum, my biggest concern was that people would use it as a platform to engage in religious debate. Thankfully that's never happened. However, what I failed to foresee was the same dynamic manifesting in a more subtle form: people engaging in nondual debate. This is even more regrettable, because it goes directly against what nonduality is about and such folks should know better. There has been a recent trend of people stirring up nonduality debate or embarking on "discrediting" campaigns. It's this toxic tendency to criticize and nitpick nondual teachings because they happen to differ from how you think nonduality ought to be done or taught. As if there is one or two paths that everyone should take, and all others are delusional. This is a classic trap. Traditionally, most spiritual paths -- as part of their marketing strategy -- highlight their upsides while conveniently never mentioning their own downsides. Then they criticize all the other paths by only highlighting their downsides while never mentioning their upsides. This creates a false apples-and-oranges comparison. It's functional purpose is to recruit new adherents. It's basically a dishonest advertising campaign. The problem with this approach is that it breeds intolerance and sectarianism. It creates in-fighting and distraction rather than contributing positively to the discussion. It's intellectually uncharitable and ultimately makes the entire field of spirituality/nonduality look hypocritical to outsiders. If you are so nondual, or so self-realized, why are you wasting so much of your time fighting others? This is such a rookie mistake. The reality is that nonduality is a difficult thing to teach, no matter by what method. Traps are numerous NO MATTER WHICH PATH YOU TAKE. There is no such thing as the perfect path. There is no such thing as a path with no downsides or traps or potential for delusion. Any path you take can be misused. Any teaching you hear can be misused. Any teaching can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Any teaching can be nitpicked and criticized into ill-repute if one so desires. You can easily write a massive diatribe about every single spiritual teacher and spiritual path ever devised by man. And you would be half-right. But all of this is just an ideology game. It's a fundamental failure to understand the other person. It's also rather annoying to moderate and creates idle controversy where none really exists. Not only does it turn good people against each other, it's false and ignorant. Just because you've had a rude awakening -- just because you realized that reality is illusory -- doesn't mean you get to come on here and trash the value of conceptual work, or traditional self-help, or other nondual methods. Just because one method didn't resonant with you, doesn't mean you get to crap all over other people's methods. Again, this is such a rookie mistake we shouldn't even be having this discussion. The work that we're doing here is very nuanced. It's very easy to misunderstand. It's very easy to demonize. It's very easy to abuse by its nature. All advanced work is this way. And our work here goes WAY beyond enlightenment. I am counting on you to be a nuanced and understanding student. If you disagree with this philosophy and think that all there is worth doing in life is enlightenment, that's your opinion -- and you're entitled to have it -- but you have no business being here. Go spend your time doing something productive that you believe in, rather than debating, "debunking", and criticizing -- with flagrant disregard for intellectual charity -- the hard work of others. Anyone engaging in nondual debate like: "Method X is all bullshit. It's delusional. Teacher Y doesn't know what the hell enlightenment is. Just follow the method that worked for me." will be banned. There is nothing nondual about such behavior. It's juvenile and driven by a lack of understanding of the deeper aspects of this work. The very act of making such posts is already evidence of one's low level of development. Highly conscious people do NOT behave in this way. Here's a very simple rule of thumb: you will NEVER see highly-conscious and self-realized masters debating, criticizing, nitpicking, or engaging in "debunking" campaigns. Because all of that is egoic, dualistic, ideological nonsense. If they disagree with a teaching, they simply avoid it. They don't start a crusade to fight against it. They understand that different people resonant with different paths and teachings. They understand that everyone needs to find their own path. Remember that guiding people to nonduality is an inherently challenging thing. It's one of the most challenging teaching scenarios. If you ever get the opportunity to teach hundreds or thousands of people about enlightenment, you'll gain a new appreciation for how many of them will deeply misunderstand you and use your well-intentioned teaching for evil. Have respect and compassion for that. When assessing the value of a teaching, observe the principle of intellectual charity, and seek to understand the communication rather than how best to discredit it. Discrediting is easy, understanding is difficult. Division is easy, integration is difficult. Hostility is easy, compassion is difficult. To be a part of this community, you certainly don't need to agree with me on everything. I've always encouraged you to think for yourself and never follow blindly. But you do need to agree with some of my core values like: intellectual honesty, tolerance, compassion, holism, and openmindedness. You must show a basic level of tolerance for diversity and you also need to adhere to the principle of intellectual charity when discussing the pros and cons of various nondual paths. If you don't agree with such principles, that's fine, you just have no business posting on this forum. Please help me keep this community in line with this high standard of discourse, so it doesn't devolve into the kind of low-consciousness finger-pointing that we see all across the web. And none of this should be taken to mean: "So Leo is always right?" No! Leo is just a guy on the web who shares ideas with you. Be very intelligent in how you understand and apply these nuanced and tricky ideas. And none of this should be taken to mean: "Leo is saying that all teachings are identical and equally valid." No! That's obviously not the case. Some teachings are downright absurd. Use of good discernment is ALWAYS necessary. But even if a teaching is absurd, you're still not entitled to troll it or crusade against it. Your actions always speak louder than your words. If you choose to engage in debate or crusading, that shows us exactly what your level of development is, no matter how many enlightenments you may think you've had.

@Will Bigger That was a rough guideline, so you don't have the silly expectation of getting enlightened after 1 week of doing this process. It can take anywhere from 1 second to never. For most of you, it will probably take longer than 2 years simply because you're not doing it with single-minded focus. I'm focus on business and doing research, for example, so it's taking me longer. 5-meo can speed it up because it will change your priorities, if nothing else.

Of course that can affect your life a lot. I wouldn't call it a vow. It's something else. But still might be highly significant. They're a lot more to neurotic psychology than just vows. Remember that an episode of mine is just an episode. It's not meant to be -- nor can it be -- a comprehensive, exhaustive look at anything. I could shoot 10 episodes on each topic and still not say everything that needs to be said about it. This stuff can get very deep and nuanced. And the nuances can be significant. The episodes are merely meant to be launching points for your own investigations and research. This topic is generally called shadow work. It's the bulk of psychotherapy. There are dozens of techniques and theories for how to deal with it.

@Tibor Fear of suffering. And you making an identity out of it. It becomes part of your life story. Sorta like Westworld characters are defined by their past horrors. Without memories, who would you be?

You're gonna want to strategically shift focus between things depending on your exact situation. If you're undertaking a BIG endeavor like starting a business, or learning pickup, or developing your life purpose, or starting a family, or enlightenment -- you're gonna want to focus on it rather obsessively and exclusively for some significant length of time: anywhere from 6 months to several years. This means ONE thing. Of course you can still have minor projects and habits that you're building alongside your ONE big thing. Learning how to find the exact right balance is one of the KEYS to all success. A rigid, black-and-white thinking mind is not capable of this. Which is why its rare to see a highly successful, well-rounded human being. Don't think of balance as a static state. Think of it as a dynamic thing. Your focus will shift throughout your life, as you finish one chapter and start another.

Don't be so sure about that. Maybe he did see an angel Time to research what angels are.

Firstly, you don't exist. Secondly, cultivate patience and mastery mindset. This is the last thing on Earth to be rushed. Be serious and steady. Be the wise tortoise, not the foolish hare. Thirdly, ego cannot die because it is an illusion. Fighting with ego is just more ego. Notice this. Be careful of building up an new anti-ego ego. That's still ego. See through that whole game. Just work diligently at self-observation, trust the process, and don't stop doing research into spirituality.

@Bronsoval That's one way Reality is much stranger than that. It's absolutely infinite. Every distinction is arbitrary. How else can existence be? It all makes perfect sense once you see it. After all, you did create it all out of nothing Wakey, wakey.

1) It's hard to get activated when you've got no compelling vision for your future, and no clear life purpose. That's why the life purpose course is so important. You're not likely to overcome that laziness otherwise. 2) It takes at least 1-2 years of steady personal development work to build yourself a little foundation and momentum. So keep a 3-5 year time horizon as you do this work. Your results the first year won't be spectacular. But in 3-5 years you'll be shocked at how much you've changed. You gotta keep that in mind so you don't get discouraged 6 months in. 3) Start building 1 good habit at a time. Try to build 1 new healthy habit every 2 months for 1 year straight. That will be 6 new habits in one year. Doesn't sound like a lot, but that alone will be revolutionary. And that's only year one! 4) Get clear about what you want out of life. If you got no big goals or deep desires, you're stuck forever. 5) Backsliding is normal. In fact, I've got a video call How To Stop Backsliding.

Notice, that is a point of identification for you. And what is that? What is "Just a special program in my brain"? It's a THOUGHT! Notice, "my brain" is a THOUGHT! There is no brain in your direct experience. There is also no "special program" in your direct experience. Become mindful of what is THOUGHT, and what is direct experience. Notice that there is a Voice in direct experience that keeps talking and won't shut up. That Voice supplies you with all kinds of intellectual answers. All of those answers are wrong because all those answers are just sounds. And you are not a sound. How can you know if you're a sound or not? Well... just take a good close look. Are you a sound? Maybe you are. Don't believe me. Look!