Leo Gura

@kieranperez Different people need different teachings. This stuff is too complex for there to be one best way.

Brutally direct teachings can be good, but they are also too advanced for most people to get results from it, and they oversimplify things too much, to the point of ignoring important complications, sticking points, pathologies, stages of development, and stuff like emotional mastery, shadow work, integration, etc. Brutally direct teachings often ignore the human side of this work. The pasison and the love. They can be too autistic and masculine. Some enlightened masters are basically autistic so their style will reflect that. This may not resonate well with you. Personally I prefer a more passionate, warm approach. Love has the power to transform a person like nothing else.

@Druid420 Are you conscious of Nothingness? That is key.

Ken is way beyond Yellow. If all you look at is that one model then it can look Yellow. But the man is not the model. And anyway his models go way beyond Yellow.

Too many double negatives make for confusion. It's simpler: Existence is.

You can be in communion without creating a personal identity out of it. Yes, some degree of collective ego is inevitable and necessary if there is to be community.

@clouffy See my book list. I will also be adding some powerful new books soon.

@clouffy For the same reason that you lie and that you are not transparent. Why don't you post naked pictures of yourself on the internet?

@clouffy Animals are not awake, just like children are not awake. But nor are they egoically deluded. To be awake is to be conscious that you are God. A mule is not conscious that he is God. Unless maybe he's really good at hiding it

@clouffy And must this ideal guru you're looking for also have a footlong cock to satisfy you? Be mindful of the expectations you place upon people. That's all your ego and has nothing to do with the guru.

That's half-true. The other half of life is seeking communion with others. When you become truly individual you will go full-circle and be in communion with all other individuals. But it is a mistake to think that life is only about being an individual because you will then create a shadow out of community.

@Anirban657 The better question is, why would you think you are a body? Who is there to even say what counts as a body and what doesn't? Humans make up all such boundaries, including the boundary of human vs non-human. In other words, humans only exist as a species because we say that we do. The universe does not know what a species is. Don't take the most basic things for granted.

Truth or an absolute is not held at all. It is just what is. Isness itself is an absolute. In fact, the absolute is all there ever is. The present moment is absolute, but ego is not conscious of this. To be simply conscious of the present moment is the closest you can get to the absolute. Or take a psychedelic.

@mandyjw You vs me is a duality

1) An absolute is not a belief. You can hold a belief in an absolute, but that would be a belief, not an absolute. 2) An enlightened person is identified with nothing. Thoughts arise, just like birds chirp when you walk outside. It's not a big deal. You don't need to kill the birds, nor do you need them chirping all the time or in any particular way. You are detached from the chirping such that it's fine either way.

Life's a trip and the journey is the destination Psychedelic vs not-psychedelic is yet one more duality.

@ajasatya I've met more strippers who are into meditation and spirituality than bankers

Technically they can. But usually they ain't. You won't find a lot of yogis on Wall Street.

Well sure. It's not like Ken has a monopoly on this stuff. But as a general rule of thumb, I would never trust a professional academic's level of awakening or metaphysical understanding to be the highest. The wisest and most conscious people would never be academics. This doesn't mean academics don't have some valuable contributions to make. They do. But their understanding will not be too high or all-encompassing and they will miss very important facets of the big picture. To understand the highest stages you must look for visionaries and geniuses.

@bmcnicho Sounds like you are right where you ought to be given your age and lack of life experience. I was/am very anti-conformist like you. Nothing wrong with that. It's just a part of your personality. It might mean you should be a leader, a boss, a solo artist, or just off doing your own thing. This is great. In this case you will have to build yourself up and lead yourself a lot before others start to follow you. Don't be afraid to carve your own path in life. Maybe consider starting a business within a field you are passionate or curious about. A traditional cookie-cutter college major or job is probably not right for you. You need something more custom, more your own. Autistic is also okay. Just part of your personality type. You just need to find a career/purpose which leverages that. The best way to pursue truth is via yoga, contemplation, philosophy, self-inquiry, and/or psychedelics. So I would build experience will all the above and see how that feels for you. If you really value truth you should love all that. Try to think about what kind of career would be most aligned with your personality and the value of truth. It's basically that simple. Don't beat around the bush. Nail your top value.

The core of awakening is being conscious of your true identity as Nothing. If you identify with being a body, mind, some human life, or any form whatsoever -- you ain't awake. What are you? If you have to think about it or search for it, you ain't awake. An awake person knows what they are immediately, directly.

@ValiantSalvatore I don't understand how what you wrote relates to what I wrote. What is your point? Shinzen teaches a narrow version of his vipasanna/mindfulness system. He does not talk about stages of development.

Spiral Dynamics breaks down around Turquoise. Ken Wilber's intergal model works much better at mapping stages above Turquoise. The problem is that you cannot understand anything above Turquoise unless you become very awake and experienced with spiritual practices. Which the creators of Spiral Dynamics are not. So it is above their head.

@Lynnel Good work! Still just the tip of the iceberg.

It's a sign that you are moving in the right general direction, but it's unclear when an awakening will come. The awakening may still be far off if you've got a lot of energtic blocks and stuff to work through. That stuff that's coming up needs to be worked through, processed, and ultimately let go of. Sounds like you're doing okay. Keep working at it. Let the energy take over you. Act it out for a bit in a safe manner and then it should leave you. Some sort of intense physical activity should good for acting out the energy, like boucing around on a trampolene, etc. I think the key here is to act it out rather than trying to bottle it up. So if you feel like speaking in tongues, or flailing your arms, or yelling, do it. Lock yourself in a room with a punching bag and let it all out. Do so safely.