Leo Gura

A lot of people say a lot of things. The deepest truth I've extrapolated so far is Absolute Nothingness. Maybe there's something else to be found, I dunno, there's lots of different types of mystical experiences, but it doesn't seem that way from where I'm sitting. Things like soul, spirit, and even consciousness is not as deep a truth as Nothingness. Nothingness is beyond all mystical experience, beyond soul, beyond existence, beyond non-existence, beyond any thing whatsoever. And it seems like only the most hardcore and grounded people find it and speak of it accurately. But maybe I'm wrong. The problem is, that personal experiences of any kind, even if they are heavenly or otherworldly, are still experiences. And enlightenment is NOT an experience. Before you were born, there was no experience. But you were will still you. And you're still that you. And you will be that you after you die. But that you is nothing you can imagine or fathom. And it is not an experience.

Yeah... their recruiting techniques seem very manipulative, which should be your first clue. But yeah, don't listen to anyone who asks you to have faith in their words. Words are cheap. True spiritual teachers never ask you to believe anything. They push you to do self-discovery.

You gotta wonder, what is it exactly that's being "reincarnated"? The thing you think of as you -- the personality and ego -- ain't anything solid. It doesn't even stay the same in one lifetime. And the soul -- well, it too doesn't really exist.

There are dozens if not a hundred different styles. It's easy to get overwhelmed and to lose focus. So I'd suggest you stick to 2 or 3 at the most when you start. Then after a few years of solid practice you can branch out further, and by that time you'll have found many other techniques. That's what I've done.

Most people's lives have so much fat you could trim without even touching their life purpose. Life purpose needs to be managed wisely. To become a workaholic at one's life purpose is to lose sight of the bigger picture, and it's a common trap for many media-hailed entrepreneurs and tycoons like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, etc. These people are successful, but their lives are far less than they could be. Don't get distracted by glamour and glitz. Be a good editor of your own life.

The mistake is in making this an either/or choice. BOTH! The answer is always BOTH! People don't like hearing that because it means more work. And that's absolutely right! If you want to match up to someone like Aristotle or Da Vinci, you best be hustling from the crack of dawn to late into the night. Those people put in massive amounts of hours studying various fields. They weren't dabblers. They were very serious about their work and their life. Life is pretty long. If you use your time wisely, you have time to master multiple fields. The problem is, most people find it hard enough to master just one field, let alone two or three. That really takes exceptional dedication and vision, and also a fair amount of neurotic workaholism. The danger in taking on multiple fields is that you master none.

Yes, it will probably happen, sometime far down the road. I don't want to make a course on something that I haven't mastered yet.

Thanks all!

Over the last 2 weeks there was a bug with the forum software that prevented people from logging into the forum, including myself! It took me a while to find a fix for this weird bug. I'm happy to report it's been fixed! Sorry for the delay and technical problems.

@student This has nothing to do with your age. Fear of surrendering the ego is ALWAYS in the way of enlightenment. It is pretty much the biggest obstacle, perhaps aside from distraction. It won't get any easier with age. In fact, it should be easier now, while you're young and your mind is still relatively fresh and open to new things.

Focus on one thing at a time. Baby steps when you're just starting. Pick one habit to install and master it.

@Hardik jain A Vipasanna retreat is pretty hardcore. You should start with just building up a 20-minute daily meditation practice. Do that for a year or two, then try Vipasanna again.

No, I didn't code it, but I installed it and manage it. Forum software is extremely complex and prone to bugs and security loopholes. It needs to be constantly maintained by a team of professional coders. And this forum software is still rather new, so they are ironing out bugs every week. And every new update potentially introduces new bugs! Which then requires a new update. So yeah, it can get messy. But in the long-run, this software is very good and will become very stable.

@rrodriguez111 The monkey-mind will latch onto anything it can find. It's not swallowing that distracts you. It's the monkey-mind. It will fade away within a few weeks or months of consistent practice. You'll advance to other, more subtle distractions.

Oddly enough you can be enlightened and still hold many silly beliefs. Beliefs die hard.

@carlo You're not doing do-nothing properly. Watch the Do Nothing video again and notice that you're specifically told not to try to stop thinking. That is doing something!

@BeginnerActualizer That's why I talk more about life purpose than passion. Life purpose is a life-long commitment to a particular passion, which is formalized and strategic enough that it will support you even when you feel depressed, lazy, or down on your luck.

@Foreign It's good that you're at lease conscious enough to realize the problem. The reality is that you certainly will pass on your neuroses to your child unless you take some action. The good news, you've got plenty of time to self-actualized while your daughter is still young. In a few years, you can make lots of progress. Start with baby steps. Perhaps start with a 20 minute per day meditation habit.

@framu Sounds like you got a hit on who/what you really are. The trick is maintaining it and not getting dragged back into ego. There's nothing to be afraid of. Keep digging deeper into it and notice that the fears cannot touch you if you are nothing.

In an effort to make this community tighter and more on-point, I've decided to merge the Habits & Productivity sub-forum and the Lifestyle Design & Travel sub-forum into the main Self-Actualization sub-forum. Don't worry, all the content will still remain, it will just be moved over to Self-Actualization. This will make the Self-Actualization sub-forum more active and productive while simplifying navigation. Thanks!

Guess that means I'm disqualified

I plan to release it just like the regular videos. But it will take a while to interview everyone and assemble it. Probably 1 year or so timeframe. I'm trying to do one long 2-hour documentary rather than fragments or parts.

Sure, take a look at Osho for example. 91 Rolls Royces, lol.

Soon

Covered here: http://www.actualized.org/articles/being-a-spiritual-seeker-good-or-bad