Leo Gura

These kinds of questions are basically the foundation of philosophy.

To get a sense for this, right now, put your attention on the fact that all of reality is within your awareness right now. You can get an intuitive sense for it. You won't be sure exactly how or why, but you can sort of place your focus on awareness itself rather than the contents of awareness. Try to expand your focus until you're not focused on any object, thought, or sensation in particular.

Well, in yogic traditions and in Buddhism they have you take vows when you join their community. The Buddha spoke of the Eight-fold Noble Path. These vows typically include the following: Not taking of life Not lying Non-violence Not using people sexually Abstinence from sex, drugs, alcohol, and other addictive substances These are not to be taken as moral commandments or truths, but merely self-imposed restrictions to hasten your path towards enlightenment.

What is truth? Try deconstructing that! Also try, What is existence vs non-existence?

Next time this happens, try noticing that you technically aren't feeling the fear, but your identity is literally made out of the fear! The fear is just a way that you trick yourself into reinforcing the belief that you exist. Fear makes you feel alive (in a false way).

@Saitama The plan is to turn it into a vehicle for the distribution of the deepest yogic wisdom.

Welcome to life. Where everyone's family is guaranteed to be fucked up in some way. Focus on your life purpose and your self-mastery. Don't stick your nose too much in other people's business. Let them eat Nutella sandwiches while you gleefully nibble gogi berries. Practice UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and COMPASSION for those people who stand in your way.

Yes, definitely. Zone of Genius is like a diamond in the very rough. You gotta have a lot of vision and persistence to polish it into a sparkling beauty. When you first start, it will seem like you're not great at anything. Greatness only comes with 10 to 20 years of prep work.

Ultimately I will probably become a yogi, so I don't think a family is in the cards for me. I'm not opposed to it on principle or anything. Nothing wrong with having a family if done for the right reasons.

Cool idea. I'm not sure you need lots of perks and rewards. The reward is in the work itself. Once people get a taste for it, they get hooked on self-mastery. Not everyone is ready for it, but that's no different than selling any other thing. Nothing is right for everyone. You might try recruiting folks in philosophy classes, yoga classes, meditation classes, and psychology classes. Those people should naturally see the value in self-improvement. Also you can look for people in support groups for substance abuse, physical abuse, depression, anxiety, etc. Those people are hard cases, but some of them are really ready to reform.

I started my first business and made lots of money in 2008-2010, the height of the economic collapse. Never let the herd's trajectory dissuade you from your own. Right now, every day, new self-made people are making millions and billions of dollars. You can be one of them if you desire.

Haha! Touche!

If you want to do quick self-inquiry while walking around, just place your attention on your deepest sense of self. That sense of self which is the witness, but not the body, mind, or ego. And just silently hold your attention there. This is actually what Ramana's self-inquiry process was. The question, Who am I?, is itself irrelevant. It's a function of the monkey mind. You need to actually train your awareness of the sense of awareness itself and hold it there without distraction. This can be done even while you're doing chores around the house or driving your car. You could use this one method to reach full enlightenment without ever engaging your logical mind in questioning or seeking, or ever putting pen to paper.

It's not as hopeless as is sounds. Let's put this into proper context. You cannot even describe to someone with words what an orange tastes like, or what an orgasm feels like. This is true of all first-person phenomena. This doesn't make talking about oranges and orgasms useless. For people who believe that oranges and orgasms do not exist, it's very helpful to use words, metaphors, and to give detailed instructions for how to obtain an orange or an orgasm. But the best function of spiritual teachers is simply inspiration. If you see me eating an orange with a big grin on my face, then you'll be moved to find your own orange and taste it.

Now you sorta feel my predicament with teaching you guys higher level concepts: most people simply are not willing to hear them. Over 50% of the stuff I say people reject simply through reflex, even though it could help them greatly if they just listened with a more open mind. Which is why I keep stressing openmindedness so much, and I rant against dogma so much. Overcoming these ego-defenses is a billion-dollar skill! It's sort of an art form. You have to learn how to think at their level and construct a case which appeals to their level's value system. So you might try to show the Orange PUA how his relentless quest for more external objects isn't satisfying, even to his own ego. Or how he could be even more productive and creative when he gets in touch which his intuitive, emotional side. Or how he will only be able to actually maintain a longer-term relationship with his dream girl once he attracts her if he starts to open up to the possibility of relating on more than just sex. Or use scientific studies to back up your claims. Orange people are suckers for scientific studies and rational arguments. But the person may still not be convinced no matter how hard you try because they simply aren't ready to move on to the next stage yet. The more important question you should ask yourself is: Why am I so invested in changing him? Could this just be a distraction from changing myself?

Sounds like you simply need to keep following the right principles and be patient. This stuff takes months and years to fully blossom. You gotta be very committed and patient. Trust that following proper psychological principles will eventually lead to gold. Just because you don't have a passion today, doesn't mean you won't have one 12 months from now after putting in the groundwork. Keep the faith and carry on.

What you guys are discussing is letting go of one's personal story. This is a common first-obstacle in doing self-inquiry because there's so much psychological baggage from the past that you need to purge it before you can sit down and dig into the existential questions of who and what you are. Some people have a very deep personal life story that they are identified with, and that might require a long process to purge. It might also be very emotionally painful. Especially you have a rocky childhood, abuse, violence, additions, etc. Other people easily detach from their life story and don't need so much painful purging. They can go straight to the existential questions. Which is why people's enlightenment journeys can vary greatly. And why no one technique is best for all.

Didn't figure you for one who nitpicks love

@Pinocchio Sounds like you're ready for a dose of the Love Revolution Also not sure why you didn't see the love Jed exhibits towards all the people he interacts with in his books. To me those interactions reek of his enlightened compassion and kindness.

You're not supposed to get an answer to the What am I question. The answer is the enlightenment itself. So don't worry about it. Stillness and quiet is the perfect state to be in for this lightning to strike.

If find it deliciously ironic that angry people, who hurt others with their anger, get angry at me, and complain about hurt feelings, when I use mock anger to slap them awake. Lol

There's no reason why you couldn't. Osho bought 91 Rolls Royces, lol. It's just that once you get enlightened enough, you won't care too much about "a nice living". It will become trivial for you. Which is why Osho blew all his money on 91 Rolls Royces. Osho don't give a fuck

You ARE enlightenment! Enlightenment is not something you find or perceive but something you BE! Because all reality is actually just BEING.

Hehehe, nice! If you wouldn't have come around, I don't know who would

Oh yes! There's a handful of them possible. The first enlightenment is really just the start of a path.