Leo Gura

You can eliminate the belief that you're a human being. So just imagine the possibilities! What you're asking about is peanuts.

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No No, we moved just before the collapse because my Dad was doing business here. So much to do, so little time. It's real. Lots of opportunity there which I don't have time to explore right now. 1) I've always been full of spiritual creativity. Maybe I earned it in a past life? I dunno. 2) That would be a whole course. 3) I believe I mentioned that in the life purpose course. I'm familiar with it, but haven't studied it deeply. Occult traditions are definitely grounded in reality, although often laden with much needless fantasy. You have to follow your heart, whatever that might mean. But regardless, do start a daily meditation practice. Don't be so black and white in your thinking. You can work on several things at once. Neither of those. Meditation is about BEING and perceiving accurately. Low consciousness pleasure pale in comparison to high consciousness pleasures. Not even close. It's sorta like asking, "Why don't you punch yourself in the face?" Because it's painful. It varies. Some weeks a lot, some weeks not at all. It doesn't matter when. You guys certainly do confuse and distract each other. But that's the nature of public discussion, so a large degree of that must be tolerated. Everyone has their own growth curve. It annoys and saddens me when people start debates about nonduality or the like, or act ideologically. I feel pity for their ignorance. Systems thinking Chaos theory Cosmology Linguistics Ecology Public policy issues Marketing & business History of West and East Physics Biology Evolution Psychology Sociology Art history Philosophy Epistemology Religious traditions Occult traditions Nutrition History of war & dictatorship Hypnosis Channeling Astral travel Mathematics, set theory, category theory, topology Other cultures Etymology Zoology, animals, naturalism Geology Paleontology Archeology Etc. When you meditate, just sit totally naturally and focus all attention on being. Don't manipulate the breathe. If you want to work on your breathing, do that separately. Meditation is about surrender. Stop manipulating so much. It really varies. Depends on my mood and level of energy and attention. Some days, lots of monkey mind. Other days, still lots of thoughts arise, but it can feel like I'm on a very low dose of mushrooms. Much progress has been made on the book, but it's all just research notes at this point. Don't hold your breath, it probably won't be released for another 5 years. It's not your typical self-help book. Get enlightened. Nothing else really matters. Of course, it's fucking TERRIBLE! Way worse than you ever, ever, ever imagined. Medication is highly ineffective at treating mental illness. It almost never addresses the true root cause, and often makes things much worse. Psychedelics are an exception. They ARE exceptionally effective when used properly. I answer this in the life purpose course. Yes 26, I think. I was too busy for sex. Wasn't a high priority for me (although I do enjoy it a lot).

It's still baking. I got a lot of stuff cooking on backburners. Not sure when yet. It's possible, but not likely you'll do it. 1) There's a long list. I can relate to many people, but long-term success won't be possible unless she's into growth. 2) Meditate daily, self-inquiry, and contemplate epistemology. INTP Self-inquiry, do-nothing, and mindfulness with labeling. Meditation retreats, consciousness workshops, reading, and self-inquiry. Yes I do have some "dirty" habits like following politics, scanning a tech news site, porn, etc. Yes, when I'm experienced enough with them. Hitting all the Jhanas can take decades of work. I wanna make a mini-course on that in the future. Both are masterful teachers Yes, definitely. Coaching is a lot easier when you understand the deep roots of all human neurosis, including your own. Since I stopped coaching, my understanding has grown substantially. So I would coach a lot differently now. Hardly. I keep very few close friends anyway. Not since my Siamese cat (Smokey) died about 6 years ago. Wasting my life 1) There seems to be something valid there, requiring more research 2) No idea 3) There seems to be something valid there, requiring more research

@Greatnestwithin I don't know how exactly. I just know we create it. For pain to exist, a distinction must be created between pain and not-pain. Imagine for a moment that you held pain without any judgment, and it stopped being painful, turning into divine pleasure. Such that you could stick your hand into an open flame and genuinely enjoy the experience. Now that would be some serious level of mastery. But it has been done.

@Bodhi123 Just as long as you acknowledge that YOU create all your suffering, and that you could stop creating it, then fine. You ARE creating all your suffering, including physical pain. And you can stop doing it. This requires new levels of consciousness. The Absolute level and the relative level are identical (at the Absolute level) There is absolutely no difference between enlightenment and non-enlightenment. But me telling you doesn't help you much. It only confuses you. Which is good, I guess, if you embrace the confusion and don't stop doing the work. If you use any of these discussions to stop doing the work, you've failed and ego has won. And if you just keep doing the work, you don't need any of these discussions, as they mostly just slow you down. Nonduality is a bitch (for duality)

The best argument against heavy metal is this: you have terrible taste in art

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Good, so let's quickly cut to the chase by airing out some of the hidden assumptions in your reasoning. Do things really exist for YOU? Or do things simply exist? Do YOU hear sounds, or do sounds simply arise? Do YOU feel things, or do feelings simply arise? Are YOU bringing up images? What is that YOU? Are there really things, or simply arising sensations? Do things exist, or do amorphous sensations arise and pass away, having no constant existence? What actually exists for more than half a second? Anything? You say you exist in thought, but is that REALLY what you believe? Do you cease existing in between two thoughts? Keep exploring all these questions. This is the right track. But it will require much practice. Try to get REALLY clear about what you believe you are. Not ideas of "Nothingness" but REALLY! If we put a gun to your head, what is going to die? << That's more like it. All your ideas of nothingness are gonna REALLY hold you back. Drop them. Pretend like you've never heard anything about enlightenment, and then proceed with the self-inquiry.

@J Materialism isn't a role so much as a stage of development of consciousness. Unless you actively think of yourself as a proud materialist.

Some interesting research: listen.pdf

@LiakosN Everyone knows about his books, so there's little use in me promoting them. I also find them watered-down nonduality. There are much better nonduality books. Although a lot of people do love his books.

Congrats, now you know why 99.99% of people don't do this work.

@Maorice Oh, it has everything to do with psychology. He's not in it for the money of course. He's in it for the ego.

Not sure what that means exactly. Various ways to interpret that.

@Truth 1g of mushrooms is enough to show you all your roles.

@Maorice Of course! Stage Orange materialism. It's very knowingly and intentionally designed to generate profit (i.e., egoic self-benefit, damn the collective costs). Stage Orange co-opts science and government for the purpose of unlimited material acquisition. Of course, when you're spiritually disconnected, what else is there but unlimited material acquisition? Look at Trump. He's the living embodiment of Stage Orange consciousness run amok. Why is he running a country at 80 years old? Because that ego can't help itself. It needs more, it needs more, it needs more! No amount is ever enough! He should be preparing to face his own death, not bickering with people over Twitter. The entire Trump presidency is an ego distraction. Of course, some folks are too far gone.

@Maorice Take a look at the war being waged against environmental scientists and the EPA, as one example.

It's important to keep in mind just how vicious and repressive mankind has been in the last 2000 years. Society has certainly improved. No matter how bad things are now, it's still WAY better than 1000 years ago. So we're definitely evolving. The question is, will it be fast enough not to kill ourselves?

Certainly higher-consciousness and politics intertwine at some point. The reason our politics is so nasty is because of the general low-consciousness state of most individuals in our society. As ego and materialism runs amok on a personal level, it will run amok on a collective level. All our individual neuroses are perfectly reflected at the collective level. Which explains things like why psychedelics are demonized and outlawed by society. Spiral Dynamics tells us exactly why all of this is happening, where its going, and what the solutions are. Spiral Dynamics could easily have predicted Trump's election. But how many people understand Spiral Dynamics? Almost no one. Most of the country is stage Blue/Orange, busily waging war against stage Orange/Green/Yellow, and stage Red (terrorism). What we're seeing at the collective level is a backfiring of a century of rampant materialism. It's going to get worse before it gets better, because the root issue is hardly being acknowledged by anyone. It's like Zen Devilry, without the Zen.

@Yellow The problem with low-consciousness business tactics, is that backfire, and often aren't even effective at getting you the material success you desire. Affiliate marketing is fundamentally unsustainable for the vast majority of people. Sorta like a pyramid scheme where only the ones at the top prosper, and even then, mostly due to their celebrity status.

Sounds like it's not a big deal. Then again, it shouldn't be hard to find a similar image minus the smoking. Just do a Google search. Or if you're skilled, you could Photoshop it out.

Yeah... that's sort of an advanced question. You're not going to understand it well unless you've done a lot of self-inquiry or actually experienced reality without a self.

@Afonso That's the trick, isn't it? Here's an example: become deeply aware right now that you are going to die, and to the self, that death will be ultimate and endless. And then compare that level of consciousness to your typical day. Notice the difference. This gives you a little clue of what it means to become "conscious of something". Although this isn't deep consciousness. It's very shallow still.