Leo Gura

@MiracleMan FYI, I did several meditation retreats in Virginia in the humid summer with those annoying tiny mosquito which are so small you can't even see them. So watch your excuses. Had my first enlightenment experience in Virginia.

@Moreira Conceptualization is a very serious addiction. We just don't usually think of it as such because the whole Western world is addicted to it, so it seems normal. The best solutions I've found are: Solo retreats Meditation retreats Psychedelics As far as the "can't stand not-knowing", that's a major obstacle on this path. You gotta realize that "knowing more" isn't the solution, it's part of the problem. See my video: How To Deal With Confusion, where I address this a bit. At some point you have to surrender to not-knowing. Rather than just relying on a technique, try to consciously realize that what you're currently doing is not going to work.

@Franz Good work. But still only the beginning. Now you got a taste of where this path can lead.

@Moreira You will never understand until you exit your current level of consciousness. It's like you're an ant thinking he's got the whole universe figured out. You can't know yet just how misguided you are. It must be experienced to be believed. Science becomes laughable once you have an awakening or two.

Your protocol is totally wrong if you want to do this for growth. NEVER consume alcohol with psychedelics! Liquid LSD? That sounds super-sketchy. That would DEFINITELY require a drug test kit. Liquid LSD of unknown concentration or quality is super dangerous. Never do multiple doses throughout a trip. You're treating this substance totally irresponsibly. You're lucky nothing bad happened. Doing what you were doing is how people get killed on these things, and why psychedelics are much demonized.

There are many. I like Gandhi, Buddha, and some of the ancient Greek & Roman philosophers. Because it's the #1 thing distracting most people from building a high quality life. Our culture is corrupted through and through with cheap mindless entertainment. I like him. Although I don't like how Christians totally misunderstand him. No Yes, a bit. But I don't like taking drugs. I tend to be very self-conscious in social situations, making it hard to "let loose". I don't even own a TV. But if you mean stuff like Youtube or the occasional film or show, then sure. Yes, but not right now on this PC. Almost exactly 1 year ago. I released a video about it. 1) Nope. Motivation itself is never fully annihilated. Your motivations will shift to higher quality ones. Shallow motivations will die, but that's a good thing. If your theory was correct, all the enlightened people in the world would have died from starvation. 2) Do self-inquiry, or take some psychedelics, or both. Very little. I try to keep my life simple. Of course I have some other goals like buying a house, but I want to keep life focused. That's a deep question. Can't answer that here. 1) No 2) I would just retire into a cabin the woods in some little country. Sure I don't. Yes, of course. That's the nature of growth. It will happen to you too. I'm not special. I'm just some dude talking in a video. Yes, it's worth it to work on yourself. All sorts of random stuff from the day. Already answered early in the thread. Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, France, Russia I would spend all my time doing personal development/meditation. Maybe traveling around the world for a while. I could do that now. Money isn't the obstacle. My work is the obstacle. Concepts can't be copyrighted. Sure, you can teach and discuss. If the concepts are non-obvious, or you use someone's particular way of phrasing them, try to give credit where credit is due. Unless you're doing it professionally, best to keep these ideas to yourself as you work to embody them. Talking too much tends to take the wind out of your sails. No Not for the last year. I've been taking a break from it. When I get back into exercising, I wanna do more yoga rather than weightlifting.

Your question is very confused. I'm not sure what you're asking. Drop that whole life of thinking, and there's no problem. It's a good image to put into people's minds, because it subverts the norms of what happiness is. Too many to list here. It's not easy to give up a successful business. Many years have been invested in building it and I've made certain commitments. I don't fast. Yes, I eat animals, although I am in the process of reducing that. The entire world of social interaction is unreal. The people you think you're talking to do not exist! Yes, I've watched GoT. I would not be surprised if a hardcore mystic was able to transmute physical matter. Video games were my life purpose for most of my life. So I played a lot of them. They are addictive of course. I rarely play them these days. Having a life purpose, and getting into nonduality is a good way out of video games. Psychedelics Bed No No, I have zero desire for power over people. Sounds like you're treating awareness as "a state". Instead, notice that awareness is ever-present. You cannot not be aware. That's hard to define. Almost anything an increase consciousness. And people are so different. I tend to feel that you gotta go through whatever you gotta go through. Everything in life is a teaching moment. Even the things that seem like an utter waste of time turn out to be necessary. Of course you want to avoid nonsense like cults, conspiracy theories, etc, etc. But as far as spiritual techniques go, try whatever resonates with your highest intuition. Lucidity is a good word to describe it. If you just become conscious right now that you are alive, that's gives you a good pointer for what the essence of consciousness is. Consume tons of very diverse sources of information, including images, books, lectures, etc. No, it's never been a problem for me. 1) Not really. When taken PROPERLY, gradually, observing all precautions, there's very little risk. 2) I am against recreational drugs. They are totally different from psychedelics. 3) Direct consciousness is how I know. You can't understand what that is until you have some direct consciousness breakthroughs. 4) Not sure what your question is. YES! Of course just because the person is a successful doesn't mean he understands Absolute Truth. 5) It's a matter of what time-frame you look at it from. In the short-term consciousness is getting worse. In the long-term I think it's getting better. Technology tends to exacerbate problems of consciousness. Materialism, consumerism, and pragmatism are likely to lead to the collapse of the American Empire. Evolution tends to work in spurts, with occasional great cataclysms. 6) Yes, I am against such types of medication, except for very rare cases where people really have a physical disorder. 7) Probably won't talk about OCD for a long time because there are more important topics for me to cover and I'm not an OCD expert. Thanks I know I CAN. It's just a matter of whether I SHOULD. No Of course my life experiences totally shaped my current LP. Although I think no matter which jobs I held, I would have ultimately found my way to enlightenment. No Who has oral sex with a condom??? Life is a risky proposition. Yes, I am deeply concerned. Ecology is extremely important. Not just global warming, but a dozen other environmental problems that humans are doing. It's still possible global warming might turn about to have non-human causes, but that doesn't excuse all the pollution we're doing. The government should be making massive investments in clean energy and taxing carbon. 1) Probably not for a long time, since I got more central topics to cover. 2) No idea I have a long video called something like How I Lost 65lbs, where I talked about all the details. It was a long time ago. It's like asking, is every human a man, yet some don't have testicles? Enlightenment is a word which distinguishes one who is aware from one who is not. I'm not that great at eliminating distractions. I can work hard. But I have also wasted a lot of time on video games and TV, especially when I was younger. One advantage I have is that I deliberately keep my life pretty simple. I don't invest much time in: family, sports, friends, relationships, hobbies, partying, etc. My life is basically: work, personal development, philosophy, a bit of intimate relationships, some entertainment. It's an odd thing. Sometimes I do feel the love from you guys, and it feels good and exciting. But 98% of the time, I don't really feel it or focus on it. I am not that good at gratitude. I tend to be self-involved and focus on what I need to do, or contemplating life. Neither of which have anything to do with other people. The more conscious I become, the less I pay attention to what anyone says or thinks about me. All the external feedback I get is basically irrelevant. Some people hate me. Some people love me. But no one really understands me. It's all just people's projections. One thing I've been blessed to validate for myself over the last 5 years is that fame is completely fake. It has zero positive effect on one's happiness. I can see how some people get trapped into chasing it if they aren't careful or consciousness. I'm sorta doing a long-distance thing at the moment. It's my real name.

@Marinus Why do you think no one does it? If it was easy, people wouldn't be here mental-masturbating about enlightenment.

The forum has just been opened to a limited Early Bird registration for about 100 users. You guys will help us stress-test the software ahead of Sunday's launch and help spark some discussions. Feel free to get the discussions rolling. I'm really excited about what you folks will do here. All 100 of you are some exceptional and interesting folks. I had fun reading your stories and applications I know you guys and gals have some great stories and tips to share. Welcome home! Update: And now that the forum is open to everyone, welcome EVERYONE!

Precisely for that reason. To really see that all is a projection of the mind, is a long self-actualization process. That's not something you can just grasp in one day, or even one year. It's too much for the mind to handle.

@Echoes That is because you're trying to force this using intellect. That cannot work. You must be CONSCIOUS that other is self. This requires enlightenment. There is no such thing as "inaccessible consciousness". Consciousness is Nothing, you are Nothing, other is Nothing. But believing it isn't helpful. Only enlightenment will do.

All enlightenment experiences turn into memories. Which is why it's important to let them go and work towards abiding nondual awareness in the present moment. Enlightenment cannot be held on to. You must be actively conscious RIGHT NOW, because RIGHT NOW is all there is. Psychedelics open the gateway, but that's just when the real work begins. A memory of high consciousness held while in low consciousness, is still low consciousness. It's like you've exited the Matrix, then fallen back into the Matrix, and now have a faint memory of what it's like outside the Matrix, but fundamentally you're still locked in the Matrix. The only solution is to work towards a permanent escape.

@Big Ajax Dosages vary be individual. Those are just ballparks. A breakthrough? You can only know it once you've crossed into it. Life as you've known it is over. Sounds like you had your first dose and it was just a such shocking experience you didn't know what to make of it and didn't accomplish much existential insight. That's why psychedelics must be done repeatedly, slowly raising your dose over weeks and months. Then you will be able to integrate.

@Gertsh Letting go is as simple as: I let go.

Lol That WAS the spiritual breakthrough experience!!! You just didn't surrender to it because you are still under the impression that you exist. YOU DO NOT EXIST!!! The mushrooms were trying to show you that, but you didn't want to hear it. You chose to cling to physical reality instead. "A clear single thought"? Spirituality is no-mind, no-thought. You cannot think about the Absolute. If you could, you wouldn't need the psychedelic in the first place. The point of the psychedelic is to open you up to a new way of accessing reality: direct consciousness. Direct consciousness involves no thinking. It's an infinite multi-parallel process. The solution is to drop all your expectations about spirituality and reality. Everything you believe is a lie. Trip more and REALLY surrender. That's the answer. Remember that Truth is an acquired taste. You ain't gonna like it at first. It's not easy to admit that what you call "sanity" is actually insanity, and what you call "insanity" is actually sanity.

@B Clear Definitely get used to it for the next 1000+ years.

@Simon Of course. That's the nature of mechanical self-survival.

Sounds like your meditation practice is starting to bear fruit. Good work. Stick with it now more than ever.

Sounds like you're making good gainz. Keep at it.

@DoubleYou A good first glimpse. But remember, it goes away deeper than that. Imagine something 1000x deeper.

Oh it will

@Afonso Well... we can split all sorts of hairs about how you define a "decision" if we want to get all philosophical about it. But just speaking from an everyday level, there do seem to be these sort of decisive moments in your day, when your mind selects between various options. For example, if you get an itch on your face, you can sit there and watch precisely when your mind will decide to finally scratch it, thereby causing the muscles in your arm to activate. You can even notice your muscles pre-activating before the decision is fully made. Of course you can view it all as just a smooth symphony of action, one flowing into the next.

@Wes Thoughts The problem is that it sounds like thinking, not actual direct consciousness. Be very careful with that. The more you intellectualize, the harder enlightenment will become for you. Every concept, every belief you have about enlightenment becomes an obstacle, because it isn't it. You have to really appreciate that and take it seriously. Rivet your attention on the present moment, the NOW. Rivet your attention on what is ACTUAL. Any chain of thinking which takes place across time, is delusion.

@Azrael It sounds like you're still "going places", which is more content within awareness. To me there is a difference between visiting other realities vs penetrating the essence underlying all realities. The trouble with psychedelics is precisely that they can alter the content of awareness so much that one gets distracted by the alien-ness of the new content, missing the Absolute. Next time you trip, I suggest really setting the intention to ignore all the content changes, focusing exclusively on the raw nature of the Absolute. That's probably hard to do on mushrooms, because they tend to be twisted. Interesting trip though.

@Wes Thoughts If you knew, you'd already be enlightened and wouldn't be here.