EternalForest

For various reasons, I'm temporarily working/living in a Stage Red environment at the moment, where a lot of greed, arrogance, belittling, screaming, abuse, power games, selfishness, dog eat dog mentality, survival of the fittest harshness, black and white thinking, lack of privacy and manipulation goes on. Even when they're not manipulating me, their low-consciousness negative energy rubs off on me and I can really feel it stifling my growth. I can't just ignore them, and have to interact with them all day constantly, sometimes spending 4 to 5 hours in the car with them each day. I have a greater life purpose and am actively try to self-develop myself outside of work in privacy, and try to block them out as best I can. I'll have myself a positive, fruitful weekend of spirituality, self development and progress towards my greater purpose and dream career, only to come back Monday and sit in a room for 8 hours with these people again dragged back down into the same petty, low consciousness yelling, arguments, manipulation, drama and toxicity. I try not to participate in it, try to be kind and neutral, and don't judge them for doing it, but anyone who's been in an environment like this knows that oftentimes this just isn't enough. I know Leo has said in past videos about toxic relationships the best strategy is to cut them out of my life. But once again, for various reasons that's just not an option right now, and until I get out, in the meantime I want to know any advice to help me deal with them in a way that doesn't drag me down with them.

@Truth Addict Very true, I never thought of it that way. I'll keep that in mind, using this as a tool rather than a hindrance. And I don't want to be too black and white myself either. From interacting with these people for as long as I have I can tell you they're good hearted and decent in many ways as well. It's a complicated thing, and you can't just lump people into "good" and "bad" categories.

@Leo Gura Try a different video format. Youtube works best with .mp4 and .wmv files in my experience.

It would easily be his video on Stage Turquoise. Being introduced to that model through the entire Spiral Dynamics video series revealed so much truth about the world to me in so many layers and facets, and if I'm able to achieve Stage Turquoise in my lifetime I would be very grateful. However, I am staying patient and am growing at my own pace. Spiral Dynamics can't account for all of life's complexities, but it sure is a great start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s With an entirely new generation spreading green ideals, it was always a mystery to me why the movement didn't last, and why many of these people grew up to continue being stage orange. It's as if society was experiencing a turning point, and next step in evolution but it wasn't ready.

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@Flatworld Crusades Thanks for the support. Deleted post, I'll respond in PM.

Ask yourself why? "Why don't I want to do it?" "Why not do it?" When you come up with a reason ask, "Why do I want to do that instead?" Deconstruct that for a while.

A balance of both is necessary. "Life skills" can give you insights on metaphysical topics, and vice versa.

I understand what you're saying but at the same time I think you're underestimating how much unstructured time can be good for your brain. Giving yourself time to play, wander, daydream, listen to music, and chat with friends can put you in a great mental state to be creative or look at situations in a more open way. It's a great stress reliever.

@Leo Gura Ok, I see what you mean. I was under the impression that the US was pretty solid orange through much of the economic boom of the 60s. But come to think of it, what the 90s are to us, the 40s were to the people of 60s. So perhaps it was less evolved than I'm perceiving it to be. I guess moreso than the people themselves I'm just making an observation that the culture and the zeitgeist of the late 60s and early 70s felt more green than the culture/zeitgeist of today or really anytime since then.

I've been pondering this and researching this for years and still haven't come to any meaningful conclusion. I just can't accept any of the current explanations from science or religion, too many explanations and none feel completely right. I can't believe that there's nothing at all after death, but it's also hard for me to believe that if I don't worship the "correct" deity I'll be deprived any sort of afterlife. Seems cruel, since there's no way for us to know what the correct deity is (if there is one) until the moment of death itself. Surely if I knew what the correct deity was I would worship it. Why the guessing game? Some say you are reincarnated and never truly die, while others say only your ego dies and after death you discover your true form. Not to mention, what will become of our memories? Are they preserved, as seen in children with "past lives", or are they erased forever? The explanations are seemingly endless, but my heart tells me there can only be one correct answer, and I haven't found it yet. I'd love to hear the forum's thoughts on this.

@Amber Very insightful response, thank you! Besides meditation, what are some ways to get in touch with this pure consciousness? I think I've felt it a few times after some extremely vivid and beautiful lucid dreams.

@tecladocasio All things considered, I think the benefits to taking an active approach to acquiring knowledge about the world outweigh the benefits to the alternative. The biggest con of seeking knowledge out of avoidance of sitting patiently in ignorance comes in the form of learning so much you are no longer able to meaningfully question the world around you in any sort of honest and pure way, but I think that can be avoided by keeping a close eye on yourself.

Go to bed at the same time every night, pick a time and stick to it and you won't have sleep problems again (unless you're non-24)

@tsuki Perhaps in a Peter Ralston sense, but that's still a slippery slope.

@FoxFoxFox Is it possible to explain in words? Is Enlightenment the only way to realize the Self?

@FoxFoxFox How do you know?

@FoxFoxFox In a sense, I agree. But in another sense, if you took that attitude towards everything you'd have no thirst for knowledge and become complacent in ignorance.

I'm glad you view this sort of curiosity of about the nature of life and death to be a gift. So many consider it be unhealthy to sit and think about your own death, but I personally find it fascinating. I'll try and contemplate it from different perspectives in the way you mentioned. It's hard not latch onto the dogma of choosing a deity as its been something I've been taught about since I was a child. "don’t let the fact that practically no one knows & understands this discourage your desire to know. It is a matter of self discovery, not odds, and certainly not majority, intelligence, stature or authority...No one can think the answer - why is that, what does that make you aware of? What is the nature of that ‘situation’?....why it is that way - the “guessing game”." You seem to be implying that the Truth is possible to know but it's impossible to communicate. The reason things are this way, is that no one can actually share the answer with me, I have to discover it for myself. "All of that is overthinking (monkey mind), re-read it from that perspective (as much as you can). Pick it apart, one single word at a time. Reveal each word’s origin relative to you, and you’ll see through it’s falsity. " You're saying that I can't consider any of that knowledge or theory as holding any credibility because I haven't experienced it first hand, but what am I left with if I take that thought process to its ultimate end? That no one else's word is any good? That research is, at the end of the day, speculation and nothing more? "How often are you really consciously listening to it? A post? When on the forum? Mood driven? Weekends? “Lately”? " Hard to answer. Definitely not as much as I possibly could be.

@Gabriel Antonio I'm not "worried" about it per se, when my times comes it'll come. It's just something worth being curious about, I suppose.

You're a lucky guy, 7 months could be invaluable to you! 10 ideas off the top of my head: -Travel -30 day meditation retreat -Start learning a new language -Start a daily contemplation journal (also watch high quality shows, documentaries and movies and contemplate them) -Study how things are built, how a house is built, how a computer is built, how a car is built, how a plane is built, etc. -Read holy texts and meditate on them (even if you're not religious, the Bible is still worth reading for scholarly purposes) -Read one book a week and take notes while you read it -Start studying school subjects again, but in a deeper and personal way, things like science, mathematics, history and english, are deeper and more exciting than most have gotten the impression of from school -Create a large art project (novel, music album, painting collection), and complete it over the next 6-7 months -Exercise, get in good shape, etc. There's probably more but that should give you a start, have a great Summer! PS: Do you have a life purpose? Spending this time pursuing that would probably be the most valuable choice of all

On days like today when I only got a couple hours of sleep the night before, I tend to reach this amazing flow state. I feel: -I could sit and meditate for as long as I wanted to without any feeling of resistance (monkey mind is non-existent for this limited time) -I feel "connected" with my environment -Creative ideas flow plentifully and without judgement (and because of this, also tend to be higher quality) -I can achieve hyperfocus -All emotions are felt twice as strong, especially positive ones, and my response to people and situations is more emotionally positive -I can easily view negative emotions in a productive and even humorous way -Small petty things I'd normally get angry about lose relevance -I see the beauty in everything -I see the bigger picture and can easily focus on what matters, people I love, my purpose, my most meaningful work, etc. -I don't feel consumed by fear of failure. -Logic isn't always getting in the way of emotion, but instead freely flows with it in a balanced way -I can think and contemplate with seemingly no limits, the only limit being when I choose to stop -My senses are enhanced and heightened At the end of the day though I'll obviously feel a little burned out from lack of sleep, and when I do fall asleep and wake up again the next morning, I'm back into "normal mode" (the effects are only temporary). But when I'm in this state I genuinely feel a sort of temporary glimpse into what it must feel like to be in a higher state of consciousness all the time. Obviously I know I shouldn't sleep deprive myself regularly, but these occasional glimpses when I am "in the flow" are super powerful. I've even heard sleep deprivation is used to treat depression. Any theories on why sleep deprivation has this euphoric and peaceful effect?

I'm open to the possibility that there may be other realities, but until we can prove one of these other realities using phenomena in our own reality, we have no reason to believe they exist. Even if they do exist, how are we able to demonstrate it objectively? To be clear, it's not that I don't believe they could ever exist. I simply don't believe there is positive evidence to believe they do exist, and until positive evidence comes to the forefront the idea is nothing more than speculation or a thought experiment/hypothesis. Subjective experience is not worthless, but just isn't sufficient to prove multiple realities exist. Unfortunately, even if everyone on Earth claimed to have subjectively experienced another reality, if no one could show each other proof of what they experienced, we still couldn't say for sure if we were all under mass hallucination. Spiritual beliefs tend to also fill in the blanks of our scientific knowledge (consciousness, death, etc.), while conveniently not giving their take on what science broadly covers. There's also a sort of communication barrier between the scientists and the spiritual. The scientists can't seem to "wake up" and the spiritual can't seem to understand the value of logic. The scientist asks "Prove God exists", while the spiritual responds with "Prove you exist!". It's a debate that goes nowhere. One point in the recent What Is God? video I took issue with was the claim that skepticism is more lazy than using your subjective experiences to craft reality, and I just wholly disagree. Studying to find the most rational and accurate answer is indeed work, tons of work, and worthwhile work at that. Although I'm certain that spiritual practices lead to a certain level of fulfillment and insight, to say that the great achievements of science, logic and rationality have been given to us on a silver platter is honestly a little preposterous.

@TheAvatarState Those are great enlightenment/spirituality films Just for another "self-actualization" film though, try Rocky Balboa. This speech has always stuck with me in particular: