Pharion

For most guys 'addiction' isn't really a correct way of thinking about masturbation. Especially if you are currently sixteen, but also in general guys just have a natural desire to cum which is just in our biology. Its only as addictive as feeling hungry, thirsty, or tired is. Feeling horny or wanting to cum is the same way, and in the same way it has benefits - keeps you ready to have sex - cleans out your system which is healthy - regulates your mood / relaxes you - regulates your level of horniness. For some guys it really can become an addiction, if you are doing it way more than neccesary and its causing problems with other parts of your life (like if you are staying home from shcool to masturbate) so you dont have to feel bad about doing it or wanting to do it. for me the only negative part is that it takes up 30-45 mins a day on average, which adds up, so if you do wanna try to stop to reclaim that time or energy, by all means do so, but don't think of it as an addiction that needs to be purged.

@Pharion Just wanted to update on this post. When I made it I was still living with parents and not financially independant so everything I said there was theory. Now I live on my own and I can say the theory is true! Most people make WAY more money than they need, and also happen to work way more than they need to at thier grindy job. Buy vegetables produce, canned beans, quinoa, etc. get yourself a modest place, and eleminate all of your stupid vices (smoking, coffee, fast food, even time wasters like phone games, youtube / tv show binging etc.) and you can absolutely live within your means on a low amount of income. I am working part time on a low wage, and spending most of time working on my life purpose now and things are working out. I would recommend the same path to anyone. Also depending on where you live, ask yourself if you really need to buy a car? Some people do, and that sucks, but chances are you can get away with biking and walking, and that is not only way cheaper but also free exercise and healthier than driving, as well as safer.

From just my personal experience I would say no, you don't need the course to find your life purpose. To me, when i seriously think about what activities and interests i've gravitated towards since being a young child, it is pretty clear what my life purpose is just from introspecting on that. It may be different for you though. Maybe you were not as authentic throughout your life and never explored your potential and interests as much. I can only speak from my experience on this. Same goes if your life purpose might be highly specific and not something you've really encountered yet, which I think is possible. The question is though, is FINDING it really all you need? The course can help you clarify alot of things and really charge and focus, and arm you for the journey ahead if you want to pursue it. If working on your life purpose is just one of many self actualiz-y things you wanna work on, and you wanna take a more holistic approach with that, you might be fine without the course. It really depends on you and your life purpose but I would generally say just get the course - especially if you're looking for motivation, or want to make it feel like more of a real thing rather than just pipe dream.

Really nice diagram and it makes sense. I will be using this.

Dont know if anyone says said this yet but Joe Rogan / the Joe Rogan experience? I think this belongs at yellow especially if something like Wikipedia does, according to him his goal is to learn and engage with many different peoples perspectives and ideas and share those, he also seems interested not just in understanding different perspectives and models but self actualizing and getting closer to truth (I gather this from when he talks about his personal life on the podcast) open to disagrement about this though, I could be wrong. And not all of his content is stage yellow, certainly.

I'm sure is true for many of you, I first learned about this around a year ago, and since then have made many strides in personal development, knowledge, spirituality, work on my life purpose and such. Yet, I still find that I don't live up to my potential. I still hold on to many of my fears, addictions, and ego-driven tendencies despite the retrogress and growth, and I have a lot of guilt and lower self esteem because of that. Knowing that I'm not striving for my potential as much as I could be, putting in the work, meditating every day, etc. is troubling. Now, I know the guilt is trying to motivate me to do better, but I think it's actually counter productive because it lowers my self esteem and belief in myself, which then causes me to retreat to more comfortable things and avoid the problem, which only serves to re create it. So, I'm just wondering i'm sure other people have felt the same way, where they feel shame about not reaching their potential, how do you deal with this and re-affirm that you love and forgive yourself, and then be able to move forward? I don't surface level answers like "You can't change the past" or "Everything is perfect already" I ask you to really sell me on this answer, and just knowing that other people have felt the same way would be nice, too. Peace and Love guys sorry if I sound demanding or bossy haha

To answer this from a non philosophical perspective, It's just down to the laws of nature that we find ourselves in. We are alive now because our ancestors were successful at survival, and to be successful at survival, it helped to feel a deep need to survive. In other words, by process of elimination, the vast majority of living beings will have an innate feeling that they need to survive. From a metaphysical perspective, I would just say that reality includes an infinite amount of possibilities, and because of the laws of nature in the little slice of reality that you and I experience, this just happens to be the way it is for us. Another explanation is that you have the experience of being a limited and isolated being. You have the knowledge that this experience and reality you have as an individual and isolated being (your life) is vulnerable to being destroyed, and re assimilated into reality, so the need for survival essentially comes from a fear of the unknown, because if all you have ever known is the experience of being your limited self, anything else is unknown, uncomprehending, and therefore scary and something you want to avoid. This also explains why people who take the effort to explore and try to understand what reality is like outside of your normal subjective experience, can be much less afraid to die, and therefore less worried about their survival.

I agree with the other posts about frugality, but I will add that to me, it's all about math. If you can, get a job where working harder will earn you more money, and then work hard and effiently. Run the numbers on your rent, food expenses, and other expenses, and see where you are cutting corners. I would wager that 50% of the money one spends is ussualy due to bad planning or convience, and if you planned ahead and did some research and math you could save a lot without skimping much on value. BUT, while in the short term this Is a good challenge and tool for growth to adapt to your environemt, in the long term I would reccomend planning to not have to worry about money. You want it so eventually you can live comfortably and make a good income without too much variability or effort, but you will need to put in the work and savings early to get to that point

The main people I'd like to see personally would of course be Jordan Peterson, and Stephan Molyeneux, but really I'd like to just see a video where Leo talks with anyone else in roughly the same "self help / philosophy / spiritually etc." Type of fields that he deals with on actualized.org who has a different opinion. This would be a great way to get exposure to new fans, influence other influencers, and most importantly have your ideas tested (something which we really never see)

Here is my idea about how it would work. From an early age people are given the tools and knowledge to find their authentic skills and interests / life purpose. Schooling and society promotes this by having a focus on people finding their passions and skills in life and developing them. Once someone is mature, they can contribute to society by pursuing this path that is special to them, and have access to mentors and tools to help them along the way. People pursue thier life purposes and give the fruits of it to society / those who are interested with minimal or no charge. Socially, there is no dominant culture enforced by government, just the basic principles of respect, equal treatment, consent, human rights etc. and people are free to participate in whatever social groups and traditions they feel a fit with. Drugs, sex work, niche opinions, BDSM, and any other consenual activity that does not harm others is completely legal. Schools and teachers are free to self organise and teach in the ways they see fit as long as it does not conflict with the above values. Companies, govt. and other organisations genrerally don't have a hierarchical structure. instead everyone works together and contributes their unique skills to the group. So yeah thats a basic outline of what I imagine, of course society is a very complex thing, but this maybe gives an idea of what i think. What do you guys imagine a stage yellow society would look like?

What your describing almost sounds like tuquoise? But yes I agree. It's ridiculous that we spend 100s of hours learning math, and don't learn about health, psychology, meditation etc. until MAYBE in college or late high-school

@CreamCat certainly i agree. our current model of education is the antithesis of stage yellow, although offering a mainstream education or courses for people to learn the basics would be fine of course. But the whole system of marks and degrees and attendance and exams; yeah that's gonna be left in stage orange i expect.

@Serotoninluv What i mean to say is that they could teach whatever content they'd like, as long as the teaching itself didn't involve violating the laws of society. For any of this to work the majority of people of course have to be in stage yellow or above. Im not suggesting any of this would work in any other stage of society or for other people, so i'm assuming most people and teachers would be pretty open minded and not destructive. Also by harm I mean those things are often seen as morally harmful, where they actually can be healthy and acceptable if you take out the moral shaming and judgement. In the case of drugs, of course it's almost never a good idea to try heroine, but making it illegal just promotes a black market and criminal gangs, so it's still the better alternative. Ofc specifics could be changed but the overall idea is that we dont judge people for their lifestyles as long as they remain functional and don't hurt other people / beings / the environment.

@Andrey Im assuming you've talked to your girlfriend about it? It's possible that you can have both, unlikely, but atleast make sure that isn't an option. Whatever you do, the main thing is: do it honestly. If you're GF isn't okay with it, but you still really want to do that, then tell her straight up this is my decision, and i have to break up with you. If you decide your GF is more important than commit to that, and get rid of the distractions from other women. This is a test of values VS ego, so whatever you decide, go with values. Keep your integrity. It's tempting to try to get both by going around her back, but that means your letting your ego control you, and showing yourself that you are spineless. It's not an easy thing to deal with, but silver lining is that it's a big test of character, and if you pass, that will be an acheivement that will build your character and integrity

Unfortunately I think most of them didn't have the tools, or structures, or something (was missing) that they needed to experience enlightenment. Many of them lived interesting and noble lives, and many more were well versed in logic and understood a lot of things intellectually speaking, but I dont think many knew how, or even that they could or should, be able to practice and directly experience what they were talking about. They didn't have psychedelics, or the eastern meditation and yoga practices (as far as i know, i could be wrong) or any other means of reaching enlightenment, so for the most part i think they were stuck with just very advanced and complicated intellectual philosophy, and living virtuous lives, but missing the aspect that is direct experience; in other words they were able to make very detailed maps, but rarely set foot on the territory.

I would say to really embody masculinity and have strong character, you have to be able to be vulnerable. Think of this way: which one is more of a man, someone who wears a full suit of armour and carries a sword and shield, or someone who goes naked with no weapons? well the second one certainly more vulnerable, but it took so much inner strength in him to remove the armour and be authentic and vulnerable. So guys who act macho and are consantly trying to one up eachother, chase success, and push away thier emotions and weakness are taking the easy choice. It would take much more strength to be able to express how you really feel, not be afraid to cry and not make excuses when you fail but just say "yeah i failed there", be able to ask people for help etc. Like many things this is counter intuitive. Jordan Peterson mentioned this quote from the bible "the meek shall inherant the earth" which according to him "meek" means "those who keep thier swords in thier sheaths when they could fight" so essentialy properly integrated stage green is like sheathing your sword. You are CAPABLE of being macho, dominant, etc. but you choose to take off your armour and be vulnerable and authentic.

This is a habit, or maybe rather a lack of habits im considering. I haven't really heard of anyone doing this, but it seems like a powerful way to increase focus, consciousness, and starve that distracted, addicted monkey mind that we all feed in the modern world. So, do you think is a good idea? It seems extreme, but honestly I dont watch TV or movies any more, and when I watch you tube I dont really get much from it, but its still just an easy thing to pick up and stave off some boredom. Music would be the hardest thing to give up, but I think it's necessary if your going to commit to this. The rules: No video games. No you tube. No Netflix or TV. No movies, or videos of any kind. No music (except live music) No social media. No multi tasking! Exceptions: You can watch movies or game if your doing it in person with friends and not all the time. You cant text people if you have a purpose for texting them. You can designate a time or day where will listen to music, or educational youtube videos or other media, just make sure it has a purpose and you do it at a certain time or day. Feel free to modify these rules if you want to try this, but just know it may be less effective. Benefits: Clarity of mind. Focus. No more feeding addictions. Learn to accept boredom. Reduce the need for constant stimulation. This should help with your meditation practice, and general mindfulness. It should also help with creativity and accomplishing goals. Strengthen will power, and minimalise your life. Create more time for healthy habits and life purpose to shine. Re train your mind to not crave constant short term rewards. So, let me know what you think of this, and if you're going to give it a try. For me personally I'm not worried about missing new information because I've spent so much time taking in information and not applying it... if your just getting into self actualization and have much to learn then make an acception for that stuff. Otherwise, good luck with trying this.

@purerogue agreed.

@pluto You seem pretty in advance in this, I want to ask you, have you kept a constant momentum since then or is the time you're referring to more of a "peak" in you life?

@Sahil Pandit No such thing just do more of the important things, or even better do them slower and more deliberately (EG. lifestyle minimalism)

@pluto sounds like an interesting challenge, but I'm more interested in things that can be a permanent change to your habits. And hey, just because you're not able to say, meditate for 3 hours straight that doesn't mean you aren't a true seeker, we all have to work our way out of the sludge of bad habits, mindset, karma, etc. and that takes time

@EternalForest This is all true. I'm suggesting that you first gain full control and stillness. Then you will know the true difference between pursuing something for real gain, or if it is simply for comfort and entertainment.

I've begun. Will update if anything interesting happens.

@VioletFlame I had that exact thing happen once a few months back, I was supposed to be eating breakfast but I just couldn't stop laughing and crying at the same time out of nowhere. So yes it's "normal" to have that happen haha, hopefully more often?