Extreme Z7

I don't recommend theorizing when it comes to self-inquiry. I've pretty much abandoned, for the most part, on focusing on Leo's lessons for self-inquiry because they feel like too much unnecessary mental effort. Now I just self-inquire by just BEing or trying to BE at least. I try to just sit and notice all the ego-illusions for what they are until I break through to a state of higher awareness. Today, I had a pretty strong self-inquiry session and I felt like I died a little bit. But I'm still far from enlightenment.

Steal other people's jokes

Most people don't do self-help/personal development for various reasons. They might think they've already got life figured out. (Couldn't be more wrong) They might be so depressed, self-help content literally cannot resonate with them. They're dogmatic and closed-minded. They're too lazy to even bother to look into it. They're too distracted with all the other stuff they've got going in their lives. They think they can just "figure life out on their own with logic and common sense!" (Couldn't be more wrong again)

Yeaaahh. . .Maybe do some Epistemology 101 first, dude. Direct experience is King. Yes, you can intuit that some things are not worth trying out at all but without the deepening of your experience, there is always going to be the possibility of not discovering something you don't know that proves you wrong. For example, I probably will never try smoking (tobacco) in my life ever but I won't say that I KNOW with absolute certainty that it's not good for you. But you can have intuitive certainties that can help you separate what's worth pursuing among what isn't. On the other hand, just because you've experienced something, doesn't mean you actually know anything either. Because often times, things may not be as they seem. Just look at any person who's deep into organized religion.

That's exactly the point! You don't know about the veracity of a something if you haven't actually tried it for yourself. Which is why open-mindedness is extremely important when it comes to exploring reality. Until you have some deep psychedelic trips and have spent time studying the foundations of science deeply so that you really get what science is and is not (and I mean REALLY get it!), you can't even imagine yet how the paradigms you cling to could possibly be wrong. The scientific method is not about "just presenting evidence" for a thing. That's an incredibly naive and simplistic notion. It is limited to verifying expectations on the behavior of phenomenon. The behavior of phenomenon says jack about what the substance of the phenomenon actually is.

Oh Shit, you're right! For example, whenever I play a video game and my avatar can't walk through a wall, that means that wall must be REAL! This changes everything!

It was a joke, dude. Not meant to be taken as serious advice. That should have been obvious with the exaggeration about Leo's videos being mostly composed of his face. (It also includes his neck, shirt, and black background.) All kidding aside, I actually love Leo's way of presenting his videos the way they are. No nonsense visuals or audio, just pure direct relay of information.

'Course there's the glaring aspect that you make 45 to 90 minutes videos (composed mainly of your face) and they make 15 to 30 minute videos of fun, colorful, and titillating stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with that, or your face.

@Sagatarius Does it matter? If you're meditating seriously, that's all that counts.

@Sagatarius Paranormal Phenomena through meditation is incredibly advanced. Most experienced masters who have experienced paranormal phenomena or achieved supernatural abilities don't even want to talk about it from fear of being misunderstood or scaring off the ignorant masses. If you're just starting out with meditation, don't even bother with thinking about paranormal phenomenon. It'll just be a distraction.

I just said I wasn't getting rid of it.

I don't live in a cave but I barely talk to anyone anyway. Don't even use social media at all. I did fail to mention that I like to read books and comics on my smartphone but beyond that, it's useless. It's not causing me much suffering at the moment though, so I don't really have much reason to get rid of it. Besides, I may need to text occasionally.

Nobody needs smartphones nowadays. I only use my smartphone as a meditation timer and music player. I could easily replace it with a small timer and a Walkman.

@Leo Gura Don't forget New Age hippie

@Leo Gura You like dance music?

Ever heard of Temple Gradin? Autistic woman. Successfully got a PhD in Animal Sciences and accomplished her life purpose of inventing humane animal chutes. She might be an outlier, sure. But it shows possibility.

Yep. . .

What's stopping you from just saying "Yep. . ."?

I drew this for Halloween this year.

Nice summary vid. Junk ideological channel. They twist the facts in the end in order to push their theistic agenda. It doesn't matter if your premises are correct if you still pull some mental gymnastics to try to confirm your pre-existing beliefs.

@Fuse I'm about your age (20). Got bad addictions too. Less relating with feelings of inadequacy and more to do with dealing with work stress. I hope walking aimlessly about everyday will help you. I like to do it myself too, not as a habit, I just like to do it every now and again because why not? Maybe you could try to adopt that mindset too. Don't walk because you want to feel better, just walk for no reason. Let things flow.

Before Enlightenment: Chop Wood, Carry Water After Enlightenment: Chop Wood. . wait. . . why the hell are you chopping wood and carrying water? Go get a real job, dickhead.

Critical Thinking is more focused and directed towards a specific decision. Contemplation is more aimless and free. You don't know what to expect from it.

Dark Night involves more hopelessness in my opinion. Most depression is usually caused by deep but temporary strong negative emotions. The majority of people who get out of depression do so because they either tried to commit suicide but failed or they didn't take action at all. It's interesting how gun control can reduce the number of suicides simply because choosing a gun to kill yourself has a higher success rate than other methods.