Derek White

Just for the record, I don’t condone animal cruelty and I try to avoid eating meat as much as possible because that’s what I want to do. I don’t want getting angry at me. I was just questioning the deeper structure of morality.

@TrynaBeTurquoise Those are perfectly reasonable questions to ask imo. “If we grabbed you and put you in a line in a human slaughterhouse you would be pissing your pants crying for mommy. Not questioning whether the situation was real” You wouldn’t know, I could be your hallucination, You wouldn’t know what my inner experience is, even if I’m crying. These are not “obvious” things. If a question like “do brains exist?” Is legit then my questions above are too.

@Scholar By more or less delusional I meant you are better off assuming the Earth is round than assuming people are out to kill you. One is more or less harmless and the other one will make you paranoid. No, these judgements are illusory that don’t let you see reality the way it is. Some maps are more accurate than others, but all maps are inaccurate. Anyway, we’re getting off topic and I don’t want to argue. You’re taking my words quite literally. Anyway, if you realize the relativity of morality then that’s cool. I’ll try to see any hidden beliefs I’m attached to. @Serotoninluv That’s cool that you’re inserting stage yellow in it. You should do more of that imo. But why would stage yellow be empathetic? Stage green empathy is coming from deep beliefs. Stage yellow would question if so called sentient beings are even real or suffer like humans. In India people have empathy for “non-living” stones because of beliefs. Maybe SY understands where empathy comes from but has transcended it. Honest question.

@Serotoninluv If someone is at stage green then you should help them advance to stage yellow, not confirm their biases. Leo has been criticizing morality since 2016. We should be having those deep conversations, it is a spiritual forum after all. @Scholar You can have values, preferences and judgements, it’s about how conscious you are that you have them and that they are not inherent to reality. Once you become more aware then you would hold them loosely and avoid the more delusional ones.

@Serotoninluv Can’t believe you’re feeding into his moralistic thinking. If you love sentient beings so much then why don’t you wear a mask like the Jains to protect the microbes? If you can’t get over dividing the world into right or wring, good and bad, then this work is not for you. This is why I don’t like when Leo uses Christian terminology, it attracts moralistic religious people.

Being spiritual and being good are two separate endeavours.

Hey guys, What are some healthy ways to relax/entertain yourself? Preferably cheap (just requiring a laptop and wifi), not too intellectual nor too passive, relaxing and can be done alone. I want to know what do you guys do to entertain yourself. I find that passive entertainment is very important. Most of us need a balance of work and play to function. I for one have terrible ways to entertain myself. I usually watch youtube or explore pornsites. It almost always leaves me unsatisfied. I don’t have a Netflix account, video games, or a TV. I find reading and sports too demanding and see them more as hobbies than as passive entertainment. I go to university so I do a lot of thinking and intellectualizing as it is.

@Flowerfaeiry May I add a few more words?... (When I write 'you' I don't mean you specifically.) There is no need for you to do anything. Reality is meaningless, you create meaning. Once you realize there is no need to do anything, you cannot complain. You don't have to pursue enlightenment, you don't have to live, breathe, anything. Everything you do is because you want to do it, there is no other reason, everything becomes self-satisfying. Once you realize reality is meaningless, you stop being afraid of suffering. Meaning is not inherent to reality, even the sensation of pain is not inherently bad or negative. You can take the worst situation imaginable and be detached from it or turn it into the most pleasurable situation. You create all good and bad, negative and positive, all labels. Once you realize meaninglessness and that you create meaning, you won't be afraid of stepping into unknown situations (taking risks). Your laziness comes from a fear of stepping into unknown situations that you think will cause suffering, that's why you stay in your comfort zone (the known). You cannot suffer because you are cool with everything, you are detached. Fear of suffering causes you suffering. Life is not 'depressing' or 'negative'. You don't have to live if you don't want to. If you don't want to, then why don't you want to live? Is it because you think life is negative or full of suffering, because that's the wrong reasoning. You have wrong assumptions. You don't know what's after death, you don't even know life fully. This is where intuition comes in. Intuition is what you want to do. Intuition provides you with goals and clarity. For e.g. you ask, do I want to live? You intuition says yes! Then you ask, how do I want to live? Oh an amazing life! What do I have to do to get that? I have to do x,y,z... Life -> Amazing Life -> Job -> Health -> ... ... ... -> Brushing my teeth ... From a sense of direction to bigger goals to smaller goals. Intuition takes you from mental entropy to flow. Life in flow is life rock climbing or playing chess, you know what to do every moment (instant feedback). Intuition is not logical or emotional. The most logical thing is to die but you don't really want to that. Sometimes, we get angry and want to do horrible things to ourselves or others, but deep inside we know we don't really want to do that. A 15 minutes concentration practice can help you see the difference between emotions, thoughts, and your intuition. You want to stare at a candle flame but everything else is telling you otherwise and you are using effort to serve your intuition. Lastly, I would recommend some videos if you have time and want to understand flow better (You should also watch Leo's videos on meaning, purpose and value, and point of life): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh6YhJ2UWJc (Lecture on Flow) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqlfWDyS1Io (Shows how modern society fosters unfocused consciousness that is moment by moment, sensational, instinctual and animal. Your human consciousness, that is focused and perceptive by choice, is not being tapped into. Just a caveat.) ... And that's how you uproot victim mentality. Phew, hope I didn't go too ahead of myself.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'll try to implement the ones that I can.

I really doubt that. Maybe for the time being. The seeking might crop up later in life. You might have entered a new chapter in life. It’s the same with me. Some time ago, the seeking was intense, now, after a few realizations it’s not. My intuition is telling mw to work on my life right now and integrate the realizations. You don’t have to pursue deeper awakenings. It is something you do if you intuitively want to do. Maybe you had an awakening about you being everything, even I realize that to some level, but it’s about depth. So you and Leo are talking about the same things but he understands it more deeply. Like you said, you felt Love more intensely. It’s about depth and intensity. I think we agree that there can be deeper awakenings. And maybe Leo’s claim that he is more conscious than all the teachers is false but I wouldn’t get hung up on that. It’s possible that he does realize the same things just more deeply than those teachers, after all words don’t reveal everything, or he could be wrong. I would leave that quality open.

Why don’t you verify whether psychedelics are the best method by taking psychedelics yourself? Do these teachers say that you’re imagining reality? Leo probably knows about these teachers. He said he is more conscious then them and the only way you would know that is if you’re more conscious than them as well. Idk if this is true but the only real way to verify this claim would be to become more conscious. It would be apparent like you know you’re more conscious than a criminal and a 5 year old. That comparison won’t come from ego. I don’t think Leo’s comparison is coming from his ego, he even addresses this in the video, it’s more of an observation or an opinion. I generally ignore all his opinions and implement the practices and the teachings that make sense.

Maybe get a second opinion from a different doctor?

@Leo Gura Will you be commenting on the forum during your 30 day break?

@electroBeam I agree with you but I think he’s way beyond reproduction now. That episode was aimed at lower states of consciousness. Also I don’t think he has ‘conviction in his ideas’ as you say. Those aren’t ideas, those are his experiences put into words. Like someone describing a rainbow isn’t presenting ideas per say.

If you think he has messiah complex Just because you disagree with him on God and because he says no other teacher is talking about what he has realized than you’re the one who has a big ego. He could be earning way more money and subscribers if he wanted to. He’s not forcing you to accept what he’s saying. He’s not even meeting you. On top of that he went on a break. He’s not trying to save anybody, he’s just a guy recording his spiritual journey. Stay humble, you don’t know what his experience is. Some of you talk like you know absolutely everything about the nature of reality.

In India the idea of beauty is being white. Men and women risk their lives to bleach their skin. Calling someone dark or black is considered an insult, and white a compliment. Indians are constantly bombarded by not-so-subtle ads, movies, songs, and cultural ideals about white superiority. Being white gives you such power and confidence there. If you happen to have colored eyes and hair on top of being white then you would be considered so beautiful that you would counter-intuitively be at a risk of getting molested. This idea of beauty predates colonialism. It is there since ancient times. Probably due to light skin being associated with indoor nobility and dark being associated with tanned laborers who work under the sun. This probably got exaggerated due to a rigid casteism and foreign invaders who were light skinned. Many Indian women and men, but especially women, would kill to look like white women because of racism. Sad but true.

I forgot to mention stretching my back backwards and forwards, and stretching the lower abdomen and the chest helped too. Stretching in general helped. Also no amount of spitting or clearing your mucus will help. It is best to let go of the urge. Breathe deep and slow if you have to. It’s part of body awareness.

Good question, I’m no expert but... You need to connect with your intuition. Your thoughts keep changing. Your emotions keep changing. Don’t act on your emotions and your thoughts, they are built up by unconscious programming (karma). Once you have the clarity of intuition you know what you want. Then your life will be in a flow state. Intuition will pull you out of confusion, anxiety, and boredom to clarity, purpose, and flow. If you’re using willpower you’re employing negative motivation as opposed to positive motivation. You are pitching one desire against another. I think you need to use effort to serve your intuition and not willpower. Willpower implies you’re forcing yourself to do something that you don’t want to do and effort means you are pushing yourself to your limits to do what you want. Also, learn to take risks and don’t have any beliefs or assumptions. Maybe you have beliefs about some activities like they will make you feel bad or will be difficult or time consuming. Know that you don’t know that and plunge into them.

Will game fuck up your spirituality? (That’s the real question my friend. Game won’t fill the void in your heart.)

I had the same problem as you. My nose was blocked all the time, I became a mouth breather. It was particularly bad in the morning. But I didn't have any smokers in my house. I still have this problem but it's way less. Even now if I burn an incense stick even mildly it causes the blockage to come about. Doctors couldn't figure it out and my parents didn't care anyway, they thought it was a minor issue, What helped me was to start going to walk and to start running. Stay outdoors more. While I was running the blockage would go away usually. Another thing which really helped was to be relaxed and to be aware of my body (See body awareness video). Perhaps being relaxed and aware of my body was more or as important for me. Get proper sleep, eat properly, and stay out of stressful situations. Also stay away from smoke and heavy scents (goes without saying). If it gets too bad there are nasal sprays that you can get from your doctor. There is this article from Isha yoga which I found helpful. They have other ones too, just google "Isha yoga nasal blockage". https://isha.sadhguru.org/ca/en/wisdom/article/coping-with-nasal-allergies-the-yoga-way This one was very helpful (it tasted bad but it was worth it): "Crush about 10 to 12 pepper corns [black pepper] roughly and soak them in a couple of spoons of honey overnight (about 8 to 12 hours). In the morning you consume this and just chew upon the pepper. Mixing some turmeric with the honey should also work. If you avoid all dairy products, your phlegm will go down naturally." This is a pepper corn jsuk,

Thanks for the replies! @Matt23 I already go for walks on weekends. I walk a lot during the day as well so idk if that one will work. I am an introvert too so hanging out depletes my energy. Maybe I can draw. @DrewNows I’ll continue to question. I was looking for activities to unwind and relax to because I don’t have any good ones. Like watching TV or something. But your comment was insightful so thanks. @Osaid What do you watch on YouTube? I find that stuff on YouTube is either too informative, which I don’t like cause that’s like studying which I do all the time in uni., or too dumb like Pewdiepie, Mrbeast, or those top 10 videos. No offence to Pewds but still.

Leo gave this example once. I don't think fighting or anger is red in it of itself.

Just wanna drop this here.

You might wanna double check with Leo or some of the mods. They know the model better than most of us.

@Leo Gura So did Tiago reply?