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@ULFBERHT That's probably good advice. I guess I'll have to identify what my worst areas are and start to work on them. As far as pain goes, my two key problems are medial knee pain and pain around the tibia. I figured the medial knee pain is probably from a lack of external hip rotation, which when meditating cross-legged can make the shin move sideways to compensate, squeezing the medial meniscus between the thighbone and shinbone. Any stretch I tried to do for external rotation caused pain in that area though. I remembered a banded distraction where I rotate my hip outwards with the leg straight, I'll try that out. As for the tibia, it seems like my ankle range is terribly restricted. Yet the issue is, I can't really mobilize it without the pain acting up. Perhaps that is from a weak foot, or tight calves. I'll try to tack some of those tissues with a lacrosse ball for a few weeks, see if it gets any better. I've also found I have really tight hamstrings, which is probably what ended up causing me pain when squatting, deadlifting or doing bent over rows, dealing with that should be pretty straightforward.

From what I know, for the general well-being of the planet, veganism is better than vegetarianism, since you don't consume anything from factory-farmed cows or chickens. If you care about the ethics of animal consumption, same answer. Health wise, strict vegetarianism or veganism is not necessary, though one should consume less animal products and considerably more fruit and vegetables than most people do.

@Arik Yes, the thing about the chair is that sitting properly in it requires conscious effort, whereas the cross-legged postures naturally keep the spine straight. I sometimes feel hatred for Western culture for coming up with the damned chair, responsible for significant loss of hip range of motion, as well as a lot of back and neck pain.

Inspiring. I wish I could practice sds. Too bad I have some medial knee pain right now and can't really take any cross-legged posture without sharp knee pain, even with tons of padding. I must be twisting the medial meniscus by compensating for lack of hip rotation with the knee moving sideways (which it never should), don't really know what to do other than to do stretches for external hip rotation and give the knees some rest. The "seiza bench" I made by putting two thick pillows on each side and a plank to sit on across them must've fucked up my knees worse than they were before.

The idea of stopping suffering in the world is juvenile and idealistic. There's a new strain of virus or bacteria - people suffer. There's a natural disaster - people suffer. There is lack of food - people suffer. Okay then you say, let's say a certain course of action could raise the world's living standards to the point where people wouldn't have to worry about these things. Well, such places more or less exist. A first world country where there's plenty of food and water, horrifying diseases don't run rampant and natural disasters either don't occur due to climate or the damage of them to people can be largely prevented. Are people happy? Just walk on the street and look at people's faces. Talk to them, or hear them talk. Bullshit. Their minds have created a living hell, invariably to at least some extent. That person thought badly of me, someone wronged me, he doesn't like me, she's such a slut, our government is a bunch of morons, I hate my job, I don't have enough time for myself, the world is meaningless, we're all gonna die, I have allergies and they're so annoying, girls don't think I'm attractive, I just can't find a partner, I'm so offended. I wonder what extrinsic solution is gonna stop this. Better living standards? Hardly. Anti-bullying campaigns? Nope. Promoting conservative values in society? Nope. Having social media like Tumblr where people can "fight for justice"? Oh come on. Because the problem is - our minds are rotten. That worked to keep us alive and help us reproduce, but with the relative safety we have, it fails even at that. People's problems are psychological. Not only in the 1st world but also the 3rd. Not only of neurotic and depressed lawyers and doctors, but also of children with TB and polio. Who is gonna fix people's psychological problems? Psychologists? No, the truth is, only they themselves. Can you in any way be of use to people? Perhaps you can. It would first help to be self-honest about why you want to do that. A lot of the wishing to better the lives of people you never see or meet is probably trying to live up to a self-image of being a good person. If you want to help others, help yourself first. Become enlightened. Do it. Clean up your unconscious garbage. Get to stage yellow and beyond on the spiral dynamics model. There is no other way to be truly loving and compassionate, plus effective. Have you ever seen how grumpy doctors and nurses often come off? Even hostile. To do what they do with all of your heart, you've got to get past your own petty bullshit. As long as you believe you're more important than anyone else and your ideas are better than anyone else's, you're not bettering the world. And as long as you believe you're a separate self, you will be like that. Quit lying to yourself. Admit how judgmental and narcissistic you are - it's helped me so far. The most effective person at changing the world is the person who understands that nothing needs to be changed. Otherwise you'll burn out. Your love will turn into bitterness, and then to hate. I closely know a person who went to become a doctor to "help others". That person is miserable. A miserable person can't love unconditionally, because misery comes from not loving unconditionally. You can't love unconditionally if you don't realize the world is perfect as it is. Yet you can't help others the best you can if you don't love unconditionally. You don't get to unconditional love by suppressing or denying the self, you get there by transcending it - with unapologetic selfishness. You don't transcend the self selflessly, now do you? Paradoxical, very much so. I'm writing this because I wanna show how great my ideas are. Because I want to be a savior, like Jesus. I should be cutting through this crap, rather than encouraging it. My posts perhaps help others, at least a bit. But the thought alone of that possibility fuels my ego. I just had an epiphany of sorts - if you believe you're an ego, any good that you may do or think you do is just fueling that ego, which will inevitably lead to that ego hurting someone due to its delusions of grandeur.

Good and evil don't exist outside of people's heads. It seems like an infantile concept suitable for a certain level of development, one that is later better left behind, later being as soon as possible I may claim.

@The Alchemist Certainly starving oneself, or depriving oneself of sleep would be very difficult for the ego, but not healthy for the body at all. If you find it difficult to get up it's probable you're either adjusting to a new rhythm or are sleep-deprived. If you choose to start getting up earlier, it'll be hard at first but eventually as easy as getting up whenever you're getting up now, which means the only "benefit" is temporary.

Fitness, at least physique wise (which can be a fairly shitty indicator of fitness), doesn't take much time at all. Staying lean doesn't require any time, technically. To talk about muscle mass, one could work out for 45 minutes 3x/week and be really bulky. So why aren't the intellectuals fit? Because most people in general aren't. They're no exception. Being an intellectual hardly means one is doing personal development.

It is indeed not possible to focus on two things at once, but rather shift focus quickly from one thing to the other, which results in considerably less concentration. As for listening to videos while doing mindless tasks, why not? You'll still pick something up. Something is an understatement. Unless you want to contemplate existence while eating, listening to something seems like the second best thing.

@The Alchemist I used to wake up at 5 am for I don't know, 5 months or sth I think. Therefore I'd have time to eat, shave, practice speed reading, do affirmations and visualizations, and meditate before going to school for 8. It felt pretty good to get those things over with. But I think it's being disciplined in general that feels good, time might be pretty irrelevant. Why don't I do it any more? I tend to be more alert late at night than early morning, plus time always seemed to pass too damn fast when I got up early (no idea what that's about). I still get up at 6 so I guess it is not THAT different but I don't do anything besides stretching, showering, eating and watching videos in the early hours. I don't do anything that really requires much concentration. If you're a social person, you'll probably also find it inconvenient since you have to go to bed early. If you're a cave-dweller like me, and don't have responsibilities related to specific times, I don't think it really matters that much whether you get up at 4 am or 1 pm.

Is honesty really usually viewed as a good habit? A woman's at a job interview. The employer asks what she thinks her worst quality is. "Honesty", she says. "I don't think honesty's such a bad quality", the employer replies. "Well, I don't give a fuck what you think", says the woman. I think honesty is something not everyone knows to appreciate. But it's worth it, first and foremost for your own integrity, as well as those who care about truth.

@The Alchemist 3 days? Of course you will feel like shit. You will feel like shit for the same reason jet lag happens: your circadian rhythm has been disrupted and it takes a while to adjust. If you want to experiment with waking up early, either shift your waking time earlier gradually or put up with the consequences of a sudden change. In any case, try it out over a longer period of time.

Thanks for the replies. @Leo Gura Yes, perhaps I'm self-deceiving, don't want to rule that out. It does seem though that putting my attention on the back of the head at least temporarily silences the mind. It seems that my attention always goes to some body sensations in the chest or head but there usually isn't a verbal answer.

Ken Wilber is enlightened. He has R.E.D.D. and he's still very sick. Enlightenment might make a chronic condition less irritating to deal with but it doesn't cure it.

Is there any set-in-stone rule that will prevent you from self-actualizing if you smoke weed? Nope. Weed may cause problems with short term memory, paranoia, laziness, and brain damage (the science spread in the weed community is cherry-picked, regular use of weed absolutely may cause brain damage, especially in adolescents). Is it guaranteed that you will have these problems with weed to a significant extent? No. But if you do, it certainly doesn't help. Addiction as itself is something that goes against the definition of a self-actualized person. A self-actualized person definitely wouldn't need weed and probably wouldn't desire it either, since they're happy on their own and weed is not fulfilling.

If you can only do one, do meditation. I may be biased here but let's lay out what these two things are. Visualization: playing a movie in your mind to change your subconscious beliefs and habits. It has the potential to change your old beliefs and habits for "better" ones. Meditation: developing concentration, clarity, and equanimity about experience. It has the potential to show you what beliefs really are, who you really are, what the world really is. Deep enlightenment is as close to fulfillment as you can possibly get. If you're fulfilled, you won't need to be successful. My two cents.

All that you could ever call you is your subjective experience, or a part of it. All that ever i s you is awareness (technically it's unspeakable, but if one were to put it into words, that's what it's best described as). Speculation over whether awareness is a property of the brain, or exists on its own, or is something that finds a new body once the current body dies - it's all just beliefs. It's just seeing and hearing arising and subsiding in awareness. Being someone who has had, and still largely does, a rationalist worldview and self-image, I could say that awareness arises from the brain and stops after death. But there is no possibility of contact with such truth. Awareness can know itself, but not the lack of itself. There is no experience of unawareness, hence awareness never began and never ends - not because it goes on forever in time but because it is atemporal. You are not a human being. You were never born and you will never die. Welcome to the trans-rational.

Whenever you get it done. Whenever it serves you best. Experiment around. Who knows your experience better than you anyway? It's like asking: "What kind of music should I listen to?"

I think the laws of nature are conceptualizations of the way reality operates. Don't think anyone could really walk through walls.

@Bruno Sousa One hour is just the beginning. Try 3 or 4 hours like I do;) (ego speaking) I don't mean at once, not nearly there yet. But 3 or 4 sessions - sure. I must say I notice magic happening, and yes, absolutely anyone can do it if they wish.

"The world is fundamentally fucked up, because people don't realize it is perfect as it is." - Me (as far as I know)

@Shantanu I don't know whether it is avoidable. From my experience, as long as there is either crossing of legs or ankles pressed against a surface, the feet or legs will go numb. Even if it feels like there isn't any pressure, they still do. So as far as any lotus posture, whether quarter, half, full, or Burmese, goes, legs going numb is probably unavoidable...unless you adjust your posture during the sit, I guess. Since I practice strong determination sitting, that is not something I'm familiar with.

I think cold showers are great indeed. There may or may not be significant health benefits but the discipline aspect alone is great. Starting your day with a cold shower is a no-bullshit approach: it clearly shows your success for the day. If you do it, you got out of your comfort zone. If not, you didn't.

Meditation may or may not be fun. Both are normal. If it's not fun, that especially means you should do it. Maybe start with the "Do nothing" technique. Leo has a video on it, so does Shinzen Young. As you get used to meditating, you start to enjoy the flavor of purification that discomfort gives you. Yesterday, I was at a point in strong determination sitting where I felt I couldn't take any more, so I moved my hand a checked my phone. 15 min was left on the clock. I sat through it, and the feeling I had after it was over was incredible. And so was in a sense the feeling as I was torturing myself: I knew I was purifying consciousness, learning to have equanimity with contractive forces.

With postures where you sit on the floor, on a mat, on a cushion, this is normal. These postures put pressure on your nerves so the signals don't get through. You're not actually cutting off blood circulation so don't worry about massive necrosis or anything like that As your body adjusts to the posture, you probably won't go numb quite as fast. Could pressure on nerves damage them? Theoretically yes, and there certainly are some stories of that happening. But if nerve damage does occur as result of a posture, it is gradual and you couldn't cause sudden damage or anything like that. Plus nerves have a good capacity to heal themselves so even if minor damage does occur, it should go away once you stop doing the thing that caused it. To sum up, it isn't something you need to worry about. If you get up, and in a few minutes your legs are fine, everything's alright. There is a meditation technique called strong determination sitting where practitioners may sit for long hours, and they're allegedly fine as well. I'm personally practicing sds, building up the time I sit with adding 5 more minutes consistently. As long as the numbness subsides after the sit like it always has, I have nothing to worry about.