aurum

Economic growth means increasing the total amount of our economic activity. Almost everyone believes this to be a good thing, and historically they might have been right. Low economic growth or recession has rightly been associated with unemployment, inequality, etc. Much of justification for all this green tech comes back to economic growth. Sure, we want to save the environment. But not at the expense of the economy. Not at the expense of our jobs, which equate to survival. Not at the expense of consumerism. Hence, someone like Joe Biden's environmental plan or the Green New Deal, which both promise to stimulate the economy and save the environment. But here's the problem. The economy cannot be stimulated anymore. Not like in the past, when Keynesian economic theory took hold. Real economic growth has essentially disappeared. Japan has had declining GDP for years and many developed countries are following suit. The small amount of growth in GDP that we currently see is largely artificial, propped up by things like the major tech companies and war. And even that is getting harder and harder to maintain. Even growth in "undeveloped" countries is largely only the result of developed countries' influence, e.g the IMF imposing debt and austerity measures to force countries to grow. The reality is there is no more growth to be had. Your entire life has already been commodified. The natural resources of the planet are rapidly approaching limits, if not already been hit. Growth is over. So the idea that we will just forever continue increasing our economy activity, and offset the environmental damage with "green tech", is absurd. The good news is that even though growth is over, we don't need it. Yes, we would need to restructure our systems to make them no longer growth dependent. But that can easily be accomplished if we have the wisdom to do so.

@erik8lrl The only problem I have with this is thinking that "carbon neutrality" is the equivalent to ecological health. It's not. Carbon emissions are one potential metric of success. And it happens to be one that is relatively easier to measure, as opposed to other environmental indicators of success. What are the environmental costs of all those solar and wind farms? That is usually not mentioned. It also plays directly in the illusory narrative of continual economic growth. Growth is over and has been for some time, but we are still pretending it can and should be achieved.

Absolutely. The way our economic system works is that you specialize your talents in one particular area in order to then make a wage from that skill. That wage then pays for all the other things that you lack skill in (growing food, constructing shelter etc), which someone else is turn has specialized in. The more we do this, the better we get at it. Someone who has specialized in technology can invent something for farmers that now allows a single farmer to feed massive amounts of people. Now even less people need to be farmers and procure food directly. And those people who are now "free" from doing that can in turn specialize in creating even more powerful technology. Which will then make farming even more efficient. So certain activities are incentivized and some are dis-incentivized. You not are incentivized to procure your own food, you are incentivized to sit in an office and learn programming. This works fine. Except until we realize that we've completely thrown off the balance of the ecology. Yes exactly, you got it. Who needs a gym if you're hunting or farming all day? In fact, rather than going to the gym to get glamour muscles, physical strength would just be pragmatic. If I'm stronger, I can do more labor. That would be the only purpose. I also used the example of ice baths and saunas. But if someone lived more directly with nature, such activities would likely be unnecessary because they would be exposed to the natural temperature variations. Another example could be entertainment. We now pay specialists to entertain us (movies, music, comedy etc). In the absence of specialization, any entertainment would likely be self-generated.

@andyjohnsonman Some Greens still seem to believe that the problem really is with certain groups or individuals, rather than levels of consciousness and systems. For instance, the problem really is the corrupt CEO in charge of the fossil fuel company. And if we could just take down the CEO or get rid of that "bad" company, we'd be okay. They fail to recognize that by doing this, they are projecting much of the same energy that they claim to be so radically against. There's a sense of powerlessness here too. If you believe there's these bad CEOs out there causing all the problems, it's going to make you feel powerless. Canceling people gives you a sense that you're fighting the evil and maybe even winning.

@Vision I won’t say I haven’t thought about it. It’s hard not to watch what is going on here and consider anything less. Ultimately though, having critiques is not a justifiable reason to leave. Imagine if we did that in relationships. Really what we need to do is learn to resolve these conflicts. If you love a country, that’s what you would do.

@acidgoofy If it's a critical task that requires real focus, I wouldn't do it. A fast is a time to focus on healing. That needs to be your main priority. You need to block off time as if you really were sick. You may be able to do a little bit of work here or there, especially in the beginning, but I wouldn't count on it. I've had times during fasts where I could barely get out of bed.

@Human Mint Diet, than fast. Fasting can already feel like hell even with a clean diet. I wouldn't want to do it otherwise.

Good for that guy to stick to his guns when Tai said "so let's talk about real estate..."

@Talinn I worked night shift for about a year. It definitely wrecks havoc on your system, especially if you're having to come in and off that schedule all the time. Which is not to say you can't do it. I just didn't find it to be the healthiest choice.

@Mr Being It's been interesting to watch his development for sure. I remember when he was just putting out strength / motivational videos and touched on important topics like trauma release. It really seemed like he was heading to become more of a hippie spiritual teacher. It's good that he wants to help men. He definitely could be a strong role model for a lot of guys. But somehow that has gotten twisted up with an obsession around male dominance, patriarchy, biblical morality and other conservative perspectives. It'll be interesting to see what happens to him in another five or ten years. He seems to change fast so who knows, maybe he'll drop all this at some point in the future.

Sounds to me like you're in a good spot. You can both offer online training by creating videos with your artistic skills. And then your premium product for people who really want the most coaching can be to work with you in person. I think you're jumping too far ahead by feeling that you don't have anything unique to offer. Your offer will BECOME unique the more coaching you do and the more you learn. Don't expect it to be totally unique day 1. Also, some people just don't need something totally unique. What they need is your help, even if it's just the basics. There's nothing wrong with that. Just start working people the best you can. Let it evolve over time.

@aklacor727 It's case by case basis. Sometimes you can't find a Win/Win, in which there is a compatibility problem or the need for a paradigm shift. However, most of the times you can find a Win/Win. That's what Steven Covey talks about in 7 Habits. You got to find a way for everyone to get what they want, assuming the needs are genuine.

You'd have to point me to specific examples of what you're talking about. Having a successful business and a girlfriend doesn't inherently say much about someone's level of consciousness. Those things can easily be accomplished unconsciously. In general, the problem with TRP is that its philosophy is extremely biased against women. It may be useful to step into that perspective temporarily, but I wouldn't get stuck there. Are there maybe some useful ideas floating around TRP? Sure. TRP is not a monolith, it's a collection of a wide variety of perspectives, some of which are more conscious than others. And paradigm lock does serve a function. But thinking you've found the deepest truth because you found out about TRP is laughable.

@Brandon Nankivell To quote Eckhart Tolle, there is one certain way to measure progress. The degree of peace that you feel. I like this definition because it reminds us what is important, while simultaneously not giving us complex mental model to get lost in. There is of course value to models produced by those like Hawkins, but at the end of the day what you really want is to be in alignment with God. And peace is the surest indicator of that alignment.

@SLuxy Congrats! Keep it up, this is just the start.

@Ibgdrgnxxv Actually lying is great! It lets me avoid problems and manipulate people to my benefit. I’m obviously kidding but we do need to acknowledge what benefit we get from lying in order to let it go.

@Raphael Part of it could certainly just be a clinging to the past. Or a “grass is always greener” effect that the mind likes to play on itself. But what I see is that the narrative of societal “development” is largely false. This narrative essentially says that we were primitive, dumb apes and that we’ve over come that through modern technology and human civilization. In other words, it’s a belief that life was “nasty, brutish and short” as Hobbes puts it. But over time we’ve overcome nature to make it better. In some comes that may be true. It’s 1000x more comfortable and less risky to travel around the world than it would have been before modern civilization. And yet, with all these supposed advancements, what has been lost? For instance, you likely do not grow or procure your own food. This would never have happened before modern civilization. While this may be more efficient, what is the cost of something like that? One cost is that you are totally disconnected from the food you eat. You have no idea how it was made and what went into that. Another example could be the shift from manual labor to knowledge workers. Modern society incentivizes people who work with their head (engineers. CEOs, programmers, etc) and tends to disincentivize manual labor. What is the cost of that? Perhaps that we now live sedentary lifestyles and must use the money we make at our job in order to purchase a gym membership or a personal trainer. Another example could be the development of temperature control, i.e heating and air conditioning. What is the cost of that? Well it you study something like Wim Hof method, you know that the body is highly adaptive and can be trained. In fact, extreme temperatures can be tremendous mental and physical benefits, e.g ice baths and saunas. My point is that we have made many attempts to try and control life. And we associate these attempts at control with progress, not understanding their true costs. So I think there is something to the “good ol days” narrative, albeit for different reasons than many people would claim.

You’re dismissing what is being said here because “that’s only the absolute level”. The absolute level is the deepest truth. And the absolute and relative are not separate. Your question has already been answered. Fear is the illusion that you are not God. This illusion is necessary to a certain degree because it’s the only way God can know itself. On a relative level we could talk about how society perpetuates this fear. But that’s not the deepest realization. If you still don’t get it, that’s perfectly fine. People have struggled with these questions for years and years. Go meditate or whatever your chosen spiritual practice is and come back to it. The more work you do, the more it will make sense.

Merry Christmas everybody! Love you all.

you’re missing it. There is no way to fail at this. You and everything else is God, and there’s no way you could not realize that. At worst you can delude yourself until your “death”. The few rare ones you are talking about are also you. All souls will return to God because there is no other possibility. This game is perfectly rigged in your and everyone else’s favor. All setbacks are only temporary and are what allow for the journey to take place. But I get it, the journey can be brutally hard at times. You can go through deep darkness, depression and fear. But that’s all okay too. That’s all part of it. Wrap the darkness in love and watch it transform.

@8Ball Alternatively besides patreon, there’s the LP course, booklist and tip jar. Plenty of ways to support Leo financially if you choose.

@Mvpjouney If it’s too much it’s okay to slow it down. There is no rush here and ultimately you cannot fail. It certainly is possible without psychedelics, my first awakening experiences were all sober. Just keep up your spiritual practice and watching the theory to strengthen your foundation. Then if you want to do a psychedelic, you can choose to do that.

@DecemberFlower Because that's the game that is being played here. Going from fear / separation to love / oneness. You couldn't have the journey otherwise and know yourself as God.

@ajai I really like Kimilla. Some of her Kriyas are really challenging and she has a lot of great content. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJdnfY8UpmI

@BlackMaze Breathwork like Wim Hof supposedly releases DMT. Do an hour of that and you'll be flying high, may even pass out.