Terell Kirby

Vlad is such a breath of fresh air in today’s media environment. His political takes are world class:

Beware of the trap in using this criteria to categorize a perspective as low. I’ve fallen into this many times-truth is, what Leo teaches on the subject of God realization is highly advanced and unconventional relative to even the highest of human perspectives. God Realization transcends any distinctions between low and high perspectives (once you become directly conscious of how all perspectives and distinctions between them are being imagined).

I’m glad you pointed this out-it’s a real struggle for some of us to let go. This is especially the case for me when you see MAGA fascism come out on top as they did in the election. Leftists, liberals and progressives are desperately needing something to hold onto. Yet I realize truth and acceptance of reality as is requires letting go of the need to find something to grip as progressive ideals are spat on by the masses. There is wisdom in that; most of the pushback you get is coming from a resistance to the emotional labor required to be wise. I’ve struggled with it, I’m sure others have as well.

Attempting to understand Leo’s position on elites and the value they add compared to the plebs or proletariat. Reason I’m doing this because I find myself getting slightly emotionally triggered through my assumptions that he is being too favorable and/or charitable to those in power. Yet I intuited I was missing something, and had a hunch that Leo’s arguments are less to do with the corruption of elites and more to do with the limitations of populist worldview (on the left and the right). It was only right to take it to Claude AI for an objective, non partisan perspective: Question to Claude: There tends to be this assertion from left wing and right wing populist that elites are the problem. Being objectively detailed, what are all the points of limitation in this perspective or worldview-taking in account evolution of political systems, holons, growth and dominator hierarchy and levels of cognitive development in humans? No need to ask questions in your response, looking for response to be as non partisan as possible. Response from Claude: The populist framing of "elites" as the primary problem faces several limitations: Oversimplification of Social Structures - Reduces complex social systems to binary categories (elites vs. people) - Ignores the graduated nature of social power across different domains - Fails to distinguish between functional hierarchies (expertise/competence) and dominator hierarchies (coercion/exploitation) Definitional Ambiguity - "Elite" is often loosely defined, shifting to include different groups depending on rhetorical needs - Conflates distinct forms of influence: economic, cultural, political, technological - Neglects how individuals can be simultaneously privileged in some contexts and disadvantaged in others Developmental Considerations - Overlooks how societies evolve through stages requiring different organizational structures - Modern complex problems require specialized knowledge and coordination mechanisms - Simple hierarchical structures often cannot address transnational, multi-domain challenges Historical Context - Many historical attempts to eliminate elite structures resulted in new elite formations - Power vacuums typically lead to emergence of alternative hierarchies, sometimes more problematic than those replaced - Does not account for evolutionary psychology and tendency toward status hierarchies in human groups Functional Necessity - Complex societies require coordination mechanisms across specializations - Some forms of elite knowledge/expertise are necessary for functioning systems (medicine, engineering, etc.) - Blanket anti-elite sentiment can undermine valuable institutional knowledge and system stability Cognitive Development - Different developmental stages perceive hierarchies differently (from concrete to systems thinking) - More cognitively complex views recognize both the value of functional hierarchies and dangers of unchecked power - Anti-elite narratives often appeal to earlier developmental stages of cognition that prefer simpler causal explanations Constructive Alternatives - Reform approaches focusing on accountability, transparency, and mobility may address legitimate concerns more effectively than wholesale rejection - Differentiated analysis of which hierarchical structures are functional vs. exploitative is more useful than categorical rejection - Evolving toward more distributed forms of power while maintaining coordination capabilities

MAGA propaganda at its finest:

Love this from the blog .. this tops some of the Actualized videos on the grounds of articulating the complex topic of conceptually understanding Consciousness & spirituality. Wish I found it sooner, yet God's timing is always perfect

Of course-those are two widely different job descriptions within an enterprise-the higher up, the less number of people are qualified (in a true meritocracy). I also acknowledge that even if an elite child has an opportunity to attend Harvard Business School-they still need a certain level innate drive, focus and ambition to make the most out of it. It’s just easy to lose sight of really talented humans who just don’t have access to truly work their way to elite status (which the so called American Dream prides itself off of).

Reading a book called The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovits (picked up his book after watching your blog post on how the elite train their kids). It has some eye opening studies on how the market has reshaped itself to lend power in income distribution of wages to those who have acquire elite level training and skills from top colleges/Universities (specifically in STEM and finance). It’s giving me new perspective-yes CEOs and elites offer more value, but it’s not always due to being genetically superior in some sense. Some just had wealthy family who invested seriously in their education and skill development in careers that pay a fortune-a privilege most poor and even middle class children don’t have today. Late stage capitalism and its failures has its hands in many pots when it comes to wealth inequality-its even more so prevalent in todays meritocracy, which you have have rich parents to even begin to think about adding value as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

@Leo Gura thoughts on caffeine?

Rule of thumb: whatever exists in your present state of Consciousness-recognize it as the entire Universe and beyond….to Infinity.

Aren’t we all?

How do keep from guilting and shaming yourself for mistakes made due to lack of consciousness? So easy to be perfectionistic about this work.

Happy Valentines Day! https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/world/memphis-dawson-honeymoon-wife-murder-fiji/index.html This is a wild one- not all relationships are healthy one’s. Curious on your thoughts of what level of toxicity in a relationship is reasonable? How does a simple argument over dinner turn into a homicide with a life sentence?

Understanding deep truths about the nature of reality and self deception is the ultimate guardrail against epistemic corruption-which is the central cause of the masses being influenced by the toxicity of social media, click bait, rage bait. My mind is starting to make a connection between Understanding (or lack thereof) and all the toxic shit going down in our political landscape. Then again, it took many hours of consciousness work and emotional labor/suffering to take just the first step.

I like how this guy breaks down Communism as a political/economic system without playing into culture war narratives: High perspective-objective, to the point, doesn’t take political/tribal or ideological positions.

Low perspective music example: Don’t know what I just listened to

This is one of my favorite clips of Jesse Ventura. The reverence in which he speaks about Muhammad Ali, his idol and hero, is so eloquent, unfiltered, powerful and authentic. Such a powerful clip for high perspective-that stresses the importance of integrity:

Thumbnail says it all

Such a tease

This one gets the award for Best Low Quality perspective example!

Seems like a New Age version of Tai Lopez

You underestimate the power of self deception. The mind can come up with many clever ways to muddy the waters between truth and falsehood. Musk & Trump believe the lies they tell themselves about reality to some level. What’s even more depressing is that their followers and supporters believe it too (probably more than they do)-which is why these men have power and are in prime position to gut federal bureaucracy in the US. The majority of people are profoundly ignorant and unskillful at distinguishing high vs low perspectives (that includes me). Just by looking at a few examples-I can see how important this work is to foundational epistemology. It’s a shame we don’t teach our youth these skills.

Low: Even with millions in presidential campaign donations from Musk, Trump still continues with his victim narrative: Classic projection, hypocrisy & double standard in accusing mainstream media of the very corruption each are guilty of in their pursuit of oligarchic power.