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@from chaos into self I am that I am. This is about as clear as it gets ?

It can't be said or defined. You can't encapsulate the infinite and explain it away with a bunch of words like "everything".. "nothing" .. "eternal".. "infinite". These are yet more attributes. The essence of God (being) itself is a total mystery (mystical) and it will remain like that. Forever. You underestimate that God is INFINITE. Sit down and contemplate what INFINITE means untill it breaks your mind. Infinity allows you to be God and not God simultaneously. This is not a contradiction. That's exactly right. You are God and not God at the same time.

@from chaos into self are you conscious of that or do you just Believe it?.. OP is being very honest that his experience as a human that is vulnerable to suffering is not quite God-like. If God is imagining himself to be a human.. That means right now you are not God. You are just human. God has seperated himself from himself to experience what it's like to pray to himself but without knowing that he is praying to himself. Ultimately yes you are God. But most likely you are not conscious of that right now. Which is why you shouldn't parrot it.

It's a very foundational component of Leo's teachings. One cannot be following Leo's work without being radically open-minded. Also I found it's the key to successful contemplation and unlocking deep truths and insights. However I discovered there is a huge problem.. The mind is fundamentally afraid of being open.. The mind has a natural tendency to be closed off from radical ideas or new possibilities. Because being closed minded is what grounds your sense of reality. You look at the world through a specific lense and you assume a bunch of things about the world that are basically unquestionable. You do this to survive. You can't survive if you assume that you know nothing and you're equally open to any information. As soon as you start entertaining new ideas and open your mind to change your entire worldview.. You start to feel like you are losing a part of what grounds your reality. This can be noticed for example with religious people who are so attached to their beliefs.. and then they discover that religion is just bullshit and there is no sky daddy up there taking care of you.. Yeah that might send them to an existential crisis. My question is what is the limit of open mindedness? Can one be open minded to literally anything? Is that how you reach truth? But what you notice is if you are Infinitely open minded.. You will just end up knowing nothing and not able to know a thing. There must be a balance. But where do we draw the line? Can you open your mind to the following possibilities : 1 that you have no brain or any internal organs. Literally. After all have you ever seen them? 2 that you are the only conscious being in the entire universe and everyone else are just figments of your mind. 3 that Leo is an alien not a human. 4 that your mom got born out of a chicken.(that's an example from Leo's open-mindedness video lol). 5 that the world ceases to exist as soon you stop looking and gets rendered once again when you look again . Like a video game. 5that the flying spaghetti monster is real. He created this world. And he will punish you if you don't worship him in this life. 6 that the entire world that you can see through the media is not real. 7 that their might be a space Kangaroo standing behind you your entire life but you couldn't see him cuz he turns with you . Can you honestly open your mind and entertain such ideas? Notice the emotional reaction against some of these ideas. and notice that you can't actually disprove any of them with 100% certainty. You can't open your mind to these possibilities not because they are false(you don't know that) or because they are stupid lol.. But because they will threaten your sense of reality and everything you thought you know about the world might get thrown out the window. It's like you have to be close minded to survive . What would happen if you become infinitely open minded?

@Muhammad Jawad If God is the substance of everything.. How can he not be a victim of suffering? I don't like this approach. Don't Anthropomorphise God and then ask questions about it as if "he" is a human that should have a "why" for what "he" does. What is GOD? You underestimate the significance of this question.

Haha wise empty talk as always lol ?

@BlackMaze I'm reading the book. Very powerful stuff. @Natashaeye-opening stuff. Motivation by fear of the consequences seems to work with me. @AnantaI agree. Cold turkey is the way to go. And that's my plan. Almost a week clean. Will keep going.

@Applegarden @Applegarden thanks. I think it's going to be helpful to educate myself about the dangers of smoking. @Michael569 good tips doc. Thanks. I'm working on my diet as well. The association with cold showers as a punishment seems like a clever idea. @Natasha hell no lol. Is that for real tho?

You guys underestimate the depth of this question. Contemplate what GOD is before asking for proof.

@Michael569 thank you man. Would appreciate any medical tips also to help me out

I get you. It's sort of like an ideal that you work towards. You never achieve it fully but you let go more and more. ?

Well that's how I understand it myself. Only Leo can tell you accurately what he means right? It seems like he means you (as Javfly33) are all alone imagining everyone else and that sort of stuff. I don't buy it.

@Muhammad Jawad WHAT IS GOD? That's a profound question that I think you should start with. Because you have assumptions about God (how can we be god if we are x y z) so that already assumes that you know what God is and you are measuring him with our qualities as humans. In all religions.. God is known as the eternal ultimate source of all of reality.. He is uncreated.. Indestructible.. Infinite..omnipotent.. Omniscient.. Etc. In other words God is the ultimate shit. Imagine the most magnificent miraculous being that could ever possibly exist. . That is God. Now tell me what should prevent that being from manifesting himself as a weak limited human being if he wanted to? By exploring every aspect of himself and fully realizing what it is?

@Average Investor @Gesundheit thank you guys for support. Appreciate it. Day 5. Going strong ?

@Keyhole I think you are underestimating how there are inherent toxic tendencies in humans. In general. Not just in online forum. People in general are toxic motherfuckers. Not all of them. And not the whole of them. As in they are not purely toxic. But that's just an aspect of everyone's psychology. So instead of winning for the rest of your life about how toxic people are.. Just accept that people are toxic dumbasses. Secondly.. As Leo said.. This in an online forum after all.. It's not a church.. And sometimes the debates get heated. People are not purely rational creatures. They get carried by their emotions. That's to be expected. I think working on your expectations and lowering them to meet people at their low level (from your pov) is better than complaining about why people don't rise up to your high expectations. Adjust your expectations with the reality. Don't try to adjust the reality with your expectations.

4 days sober. However the cravings are still as intense.

@Javfly33 if he didn't mean solipsism I think he meant the following.. I think he is speaking about the universal "I Am". The same consciousness that is lighting through Leo's eyes (if Leo is real) is the same consciousness looking through your eyes right now. That doesn't mean you as Javfly33 is looking through Leo's eyes. But you as Consciousness is looking through Leo's eyes. Notice yourself as Javfly33 the ego identity. And then notice yourself as pure isness.. Pure consciousness. The ego identity of Leo is different from the ego identity of Javfly33. But the underlying pure consciousness identity (which is the true identity) in Leo is the same in Javfly33.

There is no purpose behind it. But it's not up you. It doesn't work by purpose. It works automatically or unfolding naturally you might say. It will stop when it stops. Don't be so sure about that.

Very good question. See in the materialist perspective the answer is very simple.. That you've got a brain inside your skull and you've got specific type of neurons responsible for storing your experiences as memories. Like a memory card in any electronic device. If you say there is no brain or any physical or non-physical location where experiences are stored.. From a more spiritual perspective.. The past never even happened and your entire life backstory and memories are imaginary. You imagine them in the present moment to explain how you got there. (I was born I went to school I grew up bla bla bla and here I am). That's Leo's opinion anyways.

I don't think those preferences (you might call them instincts) are just a product of conditioning from society. Part of it is genetic or "by design" you might say. If a human being grows up in a forest by himself without any social conditioning.. I think he would naturally have likes and dislikes based on his experience. Those likes and dislikes are what keeps you alive essentially. How could you survive if you no longer prefer food over death?. Is that realistic? Is it possible?

Try therapy and antidepressants. Also consider taking a break from self-actualization work.

Try this Right now.. do NOT think of a pink elephant.... If you did.. Free will debunked. If you didn't.. Free will debunked. Bye.

Pain! Consciousness can experience pain and that is called suffering!

No you can't lol. It is impossible to stop thoughts even for a moment. That's my claim and it's empirically verifiable by anyone. Having no thoughts is a thought. If you think you are not thinking now.. That's you thinking that you're not thinking. ?

No. The core mistake in this whole free will thing is duality. When you take yourself to be a separate self. There is no you and your thoughts. You can't control your thoughts precisely because you are the thoughts. Instead of being a separate entity that create thoughts