caspex

I do not dispute that it is better for Bryan to accept his death, he would be a lot more happier in life once he knows what death really is. But, my concern isn't with the well being of Bryan, it is with the well being of humanity. It was often people like Bryan that advanced humanity forward. I would argue that anti-aging is better for humanity than not. This technology will come with a few wars and a lot of tragedies but in the long run it will be good regardless, as humanity learns. Sure it is madness but in the process of preventing this made up idea of death, he ultimately benefits humanity. That's how I see it. Running on fear is not necessarily a bad thing. Fear of suffering and death gave birth to the entire medical field. Moreover, who are we to say what he gets to post? Who are we to call him posting about eating his wife out 'crazy'? If he is okay with it, his wife is okay with it, what's the issue here? Fuck, he could start talking about his arse microbiome and I won't care because the man is doing good research. This is biased. A human being could also be a mech to defend the universe. There is no obligation to go back to Earth. Regardless of what you do, you would go back to the universe though. I could live 500 years and finally die and dissolve on mars, doesn't make a difference.

"I Leove your content, will you be my Gura?"

The only issue I see is the elites and government officials living on forever while the poor stay mortal. That is a genuine issue I get that. However, you need to understand that if it wasn't for Bryan Johnson it would be somebody else doing this and probably behind closed doors where the public have no idea. That is so much worse. I think you are overly afraid, humanity always pulls through. With the internet, media and politics the only way to get more enslaved is probably just physical detainment. If they could do that they would already have. If you argue that's what they are working towards with all the drones and AI then you should really be worried about those guys and not Bryan Johnson; because they would create anti-aging anyways if we go by your worldview. This position is so hypocritical though. Aren't you trying to prevent your death every moment too? You don't go around entering dark alleyways at night because you don't want to get stabbed. You don't just jump off your balcony because you'd rather not die. You stay away from venomous snakes. You are stopping your death ALL the time. Just because you have made peace with the idea of natural death doesn't mean you want to die. It doesn't mean Bryan Johnson has to be okay with natural death either.

He is the manifestation of humanity's drive to achieve freedom. In this case it is the freedom to choose whether you want to die. "Don't Die" doesn't mean 'Don't return to God'. Observe the context around it, it's a short catchy slogan to get the point across in as little words as possible; but if you read a little bit it is quite obvious what he wants is there to be a choice to living on or dying rather than forcing you to live. Are you envisioning the future from "I have no mouth and I must scream" where AM forces you to be immortal? I doubt that is what he wants. Yeah he is scared of death, but that's completely natural.

"When kidney transplants began succeeding in the 1950s, some critics argued: humans were extending life beyond what God intended tampering with organs violated sacred bodily wholeness using organs from the dead desecrated corpses There were also secular fears: “Frankenstein medicine” fear of surgeons experimenting on humans suspicion that the poor would be harvested for organs" Do you see what I am getting at?

To be honest, I am grateful for Bryan Johnson. If he was conscious and more mentally healthy he wouldn't be doing what he is right now. If he doesn't do it, who will? He can single-handedly advance this field very fast. He is fulfilling a role which only a person with a very specific cocktail of fears and values can fill. I really don't see why people hate on this guy. Yeah he's got problems, but that is exactly why he will benefit society. It's a better use of his money than whatever Epstein was doing.

Pride is self-referential and Vainglory is audience-referential. See if you can find the difference: "Will this confirm my superiority?" "Will this earn approval of my superiority?" In one the Jury is internal, in another it is external.

Courage is acting despite fear. Diligence is finding comfort in the right things.

I studied well today in the sense I did not waste as much time as I would. I worked fast with all the others chores I had, and instead of getting frustrated that they were eating up my study time, I simply let it go. I don't want wrath have its way now do I? Studying is different from working out because you may be studying something you may not find particularly enjoying but you need to anyways. How do you find comfort in that? I think the key is to build security and certainty. - Being mindful of how good it feels to not procrastinate. After suffering so much at the hands of my sloth, studying for once actually feels quite nice. One needs to be aware of the sense of security they feel when they are actually working towards their goals. There's a comfort in knowing that you are progressing even if little by little. You can choose to focus on whether or not you are progressing fast enough but that's a later observation. One needs to first be mindful of and take comfort in the sense of security in progress. If you set a schedule, and maybe use a technique like Pomodoro, it will introduce sufficient certainty in the mix. However, there's a trap; It's actually easy to start anticipating the end of the session but that anticipation is a sneaky trap which breeds sloth. When you anticipate the end of the session you are admitting to yourself you are currently uncomfortable. What you should instead focus on is finishing the task at hand within the session. Maybe finishing a chapter of revision in the given session. It's a goal which is possible within the time frame but not too easy. It's sufficient challenge. At least that is enough to shift my focus from anticipation of the end to almost dreading the end because I want to finish a clean target within the time frame. If I can't, there is always the next session. Remember, the goal was never to finish a task within the session, the goal was to just distract yourself. I am still figuring this out but that's all I know so far. Really, I will know I am diligent once I am able to be consistent with not just my studies but also my working out. I am starting to get little inklings of what my benchmark should be for determining when I have become sufficiently courageous and diligent to move on to other compulsions. The benchmark for courage could be something related to repeated failures and the ability to get back up and try again. It could be related to one's ability to hold on to hope. The benchmark for diligence can be something related to consistency or one's ability to put in effort regardless of reward. Testing one's principle of doing a job well. How seriously you take your task. Again, these are just inklings-- vague ideas, you could say. Might be completely wrong. -- I bought some weights because it's much less resistance than having to visit the gym. Is it the most optimal way to get fit? No, absolutely not. I am not remotely close to any sort of optimal health plan or diet. However, that's not my goal. My goal isn't achieving a healthy body, it's achieving a diligent mind that acts towards meaningful targets. A healthy body is just one of those targets. As my mind becomes diligent and brave, it will leave more room to optimize my working out, diet and studies.

As an Indian I genuinely find it hard to believe you guys have such a clown for a president. How does a guy like that get into power? One for the history books.

any gut-focused teachers?

I agree with @zurew here, he points to a lot of problems I have seen with Leo. The thread has gotten lost into understanding what it means to define stuff when in reality this is the real issue at hand. This is what needs to be discussed. I would appreciate a more thorough response from @Leo Gura on this than a simple 'you're wrong because you aren't conscious enough'. Just this once. As for the definitions. Here's my two cents - Clearly there is something there when you try to define a cult. You wouldn't define a cult as 'a red ball' because it's clearly not that. There is some elephant everybody is trying describe from their perspective. I don't know what a cult is, but I know what a cult is not: Being able to openly criticize the leader and having no bars to leaving the community, not even epistemic. (Example: You'll go to hell if you leave!) Actualized.org allows for both open criticism of Leo and puts no epistemic, financial or physical restrains on you to stay. There's no peer pressure on you to stay within the community either. If you criticize Leo there is no crazy backlash either. This is enough to show me Actualized.org is not a cult. But as things are progressing, I do feel the community is becoming a little less conscious and with those retreats coming up I am very curious to see how Leo prevents this place from becoming more cult-like.

I was too slothful today. I didn't study at all. But I know I wasn't a coward. The reason I didn't study was because of comfort, not fear. I did exercise though. I really don't get how to overcome this bondage to comfort. With cowardice you just act despite the fear, that is courage after all. With sloth do you just forsake the comfort? Let me look up the definition for diligence: "careful work or great effort" "the quality of working carefully and with a lot of effort" The idea at least sounds quite stressful. Me holding on to that comfort might be causing the stress. Hm. . . After some thinking I don't think you must 'forsake' comfort. Comfort is akin to the feeling of security and certainty. I doubt anybody who can act consistently and diligently can do so for long without feeling some sort of comfort in what they are doing. Definition of comfort: "a pleasant feeling of being relaxed and free from pain" Yeah, it'd be pretty hard to be consistent in the gym if you feel pain every time you exercise. Every person I have seen that has been consistent in the gym for years has found the gym a quite comforting place. They found some sort of comfort in the exercise and place. I also remember that when I was consistent in my studying last year just before one of my exams, I found this strange comfort in the subject I was studying. It was as if that book was my home. Studying the chapters so many times gave me a sense of familiarity. Flipping the pages felt like walking through streets you're too familiar with. So the the way to solve cowardice is acting despite fear, and the way to solve sloth is finding comfort in what needs to be done? . . This gives me a lead to work off on. I will try to find comfort i.e. security and certainty within my studies tomorrow. When I wrote the above sentence I felt a physical reaction in my body. It recoiled at the idea of ever finding comfort in those books. This is VERY interesting. Yeah, fuck the fear. I am doing it. I am brave. Let's try this tomorrow and see what happens.

I don't think I could focus on the teaching if Leo looked like that