Zion

When you are sad and/or frustrated, you'll notice that your thoughts tend to spiral into more negative saddening thoughts & continue to loop, only to put you in more existential dread. For example: "I'm feeling super sad because this one thing in my life isn't going well. Oh and now that I think of it, this other thing isn't going well, & also that other thing, & I still haven't done this yet, etc". However, you can also come to see that these additional thoughts are hints to you. They are the things you are trying to tell yourself to notice more. If you are really sad or frustrated about it, it's likely something you have avoided dealing with or something you REALLY care about. These spiraled thoughts can be a very useful tool. Notice when this spiraling happens. Be aware of it. They are guiding you towards what you need to be focusing on, contemplating, & devoting your time to. If it is something you feel deeply, prioritize it over other things that might be leading you to its detriment. Your mind may be trying to tell you that these deep feelings aren't something to look away from any longer, but something to really focus on & bask in, to contemplate & question. Especially if there is one reoccurring deep feeling. Try this out. They may only continue & feel worse overtime if they aren't dealt with by being aware. Cheers!

@JonasVE12 Very insightful, thank you

And life goes on.

Since the beginning of time, spirituality and religion have been called to fill in the gaps that science did not understand. - Dan Brown What you seek is seeking you - Rumi The man who can reform himself, can reform the world. - Paramahansa Yogananda I only know that I know nothing - Socrates Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp, which isn't very much - Eckhart Tolle

There's no such thing as a bad joke, unless no one laughs at it. If no one laughs, then it's not a joke.

I feel the same. It's all one's own perception. I personally see him in a positive light. He will do what he wants. I'd consider not worrying about how he goes about his personality & YouTube Channel, thats not a major importance to the work he puts out. It's the content & overall teaching he puts out that give them their value & importance.

Since it's currently inevitable to pursue enlightenment through the restricted human form, what is the real point of pursuing enlightenment if happiness cannot consistently coincide? Does enlightenment lead to a permanent ability to manifest happiness? Does enlightenment create an understanding of true everlasting happiness? Can enlightenment facilitate eternal happiness by being fully encompassed in it? Sometimes my ego gets heavily involved & I struggle to see the end goal. It merely seems like enlightenment is simply the pursuit of absolute understanding of reality. If you understand everything, what is there to do with it other than to use your ego/self to utilize it for human gain? And if you don't understand everything, what is the point of using your time to seek it (We supposedly will understand it either way after death)? How is the pursuit of enlightenment not a means of the ego striving to feel more certain about reality? I understand I am very ignorant in many ways, as I'm not even close to being at the highest levels of enlightenment. I feel like I'm going to end up missing all the egoic desires I haven't yet experienced whilst being in the state I'm in. How do I know that enlightenment will be more fulfilling than my ego's pursuits? How do you compare the two? Enlightenment in the beginning is pure faith/blind-trust & I'm getting anxious about losing all the great pleasures that the majority of my environment advocates for. Especially because I haven't yet experienced them. I mean I'm in my early 20s & there's so many things I haven't even come to enjoy or understand yet. It also seems like a "all or nothing" mindset to spend the majority of your time pursuing enlightenment & ignoring the reality you currently understand, isn't an "all or nothing" mindset not healthy? There is a level of peace to be had within an ignorant mind. As the saying goes; "Ignorance is bliss" What are your thoughts on this? Thanks

Why is it seen that we are inevitably corrupt & selfish? Can this not change overtime? Can there not be a time to where our species has matured enough to pass down selfless teachings & parenting to further develop our government as a collectivist amongst individualists? @Leo Gura It seems as though your saying its inevitable for humanity to be violent & distraught. Why do you see it this way? I will say I'm rather optimistic, but it does seem like humanity can grow & mature over lots of time. Whats to stop humanity from maturing & becoming wiser earlier with each generation? To be clear, I'm not all-for libertarianism. However I'm interested in some of the positives that come from it's ideas of freedom.

What is money? What makes money valuable in our culture? How can money be utilized well? Why do money systems work? What keeps the systems of money from collapsing? Why is money more preferable than other systems? What other systems have been considered to create value & trade within society? Are there other ideations besides trade that we can start working on? How can money systems be transcended? Is money the best system we can create within our worldwide community? What is preventing us from using other methods to create sustainable trade & value? What limits does money have?

Wow, never thought of trauma that way, thanks for the perspective

Bump

Amazing answers from all of you, thank you!

What is money? What makes money valuable in our culture? How can money be utilized well? Why do money systems work? What keeps the systems of money from collapsing? Why is money more preferable than other systems? What other systems have been considered to create value & trade within society? Are there other ideations besides trade that we can start working on? How can money systems be transcended? Is money the best system we can create within our worldwide community? What is preventing us from using other methods to create sustainable trade & value? What limits does money have? (I posted this on "Request videos for Leo", but I thought it'd be valuable to share on here as well)

@OneHandClap Interesting.. Aren't desire & enjoyment intertwined though? For example, the enjoyment of the cake creates the desire for the cake, which then creates more enjoyment, etc. Perhaps it'd be helpful to get an understanding of how you define desire, & how you define enjoyment?

@WaveInTheOcean Well put

@Heart of Space I suppose I was looking for an explanation of something that I can't truly understand yet, as I currently do feel that desire is needed for sex.

Important Note: I'm noticing many different descriptions of the same understanding. While many understand enlightenment & realize it, that does not mean all perspectival descriptions of it will resinate with each perspective. Debate & discussion can be very distracting if taken too literally or seriously. Watch out for this.

@Shin So to transcend the ego, the ego must encompass all? Essentially saying that the ego does not seise to exist, but rather the understanding of it does. So the ego is not problematic, it's only problematic when it lacks an understanding of itself? So then what is no-self? Is this one of those things that is paradoxical but true, in that there is both self & no-self existing as one? Because in that case, I'm extremely far from enlightenment. I still cling heavily to a dualistic paradigm, as much as I tell myself I don't. It's funny how well the ego can deceive. This work grows harder & harder as I persist to the discovery of truth. It's hard to see a world without identity existing.

@JonasVE12 Very insightful, thank you

Any advice or insights for options of how to use a big sum of saved money? I have a couple thousand saved up & I'm weighing my options for how to properly invest/capitalize on it. Thanks for any help

With analyzation, I'm seeing how enlightenment & most existential teachings can come off extremely confusing. It is difficult to explain something that most anyone can't even fathom because it's never been in their experience. It's almost like the soul purpose of ego is for it to die. The part that becomes difficult for most anyone I think, is trust. How do you trust that which you can't experience? I'm just starting to get a glimpse of how potentially problematic the ego can be in life. Though the thought still lingers as to how practicality will shape life if all is to enlighten..? ?

@Shin Thank you, that helped a lot

@4201 Wow thank you!

@intotheblack Very descriptive, thank you

@supremeyingyang Thank you