The Renaissance Man

Now that you make me think about it this search for "meaning" is just the search for the answer to "what the hell is all this???". So the search for meaning and for truth may not be that different when you look into it.

At a certain point I went through a Andrew Huberman style hyper-rigid phase where I demonized all this "dopamine" stuff. I was much better off taking a more chill approach. The "enemy" frame wasn't good for me. It added guilt to the problem. Double problem. Since then I haven't taken anything related to dopamine too seriously. I saw it mostly as something that everybody talked about, yet in their daily lives nobody was actually able to control it in the long-run. AT THE SAME TIME, reading your post made me wonder once again about what life was like before the things you mentioned (quoted below), and how much it may be worth it to cut some more aggressively. A 3-month experiment would be a good test. Maybe I'll be crazy enough to do it. Thanks for the inspiration, I guess!

Solid! And this too, seems really great advice that goes to the core of the problem. I don't know how feasible this is or how much work this could take though. @UnbornTao

Good luck brother

Wouldn't the lack of meaning of life crush you? The fear of death? That when you think about the future, and a big part of wisdom is long-term thinking, being constantly reminded of the meaninglessness of everything you're doing? Maybe Awakening won't satisfy that need for meaning. I don't know, I haven't taken the spiritual path yet. But even just the pursuit of meaning and truth feels (only feels, I don't know) better than this constant and crushing lack of meaning. But maybe with some effort I could just suppress it like 99% of people, and it would be less effort than dealing with spirituality. You did your math after all. PS - I now get what you mean by the word suffering, thanks for the clarification

@Nivsch The problem is that people can be developed in one line and under-developed in another. So unless you address both with those people you're guaranteed to be wrong.

@Leo Gura you said many times pick-up was atrocious for you. Was that really a bee sting compared to the cost of awakening and meditating for two weeks straight? Would you call going to the gym and training until you're almost throwing up suffering? Suffering as a word in this context doesn't resonate at all with me. Because I'm the one choosing to do it. If it's not worth it I can always stop. Also there's an undeniable pleasure in the pursuit, in the focus and drive that gets you to practice in the first place.

@Nilsi think about it, if genetically we're identical to 100,000 years ago, it means people 100,000 years ago had the same IQ as us today. Where was their development at? Or even, think about a 14 year old. His IQ is likely 100% the same as him as an adult. But where is his development? Or let's imagine a person who can easily understand others, but with zero empathy. Can be a ruthless persuading force. This means that a person can become extremely skilled at something, even if extremely narcissistic. Can still be closed-minded, believe the earth is flat, be an antisemite and a serial killer, yet be an incredibly effective strategist and persuader. Using a single label like a spiral stage and assuming that it encompasses more than 30% of the actual full picture is almost guaranteed to lead to confusion and misunderstanding.

You may be referring to "EQ", or ability to enter the other's POV. I don't know if Emotional Quotient is the correct term, but entering the other's POV doesn't equate to respecting it or having empathy. Again, another distinction that creates confusion if not made.

@Nilsi that's why a single label like a single SD stage is often very imprecise in describing individuals. The norm should be to assess people along the main lines of development. Morality, worldview, spirituality, IQ even, values, needs, etc. At least moral development and ego development/worldview should be separated. They always create unnecessary confusion when mixed together.

Why would eating cats, dogs and rats be worse than eating pork? Is eating a dog shameful but a pig not?

A big benefit I've found that's quite unique to covering a topic through stages was in understanding the process of development. An "end game" explanation of the nature of the concept often doesn't give it to you, at least not so explicitly. Maybe the usefulness is only for tier 1 and the beginnings of tier 2, and then it becomes an obstacle, I don't know. For example the video on Love, even the more practical one, can be awesome to understand what love is and how to love more, but you need an extra step that sometimes it's hard and complex to understand how it develops in others, and what are the catalysts that make growth happen. The whole stage thing etc etc. I guess a specific model isn't even required, but yeah, understanding the development of each line can be super super valuable, it sure was for me.

Leo, a video/series on more stage theories would be incredible. Ken Wilber's Integral Theory would be a big one. But also other lines of development. The 9 stages were amazing because they focused on perspective. I feel one on the development of morality/empathy would be foundational, as it's always intertwined with stages, so it's hard to pin-point it. Even a more sophisticated revision of Maslow's hierarchy. I find myself checking it out continuously over the years to gain clarity over my life and behavior. I just got a fetish for stage theories. Who doesn't come on.

@jordankingbn2 No problem, you could do 4-6pm instead of 4-8pm. Same ideas I shared. At 6pm, it's time to live and have fun: What do you think?

@rd5555 Is self-confidence even extrinsic? I don't know, self-confidence is something everyone actually wants if you think about it, so it's generally an intrinsic motivator. It's not something conceptual, that culture conditioned you to want. Not having it causes everybody lots of pain, and so regardless of your background, if you lack it, you'll deeply crave it. For this reason, self-confidence makes for a nice piece of your vision in my opinion. It can be useful to see the vision for what it truly is: the vision is less about the process and motivation, but instead about direction. I'm going to make the claim that the MAIN REASON why a vision works is because it gives you clarity over where you want to go in life. And with that clarity, you can start to reverse-engineer plans to get there. It contextualizes your decisions and situations. It informs your plans. That's like having 100x wisdom! And this is a benefit that doesn't account for any motivation, see? When there's sufficient clarity, motivation comes by itself because you see the connection between each action and the goal. You said it, you desire self-confidence. If the vision doesn't feel authentically yours, trust me, it will be as if you never created it in the first place. It will be invisible for your mind. So now that you found a part of it, maybe the main one, that should now frame your medium-term and short-term plans. Seriously. And if you want to make it resonate even more, ask why you want self-confidence so badly. You may (maybe not) find a deeper, more specific layer, maybe about social acceptance, dating, friends, charisma, etc. And framing a vision around those would make it even more powerful, if they're the true thing you deeply desire.

Awesome

@SQAAD I don't have enough experience with depression to know for sure

DAMN

@jordankingbn2 You could start by adjusting to a schedule you can actually manage. End the day at 4pm instead of 8pm, and enjoy yourself for the rest of the day. Are you happier? Are you more, or maybe equally productive? This solution doesn't waste your entire day like a break in the middle of the day, yet it's not as extreme as working until 8pm.

Flee. Don't want to die, everything else comes after that.

Great! Would've been much worse if it was pleasant, don't you think? That's progress! I'm no expert, what I found is that it's better if I just accept I may feel shitty for a couple days, and then it passes and I re-align myself with my goals and so on. See, when you're in it it feels like the end of the world, but after a while you are able to spot the pattern. If you're able to not feel bad about feeling shitty, that's already quite helpful. @SQAAD At least, for non-serious situations that works. For hard long-lasting depression you probably need a more sophisticated approach.

@HMD Bro install an app blocker. Then it will be impossible for you to use social media, literally. You've got to find an alternative though, or you'll go crazy. At least that's how it was for me. My alternative has been reading novels. And @Hojo is right, you risk doubling the problem for nothing. All these self-help youtubers (that don't have much more experience than you often) try to create drama around every little thing just to make some views. "Blue light in the evening?? You're going to die!!" kind of shit. If you feel you're wasting your life on social media, install an app blocker and find a healthier alternative. It's that easy. People make a phone addiction appear the same as heroin addiction lol observe your experience and you'll see that's bullshit made for views.

@Grateful Dead What kind of meditation? For spiritual purposes or other purposes (if so, what other purposes)? @Ero I'll ask you the same questions: What kind of meditation? For spiritual purposes or other purposes (if so, what other purposes)?

@Magnanimous What do you mean by "high quality"? Second this

@Thought Art It may be helpful to remind yourself why you and people do Qigong in the first place. I doubt the reason for them doing Qigong is to do Qigong "accurately". It's probably to feel better, to be happier, and so on. Can you help them feeling better or with whatever their actual purpose is? You clearly seem very inspired by Qigong, despite not agreeing with some notions within it. If that's the only reason for quitting, I don't think it's a good one. I think being honest with your audience is the right thing to do. It will give you peace of mind, and show you they probably don't care about the specifics, as long as they make progress toward their goals. But I don't know the relationship you've built with them, so I'm speculating. Working with clients is also a benefit in and of itslef: it will provide a ton of insight for all the questions you are uncertain about. It can really speedrun your progress, because now you're observing the principles at work on 10-100 people, instead of just yourself. In regards to your brand, if Qigong is still a major part of it and you want to leverage that name, then go for it as long as you think it suits you. But remember that people are also having lots of success creating personal brands, where they don't fit in a specific niche and they become successful and known with their names alone. This is to say that what you need in order to have success is: a market in need, their attention, and a solution to sell them. That's it! Think about it. Qigong or your name, likely doesn't make much of a difference.