jip

i disagree with his idea of making "strategic blunders" in life, especially some of the ones he listed. i had some of the best times of my life playing video games and would have never want to have missed that, not for 100 years of contentment. Same with partying/drinking, there is simply no ultimate way of living, and while certain things may be better from objective viewpoint, you can never really know in the end, trying to live life perfectly is just not going to work. he goes a little bit overboard in valuing truth at all cost and takes it all somewhat too seriously, life is a single awareness playing a game, but being constantly aware of that fact won't make the game very much fun i guess. i also think he idealizes enlightenment and monks/yogi's a little too much. i sure see that the value in raising consciousness is big, but i also think there is more to life than just contentment. and he's too much a fan of the graves model imo, and seems to forget sometimes it's just a model, and aside from that, putting people in boxes of colors is somewhat sad. that said, he has a lot of great advice and is one of the most wise people i've come across, but just like everybody has his blindspots, and one of those is not enough acknowledgement of the possibility of blindspots i guess. just my take on some of his ideas, not any more or less valid than leo's or anyone else's perspective offcourse

the word "authentic" is kinda misleading imo, everything within manifestation is basically inauthentic in the sense that it is illusory. it's all just language but from my current understanding there is only false self (ego) and no-self/true self (empty awareness), and it's not really possible to act from no-self, since it has no qualities.

realize that unconditional love are just words, completely subjective and without any inherent meaning. what it refers to for most people is just a very pleasant emotion/feeling towards everything, again, subjective, arbitrary and free from any meaning other than the one you(the ego) ascribe to it. So to answer your question: Sure, one can love unconditionally without being enlightened. There is no ultimate authority who determines what love is and what it isn't, so call whatever you want love, and it will be love for you. (writing this post for example is pure love, lol:P)

Leooooo Have you ever contemplated the idea that perception=reality So if you perceive the world as a place full of suffering with deluded unhappy people and the only way you can ever be happy is through spiritual enlightenment, then that will very likely be your reality and you are indeed not going to be happy until you get enlightenment. But why perceive it that way? Why not reevaluate everything and see that this whole existence thing is magical and that we're already extremely lucky to experience anything, let alone having a human experience in the 21st century. Why not enjoy the dream-state while we're in it instead of despising it as something we need to wake up from? What' s the point? Fact is that you (the chimp you, that is ) could die tomorrow without ever having achieved enlightenment. Why put happiness off for another year or 5 when it's here, right now, for free. You don't need enlightenment or anything for it. If you still want to know the truth of existence badly, i think that's great and amazing that we have that opportunity, so by all means go for it

Sex is only a need for those unenlightened chimps

Just become enlightened, all your relationship problems will be instantly solved and you'll live blissfully ever after.

Yeah because Leo is enligh..oh wait No just kidding, his stuff is great but you should always think for yourself or not think at all, nobody has all the answers

Lol, how ironic

Thank you for taking the time to respond Leo:) I don't know about you, but if i look very honestly back on my life i would say i've been pretty happy most of the time. Are you saying it is just an illusion and i'm not conscious enough to see? It seems pretty real though:p I would agree with you that a lot of "succesful" people are probably miserable on the inside, but saying that everybody in the world is unhappy just doesn't really make sense to me. And don't you also think there is more to life than just happiness?(i remember jed saying somthing like you get used to/almost forget the contentment that that comes with enlightenment once you have it after a while) It's almost a bit as though you tell someone who is unhappy because he has no girlfriend to cut off his balls, so it's not even an issue anymore. Okay, very crappy analogy and enlightenment is probably very great for those who get there but i hope you get the point:P I can imagine you see all these questions as ego-defenses, but don't you think ego has the right to know at least a little bit about where it will end up after it discards itself? Thx anyway

It just leaves me a bit confused and unresolved, not really angry or upset lol, but guess you're right in a sense that it's more so my problem in taking his words too litterally.

I really respect Leo and i think he's very intelligent- that's probably why his statements strike me a bit. I can't resolve why he makes such bold claims about happiness and enlightenment almost without leaving the possibility open of being wrong. I also don't understand why he has such a depressing view on the world where basically 99,999999% of people is unhappy and the only way to become happy is by 1000-10000 hours of emotionally hard work and even then you have to be extremely lucky, but maybe that's just part of his enlightenment journey and maybe he'll eventually drop that one:p No need to be sorry, your posts are not that rude lol;-)

Just because enlightenment itself is beyond logic and reasoning doesn't mean we should just discard all logic and reasoning to what it means to our lives lol. I'm not that attached to my knowlegde, as i said, i could very well be deluded, and so could Leo. Just saying there is no reason to be so dogmatic about enlightenment and its connection to happiness. Not aggressive at all, although i can imagine my posts might come across that way:p I don't feel bad about enlightenment; (that would be pretty dumb, enlightenment just is) and if anything i think its very fascinating. I'm just skeptical towards Leo's claims about happiness and its relationship to enlightenment, especially because Leo is not enlightened himself. I would also say that enlightenment should be pursued to for truth and truth alone, not for the rewards for the ego like happiness, no self image problems etc

I've watched them all a couple of times, and i think they're really great. But still, all thats presented in those videos are stories/beliefs. It could very well be possible that you are right but also that you are wrong so i don't see the necessity to be so dogmatic about it. And the fact is that 99,99% of people are not going to be buddhas anyway so taking on such a belief will only make the dreamstate worse for them, and besides that it's just a sad way to look at the world/people. Based on my own experience i would say that happiness is possible within the dreamstate, but sure i could be deceiving myself and i also see that a lot of people are neurotic. But Leo, if you really believe the only thing we want in life is happiness and just being is the highest quality happiness, why are you even on this forum and not just meditating 24/7? The body still needs to be alive though in order to have happiness? Well, you seem to think so too..

Why are you so dogmatic about your belief that you can't be happy without being enlightened? It's just a belief, and may or may not be true. You can't really know unless you are enlightened and even then you might deceive yourself. As much as you talk about breaking down beliefs and dogma, it seems to me like you are creating a lot of beliefs about enlightenment.. Also realize that preferring happiness over unhappiness or even truth over delusion is all ego-based.

Yes. Green tea will increase your odds of getting enlightened by 500%