Beyond Words

I get a mouth twitch whenever I smile. I know it's somehow psychologically related because I am also able to smile in a way that my mouth doesn't twitch. Sometimes (especially when around other people) my face gets tense and wants to twitch whenever I move it. I can't smile properly when it happens. It usually gets worse when people look at me. I've had it for at least 6 months. I don't know what caused it, and what exactly triggers it. I can even smile and have my mouth twitch while meditating, or during any other solitary moment. However, I've noticed that it occurs most often when I receive some kind of verbal abuse (when I feel like I am being rejected / not accepted in some way). I've talked to a therapist about it and they say it's due to stress. However, I've had much more stressful periods of my life (which caused a region near my eye to twitch) when I didn't have this problem at all. I don't see a real correlation between stress and the twitch from experience. However, it is usually hard to hear me during conversation which stresses me out even when I try to accept it, because it hinders my charisma a lot. But I've had that problem for years and this only appeared around 6 months ago. How could I cure this? Perhaps certain unconscious thought patterns cause it? I've been consecutively meditating for 20m/day for almost a year now, so my involuntary thought frequency is very small compared to previous years.

Robert Lanza is a medical doctor. If my memory serves me, he's a Biologist. Those of you who are subscribed to Leo's book list will know that one of his books is on the list - [deleted until Leo's approval. It is the one by Lanza]. My teachers said that he misinterpreted Quantum Physics because he hasn't researched Physics sufficiently. Is that the case? Additionally, I found this Physics experiment that examines the effects of consciousness. I was astonished by the findings; however, my Physics professor said that Dean Radin is a outspoken advocate of parapsychology and other pseudoscience, that he is not taken seriously by the scientific community. The professor said that no reputable physicist still holds the view that quantum mechanics might play a role in consciousness. Are most scientist just unable to properly research consciousness and therefore dismiss such research, or is this quantum mysticism? To the point, how can we objectively determine whether the research presented on consciousness through science isn't pseudoscience, quantum mysticism etc? What if the research and findings are misinterpreted? I want to major in something that could potentially relate to consciousness, and all this uncertainty over how to interpret this disagreement is making choosing a major very difficult.

@Leo Gura Doesn't it make sense to lie (in the forms that are defined in Radical Honesty) to build monetary wealth that is necessary to build a business around a life purpose (recall your path of IM to then building Actualized.org)? Try being 100% truthful during an important business negotiation while the other party will inevitably lie as much as they need to benefit their side. You'll be missing out on a ton of money that would take you a decade to make while the liar will make the same amount in a year (and will have 9 years for self-actualization). The system leads people to deceitful endeavors.

You have to wonder what kind of friends would not be okay with someone not drinking. From my experience, they are toxic people who despite having good qualities, in the long term are not necessarily inclined towards a high consciousness lifestyle. But if you know how to calibrate with them, they can be great friends. I'd at least stay friends until you can switch up your social circle to people who share more of your values.

Said by a man on Vice's documentary on 5-MeO seen by 1M+ people... uh oh I wonder how they're still alive. Disclaimer - Just to be clear, you certainly CAN overdose on 5-MeO-DMT. The video is false. Please do extensive research before engaging with these substances.

@Leo Gura The video makes it pretty clear that they're talking about 5-MeO-DMT. It's in the video description and discussed throughout the video (see images). The video, saying that 5-MeO-DMT doesn't have a lethal dose, being seen by 1M+ people, can get people killed for sure. Of course 5-MeO-DMT can be lethal - I was being sarcastic in the title. Apologies for not making that more clear.

Is it more productive to visualize long-term or short-term goals? Short-Term: Visualizing closing an important deal this week for your company. Long-Term: Visualizing your company being at its peak - the end goal. I do both but don't know how productive it is to also do short-term visualizations, if ultimately one of the points of a vision is for the subconscious to help take care of the short-term outcomes/how-tos.

Leo, your life purpose course is excellent! A couple months after implementing your advice I'm already making more money doing what I enjoy (programming) than I'd have ever expected. 100% worth it. I have some questions though: Can nonduality be a domain of mastery? If so, what kind of life purpose can mastery over nonduality lead to (meditation teacher, for example)? What fields can one create big breakthroughs and innovate by mastering nonduality? When you interviewed Peter Ralston, he mentioned that more people would be enlightened if they were more open minded and contemplated. Is there any fundamental reason why one couldn't create a technology that would modify humans to have more of those qualities (through gene editing for example) so that we could get almost everyone enlightened? If there are ways, what fields would be best to investigate to create these technologies? The quickedt catalyst for this path seems to be psychedelics, and very few do them let alone for spirituality. @Leo Gura

@Leo Gura Yes. I'm working in a tech startup now and I swear most of the programmers I work with are the least conscious people I've ever met. But what's the solution to people like me who can get into a flow state while doing math and programming? Transitioning the world to sustainable energy or creating new art with deep learning algorithms seem to have a conscious impact. I guess outsourcing the grunt work may be a solution.

@Leo Gura Mastery takes 10,000+ hours no doubt. @ajasatya 's results and how he achieved them just interested me. The real purpose of this thread was more to ask you and others who are considerably more experienced in consciousness work, to evaluate potential ways to accelerate the advent of collective enlightenment through technology. I tried LSD and it got me meditating for 2 years now. These catalysts are great, if people actually used them, let alone for spirituality. Some examples of what I mean include LSD and 5-MEO-DMT. Potential tech could be stuff like a brain computer interface to help with self inquiry etc or CRISPR gene editing tech to, for example, get people to be more naturally contemplative (although I'm not sure yet how society would react to using such tech). I'm just dedicating my life to this so I want to know if at some fundamental level this is a fruitless endeavor.

@ajasatya wow! If I understood correctly, you've reached enlightenment after a year of 24/7 mindfulness practice? I will do the 24/7 mindfilness thing too then. Can I start this like any other habit (e.g. doing it and waiting 60 days until I start another habit), or do you think it is better to wait longer before starting another habit (say like 90 days)? It just seems like integrating this practice may take a lot more willpower than conventional habits.

@ajasatya How long did it take for you to master nonduality? At what point did you feel like you've mastered nonduality? Has mastering nonduality negatively affected your relationship to mathematics in any way? As one masters nonduality, I would assume that one would become averse to mathematics because mathematics is "just" comprised of arbitrary concepts (incredibly useful concepts, though). I sometimes have a hard time engaging in learning programming because I know that everything I'm learning has no significance outside of programming. To me, it's again just layers of arbitrary concepts. After discovering the idea of enlightenment, the whole field of knowledge, to me, appears tainted with an aura of fakeness and illusion. @spinc A domain of mastery is what you're choosing to spend 10,000 hours on. You can master anything given enough time, regardless of how comfortable you feel with the domain right now. I don't run my own business (yet), but I'm involved in a startup. I will go to university to study mathematics and computer science, but will also be quick to drop out if I can't align the course with my goals. Being an autodidact, learning from books, mentors and doing seems a lot faster. But no university makes 60k/yr per student telling them to learn on their own, so of course most people don't go the autodidact route straight out of high school. @Leo Gura The work that he and you are doing is incredible no doubt. Many people would be enlightened if they were open minded enough and applied the advice you both teach. But most people hardly let themselves hear the advice, let alone start meditating for 10,000 hours. As @spinc worded it well, I'm asking if there's anything you've learned that would make the idea of facilitating the access to spirituality via biotechnology impossible. From what I understand, 5-MeO-DMT forces the ego to shut down. That leads me to believe that there are other biological "tricks" that could be developed.

How can adancements in artificial intelligence, gene editing or any practical technology help contribute to getting most humans open to and pursuing enlightenment? What stepping stone can help people without having had enlightenment experiences get to become open to becoming enlightened? Let's cut the shit. VERY FEW will get an enlightenment experience let alone will try a psychedelic to generate one. Having had, by accident, a glimpse of enlightenment, I know I would've never been open at all to the possibility of the absolute truth. I will become enlightened. What can I (and others) do with the rest of our lives to bring forth the advent of an enlightened society? What should I read? Do? Who to meet? I'm already working on this full time but I'd like a more experienced perspective as I'm only 19. If anything, I think the process behind 5-MeO could be turned into a medical procedure, an operation or something so people are open to it. I'm looking for something to create that would appear as an "illusion" but would reveal the truth. A product/service that accelerates how many people are enlightened. Please cover this. Only the human race depends on this. PS yes I've done your course and am reading your book list.

Around 2 months in the "do nothing" technique during my latest meditation session I was almost flung off my chair. My body suddenly flung to the side as if I was kicked in the torso. I was completely still and aware when it happened, but I didn't cause the moment. What is this phenomenon? Is it the ego trying to physically stop me from meditating? I've been meditating daily for 1.5 - 2yrs. I guess this counts as one of the "side-effects" of meditation.

@Leo Gura The questions I ask are almost always conscious. I didn't mean my monkey mind endlessly produces questions. Kind of like what an interviewer would do.

Remember those 8 year olds (including, at some point, you) who keep asking questions about everything? I keep doing it all the time. If the world ended, I would keep asking questions. Asking questions is the one thing that comes to mind when asked "What can no one stop you from doing?" I'm looking for ways to combine my love for logic (e.g. doing Math and programming) with asking endless questions. Any ideas?

Hold up. Are you suggesting there exists the possibility of such a technology? Is there no existential / other reason why such technology can't actually produce enlightenment? If this tech existed, what breakthroughs need to happen? Would this work? Create general-purpose AI. Interpret brain activity with AI. AI discovers all forms of self-deception and informs human. Human becomes more conscious and is forced to make corrections in light of abundant truth. Everyone's enlightened. Including Trump. More seriously, Would advancing gene editing help? E.g. use it to modify human genes to increase their predisposition to becoming enlightened? OR invent an operation that permanently changes the brain the way 5-MeO-DMT does (e.g. make the ego suppression process permanent)? Or do both? So what am I asking? Current methods (meditation, self-inquiry, 5-MeO-DMT) are effective after the person is convinced that enlightenment is worth it, and therefore does the work until enlightenment and beyond. There has to be a way (through science or any means) to get people closer to that tipping point where the work they do towards enlightenment convinces them to go all the way. Actualized.org would definitely count towards this. Either way I've committed my life to making enlightenment the norm. My question is, what research / breakthroughs / investigations would that entail? Researching psychedelics, gene editing, machine learning, neuroscience, psychology? Or if you don't know the answer, what research / methodology would lead to knowing what to research to achieve this?

@Evilwave Heddy True. Set a strong work habit and you can even do 12hrs/day consistently if you've got serious deadlines to meet. I know because I'm doing that right now. But it took 3 years to build up to this. Either way go as fast as humanly possible but also don't expect to go from 0hrs/day to 12 if your mind isn't conditioned to sustain that.

What is the cheapest and most simple grocery list or meals that are ketogenic for eating 1 meal/day? My best solution so far is generating a couple weeks worth of meals on www.eatthismuch.com but the monthly cost is at least 170 usd/month. Is that a reasonable number? My goal is maximum energy with minimum time. And to make meals 1 week in advance. Less prep time and cooking preferably.

Whether it is a customer not responding, feeling misinterpreted, any "negative" outcome or inability to fully express myself during social interactions it often leads to a crappy feeling. I feel hopeless and unfulfilled with social interactions when the feeling arises, even though when I am more conscious during my interactions I do find relationships fulfilling and fun. The disgusting feeling triggers the urge to masturbate, avoid work, overeat and binge watch videos until the feeling stops. I used to be very social until I lost my voice during puberty. That shattered my ability to fully express myself for about 6 years until I rebuilt my voice. The past 3+ years I've focused on my career to the point that I've lost intimacy with everyone I know. I have people I can talk to but most of my friends live in other countries now and the ones nearby I usually talk to in regards to specific projects, activities etc. I've had to cut off 90% of my relationships because the relationship was either toxic or againt self-actualization. I suspect my problem is a negative habit triggered by that bad feeling when I feel like the interaction didn't go as well as I expected or when I feel like I didn't or couldn't express myself fully. How can I overcome this habit? I know logically that I self-sabotage when the habit triggers and I know that in most cases my social interactions go quite well, but the habit persists. I've been able to overcome all other bad habits and my life is well self-actualized in all areas except social / relationships. I also tend to unconsciously reject girls and people who try to establish a friendship with me, probably because I've gotten attention regardless from my looks and achievements and because I've been psychologically hurt when being vulnerable to my dad. Part of the solution I think involves dealing with the feeling. I've tried meditating right when it happens but it helps temporarily. I still feel it shortly after.

@Visionary Thank you! I've found that the issue arises when a negative feeling from a social interaction comes up and I disown it, effectively avoiding it until I'm left with no choice but to face it. Improving my self-esteem and cultivating more independence from each individual person has helped a lot. So far the problem I've described above has been resolved. Hope that helps anyone in a similar situation

Maximizing progress towards our life purpose entails unwiring bad habits and negative motivation, adding good habits and positive motivation, overcoming resistance, and anticipating ego backlash (from long-term meditation). Through what means can we successfully determine which component of progress is holding us back? For example, when trying to progress in X, how can you know (or experiment to find out) whether progress is stifled either by resistance, undesired habits, negative motivation, burn out, drained will power, or ego backlash? What if there are multiple causes? How can you find out? PS - For discussion purposes: I have read Leo's recommended book pertaining to resistance.

@Leo Gura I suppose. How would you deal with self sabotage when you are about to make exponential progress in your life purpose? Would that be resistance, a habit (to avoid success), or negative motivation doing the yo-yo effect just as you're about to succeed? When it is resistance, how do you consistently persevere through it? I'm often aware of the tricks and know "what the right thing to do" is but I feel like I sometimes use the knowledge about resistance as a way to justify why I gave in. It's so insidious!

Of course psychedelics are powerful enough on their own, but they do nothing to people who aren't open to trying them. The point of this topic is more to encourage ways to potentially "market" enlightenment for the greater good of humanity, to find easier ways than generating open mindedness towards psychedelics or meditating 10,000 Hrs to get people on board.

What if during a trip you put on a VR headset with this on? What if this technology could be used somehow to accelerate people's development towards enlightenment? What if we used the visuals to intensify the spiritual impact of psychedelics by, for example, seeing a virtual version of your body in first person and then losing parts of the body to help convince you that you're not the body etc? I know this is unnecessary to become enlightened but what if it could help persuade people who aren't as inclined to become enlightened to consider the path?