ValiantSalvatore

@kieranperez I currently use an app that tracks my sleep and when it wakes me up, prompts me to write down my dreams. I try to look for emotional content or strong impressions and incorporate that with shadow work (3-2-1 process from Wilber). I do not have a lot of theoretical background in shadow work and don't dream that much lately. Sometimes I google the dream l had, and search for the meaning in symbols or interactions. http://www.dreammoods.com/ But, this was just done for fun in my past, no real analysis. Not sure dreams happen in REM sleep? That is 20 min long, yet why do we have dreams? I forgot all these questions...

@universe This rather seems to be a very basic tip. I appreciate it, yet from what I've learned from the micro-retreats it is important to imagine one long picture, not multiple sequences building on sequences, so it is one process not multiple chopped versions of an imagination exercise. Also, to imagine that whatever you imagine is happening right now / experienced by you, like Leo mentions in his video how to be funny a comprehensive guide or so. So, yes a flavor of having the thing right now like ultimate compassion works. Yet, I always imagined things in sequences that build on sequences so, it was quite fragmented. I stopped doing that and now imagine only one large process picture. But only for 2 months, so I can't tell how effective it is yet, still this is what I learned during the micro-retreat. Did you ever practice any kind of visualization practice in regards to meditation or the life purpose course?

@Joseph Maynor Where did you find an accountability partner? I asked two friends for some online courses but they declined both.

@Joseph Maynor FreeConferenceCallHD FreeConferenceCall TeamSpeak (Not sure if anyone uses it anymore). Or even WhatsApp. I assume discord is the best version. Note sure if Slack/Evernote etc. has some face to face call or serves the purpose.

A classic

What I use/used Bacopa Lions Mane L-Theanine Iron supplements Vitamin C / E + Magnesium. Vitamin B complex. Small report: I currently don't use bacopa and l-theanine, l-theanine was good but it did not produce the effect I expected. Lion's mane I tested a 20:1 dual extract from whole fruiting bodies, which is the part of the mushroom which is above ground. I found I seller which sells high-quality products and even explains how to test certain products like lions mane with iodine, to test its starch content. The sellers on amazon sometimes seemed dubious I bought one bacopa product which seemed to have a legit brand behind it. They only had a baccoside percentage of 5% which what I read from the studies 25% at least is needed IIRC. I also tested 5-htp but, after reading on the forum Leo recommended and testing it, some people received tinnitus, so I stopped as I heard high pitched tones, which scared the living sh*t out of me. Bacopa weirdly helped with nofap since they reduce testosterone levels, I took bacopa for 4 months. The effects are supposed to kick in after 8-12 weeks. Lion's mane mushrooms worked well my brain fog is mostly gone thanks to meditation though yet this could help someone starting meditation imo and also lions mane helps with studying I can even sometimes hear neurons firing as retarded as this might sound, l-theanine definitely helped while learning and studying also it is supposed to help with sleep taken at higher dosages of 500 mg. I did not test this. I only took it in the morning so, I was alert for classes and studying seemed to have a more mellow quality to it when I took 400 mg with 200mg it was a nice aid. Also, they don't seem to last that long for 3-4 h. They increase alpha brain waves. I made sure to follow the guidelines and not mix nootropics which have a similar effect and are from the same category, for instance, adaptogens. I bought cordycepts which are adaptogens and mixed them with lions mane and bacopa which are both adaptogens IIRC. I did not notice any changes while mixing, yet they seemed to help when taken over a couple of hours to maintain the effects or to prolong them. Vitamin c in the morning helps surprisingly with tiredness for me it also helps with the intake of iron and increases its availability inside the body, so more iron can be absorbed from foods. I notice the effects of iron it in the gym not feeling that worn-out afterward and putting out more energy, I can be more consistent with the routine without feeling weak in between sets. I did a blood test ( a small haemogram ) so, the doctor verified that I am deficient in iron. Mostly because I lived vegetarian and ate tofu and rice, nuts and noodles with pesto or I ate potatoes. Now I changed things up a bit. Questions: Where do you buy nootropics from? Preferred amazon sellers or shops. Which nootropic helped the most for ADHD like symptoms (besides modafinil)? I specifically tested bacopa and lions mane since they are supposed to help with that, modafinil is illegal here. I found a way to buy it, yet it seems tedious. Other great sources for information? Ideally for people living in the EU. This seller has the best information I found so far. Another site was German. https://mindnutrition.com/blog/identify-quality-effective-nootropic-supplement-blends https://mindnutrition.com/blog/medicinal-benefits-of-lions-mane-mushroom-extract

@kieranperez I thought so. Looks too good/juciy to be in a book.

@kieranperez Which book is this from?

Happy birthday!

https://integrallife.com/the-many-ways-we-grow/ For anyone interested in integral theory and ken wilber.

@Joseph Maynor With the perspective of "metaphysics" what transcends the physical realm I can see that that would also fit in with the description I gave and what I've read that turquoise embodies the spiritual element, if non-duality is the absolute and turquoise sees the slight hunch of the non-dual being spoken through all parts of the conduit of the universe. As if everything is intelligent. Coral would be closer to nature -> consciousness ceases to appear as a constraint but rather as one more phenomenon that can be foreground or background; an integration of feelings of belongingness and separateness occurs. I only came close to all-species (description of my idea of coral in "metaphysic terms) love during one trip. But that is about it since then I feel a bit more the spiritual element being expressed through sentient being and processes of time, but not space. Since some retreat some time ago, where I chanted for the first time and I felt like I l am going to transcend time and I heard American voices, started to sound like they were back in 1784. Since then I understand the idea of union with world process more. I don't understand this. But, coral is supposed to be a super-aware version of red...So, God Awareness somehow makes sense to me. What about the idea of a world process union? True self could be any "stage" the unmanifest, the manifest, all-species, all sentient beings, nothing? Turquoise is described as central self as a processing unit, so equating ego with egoic self and drawing a boundary in experience. That turquoise sees that ego is hindering growth and the re-telling of one's personal story to maintain that ego boundary. Which constantly creates a sense of self, through storytelling, through meaning-making instead of being trapped in nihilism/purposelessness/senselessness. Coral is becoming God Awareness in order to mesh with the world process aka becoming embedded in thought and experience (the units being processed by ego) or distracted with it as in fully being the experience of it? I could see that considering psychedelics trips.. No way I am near that level of consciousness. This is true from what I can tell predict or have a premonition about. Since turquoise is still stuck in meaning making or creation of meaning to counteract nihilism. When coral values and recognizes global problems and want to have a unified control, it would address macro-level-problems, but I don't know about their own macro-level-problems, although... it would be a me-centered stage. They would address planetary issues with their own time, potentially. I don't know. This is all speculation and an attempt at reframing and understanding. Also coral would be the third tier already, so it should be a massive shift or quantum leap.

Compassion and empathy. Pluralism and egalitarianism. Are good terms for green. Ethnocentrism is stage blue, especially when not taking in a larger perspective. Politeness just enforces the cultural norms of the country/culture, especially without any empathy, it's just rigidly sticking to the rules. It's more relative at stage green. If you are from a northern country you are most likely green. Martin Luther was angry against the Catholic church because of someone presenting a birthday cake to a Catholic priest, with a child inside. That was one trigger point which started his reformation of Christian religion. It was not against the 10 commandments in some way, anyway I can't recall the source otherwise I would mention it. Spiral Dynamics are value codes within people. They are not types of people. This still triggers me.

@Andreas Coral values: The system will be a new form of expressiveness, extended to the planetary level. Global problems will appear to require unified control, a new way of being to fit a world where collective living has changed the milieu. It is different from turquoise because it considers planetary values, instead of whole-earth problems as technology connects everybody. This is from the book from the author of SD. Yet, coral and turquoise are underrepresented there. By no way, I claim to have reached any of these stages, but if I have to I would say I reached them all or none. As a joke.

This is from my favorite anime which is run by a system similar, of brains of people who the system considers worthy of integrating it into its system. Imagine your life and the value you provide is evaluated by some form of system, see China which is giving it's citizen points on social behavior so they can buy train tickets, and if they break this conduct they will not be able to have access to public transportation, etc.

The same with saying a supercomputer could run our society and make a decision about where resources would go is that fair? Considering the corruption of society? Someone could also influence the system, even if there is a system who guards the system. Like the FBI, or some form of police.

I ask myself sometimes if we are able to keep up to a degree. With bio-engineering/bionics and what not, we could modify humans, to be as strong as a humanoid creature, especially someone who lost a limb or build an exoskeleton that could help us carry weights etc. I think the question of consciousness or free will become more relevant and interesting, most likely robots will have the capacity to emulate human emotions and the question if we consider them creatures able of our moral consideration is something else. Could you program values? They could I assume easily adjust to the human world and their rules see an autonomous vehicle. Yet, when they can emulate human emotions and feel them through a different structure then flesh, then at one point if they have free will or some level of consciousness (whatever that is) what would stop them from considering us inferior? Since we are out of flesh and bones and more an animal to them, then they are to us. They don't need to eat etc. They can maintain and repair themselves. At the same time, I think if it does not get to this point and they are just some humanoid creature that has not transcended their robotic like tendencies. It would be difficult but more easily for a society to accept relationships between them, I mean there are sex robots already which would enable us to say hm well, if there is something like this already maybe it is fine to date a robot/humanoid. Anyway, I am going way out of bounds saying that if you consider movies ( I do not watch a lot) then they are also often our friends and helpers imo. So, questions in the social releam could be if you marry a humanoid creature would you get a tax break? Is it fair to let people marry humanoids if they don't have free will? What is free will? What is consciousness? How do we still differ from robots in terms of emotions? Could a humanoid creature give birth? (Considering bionics). Can we make them conscious? Are their limits? So we have to modify ourselves since they are not capable of becoming as fully conscious as a human in order to evolve as a species to keep up with robots This all get's even freakier considering the Kardashev scale. A friend of mine is printing out a humanoid with electronic motors, ardunio etc and things I have no idea about, with a 3d printer. So, potentially we could build or own a.i's. He is going to be as tall as a human. He is not going to be able to do much, yet it's freaking cool, building something like that on your own. The questions for me is at what point is a sentient being considered moral to the same scale as we consider other humans if I take Wilbers idea of depth and span in terms of complexity. Then if there is a humanoid creature that is quite complex, but let's say stage orange so he would work in a manufactory have certain limitations programmed inside of it. So, it only picks up boxes and repairs smaller robots. He would not have any emotions, so he is not a sentient creature. It is only efficient and returns results. Yet, let's say we have a robot for human affair who can recognize and emulate emotions and feel them, he would have more depth considering the "moral standards" of society is placed on human emotions and affairs, so we could say they are more "worthy" of moral consideration. They could translate languages, even go to a normal school work there as a teacher, or work in an embassy. So, there is less manipulation, less "conscious" teachers. You could also design them so they look a certain way, "theoretically" sex scandals at schools could be prevented to a degree or discrimination? They could work overtime etc. They would have a lot of depth and depending on which century we are talking/living in so, imagine you are on a boat out in the ocean with a humanoid of this level or scale, Albert Einstein, two hells angels, and two college students and a married couple, with provisions that last for only 3 days, with no sight of an island. Who would you kick off the boat in order to survive? Considering moral span and depth of the situation and of the people themselves on the boat.

Does anyone here have experience with working 80h a week? How is that manageable/feasible? I am currently using a Bullet journal as a schedule, also a normal calendar. Setting up Google Calander is onerous. I keep track of habit streaks with a whiteboard. How do you schedule your day and daily activities? For instance, my day looked like this like today. 9:45 study for class 17:45 break 45min 18:00 - 19:20 work out/gym time 19:20 - 20:20 cooking 20:20 - 22:20 Programming 22:20-23:20 Speed reading 23:20 -23:50 meditation 24:00 bedtime I don't schedule work time/classes since they are fixed. I am overdue with time now since I wanted to write this post and kept thinking if it is going to be worth it or not. Which planning or scheduling systems do you use? I schedule each day in the morning and have a morning routine. From 06:05 - 08:00 approx. Which includes 30 min meditation, stretching 10min, breakfast, reading news or checking mail while eating, shower, plan the day. ( I don't schedule my morning routine anymore since it is a habit) A bullet journal is perfect to plan weeks or even months, especially keeping track of dates. Last year I planned each Sunday my whole week and kept looking, with the same process as above. (Which is called Time blocking or Timeboxing IIRC). This took me 30 min approx or longer. I am quite tired of not being effective. Any tips for that? I watched the videos from Leo about productivity and such, how to be a result maker. Took notes and reviewed them last week or month or so. Other things that I am aware of doing with planning are: -> Schedule free time -> Accept when plans do not work out -> re-schedule during the day > Ideally attend events but don't socialize randomly ( just read that tip ) -> Important tasks and tasks that need immediate attention. -> Not doing what is urgent and not important (video games etc) -> Take a 5 min break every 45 min of studying, then another 0- 15min when I completed another 45 min. -> Keeping a daily to-do list in my schedule, to re-arrange the whole plan. Questions summary: How do you plan your day? Great videos on the topic? (Besides Thomas Frank, Tim Ferris, Leo Gura, casual compilation) Is it effective to plan each week in advance? What are great scheduling systems? Other tips on how to be effective with time? Any experiences with working 70-80h+ a week? How was that handled, which obstacles did you face? Any systemic approaches? Any details missing? Would love to get an answer from @Joseph Maynor or others who very effective and have a system/plan/schedule in place that works for them.

@moon777light I started in 2015, I had potentially one non-dual glimpse near the early stages of my meditation journey. I tested a couple of techniques, from self-inquiry, do-nothing, sweeping of body sensations meditation (some meditation from an app), mindfulness meditation/vipassana from shinzen young and that is about it. The longest non-dual glimpse I had was when I pet my aunt's dog as a child, after that the dog always came to me. Yet, this was like 3hours long and very weird experience. Similar to what I experienced doing a do-nothing technique and the one glimpse I had at the beginning of my journey. I will tend to stick with do-nothing and the various techniques from Shinzen young. Self-inquiry I will save for psychedelic trips that helped me tremendously there.

@clouffy I feel the same. I have difficulties finding people that I can be me with. Yet, when I seek out events where I could find people that I could connect with this greatly increases the chances of finding other individuals, who have similar interests and are not too much into wanting to be in a group and rather want to have a good time. If you get depressed by being around others, at best find some people who you do not feel depressed and who are not toxic, joining some team sport which is not too competitive for instance depending on preference, or going to a meditation center which has a tradition in place, so you could check out the group dynamics and see if it is cult like in advance via reference. Depending on where you are from you could get some great advice here. on the froum P.S I still want to do Hatha Yoga and meet hot girls, but this is just strictly denied here in this city.

Now I hear sheeps. Great. If someone could riddle me the mule riddle I would find that fantastic.

@Leo Gura I know. I just find it odd, that people can't entertain the overall idea. It is good when some stuff is re-framed. It still hurts sometimes. Who are visionaries and geniuses you would recommend reading about? I have the booklist. Because I would conflate geniuses and visionaries with academics or famous entrepreneurs. The most "conscious" would be Rupert Sheldrake imo. I am sometimes just amazed how deeply some academics would benefit from spiritual practice and how some of them embody these aspects extremely well, without knowing about them(stages and spiral dynamics, not spirituality). They are teaching at least the perspective. Especially, since the people here are artsier(in my studies tech/media/design) it is not as strict and I feel they would allow unfolding the stages, yet I still feel they are stuck inside the system. I truly do not understand why they create a lecture at a small university, that even to them seems boring. Some abuse it to have a good time. But, at least there is fun and you can ask questions. Yes, I was curious if Shinzens mindfulness system work with shadow work, because it is a remodeling of vipassana and vipassana, hinders shadow integration according to Wilber. That is how the conversation about these stages occurred in the first place, with the other person revealing her 38 years experience of yoga and recently starting shadow work while knowing and having experienced cult behavior. I was curious if I made progress and if someone shares what he or she knows.

@Leo Gura That there are other people who are doing a spiritual practice and use the same framework from Wilber which helps to explain stages and state-stages. Also, I assume that many things you say are correct. But I do not have the relevant experience. Also, that the person has experience in these realms. Nothing more than, besides additional information and opinions. @Andreas Why do you think that?

@Andreas What do you mean with that? I don't understand how a single post defines a whole person.

@Leo Gura I can see that and be attentive to the possibility that some know and don't have data or hide the information. Like Susan-Cook-Greuter. I wrote with someone and asked her to explain her yoga practice in the subtle releam I am quoting her know. She has a Ph.D. + 38 years of experience in this yoga path. Also, she wrote that some gurus did the general cult thing, drugs, sex, exploitation etc. Also, that some persons are saint-like and miracles happened around them. I did consider the perspective of exploiting her data. But I am not revealing her identity or revealing anything that is out of the ordinary. Also, the 3-2-1 process worked great for her and that it is similar to jungs active imagination theory( or fritz pearls talking chair method) . This all was in the context of vipassana hindering shadow work. Since stuff is being endlessly dissociated and labled. So, I was curious how shinzens path differs. According to him it is different. Shamanic breathing and psychedelics are most likely more effective. Yet, I am trying to get priorities straight which is extremely difficult for me since the beginning of time.