Mondsee

Sit next to him in class, and start by doing small talk. Pretend you missed something, and ask what the teacher just said, ask for an extra pen / eraser / whatever, just make sure it's something you actually don't have, so he doesn't feel weird, if you open a package of cookies, chips, or whatever, offer some to him first. Gradually increase the small talk, and take it from there

Today is the first day of Ramadan, and I am thinking of fasting like Muslims do, not for any religious reason, but to try out fasting for a longer period of time. It is well known that fasting is practiced by many spiritual oriented groups around the world, for example Yogis in India also eat just twice or even once a day... so there's gotta be some benefits that I'd like to test out for myself. Has someone here experience with fasting in general, or at least during Ramadan? Do you have any advices worth sharing? Thanks!

@Anton_Pierre thanks, that's a good reminder. @How to be wise Hey, I'm only on day 3, but at least up to this point I can report that fasting certainly allows you to focus on what matters throughout the day simply because of the practical consequence of not having to devote time to eat, drink, or even go to the toilet very often. Only now that I'm not doing any of that, am I noticing how much of a distraction that is. I've also noticed that very often I eat or drink out of boredom, that's all been very interesting. But at the very least, fasting also serves like a reminder throughout the day to raise your consciousness (if that's the purpose for which you're fasting). Every single time you feel like drinking water, or eating some food, is a reminder of: just stay conscious and wait. @aidenhall I'm drinking a good amount of water early in the morning, before the sunrise, and having a single meal after sunset (a vast well-balanced dinner), including again enough water intake. Of course none of this is with intentions of reducing my weight, in fact, I'm very happy with my body, and I hope it doesn't change too much during this fasting period... that being said, I have certainly noticed that eating 3 times a day is really not necessary. We do it mainly out of pleasure and comfort... but it feels absolutely unnecessary (at least for an average young adult not doing an excessive amount of physical exercise). I was about to make the decision to allow myself to drink water, but not doing so was a great decision. Thirst is what actually makes a difference. I've found myself these three days waiting for the sunset to be able to finally drink water, more than be able to eat. I don't think it's too dangerous, as millions of Muslims do it every year... I think it's just a matter of making sure that you're drinking enough during the time you're allowed to do so. Excuse my ignorance, but I dunno what that means ? care to explain?

@Truth Addict gotcha! I'll pay attention to that Thank you!

@Conrad cool, looking forward to hear about your experience. Today I did some physical activity at noon, and since then I've been seeing every drop of water as the most beautiful thing ever. I had never been waiting so eagerly the sunset! @Empty sadly I won't have the opportunity to take this period as a full retreat. I'll continue with my daily activities, just skipping meals until after the sunset. But thanks for the advice! I will make sure to include at least one short meditation daily! @Truth Addict That's the plan! Do you mean among other people fasting or not fasting? currently I'm doing it on my own, everybody around me is eating their usual 3 meals a day, and carrying their delicious bottles of water around. It's just day 1 and I'm already seeing water as the most precious thing ever. Water is incredibly beautiful! I'll leave this as an advanced level for now. I didn't plan strategically taking multiple days off in a row, but in the future I may try this

Are you a student, specially a college student? Why do you study? What is your motivation to be doing that instead of any other thing?

I'm very interested in learning about Leonardo Da Vinci more closely, and am looking for book recommendations. I found there's already one in this thread, but I had read a good review on another written by Walter Isaacson. Has anybody read that one? Any other recommendations?

Hey @Leo Gura! your recent blog post about the Aztecs reminded me of this thread. I first wanted to thank you for sharing, because that explanation is very complete and communicates the point really well. About it I just wanted to suggest you further study this rather unknown philosophy, cause it gets even better. Spanish historians from the colonial era in Mexico and academics based on those historians have done a great disservice in misinterpreting the original meanings of their philosophy, and presenting them in books and museums as cultural colorful curiosities, but if you dig deeper you'll find that: the original philosophy also includes explanations about duality... it is what is represented by "Ometeotl" or "Ometeotzin" (2nd is the diminutive form, used for things you love and respect) which is Teotl dividing itself in order to be experienced (the teachings say it first divided in female and masculine, and then they had another further 4 children representing the 4 cardinal points, but this is of course just a way of explaining the division of Teotl into everything) the Aztecs had also a discipline of moving meditation through dances, comparable to yoga asanas or tai-chi in other traditions. Those dances are also still practiced, but sadly many of them have been turned into shows for touristic attraction, losing the original meditative purpose of it. the Aztecs had also a kind of "solo retreats" called "Quest for vision"... which of course refers to the search of recognizing that you are Teotl. Those are also rare to find in its authentic fashion, but still performed in Mexico. In them people will go to a mountain and fast there sitting and doing nothing inside a circle delimited by tobacco during 4 days.

WikiTribune is an effort to create news with a wiki approach

@Azrael once recommended this one in this forum, and I have loved it ever since

Men seem to outnumber women when it comes to serious mystics and spiritual leaders - why is that?

Why don't you design a strategic plan where you simply give yourself time to work at a shitty job for a determined amount of time with the only goal of saving money, and then figure things out. Working at a job you don't like probably won't be fun, but it will feel right because it'll be part of your plan. Then, with money in your bank account, you'll have some freedom to say, move out on your own and live out of your savings for a while until you get things figured out. Figuring things out doesn't need to be starting your dream business right away or whatever, it can be to find yet another job you don't quite love, but by then you will have solved the first thing: getting out of the toxic environment you're in. After that, with some more stability, you can start integrating growth aspects, one by one... maybe finding some like-minded friends, maybe improving your career, maybe pursuing spiritual growth, it can be whatever, just don't overwhelm yourself. You can do it one thing at a time.

@moon777light Oh, I see... well that's a shame...

I'm 100% down for Atlanta if it takes place before February 2019, could possibly bring 1 friend. That makes 4 of us! (@Emerald @moon777light @Galyna) Who else is in?? (@Meave @nexusoflife @Bernard @Hunter Arrington @League of Lions Org) After February, happy to attend a European destination. Update If I'm not skipping anything, these are the polls until now: Atlanta: 4 Seattle: 3 Los Angeles: 2 San Francisco: 1 #LeoComeToAtlanta!

@Leo Gura Cool thanks.

@Leo Gura on your nootropics video you mentioned you would take 1/4 of a Modafinil pill. I just wanted to clarify if that was a 100mg or a 200mg pill, since they're sold in both presentations. Thanks.

That's an interesting theory, thanks for sharing. Well, if you don't question what you don't understand, you probably won't make much progress. Uh! That's insightful on so many levels... Thanks for sharing! I think there are a lot of truths in your explanation. Have you watched the video @Shiva posted tough? I think there's also truth in that. We are very identified with our genders, but we only need to be a man or a women for certain things. The rest of the time we can simply be human beings. What do you think about that?

Even better: the solution is to recognize that what we usually label as "the problems" are actually the symptoms of a flaw in the system. The solution is to fix the system so that it works for the common good. In other words, the solution is to fix the system in such a way that it will get elected representatives that do what progressive democrats are doing, instead of getting representatives to power that do what Trump is doing. I agree it's better to stay away from turning this into a culture war. It is much more clever to adopt an analytical approach. The solution to pathological Orange is Green, and the solution to emotional Green is Yellow. The solution is to replace culture wars and emotional responses with sober systems thinking. Therein lies the answer.

@Nexeternity Cool! Report back on it if you do it, it is something really profound. Chikawa'! (nahuatl for: keep strong!)

In Mexico Temazkallis (from the nahuatl temaz = sweat, and kalli = house) are easy to find and are becoming quite popular again, but you have to find the right place. Many of them do it in a spa-like setting, which is not really the point, it's much harder to find somebody who "runs" it the right way, but when you do it's really worth it. There are also places where they claim to do spiritual temazkalli ceremonies, but they combine it with psychedelics, which I don't demonize, but aren't really part of the original traditional ceremony. The original ceremony only includes what they call the "medicine", which is a tree resin called "copal", which melts on the hot rocks, and some herbs like a strong rosemary infusion (or other good smelling herbs like that), that is poured on the hot rocks and immediately clears your respiratory tract as it vaporizes. When you come out you share fruit with the people who participated in the ceremony. The vision is a very serious quest that you actually have to prepare for, you usually cannot pull it off on a casual weekend (or I guess you could, but who knows how much you're going to get out of it). Traditionally, you do a long preparation beforehand, changing your eating habits, and attending to spiritual preparations, such as traditional dances that are a form of meditation practice (easy to find as shows, much harder to find as serious meditation practice, as a rule of thumb, if it's a mexican dance with very elaborate dresses and feathers, it's a show). There's usually a master who knows you well, who is preparing you, and who advises you to wait, in case he/she recognizes you're still not ready for it. If you are ready, you build a long line of little cloth sacks filled with tobacco, and pick somebody who is going to be your "guide". That "guide" is somebody you trust, more experienced than you are, who usually has already gone through their own "vision", and they will help you out with your preparations. When the time of the vision comes, your guide brings you to a place in a mountain that they've chosen beforehand based on many different things, and leave you there with nothing other than your tobacco thing you made (called "prayers"), the clothes you have on, a blanket to cover up at night, and a big shell called 'atekokolli, which is used as an instrument, and you're supposed to blow on it to call for help, in case something really bad is happening to you (eg. a spider bit you). I've heard you're also allowed to have a plastic bag so that you can put your clothes and blanket there in case it rains, but that's definitely a modern addition. The "guides" even take your shoes away when they leave you in the mountain. While you're on the mountain, you are not all over the place; you form a circle with the tobacco line you had prepared, and you stay within that circle for the four days. Because you cannot go elsewhere, you may have to stay under the sun for long hours, but by that point, during the preparation you have learned to connect with the Sun, and ask "Him" to help you stay strong. These cultures connect and dialogue a lot with forces of nature, and see them very much as equals. Meanwhile your "guide" is also in a meditation period that he/she is dedicating to you. They go and check how you're doing, hiding somewhere, or from the distance, to avoid interrupting your meditation, and they also eat a lot of the food you like, and drink a lot of water, making up for what you're not eating. If it's very hot, they may take a cold shower in a nearby river, or something like that, to refresh you. It's like when you can't drink and somebody says "I'll drink one for you". On the fourth day, your guide picks you up, brings you your shoes back, and takes you to the temazcalli, where you finish your prayers/vision quest, and after coming out, you're finally given food and water. It is a very profound and nice experience, but it's also kind of underground to find a serious group to get prepared and do it. I've personally barely found information online about this, let alone information in English.

OK but take the 1st stage as an example... say an intimate relationship would take too much time and effort derailing your focus from Self Transcendence, but also having casual sex with random people would destabilize you too much. Therefore, you don't have the sex aspect covered. The only workaround I can think of, is finding a partner who is also focusing on Self Transcendence, but: would that be the only option??

Hey guys, I was revisiting Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and I started asking myself if similar to the spiral dynamics, it is necessary to go through all the stages, and have all aspects covered in other to ascend to higher levels. Here are some examples to illustrate what I mean: 19 y/o who has: All of the physiological needs covered (breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion) Most of the safety needs covered (security of: body, resources, morality, the family, health), but you're missing some of them (employment, property)) All of the love/belonging needs covered (friendship, family, sexual intimacy) 26 y/o who has: Most of the physiological needs covered (breathing, food, water, sleep, homeostasis, excretion) but are missing one of them (sex) All of the safety needs covered (security of: body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health, property) Most of the love/belonging needs covered (friendship, family) but are missing one (sexual intimacy) 31 y/o who has: All of the needs from the first 3 stages covered Lacks confidence and self-esteem Now, these are only examples, so I'm not asking for specific advice based on that, but how do you think having some gaps would affect the individuals? Do you think one person can reach self-transcendence levels lacking some of the needs? Or do you think every person who has reached self-transcendence have absolutely everything taken care of? What if for example you don't have a family, or your family is super disfunctional? You won't be able to cover that need, is it crucial? I'm super curious about this so thanks for your insights!

Some days ago I stumbled upon this thread: What's posted in there is right in acknowledging that coral is a rather unknown stage, given the little information available about it, but not much more than that. Now, if you're really into spiral dynamics, you'll keep on looking for information on the coral stage anyways, because you want to understand it. I hate to spoil it for you, but there really isn't much, and most of the few things you'll find are bullshit... ...Buuut there's good news! What if I told you here in the forum we have an expert on coral? He is an expert not only because he has deeply studied spiral dynamics (in fact he's currently working on a scientific study about it, mainly stage coral), but because he embodies coral himself. His name is @TJ Reeves, and you can follow his content on his YouTube channel, this is his most recent video: I have personally talked to him a couple times, and what I have understood is that coral is the best of all worlds put together. Coral is the simultaneous integration of all the positive aspects of every single stage. I really encourage you to follow his content to start getting a first glimpse of what coral is about, and if you find yourself rejecting it altogether (something along the lines of "wait... are you telling me this is what comes after Sadhguru?!?!") allow yourself to consider the possibility that you're not being openminded enough. There is this phenomenon TJ calls "The Turquoise Trap", which is being unable to see beyond Turquoise, because of spiritual ideology (watch his video!). Be careful, for even Leo falls into that trap. I'm sure if he pushes his mind to open just a little more tough, he'll soon discover coral is all what he's aspiring to be in life. There is much more to learn about coral than what is covered in his videos, but I think it is a really great place to start. Good luck on your spiral-journey!

it Isn’t useless. You need activism to transcend activism.

@11modal11 oh! I had only read your comments on describing the stage. I would argue not only isn’t anybody operating 100% from a single level, there are also degrees of each level. Not all corals are going to look like Morpheus