Wyatt

Hey Dan, I just turned 20 as well (I'm also a personal trainer and play 3 instruments and enjoy personal development and learning, so we're on a similar boat). The big question for you is: How important is money? If money's really important right now or you think it will be sometime soon, it'd probably be advisable to pick one of your interests and become a master in that field. That way, you know that at the worst case scenario, you'll be able to make a living doing something you enjoy. Picking one of your interests that's financially dependable is key. If money isn't super important, follow your passions and pursue a ton of your interests. Especially at our age, getting experience in a lot of different fields is, probably, going to give us a strong foundation for our future, so don't feel overwhelmed with being passionate about a lot of things (some people aren't really passionate about anything haha)

After watching Leo's video on contemplation, I can see how powerful the tool of questioning "What is it?" can be for truly understanding any topic if done enough and in the right way. In contemplation, questions need to progressively become more specific to get a holistic understanding of whatever you're contemplating. Are there more examples of general questions a contemplator can ask that can really get to the root of what the thing is?

@veqsms Since I wrote the OP I've contemplated lots of topics. It's usually a good idea to define exactly which piece of reality you're talking about. Using a dictionary will get you the cultural idea of what politics is, and maybe you completely agree with that, or maybe your idea of politics in general is different. I usually end up with a combination between a dictionary definition and my own definition. Hope this helps!

I'm studying medicine and healthcare as well. If you've gotten into systems thinking and have looked at the American Healthcare system, you'll see it needs MAJOR reconstruction before it can really start to help our population. Taking an outside approach could be worthwhile, ESPECIALLY if you're a physician. Here's a physician who uses functional medicine to treat his client's brain disorders: https://www.wholepsychiatry.com/ Here's a physician and preventative medicine doctor who posts all his research on nutrition and human physiology into interesting 5 minute videos: https://nutritionfacts.org/ Here's a physician/chiropractor who has a huge team of health professionals and uses the best and latest technology to treat the patient from multiple angles: http://www.dkdc.com/ The options are endless. If you're a pill-popping-prescriber, you could be part of the problem.

In spiral dynamics, is experiencing and understanding absolute infinity stage turquoise? If not, what is turquoise?

Let's suppose that a whole country of people become enlightened and decided to completely change their culture to meet the needs of their now enlightened citizens, how would their government be structured? What would their political systems be like?

American culture seems to consistently take the attitude "If it's your problem, you got yourself into it, so it's only YOUR problem." We do this with drug addicts, the mentally unstable, homeless individuals, those in debt, those who have neurotic patterns because of their parents, etc. Depression and suicide seem to be a huge problem in our culture, 9 kids from my high school committed suicide in the 4 years I was there. The problem permeates through the individual, but couldn't it be a societal and cultural issue as well? Just theorizing

You're right man. Have a good one

@Outer hmm. Sorry you're such a negative person. I want this interview to happen, as I'm sure other people in this forum would too, so I made it easy for them in the best way I could. Anybody can obviously write their own suggestion. But thanks for nitpicking every word choice of my post.

@TJ Reeves Hey man, from what I've seen, Leo says he's not going to give away his "secret sauce" on how he constructs his videos. It seems like you have a pretty good guess as to how he does it, but I think the bottom line is, he lives and breathes his teachings. So contemplating about them and creating hours worth of speaking material is just natural. He's also been creating videos for years, so I'm sure it's been a HUGE learning process for him. Anything great takes lots of time! @Leo Gura Have you considered doing more interviews with podcasts or other well-respected youtube channels? I'm certain it's been suggested, but you and Joe Rogan would probably have the greatest conversation in human history

@Michael569 is right on, nobody can make these important life choices for you. Taking your life into your own hands is liberating. Having said that, I've been in college for a few years, and as far as I can see, EVERYTHING that a professor can teach you, at least up until getting your bachelor's, is available online or in a book for free. Also, the emphasis in school is memorization and reciting, which isn't needed in most lines of work you'll truly be passionate about. Having degree is like having a sponsorship or a brand-name, and it'll get you in the door in some high-paying professions. If you want to work in the corporate world, get a degree. If you have a vision for your future and have the resources, knowledge, and drive to accomplish it, you probably don't need a degree.

I don't know anything about your situation except for what you said, but it seems like you might need an editor. Write down all of your ideas as succinct as possible and have someone else edit it. Maybe you're too attached to your work? Maybe you want it to be absolutely perfect? Maybe you're viewing writing more as work and less as an artistic gift? I've found that if you're doing something as creative and personal as writing, viewing it as a gift for your audience and not your "purpose" could put a little less pressure on the outcome. Would love to know if any of this helped!

This morning, on my way out the door, I took 120mg of Ginkgo Biloba leaf extract in 2 capsules. I had taken 60mg a few days ago and it seemed to have a very slight affect on my mood and concentration, so I decided to up the dose. About 40 minutes after taking the capsules, still in the car getting to my personal training client, something very strange happened. I noticed that I had ZERO internal dialogue. No monkey mind, no judgmental thoughts about others or myself, no autopilot thoughts. Just pure silence. I have been meditating and focusing on concentration techniques for a few months now, but have never felt such peace and tranquility! I could direct my mind wherever I saw fit without having to worry about getting distracted with wild thoughts. And when thoughts did arise, I felt like the observer of the internal phenomenon rather than the thoughts controlling my being. When I was done working with my client, I went to my car and meditated for about 30 minutes. That quick session was the closest to BEING I've ever had! The effects lasted a solid 4 hours. Gonna give this a try tomorrow as well TLDR: If you want to really quiet your monkey mind, try Ginkgo Biloba extract. Works extremely well with practicing concentration and meditation.

Just created this image, using it in one of my blog posts. Thoughts?

I'm not a believer in any theology, I think most religions are ways to brainwash individuals into conforming to their culture. But, Buddhism answers your question really well. The Three marks of Existence are a general guideline to explain the nature of all of existence and especially human nature: Annica (Inconsistency and Impermanence: everything is changing and no 2 moments are exactly alike), Dukkha (Unsatisfactory, suffering, and pain: these are central motifs of human life), and Anatta (No-Self: Can we experienced through enlightenment). To answer you specifically, I think that humans, very generally, are displeased with the way things are. Anxiety and fear are strong and very present emotions for most people. You give somebody some reassurance from these fears, and they'll find 10 more things to worry about. This "flaw" is also what makes human creativity special. If we thought everything was fine and dandy just the way it was and needed no improvements, nothing would be created. Progress would come to an eternal halt. Also, I think you're looking at nature too much like a utopia, when really, it's BRUTAL SURVIVAL. Some animals seem to not have major psychological flaws compared to humans, but they're constantly worried about their survival in similar ways that we are. "When's the next time I'm gonna have food? Are there any predators nearby that I need to protect myself from? How can I prove myself so I can get laid? Is there a safe place to sleep?" Just look at a squirrel and you'll see what I mean.

This would put you in a place of uncomfort regularly, which is great for growth. Get to see the limits of your willpower, as well as a multitude of new concepts and worldviews. It could probably work, if you're able to diligently stick with it. If you burn out and go back to what feels comfortable without putting a solid 6 months-2 years into this, this path probably isn't the best choice. Would appreciate periodic updates!

If you're really that jealous of what you PERCEIVE other people have, pursue those things. If others happiness and well-being brings you suffering, pursue what they have. One option is letting go of self-actualizing for a little while and start to practice talking and hanging out with girls. Make a lot of money and buy material stuff. Be open with others and make yourself a social circle. See how you feel after you've accumulated all of the things you're jealous of others for having. Maybe it'll be the best decision you ever made! Maybe you'll get bored with what you gain and are still searching for the next material object. Maybe you'll realize it was a huge waste of time. Never know till you try

George Carlin has a great quote that explains other people's craziness: All craziness is relative. People seem crazy to you because you are a certain way, and they are a different way. That was the main point of the video.

@Edvard There is probably no inherent good or evil, but our brains are wired to perseve relative good and evil to protect us from danger (evil) and attract us to greater well-being (good). Science can definetly help us understand our bodies and minds, and we are seeing how science is coming up with new and fascinating technologies to optimize our well-being. But I don't think the human pursuit into science will uncover inherent morality in the world

It's hard to tell whether humanity will ever get to a place where we are totally fine with the way the world is, and are only concerned with space exploration. Like anything else, there will be those who are passionate about exploring space and extending our human footprint across lightyears and others who are attracted to other pusuits. The biggest hurdle with colonzing other planets is creating a machine that reconstructs molecules in the atmosphere to mimic earth's, allowing us to survive without helmets. The other major hurdle is having enough intelligent people who are dedicated to constructing a new world. The other hurdle is finding a way to get to planets close to the speed of light, as anything slower than that could take centuries or millenia just to reach the next closest inhabitable planet. Resources seem like a low priority in the long-term for this field, where intelligence and creativity and passion from people like you and me are what we really need. I also don't necessarily believe that colonizing other planets is our "ultimate destiny." We may get to a point in the future where colonizing planets is as mundane and boring as playing with legos. Or we may never get to that point and our ultimate destiny is just to eat, sleep, fornicate, and die.

@Emre You could go in your own direction and not listen to anyone at all, but how useful would that be? One of the great things about language is we can communicate experiences, especially danger. If you were in the forest, how would you identiy the delicious berries vs poisinous berries without some sort of guide? This can apply to all types of domains. As far as I can tell, collective human knowledge is a better starting point than going in the world completely by alone

@Leo Gura @nexusoflife A heavy dose of edible cannabis (500-1000mg THC) rivals medium dose acid or shrooms. One of my friends had an hour long ego-death experience with only half an edible with unknown concentration, cannabis can be more than a party drug. From personal experience, consuming CBD along with the edible made the experience a LOT more relaxed and less nauseous. Also, if you trip in the morning, expect to be pretty lethargic the rest of the day

@Edvard It's not going to take thousands of hours of training to understand what Leo's talking about. All the good and evil in the world is a construct of your mind, they're not real. If you pursue being in the military based on fear, anger, panic, vengeance, superiority, or paranoia of the "enemy" to end "evil," you're going to regularly feel those negative emotions for the years that you serve. Not to mention the potential for seriously regretting killing others or getting PTSD. Pursue what you love because you're passionate about it. That will bring you and those around you the most positive emotions

5 courses in one summer sounds INSANELY difficult. I know some people that only take 2 courses during the summer, and because the whole semester in condensed into only 3 months, they are very busy because there's lots of work per day. Maybe your college does it differently. Planning out your day(s) in google calendar or any other calendar really helps. When I keep my schedule extremely structured, adding in hours for schoolwork, social events, hobbies, free-time, eating, sleeping, and whatever else, I get so much done. Just sticking to a schedule takes willpower out of the equation. Best of luck to you!

All of the situations and negative outcomes you've experienced and communicated here paint you out to be the victim. You have to be honest with yourself: Am I the victim everywhere I go? What kind of negative ramifications on my life could that have if I always feel like the victim of everyone else? Is there a way I could take these "negative" experiences and use them for growth and learning? Have you thought about getting a certification in a certain field you enjoy? Maybe you could read some books on how to start a business or market yourself? Have you thought about looking into a sales job, where you could practice your communication skills everyday? Once you start facing your fear of speaking with others daily, and start contemplating "what's the worst thing that could happen if I say something stupid/boring/annoying?", you'll begin to break the connection you have with the fear itself. As far as a short-term solution to your living situation, I can't think of one that would be free off the top of my head. Some hostiles are really cheap.