Staples

Obviously, he can't prove it. Every video on enlightenment has been him saying "I can't prove it to you, I can only tell you that it's real, and if you want to see it for yourself, do the work". I very much doubt you are doing any of the work to try and prove it's real or not for yourself. From what I've read, you're doubting before you even attempt to look for a hint of truth. You're free to be a sceptic, but you're not able to criticize something fairly if you aren't openminded to even consider trying to attain or understand it for yourself. Maybe you're totally right, but I see it as foolish to be so confident in your own argument without first-hand experience, which you've cited none of in this post. Is the collection of sensory data static across different species of life? Does a flea have the same sensory input of a cat as a human? A bird? I'd argue not. A flea experiences a "cat" as a huge behemoth, with juicy blood underneath the surface and he is surrounded by a forest of hair. A flea feels a cat different to you also. You feel soft fur on the skin, the flea feels something to consume, no fur, and its biological agenda in relation to the cat is totally different from a human's. What is more real, the sensory input of the cat or the objective cat outside of you as a human and your senses without any input? I think that's partially what Leo's talking about when he talks about absolute infinity. Infinite perspectives are possible, and each perspective modifies the external world to make sense under its own set of rules. Is the cat literally physically different for the flea, or does it just appear differently for the flea? My answer to that is, "What's the difference?"

@art Principles are relative, that's for sure, and maybe some are absolute, but Leo would have to educate you on that particularity. It seems to me Ralston is operating in the relative paradigm and not the absolute in that particular clip.

Very knowledgeable on relative truths, lacking in absolute truths. Leo helped define this for me here: However, I think his critique of postmodernism is a little unfair. From what I've observed, he's attached the radical left with postmodernism, which I don't think to be the case. :

@Leo Gura What exactly do you mean by relative truth? Relative to what?

Its a good environment to crystalize your own thoughts. If you want to develop your own ideas, you need to know what the status quo is so you can improve on it. The course will teach you the rigid unquestioned fundamentals, your job is to develop on them. Being in a position where you can work on philosophy 24/7 is a fantastic environment to develop your 'philosophy'. If you're going to go, have a goal that you work on outside of school. You could write a book, start a youtube channel, etc. There you take what you learn, infuse it with your own thoughts and values and share it. Find out what you want out of it, not just do it because you're interested. You need to carve your own end goal.

@Shroomdoctor With you on this topic. There are a lot of people on this forum who shout 'but who are you, you're not real' all the time without any understanding of the concept themselves. Not to mention it's terrible advice, we all know that already! Paroting it again isn't helping anyone actually understand it.

He literally says in the video "He's the last person I would elect". He never says "I support Trump". He is ACTUALLY saying that we must respect the democratic process, and when someone gets elected, we should give them time to work for the majority who elected him, rather than raising hell because our particular candidate lost. You either deliberately twisted his words, or didn't watch the whole video.

A story. (Leo's recent blog post is an absolute banger)

I don't think it would make for a particularly interesting video. I doubt there is a super-secret-trick to make big leaps. I'm sure you can make that sort of progress in anything with enough dedication and concentration.

It depends on the individual. There are a small minority of people like Elon, who just can't sit around doing something not productive at any point in their day. These people must work 80-100 hour weeks because else wise they're miserable. The writer of that article has forgotten about the personal aspect of working hard and instead is focusing solely on the effectiveness per hour. Elon musk isn't wrong about hard work, when it comes to his own life.

No, social barriers do not exist. They are an idea. However, that doesn't stop people from enforcing them. You will alienate yourself if you do what you mentioned in a socially unacceptable way. Just because you recognize they don't exist doesn't mean they no longer hold any value to other people. I don't really understand what your goal is in eliminating the "manipulation" that is taking place. Most people have enough social intelligence to know that "What do you think of x?" means that you're interested in sparking up a conversation with them. That's not manipulation. That is recognition of a social context.

If you took the life purpose course, or are planning on taking it, this personality test will give you some great insights in addition to it. It's not a part of the course, but it's a great companion to go with it. I find this test especially useful for those seeking creative disciplines. Pay particular attention to any results that stray far away from the mean. It's likely an indication of a very powerful strength or weakness of yours. This is not an affiliate link, I'm posting to share a very useful resource. https://www.understandmyself.com/personality-assessment

I'd say it's worth it, but you make the most out of it if you watch this video first: https://actualized.org/articles/learning-equals-behavior-change Ask yourself how is your behavior going to change after each theory module, then ask yourself how is your behavior going to change after each exersize. That's the best way to make the most of the course.

I know a friend who is seriously into this stuff. He's invested over $150,000 into it over the last 2-3 years. It's definitely still a thing, but it's just a lot harder to do. He's made $250,000 over night, he's also lost $400,000 overnight. But overall he's profited $350,000 right now which is all still invested as currency. If you're one of the top 1% of investors you will make millions period. Top 10% you will make a consistent 20% return on your investment every year. According to him, his criteria is purely the business behind the currency. They're all the same idea fundamentally, but you need to bet on the currency that has the best practices. Whenever he's not working his 9-5 job hes studying and investing, changing his auto bids and sells. He sleeps 6 hours a day and does this every single day save 2 days every fortnight for his weekend. If you're seriously passionate about it it's a fantastic opportunity, if you're only appealed to it because of the money you'll fail. You have to enjoy the process, security, theory behind it. It's hyper technical and frankly can be very soulless, it's all math and algorithms, there's no instinct that will drive you it's purely logical deconstruction. If that excited you, go all in on it. It's definitely non-traditional so you're never guaranteed results but still very strong,

Have you ever been to a comedy show? Why did you go to that show? A night of entertainment right? Why did you seek entertainment? At the end of the day, you went to the show because you wanted it to elevate your mood, you wanted to be happy. How long did that happiness last? The next day, after the show, were you still happy because of the performance? Was your mood permanently lifted for the rest of your life because you have one new positive memory under your belt? No, you can apply this to as many experiences or consumer purchases as you want. Your own happiness is your own responsibility, you will not find it outside of yourself. This is probably a noob lesson to most of you, but I find the analogy of a comedy show really effective on people new to this work.

Let me know if I'm on your train of thought here, A shadow is an illusion of a physical thing (a darkening on a surface) but it really isn't physical because it's just the absence of light. So you're trying to connect that to the clash of hands and the sound it makes, and you're saying that is an illusion as well? They're two different flavors of illusion, a shadow is a confirmed illusion as it is an absence of something. A hand is an unconfirmed illusion because it is not an absence, it is made up of matter yet has illusory aspects to it like "that is my hand", "that is someone else's hand", "I call this thing a hand" etc. One is conceptual the other is "physical" but projected.

Maybe one day that will be me, that guy looks rich haha. No I'm not him but I do use Staples as an alias whenever it's needed and my first name begins with J but it isn't Jamie.

I wish he had answered "no" to being bothered about being nothing, I'd like to hear what his master has said then.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does Leo makes a point that shatters a belief system and I immediately drop it. Then I try to find something to replace it with but nothing makes sense there, eventually I come to my own conclusions and hold them loosely. Funny thing is I couldn't tell you a specific moment or concept, it feels like as if I had always felt that way but I know that's not the case for some issues.

Had a mini insight tonight. I was reading notes of the book "Conversations with God" by Neale Donald Walsch, when I had a strange feeling. As I read the words, "Physical reality is an illusion", something clicked in me. Even though I'd heard these words tens of times before I never really got traction on they meant until now. I thought to myself; if this is an illusion, it's a damn good one considering I've been goofed by it for most of my life. Then something else came to me; if this room is an illusion, what looks real? Then I realized I have NO IDEA what a real thing looks like! Then I began to notice how I experience my visual field, I couldn't really find where my experience of sight was coming from. I simply "see" an image infront of me, and it felt like there is no direct channel from the physical world to my consciousness. I have eyes and of course I'm seeing "though" them, but what point on my eye goes to my consciousness? Is my sight located in the direct center of the pupil, or a nanometer to it's left? I then tried the same experiment with my finger by trying to determine where I felt the sensation of it pressing against a wall. Obviously I felt in on the tip of my finger, but I couldn't really determine how far away from me it was, it was impossible to draw a line between the touch of my finger and "me". I knew exactly where it was but also had no way of pinning it down. It felt infinitely far away and infinitely close to me and every distance in between, but it still felt the same as it normally would on any other day without this insight. Apparently lots of these little insights and self inquiry lead towards enlightenment. All I feel like I got out of the experience was a fascinated, "huh, interesting" and nothing more. Let's see where this rabbit hole goes! Anyone else had weird moments like this?

@JustinS Will definitely check it out. Thanks for the recomendation.

@Maxx The more I think about this the more "flat" my visual field appears. It just began to seem less real but at the same time it was the only visual field I had so it was the most real to me at the same time. Here's a weird experience I just had: at what point does my sight converge on? Does it move when I close one eye? When I close one eye, where does the content from that eye go? Why does it seem like when one eye is closed my visual field is still FULL, but I perceive a smaller amount of space? Enlightenment work confuses the hell out of me

How does this fundamental shift in awareness actually effect your reality? How does the realization of what you truly are give 'you' the benefits Leo outlines in this video? Of course I can't imagine enlightenment, but it just seems to me that once it occurs I'll just think "huh, neat, I guess that's what I am, I'll mow the lawn now I suppose" and nothing changes other than the realization that I'm awareness. How does realizing I'm awareness itself allow me to die with no regrets? How does knowing what you actually are enable deep self and unconditional love? How does being enlightened eliminate stress, the same problems still exist as before enlightenment, right? Now obviously I understand "I" don't get these benefits as there is no me, but I still can't help wondering how enlightenment changes anything outside of the existential realization of true self. Any thoughts? Thanks.