Staples

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.