kieranperez

One of the things I love about all this consciousness work and spirituality is actually looking at it's history in different human cultures. I'm curious as to why there's so much ancient information and history on non-dual traditions and particularly sages in India, Middle East, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, China, Tibet, Europe, Japan, etc. but I can't find anything on any real big sages in the entire continent of South America, and older North America. Any reason for this? Any leads on stuff or people I might be missing?

For example: Hypnotherapy Psychoanalyis Psychedelpy (gonna make that my own so I’m going to just go with it lol) Jungian psychology I know you can gain things like life coaching certificates but can you develop a therapy practice without actually having a degree in college? My overall long term goal is to become a mystic/sage and want to Ashram in the coming decades but I really need to learn how to heal people too and develop practice and momentum doing that. I know that this was possible in prior decades like in the 70s but I imagine that there’s probably tighter legal stuff than there was back then.

I really felt this documentary. This is not some educational thing on shamanism. This about a young man who over the years kept following society and parents and what he was programmed from day 1 what he truly thought he intuitively wanted out of himself and out of life and as the years moved on he felt more and more dead to himself and to life. Just the way they presented the early stages of this documentary really moved me personally because it really grounded me back to where I used to be just a few years ago. Waking up every single day feeling like there's no point not only to get out of bed but no reason not to put your head on railroad tracks and just begging for a train to run over your neck. Just the look I saw in his eyes from that time really moved me because that was me. I remember he said, "I'm not prepared to live the rest of my life this way," and I was about to lose it inside and cry because if I hadn't acidentally stumbled on some of @Leo Gura's videos and that one silly 26 minute Sam Harris guided meditation with some self-inquiry at the end, I wouldn't have the vision I have now and the clarity and also confidence that spirituality has given me. I think this documentary is not really so much about shamanism itself as it is showing that this way that we live in the modern Western world is a life and isn't sustainable. Sometimes you need to almost kill yourself to really get out of the excesses, assumptions, etc. in order to really move forward. We need to be alive and not dead as result of culture, society, and no longer be dead to ourselves. The goal of life is life itself.

He just gave you the answer. Have the enlightenment experience. Nobody is disagreeing with Ralston. Ralston said clearly in that interview “love is a relative experience.” However, That also depends what you’re thinking and how you’re framing “love” when you talk about it. If you ask “what is God,” to someone like Leo who finds that to be appropriate term then he will tell you God is everything and you. If you ask the Buddha “what is God,” he will tell you there is no God there is only consciousness and mind. Both are right. Both are interpreting the same realization under different lens and some make finer nuances in their answers. This why you have to sit down and do the work yourself and have the experience yourself and not keep trying to validate answers with others.

Did you ever notice the reaction from that movie? How patriotic everyone felt? Man... I was shocked in myself just how much that movie triggered a deep blue in me and in the way they did it. It’s pretty crazy. Good movie and very very blue and very good at bringing out blue in someone.

This whole notion that the field of psychology is some innocent honest ethical system is just downright wrong. I’m sorry. Maybe it’s because you’re only reading one half of the story, maybe it’s because you haven’t suffered from crippling issues that failed to be addressed or solved AT ALL by psychiatry and psychology whether it be from ADHD to almost committing suicide to knowing people personally or whatever, but this notion that the psychotherapeutic and psychiatric system has their shit handled is just not true. These systems often don’t help people because their understanding is limited and also because this system is extremely corrupt, particularly the FDA. Hell look at how they treat psychedelics. Did you read why Reich was looked up and had his books burned? Because he started publishing “orgone energy” (or prana) and because his practices were rather “unorthodox”. “Unorthodox” doesn’t mean anything if it actually helps people but if you have certain knowledge which your government system doesn’t want spread (like the case in the USA with psychedelics) then don’t be surprised if they bust down your doors and shut you down. If you think what I’m saying is that NO ONE gets help from psychotherapy in some way shape or form than you’re mistaking what I’m saying but this notion that the FDA is some trustworthy and honest noteworthy federal agency is just fucking false. The entire system of psychiatry alone is incredibly corrupt and it’s honesty shameful and disgusting. Maybe you haven’t had doctors keep pressing you on pills because you were fortunate not to be in that situation to understand. Yeah you can read “documented cases” till the cows come home but that doesn’t justify how ineffective and dysfunctional and how lacking psychotherapy and psychiatry is in things like stage yellow systems thinking which is extremely needed because millions of people get fucked over and sometimes even killed because of shallow low grade solutions, cover up of symptoms rather than attacking root causes, a corrupt and ineffective system, pushing pills that more often than not aren’t needed that can totally change a fuck up one’s biochemistry that become extremely addictive with horrendous side effects that rarely work long term (years/decades).

@winterknight all the stuff I’ve listed to you aren’t gimmicky witch doctor stuff. Reichian therapy, transpersonal psychology, shadow work, etc. are not some self help fads. You realize most therapy people go through doesn’t really get to the root issues? I’ve had (and I’m not using myself as some sole example) therapy from regular counseling, DBT/CBT therapy to CBT/DBT therapy “intensives” at UCSF, been prescribed at least 20 different psych meds, psychoanalysis, etc. for 10+ years and most of these therapists and what not just waste people’s time and money and don’t tend to get the root of anything not change much. If anything that’s changed it’s mostly just a better way of articulating and conceptualizing one’s problems. The psychotherapy and psychiatry systems are extremely broken and downright problematic systems, and in a lot of cases, downright criminal in A LOT of cases. So I don’t care much to defend this corrupt and dysfunctional system by saying people need more standard education on these matters as if that’s cuts it close at all. The whole legal system in it of itself is fucked up and does a huge disservice to patients with psychological issues from legitimate mental disorders to even more mild issues. Much less the lack of deep understanding by many (and as far as I’m concerned and have seen, most) of the practitioners. I’m also not saying I promote some sort of system where anyone and everyone can just buy and go through some 1-4 week process of becoming therapist as though it’s that simple. However this is why I’m asking because “psychotherapy” is an extremely broad label. It can be something that confines to your profession where you practice just psychoanalysis, to someone like Elliot Hulse who at his seminars does a lot of Reichian therapy and other stuff along those lines, to people who facilitate holotropic breathwork (which is a legitimate and powerful psychotherapy practice right there and can be more effective than just sitting down with a therapist), to someone who does (unlicensed yet effective) nondual energetic therapy with substances 5-MeO-DMT like Martin Ball, etc. It doesn’t really seem like you have much of an answer as to where that line is drawn in terms of legality when it comes to practice and facilitation.

@winterknight I’m not trying to stick with psychoanalysis specifically, I’m speaking more broadly in terms of psychological healing through a variety of different mediums. Whether this be through transpersonal psychology techniques, shadow work, reichiab therapy, etc. Are these different? If so, what is the distinction you’re making?

Do you think it’s out of integrity to start a business that’s merely a stepping stone to the ultimate life purpose to handle finances and escape wage slavery? I sometimes feel like “I need to sort my survival out first and foremost. It doesn’t need to be THE ONE.” In yet I hear what you say about how much you resented your first business because of how out of integrity you were while running it. So I really feel sleazy whenever I even feel/think about starting a business that’s just about money and me because it feels like I know i need to go straight towards my life purpose but starting this other business is like turning right and I’m afraid I’m just going to get sucked into that.

@winterknight how do you explain then Zen Masters even in the USA who have learned and now employ shadow work with people? That right there is psychotherapy and a very necessary component for spiritual work that as we can imagine, these Zen Masters didn’t go to school for this. Integral Zen & Mondo Zen by Doshin Roshi and Juno Kelly Roshi and Genpo Roshi are perfect examples of this.

Change your structure of motivation. Just the way your framing this is a big reason why you’re still this way. You’re trying to change your life by whipping yourself for being some weakling. Positive motivation and vision is what you need? Why do you want to lose weight? To avoid being some fat guy that people point and cringe at? Or to feel light and full of energy you didn’t know you had? Or is it to eat food that you feel great about yourself for eating rather than feel full of shame and guilt?

You can’t understand consciousness, god, metaphysical matters through logic. There’s nothing logical about what’s true. There’s nothing logical about you not existing. Science cannot and will not discover consciousness, God, etc. This work is supposed to not make sense. Existence itself has nothing to do with what you assume it to be. You’re trying to dig a massive hole with a fork when you need a drill and a shovel. Or like someone trying to become the best basketball player merely by reading about basketball. All the spiritual traditions match up if you can read in between the lines. How is it, that all these traditions and sages never had contact with each other seem to all be talking about the same fundamental reality despite the different contextual frameworks? How is it you seem to assume your sense of self but when you get down to it, every answer you have about yourself really isn’t you and is just a conceptual idea of who you think you are? Hell, even the materialist paradigm/philosophy itself defeats its very assumption. Even if you are made up of quarks and strings, well, everything else under that same paradigm and set of assumptions would say that everything else in existence would be made up of strings and quarks so really, what’s the difference between you and the toilet you shit in? You assume that’s all he does. You miss the part in his videos where he actually does the fucking practice. Sit your ass on the cushion and do the practice. No one owes you explanations and logical proofs or the truth. Either you want to know what’s real and true and you’re willing to do the work or you’re not. It’s that simple. People devote their entire life to discovering this through difficulties you can’t even imagine. You have endless amounts of resources and tools at your disposal. Books (great ones on Leo’s booklist), psychedelics (which have been recommended on here), all the theory you need, even pretty good explanations of this stuff (at least as good as it gets when it comes to truths that can’t be comminicated). Either you want to know who and what you are or you don’t and just want to assume your reality like you always have and have an assumed reality or you can be one of the 0.01% who actually know who they are. I suggest the latter because an assumed life is an ignorant life, and an ignorant life is a wasted life.

@winterknight my life purpose in the coming decades is going to need to include healing. I completely disagree that this needs to be a therapist specific thing. Most spiritual teachers in fact need an understanding of psychotherapy to even make their teachings for the people that work with and under them more effective. Hell, you know this. You know how beneficial something like psychoanalaysis is this day in age in conjunction with spiritual work in order to really help people because a lot of people can’t even do serious hardcore spiritual because of psychological baggage and trauma. This is more of a systemic issue that needs to be addressed. This makes spiritual work too isolated. This is the problem with having all these separate specialists and fields in the modern stage Orange world. It doesn’t allow for a cohesive all encompassing systemic practice. Instead we have to jump around and through a bunch of hoops and make a million niches. Which creates all the expensive and tedious need to see so many different doctors, service providers, etc. I’m not trying to “cut corners.”

Because I know this was possible back in say the 70s but I guess there are tighter restrictions now? I mean, how does someone like for instance Tony Robbins do what he does then? He incorporates a lot from different schools of psychology and psychotherapeutic practices and schools both in his events and people individually and has for decades.

Can one become a licensed hypnotherapist without a college degree? This honestly made my day. The improvision and innovation part I think is absolutely necessary for me. Especially since I’m 23 and living at home with a in SF with no college degree. It’s so hard to backtrack something like this. And plan forward. Paricularly with where I’m at in life. It feels like the monumental impossible thing, paticulary as a wage slave.

@winterknight I was asking about a college degree. I’m asking if one can still be certified and licensed without going to college. Like, can one be licensed in hypnotherapy, psychoanalysis, etc. like can be licensed in life coaching?

I honestly think the thing I admire most about him was what made him such a successful monk: his ABSOLUTE clarity, certainty, and commitment and resolve to his vision and deepest desire. When I read his memoir, it literally brings me to tears because, at least for me, I get this thing of “this is what matters and I really can feel this is worth giving my life to.” If you think about it, by the time he renounced to the time of his massive enlightenment, it really didn’t take him all that long if you think about it. Ive read his memoir 3 times since I got it for my birthday in May and I cry more every time I read it. I truly feel, and maybe I’m wrong and he’s just a talent, but I do think that 100000% clarity and resolution and total surrender is what set him apart even from other yogis and monks. I wish I could just show his story to every seeker that says “that’s all spiritual ego, desire, and attachment! Follow the teaching!” And meanwhile I’m like “look what the people who are telling you this stuff did not what they say!” I met a guy at an Adyashanti Christmas Intensive in Palo Alto on Saturday and he became a Karma Yoga guy just because he felt that hardcore meditation was too much about attachment and spiritual ego after I told him about my vision. This is why I back 1000000000% every time you talk about vision and connecting to a DEEP desire for enlightenment and really anything. If I had to describe my life purpose through a few examples it would be him, Shunyamurti’s ashram and wisdom school and community (still a little iffy on the community since large groups aren’t really a strong suit), Ralston and his writing and also his application with athletics and making that a means of deepening consciousness and skill, and you with your big picture understanding (that’s always been a skill of mine as well. I’ve always had this thing, I don’t know what it is it’s almost automatic and does it on its own that just sees the interconnectedness of everything. I think that’s one of the reasons your work resonates with).

I seriously don’t get why it’s so hard to find a spiral dynamics test... now there’s a business idea for you

Shunyamurti got in this way. However that was back in like the 70s. I imagine it’s probably harder to do that these days and just get a certificate and you’re good. Look into Mantra Yoga. I’m still very skeptical but at this point, I wouldn’t be too surprised if it actually does work. Look into Ancient Science of Mantras by Om Swami (not on Leo’s booklist) @Leo Gura I know Om Swami has mystical experiences when he was super young in dreams and stuff but it seemed like he gained almost all his paranormal abilities post his massive enlightenment. Maybe a lot of this comes down to the investment into what type of Sadhana you do? I don’t want to say Om Swami is a perfect example in it of himself. Obviously most people who reach enlightenment don’t get paranormal abilities but I feel like a lot of it might come down to again, how deep you go into the work.

This means absolutely nothing. Yes if you ask most people on the street if they’re happy most of them are lying both to themselves and to you. All because say they experience things directly doesn’t mean they do. I’m not asking you to believe me. I couldn’t give 2 shits if you believe me if I understand through direct experience or through “reputable sources.” I don’t need nor care to prove anything to you. I can’t prove to you through words (much less behind a screen) that I know this and I don’t care to. You cant know what produces thoughts and emotions without knowing directly what an emotion is and what a thought is. If you haven’t awakened to what the substance of a thought is and what an emotion is, you will not and cannot understand how they work and how they come to pass.

Yeah. Direct experience. Probably the best reputable source I can think of. I don’t care if you agree or disagree. I don’t need some lecture. You want to understand how you work? Observe. This post is about passion and consistency with work. In the end yes passion but you also need just as much commitment and discipline.

Emotions drive your entire life. Period. End of story. That’s not even true sooo

Other way around

Love him. Accept him. Own it

Lying of course is a very big problem and issue for most human beings. However, I’ve been noticing over the last year just how much my suffering, victimhood to the circumstances of my life (internal as well as external), judging, my unhealthy relationships with old friends and my family members is caused by my own lying. I’ve recognized I’ve had a real problem with lying over the last decade or so as a lot of that was projected by my dad whenever I got caught lying as how lying is a part of my identity and is an inherent immoral trait of myself as a person. However, I’ve really been paying more attention to just how much my lying is really a compulsive problem. Like, there’s guys who have tried maybe heroine once in their life but that was it. Then there are the guys who once had their life together in some shape or form and then try this substance and in a short number of years or maybe even months are so attached to this substance that it’s like a lifeline. It’s like a baby and the umbilical cord attached to the mother in order to survive. The 2nd heroine example is like me with lying. When I started really looking into actual honesty with some books both in more emotional sects of self help and also consciousness work and of course through Leo’s video on lying, I really saw the importance of honesty. However, as I started watching just how much I lie and how compulsive it is for me, even more so than other people it seems like, it started shocking me just how much of a quick reflex this is for me. It’s like a conditioned behavior. The more I paid attention to it the more I’m like “every motivation, everything I say to myself and to other people, every gesture and vibe I give off, everything is just a lie. I’m not REALLY telling the truth.” My work became a good place for me to see this at play when I would talk with customers and I’d notice sometimes that when I get tired and more lazy, my character goes on autopilot as I like to put it. I’ll then be talking to a customer and start lying about stuff that’s never happened, I’ll exaggerate, I’ll give off a certain image that isn’t an authentic expression to what’s true, etc. This wasn’t some cool “ah-ha” moment. This was a very emotional upheaving of frustration. It’s like realizing just how much the devil has me a puppet and is totally running the show. I also noticed this, particularly this morning when I finally got to a real breaking point in this whole game, when I forgot I was covering someone else’s shift and and didn’t realize this until my managers texted me. I then jumped to try and find my wallet which I couldn’t find for 15 minutes. Immediately I was pissed off and my mind was running to the races of saying things like ‘why don’t they just give me the shifts I end up having to keep covering?! That way I could just look at the printed out schedule and there wouldn’t be any confusion!’ Then I immediately realized to the bone ‘no. They checked with me if I wanted this shift. I could’ve made a notification in my phone. That’s on me. That’s not their responsibility.’ When I realized that it was like my mind was jerking around for more excuses. I started to get mad at myself, ‘why the fuck do I keep doing this?!’ Then I picked up my phone and was going to text back my manager and noticed all the different ways I was trying to manipulate them by lying. ‘Hey sorry, I was at the bus stop and the bus kept driving. I’m about to catch the next bus. Sorry about all of this. Can’t stand the bus system here.’ All such example raced through at this point I’ve put too much of the puzzle together and then all of a sudden I had the funny insight “I can just stop doing this.” So I picked up my phone and texted them, “Sorry. I forgot I took someone’s shift. I didn’t leave a notification in my phone. I’m going to take maybe an hour to get there but am getting on the bus now.” The big I things I’ve learned are: How much the compulsive need to lie and come up with lying causes suffering just from trying to cover up your own tracks How I truly am creating this and I can get off this boat any point I choose to. How much harder life become by serving lying than the truth How much of a healthier and also empowering cost it is to serve honesty than the unhealthy cheap low grade cost of just serving yourself You can’t change yourself through lying. The moment I had that insight with texting my boss the more I realized just how much more possible change is by honesty. Your entire character as well as my own is made up of lies. Unconsciousness is the glue that holds this fassade together. And man that’s a really sticky glue. This is why daily mindfulness is so critical. You got to have the mindfulness throughout the day to see when you start to go on autopilot and the character that’s to stay alive tries to be sneaky and come back in without you noticing. Self deception is the threshold guardian to change. The truth is so easy to serve that we make it impossibly hard to actually do so. When I realize I’m causing all of a sudden like a lightening bolt to the head just how much I resist something so fucking simple. It really is counterintuitive and a real mindfuck when I realized just how much I make it hard for myself. All suffering is the “punishment” of not serving the truth and instead serving yourself.