Joseph Maynor

Absolutely. I'm going through the process now. It's absolutely possible. It helps to have a vision for where you want to get to and to realize that addictions are hindering you from getting there. With alcohol is as simple as don't buy any. It doesn't get in your mouth without you putting it in there. Alcoholism is an easy one because all you gotta do is "don't do". Nothing could be easier. It's the mind games and the cravings that you gotta recognize and not fall into rationalizing why it's ok to buy some. The mind will do some funny things with addictions. You just gotta put your foot down and say no damit no! I think total cessation is also a good strategy. It's a lot easier to quit when you know you can't have any more. If you're just doing one of those 'I'm quitting for now' things, you'll start back. You can't 'lukewarm quit', it's gotta be a done deal. No more. If you leave the door open, you'll succumb sooner or later. Some Friday afternoon, to celebrate something, to assuage boredom -- there's always an excuse to drink a beer. And the mind will do some twisted things to make it seem a-ok to drink in almost any circumstance. That's why the only sustainable strategy to addictions is total cessation. Same goes for pot. You can't lukewarm quit pot. It's gotta be -- I will never smoke pot again! You gotta be ready to leave pot forever to sustainably quit -- otherwise it's just a matter of time before you smoke again. This whole -- I'm gonna cut down -- yeah, that doesn't work. You can't half-ass quitting something. You gotta say -- the gig is up. It's over for good. I had great times with this -- but, now I realize I gotta let it go for good. And then you just never buy any more ever again. It's that simple. I think one of the worst things the mind does with addictions is convince you that you need the substance to be normal. You don't. And it's not until you quit -- ironically -- that you can appreciate that lie. It's a big lie. You're gonna be just fine when you quit -- and you're gonna feel better too. I feel much better. Sobriety feels really good. It's just that you gotta be sober for a while to appreciate that. It's a perspective that you don't have when you're beholden to some addiction. You're thinking -- man, what am I gonna do without my alcohol, or whatever. Life is gonna suck! But actually, what sucks is to have a bunch of addictions running your life. That really sucks. You don't really appreciate the guilt that addictions cause either until you're sober. Addictions cause huge guilt. You feel guilty and dirty and like a loser. I know. It's something that I'm glad to be leaving behind me, all that guilt and frustration. When you're an addict, you're living with huge amounts of guilt and just plain suffering -- and you know that. You can perceive it. It's there in the background. Nobody wants to be an addict. It's an assault on your dignity to be one. And you pay for that. It takes a toll on your self-esteem and self-image. You almost feel like a fraud, like you can't function without some crutch or mask. Nobody would rationally choose to live that kind of life. It's a shitty life. And you can see how people destroy their lives and end up homeless and selling their bodies, etc. Sometimes I wonder what would happen to the homeless population if all drugs suddenly went away. Would they wake up one morning and go -- I gotta get the hell outta this situation man! What the hell am I doin'!

There is a value to being provocative as a teacher. Here’s Part 2

Here’s a good exercise. Lay down on your bed with this video playing and just maintain mindful awareness of the passing sounds and concepts as Leo talks.

I think so. Same reason that limited nuclear weapons proliferation might be keeping the world safe, ironically.

All you do is maintain mindfulness as you walk.

Carl Rogers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Rogers

Develop a big-picture understanding of life.

Probably the single best tool besides synergizing with other perspectives and my own hard work that’s been responsible for my growth. It codifies your growth. Then you can build off your growth in an objective way because you can see it. You know where you’ve been, and you can see where you’re going. Journaling is for the fabulous few in this work.

Share my path. Show my path. Then they can SYNERGIZE with what I did.

We’ll just have to wait and see. I was thinking he should take 60 days and not make any status videos. Focus on gathering insights for the regular videos instead. You need time off from the pressure for the insights to start to bubble in. If you put too much structure on things or cut it too short, you don’t give yourself enough time and space to work with and mold your insights. Sometimes the Sage must go into his cave in order to better hear the still, small voice of intuition dictate new insights. The busier you are, the harder it is to hear that still, small voice.

Great idea for him to consider.

Nice! Existential Truth and Conceptual Understanding are best when they don’t step on each other’s toes. But they are two necessary components to nurture for the Sage. You need to develop both — and then get their synergy. But yeah — Existential Truth has nothing to do with thought-stories.

I realize it costs money that’s why a lot of people are opining about it. But I would suggest this for people who are opining about this matter — do the Course yourself and then come tell us about what you think about it. Opining about it without going though it is a bit silly. Seriously! You don’t know everything a priori. You need to go through the process and then come out the other end — and then you’ll know. Leo’s Life Purpose Course is like that. Life Purpose is not inconsistent with Enlightenment. Again, do the Course and find out. Stop trying to pre-judge things a priori! That’s a big trap that I see a lot of people making, and some people seem to be more prone to this trap than others are. Life Purpose is part of the big-picture view of reality that you are formulating. A big-picture view of reality is a superpower in this work.

The Life Purpose Course is legit. I did it myself.

Each Perspective has a unique thought-story or conceptual system about what Enlightenment is.

The only way for you to know is to do Leo’s Course. You won’t find out the value of it unless you do it. So, don’t limit yourself a priori. Now, if you did the Course and told me this, that would be a different thing. I would say Life Purpose work is mandatory for people serious on the Path. Why would you forego doing this work? That seems like an unwillingness to explore.

It shouldn’t be. But Enlightenment and Life Purpose are very different things. So, maybe what you need to look at is Life Purpose. What does your Will to Explore want to do? What does your Muse want to do? What is your gift that you are stumbling around to try and deliver to the world? This is why Life Purpose work is so important and very much a necessary thing to do even if you’re Enlightened. You wanna be Enlightened PLUS know your Life Purpose Fully. I recommend doing Leo’s Life Purpose Course, which is what I did. Knowing your Life Purpose is such a critical and powerful thing to have nailed-down on the Path. Then you can just flow into your Life Purpose and not have to worry so much about whether you’re doing the right thing or not. It’s a very empowering thing to know your Life Purpose.

Nice post!

It’s a container-metaphor actually. You don’t exactly have a Mind no more than you have the number 2. The Mind is a thought-story.

A lot of people are stuck in this work because they see the Mind as an adversary. But they’re getting trapped in a thought-story. The Mind is a thought-story! The Mind is a system, a model. We made up the Mind, it’s a fiction, a metaphor, a model, a system.

Mind is a model, it doesn’t actually exist.

@AleksM Glad to know you are staying in touch!

My point of view is the totality of points of view.