Joseph Maynor

It's kind of a strange place to get to -- to authentically exist. You can't really be too cocky and you can't really be too modest. You know less than you want to know, and that's ok. The most important thing is to be authentic and then most of your problems melt away. And to know is egoic. You can survive just fine without knowing, can't you? This is a paradigm that you probably have never even been exposed to. It's kind of a jump from what you have now. Watch: This is a great explanation by Leo: Another important one to watch:

Listen to this album! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygène

READ THIS FIRST! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every_Red_Heart_Shines_Toward_the_Red_Sun

What's your daily meditation habit like?

What's your daily meditation habit like?

It depends on where you are in your personal development which advice is gonna resonate with you. I think the answer is to find your authentic self and then nurture authentic interests. Hone those to get the bottom layers of Maslow's Pyramid handled in your life. You do authentically want to take care of yourself, the Mind just disconnects you from this desire. So, counter--intuitively, when you discover the no-self, which is your authentic self, you will naturally gravitate to being much more pragmatic about taking care of some of the more mundane needs of a quality, comfortable life. But expect all of your unauthentic desires and goals to fall away. Watch this video: Watch this one too: It's a good one:

Watch these three videos: What is Ego? What is Karma? What's Wrong with Ego?

http://sagewisdom.org/usersguide.html http://www.salvia-divinorum.nl/en/salvia-divinorum-use.html

Ask the question and just let your mind scan over answers. Consider answers and everything else that comes to mind. See what comes up and follow the leads, don't try to control too much in advance.

Good job. Journaling is such a boon to growth. You should do the same exercise on this topic -- "Blocks to becoming your authentic self." Watch this video too:

I only did it for 20 seconds when I was doing it. That is long enough.

Creativity just flows-out for me -- I don't have to try to do it as much as I have to kind of tidy it up to make it presentable. It's like the game Tetris where although you don't choose or make each block, you have to position each block to make it fit in with some reality condition on the ground in the moment. So, a lot of art for me is organizing and presenting raw content after it spills out on the table for me. That raw content just pours out of me, it is "birthed" to coin a term -- birthed out in a rough but inspired form. That's what an artist is. They're basically master communicators, communicators on a much higher level than normal. They always keep their audience in mind too. They're organizers -- they have a knack for how to arrange things to make them cool or hip. They can communicate with anything -- sounds, images, words, etc. I'm not saying I'm a master artist by the way, but I have a taste of it in me. I don't think creativity is bad. It's just a kind of work. That's it. It's pleasurable to go through the creative process. It's a feeling of a collaboration between Nature and you. Sometimes I sit here and watch the keys move on my keyboard and smile. Playing a jazz solo on the bandstand feels exactly the same when it's going well. Most of the time it's not going well though! The creative process gets more neurotic the more pressure you are under to make it perfect right away. The great thing about writing is you have an eraser and you are usually given enough time to revise. A jazz soloist doesn't have an eraser! You learn how to auto-correct when you play jazz where you can riff off any note or idea played and take it wherever the line needs to go to make the solo work. I play jazz trumpet, so I'm not just talking out of my ass here. I learned a lot about creativity playing jazz. You really learn how to honor your Muse, to get out of its way. You gotta know when to interfere and when to just let it happen. That takes intuition and experience to master. Let it flow out and then hone it, shape it. Tell a story with it. Make a trip out of it. Take a person from point A to point B with it. Sometimes all you gotta do is be a good arranger. But it's that heightened sense of communication that an artist has -- you might call that aesthetic sensibility or taste. Being tuned in to rhythm is also closely associated with artistry. Even writing has rhythm, flow, energy, etc. When I do a final read of my writing, I smile to see my fingerprint of aesthetic touch there. Little things like how I used punctuation or how I turned a phrase etc. That was me. Art is the soul-stamp of the artist.

The journey is long and there are some twists and turns along the way too.

If you were your authentic self in full awareness you could not do things that would harm you. This is probably a bit overstated, but it is a cute way to say -- you wouldn't be playing poker all day if you were your authentic self either. But maybe some things will fall away and be added in this process of discovering your authentic self. You are probably doing many things now that run counter to your authentic self. This is because the mind is augmenting reality with a sense of agenda, rules, and control. You are in your own way so to speak. This is causing all your concerns. When you just let go, be aware, and do what the no self does, then you will find out what is natural and what is not. Be prepared for some stuff to fall away. It can be rather shocking. The authentic self is the no self by the way, not any kind of egoic self. Watch:

Don't try to control. Just watch the situations. Be aware of the process. Watch all the emotions and see how these events play themselves out. Be an observer. These are not your emotions. Don't identity with anything. You don't exist. Start to see how the ego, the identity; creates all negative emotions. So -- this is a good time for you! Be happy! Watch and learn. Observation is how you grow.

Start to play a musical instrument of your choice and just start to learn how to jam on that instrument for a while. Then, start to inquire. Your inquiries will have some nice foundation now. Otherwise your mind is just gonna run wild on its own without any footing in reality.

You don't have any control. Just be aware. There is no you that has control! You gotta grok that.

What does it mean to be truly enlightened?

What do you like about her work?

There is a time in life for great study and learning. If you are tapping into that, great! I tapped into it for a long time myself too. Knowledge is important. I hope you are getting a feel of what your authentic self is. That is what you want to start to tap into. Great Video to Watch: I watched it last night myself to review.

Let go and discover who you are.