Joseph Maynor

You gotta have some reason to shake yer ya ya's out. You're just not in the right space for it to click. Instead of bringing the weather with you, you gotta find a way to tap into the vibe. I understand that there is not always a great vibe either. But you have to be in a certain kind of open, freeing, one with nature, no-boundaries mentality.

@Emerald Willpower is an illusion, a concept, a thought-story. If you let go of the small self, your life would clean up automatically. You do not control anything. The mind has made it all up. Once you fully let go and accept and maintain Awareness, your life will be nothing but constant peace and bliss. Whatever happens is whatever happens, and you're cool with it because you realize there is no you controlling anything. Paradoxically, you get "self-control" by letting go of your small self completely. Trust that you will be fine. You never had control in the first place! The only thing that exists is Awareness. The small self is a mental fiction that is picked up in Awareness, but has nothing to do with Awareness per se. The small self is a sensation in Awareness we might say. Free will is also a sensation in Awareness (as a thought). Willpower is similarly a sensation in Awareness (as a thought). Being = Awareness = You. Everything else is mind games.

I'm a fan of the worksheet! The ones Leo made are all good. I did them all.

1. Is your experience of mind becoming more alone? Even when you are *cough* "with people"? I feel like I am all that exists. 2. Is your subjective intake of reality natural? Are you letting this moment speak for itself? Totally neutral, unless stressed into a less-conscious response. 3. Have you started to relate to people you knew differently? Yes. I’m more compassionate and less egotistical. 4. Have you stopped chasing actualized.org and Leo Gura for the "grand prize of the self-actualized, purposeful life"? Yes. The best thing I can do for myself is to let go. I do pretty good even without the false sense of control. 5. Are you feeling more alien to conventional society, how it works , and seen as a disease to the one who seeks to abide in truth? Not really, because that’s all conceptual. The only thing that exists is the moment. But yeah, you gotta watch your intake portals. Garbage in, garbage out. 6. Have you reached the point where " information put in spotlights " ---- (I refer to) books, movies , the news , teachings of spiritual leaders, pop culture and most importantly actualized.org.... are given the skeptical lens ... as that which has yet to stand the testing with (your) subjective experience of this moment ? I don’t need any more teachings. The only teaching is to stop trying to control. You do need to review materials daily to keep you keen on noticing the tricks of the mind though, so you do need theory work and review in enlightenment practice. The mind will fog up your clear lenses, so you gotta wipe the mist off everyday. You don't just become permanently enlightened. The mind is always there trying to interfere. This is why constant mindfulness is so important in enlightenment practice. 7. Has your heart started to burn with the desire of rising beyond the baseline human condition ... aka your reality of now ? Have you started to actively test the theory you study with direct experience aka NOW ? I am totally content in the moment. 8. Have your actions been purified with the fire of awareness such that if you set out to do something ...that it is YOU...wholeheartedly who is doing it ..... not some conceptual, emotional, physical product of your society that's been told to follow an authority ? Yes. I am letting go of control and seeing through the tricks of the mind. The most important teaching of enlightenment is that self-control is an illusion. You do have a certain indirect self-control through mindfulness and Awareness. The higher your Awareness, the better the dream gets for you. But never think you are part of the dream. You are Awareness of the dream. And Awareness alone is curative. Relevant video to watch:

Alright folks! Drumroll . . . . . . . . . . . !! BEING = Non-symbolic, un-centered, empty awareness of fleeting sensations in the moment. Non-symbolic -- a symbol is real but not the thing that it represents. Un-centered means that awareness doesn't have a point of perception. Empty means that awareness is not the content of awareness. Sensations include thoughts.

You wanna know what's even more fascinating? Awareness is more fundamental than logic or set theory or anything the mind conceives as fundamental. Logic doesn't exist but for awareness.

@Serotoninluv People laughed at me when I told them about all the notes I have about enlightenment filling up one of those red accordion folders (or buckets as they're often called). People don't realize that the mind defaults a ton of beliefs and you gotta work a little bit every day to dislodge those beliefs, because the mind will seal them back up on you. These beliefs are called default-positions. Have you watched all of Leo's enlightenment videos yet? I review my enlightenment notes a little bit everyday. That's one of the ways I keep my awareness up -- otherwise the mind will fog the glass so I can't see. So, you do need to get into the nuts and bolts of the theory with Enlightenment. A few glossy generalized pointers is not gonna do it for you. Where enlightenment becomes rich is when you spot all the ways that the mind interferes in reality in real time. The mind is augmenting your reality all the time. The enlightened person is aware of all of this -- not theoretically, but by actually noticing it. The magician sees the fraud in all of his tricks though the crowd does not. You need to see the fraud of the mind -- that's enlightenment a.k.a. maximum awareness. It's true what Leo says that it takes something like 10,000 hours of work to become enlightened. Whether that's literally true or not is neither here nor there. What is true is you gotta strongly engage with the theory, meditation, psychedelics, and the self-observation work like an eager deep-diver looking for the Holy Grail of your life, because that's ultimately what you will find. You need to be able to see through the mind: similar to the magician, who can see the lie in each of his tricks. Once you gain that keen awareness, the mind can't fool you anymore, and all your delusions will simply die on the vine and fall away like autumn leaves. Here's a few relevant videos:

@DoubleYou Haha. You got it!

Ah awareness. This is the most important thing to cultivate. Cure: Mindfulness meditation. Do for at least 15 minutes per day for 30 days. This video also has some nice insights in it about awareness:

The mind can't grab reality. The mind is part of reality. Relevant video:

Zero. No self. No world. People and things are makings of the mind. You're the invisible person. Just because you wore clothing all your life doesn't mean that you always will. Maybe you will become ok with being invisible at some point. Invisibility is beautiful! Spread the word.

Nice. That's what I love about meditation. Every once in a while you get that really great session.

I went though lots of bouts with studying too. Just key into your intuition, is it genuine? If so, honor the Muse. Video right up your alley: