Joseph Maynor

It's gonna be ok. Enlightenment people are no more ornery than regular people are. Maybe just a little more in denial about it. Denial ain't a river in Egypt. None of us are immune to it. That said, I think Leo is just pissed that he has to deal with the pettiness on here. He seems to be a very focused guy and doesn't want to waste his time. I can appreciate that. Maybe we're all wasting too much time blathering on here. This stuff needs to be applied and I think being on this forum is a distraction from doing that. Sure, dip your toe into the books for a short while, but you gotta know when to get off the dole after a while too. Otherwise we're just all talk and no action. Myself included. And you wonder how much help our opinions really give to others, and if they are even listening. You spend time to craft a beautiful response, and the other person is not even in the space to hear you. So, you kinda wasted your time, did you not? Better to focus on your own growth. At least your work goes directly towards your life purpose then. I still like to contribute on here and will contribute on here. But I came to that realization myself yesterday. Being on here -- can be but is not always -- a subtle form of procrastination. Balance is key. People that are here all the time probably do themselves a huge disservice, Leo included. Unless you are really putting into practice everything you learn on here. In that case, you should be more enlightened than Leo is by now. You should be more enlightened more than even Osho was by now if you really study here and make a practice of it. But nobody really does that. We often come here not to work, which is problematic. And I realize this tough medicine applies to me too, I'm not taking exception for myself here. If the shoe fits . . . .

Ok.

Maybe I am asking too many questions. I probably am. I'll take a break for a couple of days. Too much of a good thing can be harmful too. I gotta let things re-harmonize for me so I can integrate my new findings and information. I'll give you folks an overdue break from my neurosis for a while.

No, the questions are different. Go back and read them again if you have to. Don't accuse people.

True. I do fall asleep sometimes.

@John Iverson Woah I didn't realize you asked the same question as me basically. That's a trip, we both had the same question today. That's pretty random.

This is where you keep your focus on awareness itself. I really like this type of meditation that Leo taught us in one of his meditation videos. I think "How to Meditate Deeper" is it. It kinda feels like a concentration practice though since you are focusing on one thing.

@2000 Yeah. What's tripping me out right now is seeing that the thoughts I perceive are not my own. They are simply part of what is. Like a boulder on the side of a mountain. I guess this extends to emotions too. They are not my own. They are like passing ships in the night. Of course my self-image is not me, and that's been the wackiest one to purge. I did a bunch of work before unsettling self-image, but I'm taking that one up a notch too now which is very unsettling but freeing at the same time. I still don't understand why my feeling that I act has to be illusory. Or, let's express it non-dualistically the feeling that action is being made. I don't have to identify as the actor in order to perceive an act taken. This might be sounding bizarre. It's getting late where I live.

Control and anger are definitely in there somewhere.

Check out Nathaniel Branden's books on self esteem. There half-a-dozen on Audible.com which are all good. I have them all. This will work on re-building your self esteem.

Start building some routines. This is what started me on the path.

Maybe a good idea for a video Leo. Out of the head and into the body. I'll have to start to practice this stuff too per your recommendation to me. I didn't even know about this stuff before.

Hard to say. If you got exposed to the right theory and teachers, perhaps. Assuming you don't flounder around so long like the rest of us did. Sure. Move towards it. Watch all of Leo's videos. Keep partipating on here and don't be scared to ask questions or to look stupid. That's what I did. I'm a shameless man lol. I've always been pretty shameless. With enlightenment work being shameless can help you because if you don't bounce ideas off of people who can help you, that's where you get stuck. And often times when you are stuck you don't even realize you are. These are called blind-spots. Enlightenment work is full of blind-spots. So, yeah it's possible, the question is whether you will rise to the occasion. But then again, I'm not as enlightened as most people are on here. I'm like still at the intermediate stage of enlightenment, not the advanced stage. But you gotta take your own bull by the horns and speak up and engage the people on here to help you. This place is a goldmine if you use it. But people aren't gonna come to you, you gotta come to them. Be eager to learn and grow.

What's wrong with Solipsism? I was beginning to like Solipsism until you came along and burst my bubble! Now what do I do! I found Solipsism to be very rational and comforting to tell you the truth! No lie. I wanna be everything and nothing at once. I was happy that other people do not get to exist! I'll watch the video. I'm gonna watch this video now.

From Leo. I hated the concept at first.

He just wants us all to behave. That's it. No stupid shenanigans!

Doesn't this thesis or concept put us a tad into the matrix too? A tad into theoretical idealism? Reality just is. The ego is concept, an idea. I can cling to or release the concept of ego. I do not need to define or view myself or reality through that prism. In fact, it seems erroneous on the surface to do so, does it not? It's like an apple believing it's a Red Delicious in some fundamental way.

@Nahm Thanks. Honesty is the best policy. At the end of the day. Unless you're a dick, honesty is the best policy. And maybe even for the dick too, I guess it depends on the context.

@Nichols Harvey I am beyond the stage of correcting others now. I have a deeper grasp of what reality is too. And also what ego is. I feel more peace and love now than ever. And I'm pretty sure I am at stage yellow too. I guess yellow never gives up green. Green learns to love and the importance of love. So, I have made some enlightenment progress. Maybe not as much as you have, but I'm definitely on the path further-up than where I was when I came on here. So, kudos to you folks for tolerating me. Nobody's perfect in the beginning. Let's remember that. There's a learning-curve to this stuff and then after that there's a practice-curve. I'm not interested in attacking anybody anymore. Unless you want me to. Hey, if you want me to, I'll do it with relish haha out of a sense of amusement and contribution (with emphasis on the latter of course). If you ask for it and it helps you, why not? But you gotta ask me first. I don't care otherwise. I am tender-hearted and want to help other people, but I don't want to play the role of healer either. That can turn into a distraction from my own growth. It's a tough balance as you know yourself to negotiate this dilemma. I gotta worry about my own personal development first and remember that always. And I still have a lot of work to do. It's like the old saying when you point a finger at someone you are pointing three right back at yourself. That saying is very wise. Here's a video from Leo that I find really good for my growth right now. Maybe you can find time to watch it. Thanks friends.

@Nichols Harvey Gotcha. Interesting. I gotta make sure I am not being too much of an idealist regarding reality. I'll consider this in the next couple of days and see if I see any shifts. It's interesting that there are parallels in epistemology in Western Philosophy to this -- The shift from Hume to Moore. It's the person that doesn't think they're being idealistic who often is. Common-sense ain't to be underestimated.

You think reality is illusory?

Is this based on this premise and argument: The idea that our theory of consciousness as existing in the head is erroneous. Therefore we need an expanded theory of consciousness and awareness that perhaps extends beyond what we think of as the psyche. Thus a notion of body-mind seems to at a minimum cause us to redress our myopia regarding how we ordinarily conceive of consciousness and become open to expanding our conception of consciousness.

The reputation feature rewards participation though. In that sense the reputation feature is cool. It's fun. Nothing wrong with a bit of fun. I think it's kind of tongue in cheek myself. I'm an expert. Sometimes I sound like an expert too ironically. But sometimes I probably sound like a caricature of one. Like the Nutty Professor. So it cuts both ways. Everybody starts off as a Greenhorn too no matter how smart they are. I like that.

I'm a Sagittarius and I fit my sign very well.