Joseph Maynor

I think the way to be an Enlightened master is to aid others on the Path in useful ways: the emphasis is on helping others not on aggrandizing yourself. I think it's also about being humble too, to not be too bought in to any theory of Enlightenment, and to impart without imparting if that makes sense. At the end of the day your own personality and energy as a guide is much more useful than what comes out of your mouth in the form of theories. It's who you are that matters not what you say so much. Enlightenment should be changing who you are -- the kind of person you are. And that's what people can spot and say, "This person has done some Enlightenment Work, maybe I should ask them if they might have a tip for me on my Path." You're not pushing yourself on other people saying -- I am the master, no. People come to you because they can see that (if it's the case), they don't need you to tell them anything. It's like that famous quote: "What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say."

Yep. There you have it.

I will always be more comfortable calling myself a personal development coach rather than a "spiritual teacher". I'm starting to see a danger/ trap that a narcissistic Ego-Mind can transition into with a Spiritual Ego formation. A person with a God Complex can easily operate as a "spiritual teacher". And this is sneaky because that massive narcissistic Ego has to be expressly denied although it's right there in plain view for everyone to see.

Here's a great video to watch if you haven't seen this one:

I takes some work. I think dudes are wired to compare themselves to other men. I think this is what women don’t really understand about men because women are in part blocked from fully understanding men. Men compare themselves to other men just like women compare themselves to other women. And before you say I understand — do you, really? Are you walking in the shoes of being a man in the world?

I think she has a bit of that Spiritual Ego I’ve been seeing. Here’s a video that I didn’t post in my Journal under the topic of Spiritual Ego because it didn’t sit well with me. My intuition can read stuff pretty quickly. I’ll let you decide, I’m not clinging to pushing my views down on anybody.

The reason why Meditation appears to suck is because the Ego-Mind is not satisfied with being when it sees it — it’s like underwhelming to the Ego-Mind, so it’s overlooked. Being is a funny thing in that way. That’s what makes the Path so confusing to people who are still very much operating from Ego — which is basically everybody on the first part of the Path.

That's why you can't BS your way too far on the Path. As you marinate on the Path more and more, The Ego is not so much out front with Spirituality as it is at the beginning of the Path.

Yep. You got it. I learned more about spirituality playing jazz than I did from any book or "teaching". That's what makes me so grounded without needing to cling to all kinds of Metaphysics and beliefs. My spirituality was discovered and cultivated long before I knew anything about Enlightenment Work. Music is also the universal language.

I would question the premise that you're gone "outside the Matrix" to begin with.

Once you realize that your Mind is there to serve your Ego, you can easily deal with the Mind and appreciate the Mind. It puts everything into context.

Honesty, I think listening to music all my life has made me more in touch with my emotions and not less. To me music is an avenue to spirituality. It has been my whole life.

I think everybody on the Path can cite some examples of fake Enlightenment that they themselves have fallen prey to.

I get it. I understand what you are trying to communicate.

What is self-actualization?

That's still a little bit too philosophical. You're still clinging to a view of reality that you're laying on top of being. You guys are all clinging to Metaphysics like religious people cling to needing a father figure.

That's what happens to the Ego-Mind, it gets minimized. But meditation shouldn't be a change or a forcing of what is there. Being is an allowing of reality to be what it is.

To me it is the #1 habit for beginners and advanced persons on the Path alike.

Exactly. And even if you do fall asleep, sometimes that's just as well. Sometimes my meditation is a combination of sleep and meditation. I'm not overly rigid with myself when I lie down. Most of the time I just do the right kind of healing that needs to be done with the free time I have at the moment.

This is how I meditate. I use an eye-cover to keep my visual field dark. And I lay down in the comfort of my bed and meditate. I never sit up, and I never do strong-determination sitting. Why torture yourself with that stuff? What do you gain by doing so? It seems like my way of doing meditation is more comfortable. Like floating on a cloud of pillows sometimes! I've been meditating like this for over a year, 1 hour everyday. I tried meditating sitting up a couple of times and it seemed overly burdensome. As long as you are maintaining awareness, what does it matter if you lie down or sit up? It seems like a lot of people are doing meditation in a way that's too hard. What supports the belief that meditation should be done sitting up rather than lying down? Sure, sometimes you fall asleep. But not normally for me. I've also fallen asleep sitting up too.

Explain consciousness? What would it mean to explain consciousness? What is consciousness? You see how you take these conceptual presumptions for granted?

Video on point to watch:

Why do you think one has to be "bothered" (using your word) just because they have a contrary view? One of the things I like about Leo is he doesn't insist that I believe his views at all. Honestly I think your clinging to truth keeps you from being -- but that's for really really smart people.

When you know what being is you can. I can commiserate with being anytime I want to by meditating.

I stopped drinking coffee basically. Today I had a small decaf coffee which seemed to have as much caffeine in it as a normal coffee. But I remembered that coffee is good for your liver when I drank it.