Joseph Maynor

I can play 'All Blues' but not Flamenco Sketches yet. What's cool about all blues is it's in 6/8 time -- basically 3/4 time or what we call a Jazz Waltz. Most jazz tunes are in 4/4 time so it was hard for me to learn how to improvise over 3/4 time to get the right feel. That was the tune I learned when I graduated from like intermediate to advanced. In fact, my first teacher had the chart for 'All Blues' sitting on the table when I came to my first meeting/lesson with him. I used to play with some of these guys: You can actually see me in the front left playing trumpet in the dark jacket and khaki pants: the tune is "Freddie Freeloader"

Which performing art do you practice? I was an amateur jazz musician (trumpet) for about 10 years myself. I played many jam sessions and other gigs.

Being is definitely in California haha.

Being is not a state. Doing psychedelics can help you find being, but being is always there and always accessible -- even when you're sober. You might need to meditate to shrink the Ego down to fully appreciate being -- but you can appreciate being at any time. Thinking being corresponds to a psychedelic state can lead a person to chase like you're describing.

It's ok. But you should be able to meditate without falling asleep. Can you meditate for 2 hours straight without falling asleep?

You know what, this experience is valid. This is me when I was like 25 years old. For somebody in their 20's this is life. I lived it. I don't try to change people in their 20's anymore. It's a unique stage of life. It's a valid stage of life and a special stage of life that has certain characteristics. Things will change for you in your 30's and 40's. I'm 41, for what that's worth.

I think Leo could do a weekly podcast like Joe. Why not? And have different people on. This is a nice avenue to explore. Leo can add a tab to his website that basically mirrors Joe's link below: https://www.joerogan.com/contact/

When you get hit with real obligation you’ll know.

No. But don't turn that into an excuse to be lazy and never work on a Vision. There's takeaway from everything you do, and you're not gonna premeditate all your actions anyway. That said, it's an important part of Personal Development Work to think about Vision and to appreciate the importance of Vision for motivation and for improving your life beyond where your baseline is right now. Video on point to watch:

That’s what practicing No Ego feels like. It’s not all about you anymore. You’re expanding your concern ourside of your own interests. Maybe you see yourself in that old man. One day that will be you. Sooner than most people realize too.

It means that you already know what it is; namely, you've already surrendered to No Ego before. You already know what that is. You just haven't labeled it and associated it with Enlightenment yet. Enlightenment is the ability to see beyond Ego and to be beyond Ego deliberately.

Any system that seeks self-survival and self-interest can be thought to have an Ego. Any system that has preferences about reality and seeks to manifest those preferences in reality can be thought to have an Ego. Any Complex Adaptive System can be thought to have an Ego. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_adaptive_system

Here’s how to approach this kind of question without getting caught up in idle and abstract theory. => List 50 things that you find worthwhile in your own life. Just brainstorm and write out a list. If you can’t make it to 50 then do the best you can to reach 50.

I’ll bite. There are so many good ones. 1 2 3

Be careful you don't turn that dream idea into a belief that you then cling to as "true".

This is an interesting question. It’s a yes and no answer. Yes in the sense that you can’t really genuinely love outwardly unless you care for and love yourself. No in the sense that contributing your strengths to help others is the highest form of love. So you really need both self-love and a love of others.

I would start by writing out a list of pros and cons.

Don’t try to eliminate thoughts. Instead try to understand why the Mind is using thoughts the way it does in certain contexts. Thoughts aren’t just entirely random. Ditto for emotions. Thoughts and emotions are triggered by the mind looking out for your Ego.

Take care of your health.

When Enlightenment Work becomes more like Meditation and less like Philosophy you’ll know.

I think this is a fascinating question because it’s only a question that each person on the Path can look back at their own Path and answer for themselves.

Keep participating on here. People will chime in to help you.

This is natural.

I think you have a tendency to get caught up in these disempowering narratives and you don’t realize you’re stuck in them. You don’t realize that you're stuck in all these stories about your life. Enlightenment is supposed to help you get out from underneath those kinds of debilitating narratives. I’m surprised that hasn’t really clicked for you yet. Your mind has you by the balls. You take every negative thought and emotion personally! You compound your own suffering by clinging too much to the mind and getting personally offended by reality. That is exactly what Enlightenment Work should be fixing in you. And until you can do that you don’t really know what Enlightenment is. Enlightenment will take away your neurosis, that’s the first tell-tale sign that somebody is getting it with Enlightenment Work — they become calmer and more grounded. It could be that psychedelics could help you. I think what would help you though is just to get out of your own limiting-beliefs and shitty stories that you cling to about yourself. You’re obsessed with the mind’s stories, and you keep re-recreating them too. Your mind is trying to protect you on some level, so if I were you I would try to find out why your mind is always trying to hold you back. The best thing to do is realize that what the mind is doing is trying to protect your Ego. The mind is like a very over-protective neurotic mother that you gotta keep at arms-length. You should be able to better detach from your mind at a certain point in your Enlightenment Work.

Take all your goals, tasks, and projects that you want to do and just get all of that into one single list first. That’s what I’m calling a list of 50 objectives. Most people never do this kind of consolidating work. When you have one document with your top 50 objectives it will be worth it.