Joseph Maynor

That's how I do it and it hasn't hurt me. I hour per day. It seems to hinge on whether you buy into the Kundalini and Chakras Paradigm or not. I don't, so for me Meditation is simply about maintaining mindfulness. Meditation also does a lot of subtle healing for me. These include but are not limited to, making me feel better, making me more aware of the illusion of Maya, making me more centered in the true Self, making me feel more rested and energized.

The word ‘mind’ doesn’t mean one thing, it has a variety of uses. Can you identify some of those uses for us? Meet us halfway by starting with your own contemplation first.

That's what happens when Ego dies.

Sure, but that's not the best place. The more awake you become the more you will be doing meditation all the time. But even the awake person should still do meditation because it has so many benefits. I used to meditate a lot in the park. Find a secluded place and just sit. Listen to the birds and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees.

Why the resistance to saying anything original that pertains to you though? That's my point. You should be talking only about you and you should be open with doing that. The more advanced someone is on the Path, the more they'll naturally do this. They won't be speaking about ideology or arguing, they'll be telling you about what they think and see from their own inner work. The more original stuff that you say about you, the more you're telling us that you're really doing the work. I've probably shared more about my Path than anyone else on the Forum. And from doing that, I can tell you this, that's where you're gonna get your real growth. It's not arguing and debating and clinging to traditions. It's you looking at you and then talking about that very openly and honestly.

Samsara is Hell. This is because Maya is always changing and has you tail-chasing to try to figure things out, not realizing that Maya is an illusion. Release from exactly your suffering is what Moksha is. You express the suffering so well in your writings. Clinging to Ego is Hell.

There's a difference between being idle and being lazy. Oftentimes people confuse the two. Being idle is not being lazy necessarily. Being lazy is putting things off that you know you should be doing because it's just too much effort. Laziness is not putting things off while doing other things that are worthwhile, that's procrastination but not laziness. There's an element of 'that's just too much effort' with laziness. Laziness goes like ham and eggs with putting off doing exercise. You don't want to exercise because it's just too much effort. Laziness is resistance to physical effort, but effort that you know you should be doing. Plain resistance to physical effort is not laziness, because perhaps what you're doing is something you shouldn't be doing anyway. Laziness requires two elements: (1) Not doing something you should be doing, usually physical, and (2) For the reason that it's too much effort. For example, someone who sits on their ass all day long when they know they should be exercising is being lazy.

I believe Leo said he started a couple/few businesses when he was younger.

There are Egoic and Non-Egoic stages of the Path. Turquoise can be Enlightened as f*ck, yet still be clinging to Ego. The key issue for you is, "Am I clinging to Ego or am I watching Ego?" -- where does the meter point on that scale for you? That's the relevant question.

Why do you think it’s well said? Please elaborate.

Can you explain what you agree with and why?

Please elaborate. Anybody can say ‘is not’ or ‘is too’. Give reasons for your conclusion and then a conversation is possible. You left no room for conversation in your dismissive comment. It’s also not clear exactly what your objection is. What’s not the point? Whose point? It’s an attack without any substance behind it, an objection without any foundation we might call it.

Well, we can agree to disagree too. Can your Ego handle that? Why do you feel like you need to correct me? Instead, you should be probing me and asking me for clarification, or just plainly ignoring me if what I say doesn’t resonate with you. I don’t come on here to please your Ego with what I say. Moreover, your above reply is revealing to me regarding your stage of growth. Been there done that. I’m done arguing about Enlightenment, but I will explain myself further if someone requests that I do so either in a post or in a private message. What I say comes from me and is all honest statement. And it comes from my own seeing which is a different source than Thinking. Trying to argue with me about Enlightenment conjures up the old saying, "who do I believe you or my lying eyes?"

Survival is Egoic. The true Self is not worried about survival in Maya. Ditto for success. Ditto for love. Ditto for happiness. All that is Egoic distraction into Samsara (Hell) if clung to too tightly.

Only at the Egoic stages of the Path. There are two stages of the Path: (1) in Ego and (2) out of Ego. 'Out of Ego' doesn't mean there is no more Ego, it just means you ain't identifying with it anymore because you can see that it's an illusion.

'[G]oing to make me happy' is Ego. Ego is never gonna make you happy. That's the big realization that comes with finding the true Self.

You are the Awareness not the Maya -- Awareness of Maya, Awareness of illusory Thought and Experience.

That’s what the Love video sorta is. Leo is only talking to himself in his videos. That's an insight to keep in mind. I am only writing for myself when I write in my Journal as well. Leo's videos are actually a very detailed profile of Leo because it's what Leo wants to tell himself. Ditto for my writings. The idea of helping others is simply an excuse to empty your cup of all these beliefs and Thoughts. It takes a while to see through Ego at this level though. Once you realize you're only talking to yourself, you can still do it (talk to yourself), but you're not gonna be clinging to it the same way as before.

Feel free to come back around whenever you want to.

It's something that is taken care of the more Enlightened you become.

Everything that's said are little hints that might or might not resonate with you. Think of them as little invitations down certain pathways. But at the end of the day, you're only gonna resonate with what you resonate with. And your Path will be what it is. So, don't get too distracted by the menu, just keep aware to what you like. You'll transcend the entire menu at some point anyway.

(1) Everything is me. (2) There is no me.

Yeah, but we gotta use language to communicate. What I'm communicating is 'prior to' language and has nothing to do with Thinking; it's a seeing. It's not like I can mind-meld people without using language. I'm forced to try to put my seeing into words, otherwise it stays with me. So, to communicate, we are forced to use Thought in order to point others to see what we see. Even you're using language to try to refute me. It's a useless game. If my insights resonate with you, take them. If they don't, ignore them or ask me to clarify them. But to argue with me is pointless, and for me to argue with you is pointless. I'm simply sharing my personal development. If you can get something from it, great. If not, it's pointless to argue with me. You don't argue with George Carlin about his approach to comedy. It's who he is. He's just sharing who he is. It's not to be argued with, it's to be taken as more like a work of art. And not everybody resonates with the same art. Ditto for Enlightenment teachings. Do I consider myself to be an Enlightenment teacher? No. But to share insights as I do at this level requires teaching, and so I am a teacher whether I want to be or not to post these insights.

Here's how it happened for me: I needed a lot of theory (and needed to do a lot of writing) to empty my cup. I had to analyze my way out of the cup so to speak, as paradoxical as that is. (And analysis was not enough, seeing was also required too.) Once outside of the cup, practice becomes much more important. Most people are still inside the cup, and they gotta exhaust that before they see that practice is most important. You need to light the fuse of theory and it needs to burn itself out for you however that has to happen and for as long as that has to happen. Just keep doing the work. Eventually, if you're anything like me, you'll be able to let go of the contents of the cup and realize that all of it was illusion and Egoic distraction all along. One characteristic of the true Self is that it exists alone outside of all illusory Maya, outside of all illusory Thought and Experience.