Joseph Maynor

What does ‘shady’ even mean? What a slippery word that is. Maybe ‘shady’ just means ‘I don’t like it and not I now need to pin a word to it to make it sound somewhat objective’. My meal is shady. My bank account is shady. My life is shady. My face is shady!

Not true. Reading factors into Enlightenment. Your whole life experience factors into Enlightenment.

To me it was. I never had a chance to ask if it was worth it. I had a passion for it. I had no choice.

Having a good teacher that can get through to you is probably more effective than any psychedelic could be. But then that’s tricky too because your teacher has to know how to help you through your particular blocks. A lot of the time teachers are only sorta obliquely resonating with you. That’s because they’re speaking to you from their perspective. What you need is a teacher that groks your perspective. That can be hard especially if you’re a stubborn person like me. I had to figure Enlightenment out for myself by about 3 years of hard work. Sure I listened to YouTube videos, but I took most of them with a grain of salt. And then the final shift happened to me without any psychedelic catalyst at all. Enlightenment is very different than any description of Enlightenment, that’s what’s tricky about it. What psychedelics do is they increase mindfulness in a person who is properly trained on what to do with them. But I’m a little leery of the claim that any psychedelic is a ‘magic pill’ for Enlightenment. That ain’t true. Enlightenment took me over 3 years of almost constant work. Enlightenment is the realization that your life is 100% inside-out. What you think is alive is dead and what you think is dead is alive. That takes a long time to settle in — and the shift is not something you can force. It happens on you. It comes to you, you don’t come to it. But if you don’t do the work, probably it will never come to you. So, psychedelics are a tool in the toolbelt for Enlightenment work, but not a guarantee of any quick fix.

The only person that exists is you. You’re the only thing that can become Enlightened. There is no other. What’s happening is your Awareness is stuck in Maya and wants to get free but doesn’t quite yet have the experience to do that. I can see myself in you as well. This is where compassion is born in me. That’s the kind of suffering that goes away post-Enlightenment. And man is that a relief. You’re no longer gonna be cutting off your nose to spite your face post-Enlightenment.

You’re only fighting yourself — that’s what you don’t grok yet. It’s ok, not many people do. But one day you might see it. And when you do, that will change everything for you.

Leo’s video on Shadow Work is so long overdue. Seriously, I can’t believe he’s waited so long to do a video on Shadow Work.

There you go. First find out what Enlightenment is and then come tell us about it.

What about your worldview? To me your worldview seems kinda out of balance, at least as evidenced by your conduct. How old are you?

Look at all these people forming excuses not to have to educate themselves more hehe.

Trump is you.

No. Non-duality is all you.

HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF HOW MY DAILY MEAL PLAN MIGHT GO -- AND I VARY THIS UP TOO, I DON'T EAT THE SAME THING EVERYDAY -- IT'S IMPORTANT TO LEARN HOW TO COOK AND MAKE FOOD AS PART OF YOUR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORK Snack 1 -- Some raw carrots Breakfast -- Four egg plain omelette Lunch -- A plate of beans Snack 2 -- Some steamed veggies Dinner -- Meat (Pork, Chicken, Fish) and veggies cooked in the oven as a side Snack 3 -- A few Greek olives

You just gotta jump in there and start working. Maybe practice here on the Forum like I did. That's what I did. You need to take 100% responsibility to just jump in there and start working. You're not gonna know what to do up front. What you do is just start working hard on your Life Purpose Work every day -- it should come natural to you if that's your Life Purpose. Start doing personal development bigtime on yourself. Start teaching personal development as you have insights. Start writing about personal development. And then stuff will start to emerge for you as to what you should do. You're not gonna know much in advance. Life Purpose Work is a life-long project -- it's the main project of your life.

Trying to remove Ego from experience is clinging to the 'Paradigm of Self' because what you're doing is trying to pick and choose experience. BE-ing is surrendering to the moment without pre-judgments or pre-expectations. I wouldn't say the Ego needs to be integrated because that's something a 'Self' would say, I would say that the Ego needs to be accepted as part of Experience.

I’ve done all the worksheets myself. Super valuable. That’s where you do the real work.

Perhaps Leo can create a link on his website with all the worksheets. That’s a good idea.

You can't love doing great things for yourself until you love yourself.

I used to feel that when I felt sorry for myself. I used to relish in feeling sorry for myself and I would get that feeling you're describing behind the chest.

You gotta realize that you're never mature enough for a relationship. Nobody is. Relationship management skills are like any other rare and valuable skill, you gotta work on them your entire life. Be willing to fail in relationships. Go into all relationships with the assumption that sustainability is never a guarantee. This also includes your relationship with your 'Self'. Friends come and go, relationships come and go.

Read 'Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius' by Ray Monk This book had a huge impact on my life when I read it in my late 20's. I also re-read it in my early 30's too. https://www.amazon.com/Ludwig-Wittgenstein-Genius-Ray-Monk/dp/0140159959 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein

Maybe facing your fears is unnecessarily torturing yourself as well. It's the 'Self' that wants to face its fears. This is not how an Enlightened person talks: 'Remember, this is your individual journey, your demons, your fears. Do not avoid any hard work, such as facing your deepest fears. You cannot get there without facing them.' This is what I call cultivation of a 'Spiritual Ego'. The idea that Enlightenment is something for you. Enlightenment is not a destination. Enlightenment is surrendering to BE-ing right now in the moment without pre-judgments or pre-expectations. Videos on point to watch: