Leo's Blog Discussion Mega-Thread

[Leo Gura]

Ambition leads to quite a bit of violence, because it largely comes from an insatiable ego.

Which is why America is so violent and doesn't make the top 10 in peace or happiness.

Edited October 18, 2024 by Leo Gura

[Davino]

Peace and societal well-being don't have a simple linear relationship. Too much peace can breed complacency and weakness, especially in younger generations unused to hardship. War, obviously, has immediate devastating effects.

I'm particularly interested in the downsides of very peaceful societies. These negatives are less obvious than the clear harms of violent societies, but potentially important. Peaceful societies might lack resilience or struggle to adapt to challenges. They could become overly risk-averse or lose certain valuable traits that adversity tends to cultivate. I don't glorify conflict, but I certainly acknowledge that some level of challenge or adversity might be necessary for societal health and individual development. 

Geographic challenges shape national character. The Maltese and Georgians, facing historical invasions and strategic locations, developed resilience and perseverance. Icelanders, relatively isolated, didn't face the same pressures and thus didn't cultivate these specific traits. Adversity can forge certain virtues in a population. It's not that Icelanders lack positive qualities, but rather that their unique circumstances led to different cultural adaptations. Hence their peaceful attitude to life, they could afford it in a way.

 

[Husseinisdoingfine]

Dear Leo, how dare you insult best Korea. How are they a failed state when they produce such slick military ads?

 

Edited October 18, 2024 by Husseinisdoingfine

[LordFall]

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Trump is so dangerous that I don't talk about him enough.

You guys don't understand how corrupt he and the people around him are. It's way worse than you think and his reelection would be disastrous.

Would you make a video breaking him down similar to how you did with Jordan Peterson? 

[Rafael Thundercat]

6 hours ago, Davino said:

Peace and societal well-being don't have a simple linear relationship. Too much peace can breed complacency and weakness, especially in younger generations unused to hardship. War, obviously, has immediate devastating effects.

Agree with the nuance you are asking. I am in Portugal now and yes, is relatively Peacefull but also Full of Elderly people, young people going away from the country to other European places looking for oportunities, a housing Crisis in the main Capitals and other Institutional and Infrastuctural problems, yes peacefull but also sort of no real Growth going on. Some expats from rich countries are thriving here since some are retired elders that recive good retirement and live above the population quality of life, but for the locals or some of the locals life quality is decreasing. Fires and Very Dry Summers are Desertifing the land year by year. And as far as I see the Farming is low, the soil is mostly Rocky and big dependency on Turism as a main source of GDP. So the Question or Dilema is: Do you want to live peacefully in a Broke place or Life in a Difficult place where things are happening?

[Davino]

@Rafael Thundercat Indeed it's a delicate equilibirum that needs to be stablished.

[Ulax]

16 hours ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

Dear Leo, how dare you insult best Korea. How are they a failed state when they produce such slick military ads?

 

Life purpose identified  

[Davino]

https://www.actualized.org/insights/actualized-quotes-072

This quote reminded me about the stories of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange

[aurum]

Re: Global Peace Index

I agree with @Davino in that I’d like to see an index that is more holistic in its assessment. A meta-index, if you will.

I have some statistical training and could probably make something like this. The biggest limitation I see is that our data collection for spiritual development is woefully inadequate, with the Global Spirituality Index being the closest thing I could find. This is expected but also unfortunate from our POV.

Really someone here could make a whole Life Purpose out of improving our data collection around spiritual development. Many of the people tracking these things don’t know what to look for, or that its even worth collecting data on.

Edited October 19, 2024 by aurum

[Davino]

@aurum  It's just another index. My point was about understanding that index and if more was better as the given assumption supposes.

1 hour ago, aurum said:

Really someone here could make a whole Life Purpose out of improving our data collection around spiritual development. Many of the people tracking these things don’t know what to look for, or that its even worth collecting data on.

I agree but it's hard to say. There's no easy way to measure consciousness and different individuals value diverse states of consciousness so, hard to make a global spirituality index. Although it's certainly an interesting challenge to ponder. 

[Davino]

I've certainly seen the the tail of the tiger of corruption. An episode would be real crude.

Idk, maybe consider posting the more extreme material just on the blog. Like the video you are planing on terrorism.

[aurum]

5 hours ago, Davino said:

I agree but it's hard to say. There's no easy way to measure consciousness and different individuals value diverse states of consciousness so, hard to make a global spirituality index. Although it's certainly an interesting challenge to ponder.

It's a multi-generational project. We just need to improve it over time.

A real simple way to start would be international surveys on non-dual experiences. What percentage of people report having an awakening? This could be done today with enough will to do it.

Edited October 19, 2024 by aurum

[What Am I]

1 hour ago, aurum said:

Its a multi-generational project. We just need to improve it over time.

A real simple way to start would be international surveys on non-dual experiences. What percentage of people report having an awakening? This could be done today with enough will to do it.

Pretty cool idea for something worthwhile to track, but a survey seems like it'd be prone to quite a bit of exaggeration on the respondent's part. Someone can easily say "I once felt like I was one with everything." But as you should hopefully know, that's likely very different from the real thing. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to find out over 99% of humans on the planet are entirely unaware of awakening as a potential.

Still though, I'd be interested to know how many have genuinely done it and where they're located. Perhaps using something more objective, like an EEG looking at atypical brainwave signatures identified via meditation masters in various studies. Obviously that wouldn't scale well to a worldwide effort, but it seems far more foolproof than simply asking someone and then taking their word for it.

Edited October 19, 2024 by What Am I

[aurum]

1 hour ago, What Am I said:

Pretty cool idea for something worthwhile to track, but a survey seems like it'd be prone to quite a bit of exaggeration on the respondent's part. Someone can easily say "I once felt like I was one with everything." But as you should hopefully know, that's likely very different from the real thing. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to find out over 99% of humans on the planet are entirely unaware of awakening as a potential.

Still though, I'd be interested to know how many have genuinely done it and where they're located. Perhaps using something more objective, like an EEG looking at atypical brainwave signatures identified via meditation masters in various studies. Obviously that wouldn't scale well to a worldwide effort, but it seems far more foolproof than simply asking someone and then taking their word for it.

We are not getting an EEG of everyone's head.

Surveys are a great place in science to start research. They are budget friendly, convenient and easily translate to practical data. Very pragmatic.

The fact that surveys also have a lot of flaws doesn't really matter in this case. The point is not to do perfect science, the point is to get momentum and build the science over time. Let future researchers improve things and do better.

Edited October 20, 2024 by aurum

[What Am I]

1 minute ago, aurum said:

We are not getting an EEG of everyone's head.

Surveys are a great place in science to start research. They are budget friendly, convinent and easily translate to practical data. Very pragmatic.

The fact that surveys also have a lot of flaws doesn't really matter in this case. The point is not to do perfect science, the point is to get momentum and build the science over time. Let future researchers improve things and do better.

I generally agree with much of what you're saying, but are you going to address the fact that nobody knows what awakening is? Although coincidentally, I guess the propagation of billions of surveys would itself spread knowledge of the topic.

[aurum]

33 minutes ago, What Am I said:

I generally agree with much of what you're saying, but are you going to address the fact that nobody knows what awakening is?

1) I'd say enough people do to make it worthwhile. You could work the language and phrasing to make it more accessible.

2) If people don't know, that's also data that we want. The point is to get the data about where we are at, not to get a specific result.

3) You wouldn't be propagating billions of surveys. Surveys work by selecting a smaller population and then extrapolating from there. Surveying an entire population is basically never done.

[What Am I]

9 minutes ago, aurum said:

1) I'd say enough people do to make it worthwhile. You could work the language and phrasing to make it more accessible.

2) If people don't know, that's also data that we want. The point is to get the data about where we are at, not to get a specific result.

3) You wouldn't be propagating billions of surveys. Surveys work by selecting a smaller population and then extrapolating from there. Surveying an entire population is basically never done.

Ah gotcha. I disagree with number 1 as being effective, because real awakening is a very specific experiential thing that resists being accurately described by virtue of it transcending language. But you make an excellent point with number 2, and number 3 clearly shows you're more familiar with the process of surveying than I am. I don't know what made me think we'd need to ask each individual on earth. Pretty silly in retrospect.

Anyways, it is a cool idea. Hopefully one day it's a data point we'll be able to collect.

Edited October 20, 2024 by What Am I

[Puer Aeternus]

Since I know Leo has mentioned it a few times before including the blog the other day, how can one get unstuck from/avoid being "blackpilled" on reality and humans?  

This is something I've definitely gotten pretty deeply sucked into before and am slowly emerging from now, but pointers would definitely be useful!

 

[Yimpa]

@Puer Aeternus deconstruct yourself

[Bobby_2021]

Started a thread on this blog: https://www.actualized.org/insights/north-vs-south-korea 

The comparison is thrown out of context most of the times. Let me know what you think!