Leo's Blog Discussion Mega-Thread

[Eskilon]

I like Leo's post about New Age Fantasy. It is important to balance open-mindness with rigor. But, you can really favor rigor really, because you dont know if rigor is really true. Wheter the pyramids were built by aliens or by humans, you cant really know; you were not there. You need to be open to the possibility that the crazier theory might be true, whether it is more probable or not. You cant really just side with probability and discart the alien outcome just because it is more hippie or new agey and not grounded in anything reasonable. Because again, you don't know whether probability itself is true. You need deep not-knowing and open-mindness when investigating anything seriously. True rigor is when the rigor eat itself.

Edited February 20 by Eskilon

[The Crocodile]

No, the problem is that Leo fundamentally misunderstands what aliens are at all.

[Leo Gura]

33 minutes ago, Eskilon said:

But, you can really favor rigor really, because you dont know if rigor is really true.

Rigor turned into a dogma leads to its own kind of self-deception and falsehood.

However, intellectual rigor is a superior strategy to intellectual sloppiness.

Truth-seeking is kinda like good investing, is not about always being right, it's about discipline on solid principles and strategy, rather than doing whatever feels good.

There is no problem with aliens building the pyramid as a hypothesis. But then you must bring the data to back it up, or shut up about it.

A principle of good epistemology is that you don't go around speculating and promoting ideas which you have no solid evidence for, just because you love the idea or it feels intuitively true.

Discipline your mind to stick to the sound data and recognize when your mind floats off into fantasy.

It is obvious that someone like Graham Hancock is reasoning backwards from his conclusions. He wants and needs there to be an advanced lost civilization -- he is attached to that romantic idea -- and then he travels the world cherrypicking data to justify his conclusion. This is bad epistemology which leads to self-deception. That is not how to do truth-seeking.

If there was solid evidence for aliens building the pyramids I would be all for it. But there isn't.

Edited February 20 by Leo Gura

[The Crocodile]

4 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

There is no problem with aliens building the pyramid as a hypothesis. But then you must bring the data to back it up, or shut up about it.

No, all this is not fancy or delusion, it is part of an occult science... and it is not merely auto-suggestive or hallucinatory in its results, but, if one can get the key, veridical and verifiable. Your scepticism may be natural in a 'modern' man... natural but not justifiable, because very obviously inadequate to the facts observed; but once you have seen, the first thing you should do is to throw all this vapid pseudo-science behind you, this vain attempt to stick physical explanations on supraphysical things, and take the only rational course. Develop the power, get more and more experience, develop the consciousness by which these things come; as the consciousness develops, you will begin to understand and get the intuition of the significance.

[Davino]

Reading through D-Limonene felt like an alchemy wisdom recipe.

 

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Davino said:

Reading through D-Limonene felt like an alchemy wisdom recipe.

I didn't even mention that it can be used for non-toxic drug synthesis and extraction.

Edited February 20 by Leo Gura

[Ero]

The last post about relativity raises a point that is so under appreciated. It reminded me of my favourite quotes from Leibniz:

[Yimpa]

“Reality is so metaphysically twisted that you cannot even say that the nose and tail of your dog exist at the same time!”

Paradoxically, I/you/we just did 

[LifeEnjoyer]

I'm on day 4 of no weed through the help of Leo's addiction video and some other members on this forum who helped illuminate how I was torturing myself with the substance. I've "quit," many times before, but this time it feels like I'm coming at it from the right angle

To see that video Leo posted on his blog hit me hard, wow. Synchronicities in my life have been popping off recently, it's wild. I love it.

[Basman]

@Leo Gura Do you think that Tony Robbins himself is a scam or just self-help gurus that associate with him? I've read one of his books and I understand why its so popular. Its great basic level success oriented self-help so I can't see how Tony Robins himself as a scam.

[gettoefl]

11 hours ago, Basman said:

@Leo Gura Do you think that Tony Robbins himself is a scam or just self-help gurus that associate with him? I've read one of his books and I understand why its so popular. Its great basic level success oriented self-help so I can't see how Tony Robins himself as a scam.

I'd say the problem with Tony is he wants you for life. That's not a teacher, that's a master in need of more and more doting slaves. Notice how these people worship Tony. A good teacher wants you to be the next teacher and wants you to flea the coupe, rather than sign up for the next conference.

[Vynce]

14 hours ago, LifeEnjoyer said:

I'm on day 4 of no weed through the help of Leo's addiction video and some other members on this forum who helped illuminate how I was torturing myself with the substance. I've "quit," many times before, but this time it feels like I'm coming at it from the right angle

To see that video Leo posted on his blog hit me hard, wow. Synchronicities in my life have been popping off recently, it's wild. I love it.

Great to hear. Quitting from anything all by oneself can be super tough. Asking from dealing with a lot of addictions my self: 

What is the problem and how is weed a solution to it? 

or in other words:

In which situation is weed the next best thing to make yourself better?

 

This was a good starting point for me to understand morphine and porn for me.

[Leo Gura]

14 hours ago, Basman said:

@Leo Gura Do you think that Tony Robbins himself is a scam or just self-help gurus that associate with him? I've read one of his books and I understand why its so popular. Its great basic level success oriented self-help so I can't see how Tony Robins himself as a scam.

Robbins is not a scam, self-help is not a scam, the problem is the corrupt way in which it is marketed and sold. And also the shallow materialistic versions of it. There is a grifty quality to Tony Robbins and his ilk. There is a fakeness to it, as you saw in that video.

It's similiar to religion. Religion is not a scam but it is so corrupt.

If McConaughey wanted to do a legit self-help course he could, but instead he got seduced by the Tony Robbins crew into this fake cringe grift. And the problem is that Tony Robbins' crew have deluded themselves into thinking this is an acceptable way to teach personal development. This is like preachers who tell you that God will give you a place in heaven if you just send a check for $100 dollars.

Edited February 23 by Leo Gura

[Leo Gura]

15 hours ago, LifeEnjoyer said:

I'm on day 4 of no weed through the help of Leo's addiction video and some other members on this forum who helped illuminate how I was torturing myself with the substance. I've "quit," many times before, but this time it feels like I'm coming at it from the right angle

To see that video Leo posted on his blog hit me hard, wow. Synchronicities in my life have been popping off recently, it's wild. I love it.

Good work. Keep at it.

Sober life is king.

Edited February 23 by Leo Gura

[Unlimited]

17 hours ago, LifeEnjoyer said:

I'm on day 4 of no weed through the help of Leo's addiction video and some other members on this forum who helped illuminate how I was torturing myself with the substance. I've "quit," many times before, but this time it feels like I'm coming at it from the right angle

To see that video Leo posted on his blog hit me hard, wow. Synchronicities in my life have been popping off recently, it's wild. I love it.

For me it was similiar, I was thinking yesterday throughout the day that it's time for me to stop consuming weed non-stop and then I saw the blog post. Was kind of a sign that I really should stop now.

I told myself for a while that weed helps me with spiritual work and that I also get more conscious when smoking it but I guess that was just a form of self-deception.

Edited February 23 by Unlimited

[Leo Gura]

3 minutes ago, Unlimited said:

weed helps me with spiritual work and that I also get more conscious when smoking

That can be true, but that doesn't mean it comes at no cost.

Psychedelics are not good for you long-term. They offer a trade off: you purchase high consciousness now for costs down the road. So you must use them sparingly.

The self-deception is if you think you are getting a free lunch. If you understand that there is a real cost, you will use them more sparingly.

Edited February 23 by Leo Gura

[Unlimited]

8 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

So you must use them sparingly.

What about microdosing?

[aurum]

Talladega Spirituality reminded me of this genius song:

 

Edited February 23 by aurum

[Leo Gura]

3 minutes ago, Unlimited said:

What about microdosing?

Sparingly!

[Cireeric]

15 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Psychedelics are not good for you long-term. They offer a trade off: you purchase high consciousness now for costs down the road. So you must use them sparingly.

 

How do you come to that conclusion? I would inuitively think that hardcore psychedelics like 5-Meo DMT or Malt could be quite taxing on your nervous-system with potential damage long-term. But Mushrooms for example seem to be beneficial for various aspects of brain-health in a number of studies, they seem rather neurogenic than neurotoxic. There is not much evidence supporting they would be damaging long-term. + the possibility of increased mental-health and implementation of positive habits that many people report after mushroom experiences that will add up for long-term health.