Your Deepest Passions

[Zane]

Discovering new passions is such an inspiring and fascinating topic for me to study! I love discovering new passions and learning how to apply these passions in my life. My top two crucial values are freedom and creativity and I deeply value the arts ESPECIALLY creative writing, theater, music, and film because I see the arts as embodying the values of freedom and creativity. My top passion is creative writing and learning how to master the art of storytelling by learning about the creative process, studying writers' techniques, learning about storytelling ESPECIALLY character development, character and story archetypes, telling a compelling and unique stories and how cliches can work amazingly when used constructively or fail when there is nothing unique done with a cliche. One question I ask myself is "is this idea rich with potential?" A great idea of a story rich with infinite potential is "Alice in Wonderland" because you can do whatever you want with those characters. Epics have infinite potential because in those stories, there are infinite possibilities for world building, character development, and stories. As "Star Wars" has proven, you can create a compelling mythology heavily influenced by comparative mythology, world history, philosophy, Taoism and Enlightenment, science fiction serials, and so many other influences. 

What are your deepest passions? 

[Aldo Marchand]

Mine is change my country via education and discover new forms to influence and change the ways of thinking that we have in your society.

I also love writing and music.

 

[7thLetter]

I feel that I really resonate with Leo's passions because I just have a deep passion for self-mastery. The positive habits that I include in my daily life are:
 Meditation, personal development, reading, cold showers, working out, and on the weekends I go out and approach girls in public. I mean what's a better idea than studying something that you can apply to your own life, which is personal development? It just seems to me that the people in school who spend hours studying a certain subject such as chemistry or geology, are at such a disadvantage because that's not going to help them grow in any way at all other than finding a good job.

[Guest]

@7thLetter Why don't you think academics is conducive to personal growth? I don't really see how relationships and picking up girls is better in that regard. What's a "good job"?

Note: Not trying to fight, just to understand.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Saitama

[7thLetter]

@Saitama Other than developing learning skills and productivity, it's all just irrelevant to what Leo explains in his videos. Academics won't help you develop your confidence, your self-esteem, or even help you become a positive thinker now does it? I would consider being a doctor, or some sort of scientist as a "good job." But even though they have a "good job" they've spent so much time studying whatever field they're in, that I would assume most of them haven't done any work on themselves. So this is just a generalization but most of them are probably super neurotic. Picking up girls helps you develop your personality, confidence, willpower, social skills, etc. Which is all relevant to personal growth.

[Guest]

@7thLetter I'm not sure I quite agree with that. A serious academic  pursuit requires a lot of hard work and can be very edifying. I believe it takes confidence for a surgeon to do his/her job when somebody's life is on the line. I believe being able to persist for years with challenging material can also be conducive to being a positive thinker and having a high self-esteem. Academics is also largely collaborative, so  social skills such as team work and being able to convey concepts to others in understandable fashions is in the mix as well. 

You say a doctor or some sort of scientist is a "good job". My hope was you'd give your rationale and divulge as to the criteria for what you'd consider a good job. It's not cut-and-dry what that means and explaining that would give real insights into your mental model.

I don't think there is anything wrong with picking up girls. I, do however, think academics can also be a venue for personal growth. There are super neurotic people who still manage to do well with women. The renown pick-up artist, Mystery, had a huge breakdown when he started failing with women.  There are also issues that extend beyond just the PUA community. As I said, there is nothing wrong about picking up women, but there are always certain issues that must be accounted for, such as the fact that pursuing romance/sex is a fun activity, but it is also fairly low consciousness. Even in it's highest forms, which is deep relationships, it is at best only comparable to serious academic endeavors. That assumes, though, that academics is being appreciate for its true beauty, which is its ability to peer into a realm of ideas that extends beyond the scope of any individual and acts as a medium for mapping and manipulating reality. 

Interacting with women is fine and well, and I would even go so far as to encourage it, but I think it's not fair to dismiss academics and personal growth as mutually exclusive. They coincide more than many of us intuit.

[7thLetter]

@Saitama My whole point is that it's much more beneficial in the long-run for a person to study personal development in their early years, as opposed to strictly studying the material in whatever field a student is in. I mean that alone is already causing some major dystrophy in one's psyche if they're not working on themselves on the side. You can argue all you want that studying geology/psychics/mathematics alone may have some sort of benefit to your personal growth, but clearly it's not as effective as studying self-help material.

Sure being able to persist for many years with challenging material can be conducive to being a positive thinker and having a high self-esteem, but how many of those students are genuinely passionate about what they study? All I know is that I would most likely be depressed and unfulfilled studying a bunch of material that I'm not passionate about. This is why Leo puts so much emphasis on life purpose. Not a lot of people actually know their life purpose, and here's just another generalization, but most students have no idea what they're doing. They're going to school because our lower-consciousness society tells them to.

Yes I agree pursuing romance/sex is definitely lower-consciousness, Leo explains it in his rant video against the pickup community. I'm also able to identify the stage orange thinking that the RSD instructors display through their seminars and videos, so no doubt it is a lower-consciousness pursuit. However, I take a stage green approach to picking up girls, and it's not so much about the sex. I won't explain myself with my approach to picking up girls but I hope you can imagine what I mean by taking a stage green approach.

 

[electroBeam]

Developing the world's societies' social, economic and individual well being, to advance throughout the value structures described in Dr Clare Grave's model, by inventing technology. I intend to do this through working on innovative, projects involving artificial intelligence and electrical devices.

@7thLetter school is very applicable to making yourself grow. Personal development is about learning ways to improve your life, and what not a better way to learn than at school?

Learning at school teaches you philosophical concepts, team work, leadership skills, and gives you "a job" which gives you even more opportunities to self actualize.

Though deciding to make a career out of picking up girls is a very closed minded way to self actualize. relationships is a very narrow part of personal development, not only that but basing your entire career around it will most likely lead you into working on PUA stuff, which actually limits your personal development.

At least at university I will learn techniques that will apply to all of my personal development, not just 1/100 th of it.

[electroBeam]

Developing the world's societies' social, economic and individual well being, to advance throughout the value structures described in Dr Clare Grave's model, by inventing technology. I intend to do this through working on innovative, projects involving artificial intelligence and electrical devices.

@7thLetter

@7thLetter school is very applicable to making yourself grow. Personal development is about learning ways to improve your life, and what not a better way to learn than at school?

Learning at school teaches you philosophical concepts, team work, leadership skills, and gives you "a job" which gives you even more opportunities to self actualize.

Though deciding to make a career out of picking up girls is a very closed minded way to self actualize. relationships is a very narrow part of personal development, not only that but basing your entire career around it will most likely lead you into working on PUA stuff, which actually limits your personal development.

At school, they teach you how to think, and teach you how to learn,

I'm proud that I am going to school to learn about things that will benefit all of my personal development, not just 1/100th of it

Edited February 21, 2016 by electroBeam

[7thLetter]

@electroBeam I'm not sure what you're getting at here, but I have already proved my point and said what I had to say. That's great, we have opinions. I have already said school helps you develop productivity and learning skills. You could also learn all this stuff on your own, you don't need to go to school for it.

And I don't know where the idea of making a career out of picking up girls came from but alright, yeah I agree it's not the best way to self-actualize. Even most of the pickup instructors aren't the most self-actualized people out there surprisingly

[electroBeam]

@7thLetter "It just seems to me that the people in school who spend hours studying a certain subject such as chemistry or geology, are at such a disadvantage because that's not going to help them grow in any way at all other than finding a good job."

I'm simply stating why you are incorrect. That statement above does not say "school helps you develop productivity and learning skills", it says the opposite.

If I personally didn't want an opinion, I wouldn't have posted my answer on a forum, where people are encouraged to scrutinize each other, or you could have said specifically that you didn't want an opinion.

[7thLetter]

@electroBeam Yup I definitely said that, then I said this "My whole point is that it's much more beneficial in the long-run for a person to study personal development in their early years, as opposed to strictly studying the material in whatever field a student is in. I mean that alone is already causing some major dystrophy in one's psyche if they're not working on themselves on the side. You can argue all you want that studying geology/psychics/mathematics alone may have some sort of benefit to your personal growth, but clearly it's not as effective as studying self-help material."

[electroBeam]

@7thLetter You can forget about school, and just work on personal development material all you want, but you will eventually come to a stage where you realize having a fairly good income early in life, and starting your life purpose in your teens, will really accelerate your self actualization work.

You may not realize, but starting uni after your teens becomes incredibly hard, especially in a technical field. If you don't start uni early, there goes the biggest opportunity in your life to ever work with your life purpose and/or to ever get the money needed to accelerate your actualization work. Money to go to the gym, eat healthily, create value to the world, and other stuff.

+ as you have pointed out, the work ethic you develop early on in your career.

I didn't read your reply to Saitama, its rude to read someone else's conversations, + it doesn't involve me and is very personal to you 2.

I'm sorry but I cant just sit here and watch someone advise us that not going to school is a good option. That is a terrible idea, school is just as important as self help material. Technical skills are just as important as social and emotional mastery. Your taking a risk by choosing the latter over the former, by becoming a monk, and that is, if you ever loose motivation and don't get to enlightenment, you have just ruined your life

Edited February 21, 2016 by electroBeam

[7thLetter]

Okay I see, I thought you were replying to my conversation with Saitama in the first place.

Well what about starting a business? I feel that I have a pretty solid plan. I don't plan to go to school in order to get a job, but I plan to go to school some time in the near-future to study Entrepreneurship/Self-employment. Then I would create a business using my life purpose. At the moment I'm just studying personal development on my own time which seems to be my life purpose, and just working 2 part-time jobs on the side. Almost finished with Leo's life purpose course as well.

[electroBeam]

@7thLetter I cant really advise you, I can only warn you of the dangers you will encounter if you do not get a proper education. I have looked at many case studies and seen what a lack of education can do to people.

It highly depends on what you want to do with your life, but just remember everyone these days has a degree, you don't want to be behind the bell curve.

The problem I see is that things are going to get harder for you as time goes on. The older you are, the less employable you are, the less your memory works properly, you may have a family you have to care for.

You simply wont have the resources necessary to start your life purpose, and you will be competing with people who started working 5-10+ years ago, that's a lot of experience and competition.

I know you may not think this is worth considering, but the biggest problem with learning everything yourself is that you can slack off. You may be really mature and disciplined, but not having your learning held responsible for you like in school, you run a great risk of not doing the work on time or in the best way.

+ don't get me started on the lack of experience in networking and talking to people/negotiating deals that you do get at institutions.

The best way, like everything, is to keep everything in moderation. do both moderately. I simply cannot see not going to school as a good idea

Also shouldn't you be watching Leo's video?

If you don't want to go to school, then don't, but make sure you make up for it somehow.

Edited February 21, 2016 by electroBeam

[Zane]

electro-beam and 7thLetter, i'm glad that both of you are having this discussion. I agree with both of your positions on academics and self-actualization. The insight I gained from this conversation is that there are so many ways to become self-actualized and to discover your passions.