What are the traps with actualized.org?

[Leo Kaminski]

@Leo Gura Hey Guys, todays question is a very difficult one and maybe even a silly one. I know it is like asking the fox whether he can protect my hen house when I am on vacation. But I am interested what the fox answers anyways 

As I thought about my own confirmation bias recently, I noticed that actualized.org can become distorted by my mind so that I take in the knowledge from my point of view and then run out in the world finding all sorts of confirmations for Leo's teachings. 

1. Leo is the teacher where I get the most practical confirmations in my environment based on what he teaches and compared to other teaches. I do not want to sound like an ideological fan, but usually a lot that he says shows up in so many corners of my life and in society that it is just mind blowing. It also creates a lot of credibility for him and his content, so that it becomes very difficult not to get deeper and deeper into actualized.org and to take things easier as true as before. 

I know Leo always says to verify the stuff for one self and I am doing that every single day as good as possible, but still I feel that I get at least a little bit seduced by the juiciness of his content and start to take some things as amazing even without verifying it so much. 

So what I am basically interested in is the following:

What are the exact traps and mechanisms that I have to watch out for so that I do not distort what Leo teaches and make sure it stays as pure and "ego free" as possible?

For Example things I am aware of are:

• Turning it into a blindly believed in ideology
• Judging people based on the insight he shares
• Double Standards etc.

Also I was curious if somebody would share how he or she is avoiding his or her own confirmation bias?

Would appreciate any more inspiration to keep my growth as clean as possible. Thank You Guys 

PS: So weird to always says Leo teach this or that, feels like I am writing to myself, which I am in a sense (non-duality) haha. Lucky name choice from the universe.

[Rilles]

Getting lost in the shitposting of the forum.

[ivory]

The mistakes I have made and I have seen others make is:

 

Believing teachers instead of verifying with my experience

Believing my own theories instead of relying on legit insight

Getting confused by reading/listening to too much content

Not taking action

[Aimblack]

I will only speak for myself: 

1. Taking Leo either too seriously or not seriously enough. For instance sometimes Leo flippantly dismisses something in a way that I would judge as ignorance but if I take in account that he is just a human and this is a forum it is completely normal for the quality of his forum posts to fluctuate wildly because he isn't just responding on things he has researched for weeks or even months. On the other hand more often than not he raises some significant point that I fail to appreciate because I let my initial reaction distract me from what has been said.

2. For me actualized.org can become the biggest obstacle to what it's trying to achieve. Each topic that's been discussed each week would take decades to master so it becomes fatiguing to just skip from life changing idea to life changing idea and I always get pulled to the next new thing. So what I tend to do is engage with the content for a time and then I disengage to actually work on this stuff. In my opinion the intellectualizing problem on this forum is in most parts due to this point because there is a topic of the week and until people can actually really get into this stuff it's already old news. I mean when was the last time you heard anyone discussing holotropic breathing.

3. Reliance on Leo. Leo says on one hand that he wants everybody to go out and make their own insights but he acts like he wants everybody to follow him. I'm not saying that this is malicious or intentional but look at forum rules it prevents a genuine community that is independent of Leo to grow. I can see where he is coming from but that way it also prevents really cool stuff from happening as well. If Leo were to be gone tomorrow actualized.org would just crumble and disappear in like 6 months because his tight grip prevents it to grow bigger than him.

[TheAvatarState]

@Leo Kaminski watch Leo's Self-Deception series parts 1-3.

Basically, study your own ego, raise awareness and consciousness. Chop wood, carry water. Do the practices! Everything you need can be found within, and MUST be found within to truly be known, to prevent you from turning this into ideology. It doesn't matter how pure the teachings are, your mind WILL corrupt and abuse them if you are not actively mastering your inner game. 

Edited January 14, 2019 by TheAvatarState
Added last sentence :)

[bejapuskas]

@Leo Kaminski  Yes, basically do the practices, they are powerful as fuck. Conceptualizing all these nondual insights won't bring you almost any results, it can actually strengthten your ego. Also be careful about self-deception, @TheAvatarState  said it nicely.

Don't judge anyone, don't misuse Spiral dynamics to do this, it will mess up your mind totally. Rather try to  radiate more love and connect with people, try to understand them deeply, be empathetic.

Don't procrastinate with anything, there is only this present moment and by planning things for the future, you are just loosing time. If you want to build a new habit, like meditation, journalling, shamanic breathing, you better start now.

Keep the beginner mindset, there is always so much to learn. Know, that you know nothing, stay humble, don't run around and tell people what to do. I tried to do it myself, and it only makes things worse, even if you are trying to help.

[Leo Gura]

@Leo Kaminski Your biggest trap is going to be mistaking the map for the territory.

See the episode: What Is Actuality?

[kieranperez]

Not taking your share of responsibility, which is 100%, in taking up your share of the work, not doing your own research, not thinking for yourself independently, not gaining understanding for yourself, not doing the practices and not working to eventually outgrow all this. 

[Nahm]

@Leo Kaminski

What’s your daily meditation / yoga like? 

How’s self inquiry going?

What books have you read?

What fears have you faced?

How have you been more attentive to what you have been inattentive of?

How have you used what you’ve learned to deepen your relationships, and be more efficient & effective in pursing your desires?

What metaphysical truths have you experienced in your trips?

 

[Leo Kaminski]

@Nahm Man so many questions. Would take hours to answer them precisely in the forum. I am in the game for about 2 years, but am still not finished with a lot of basics. 

Improved Nutrition

Read about 30 Books

Went to a Vipassana Retreat 

Have a daily meditation practice, which I have to increase

Grew so amazingly in relationship field and am still learning so much new stuff about myself. 

 

But I could come up with so many other things that I have to and want to get better and deeper at.

 

This year will I have my first 3 trips, but yeah I like the questions. I will use them and answer them for myself so I can get a good overview where I am at. 

 

Thank you all Guys

[Nahm]

@Leo Kaminski 

Thanks, that gives a better idea of where you’re at. Meditation & yoga first thing every morning, and stomach breathing awareness & self inquiry all day everyday. Then your trips will rocket you into another stratosphere, in a permanent fashion, saving you years if not decades. You’ll see the difference between knowing (knowledge) of dogma, beliefs, information, etc (the delusions / bullshit that are the potential for bias & traps) in comparison with knowing Being. Similar to how you would know a friend, compared to knowing information. This is done through actually doing the consciousness work. The worst thing you could do is be the one who has mastered material conceptually, but does not do the daily work. 

Suffering is the teaching, nondual awareness is the peace.  Make sure, when Leo’s talkin, you’re lookin at the moon, very honestly, and you’ll be great man. 

The hard, almost impossible task is, to do what’s been suggested here - without exceptional & intense suffering to motivate you.

 

[kieranperez]

2 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

It’s not enough to just say “go take action on what I’m telling you”.

 

[Ferdi Le]

@Joseph Maynor

"Process actually is it’s own theory." 

 

Thanks for that great quote! Immediately got in my commonplace book

[smd]

On 1/14/2019 at 10:51 AM, Leo Kaminski said:

@Leo Gura Hey Guys, todays question is a very difficult one and maybe even a silly one. I know it is like asking the fox whether he can protect my hen house when I am on vacation. But I am interested what the fox answers anyways 

As I thought about my own confirmation bias recently, I noticed that actualized.org can become distorted by my mind so that I take in the knowledge from my point of view and then run out in the world finding all sorts of confirmations for Leo's teachings. 

1. Leo is the teacher where I get the most practical confirmations in my environment based on what he teaches and compared to other teaches. I do not want to sound like an ideological fan, but usually a lot that he says shows up in so many corners of my life and in society that it is just mind blowing. It also creates a lot of credibility for him and his content, so that it becomes very difficult not to get deeper and deeper into actualized.org and to take things easier as true as before. 

 

6

 

For me, I see that I haven't done all the exercises he's suggested, nor every 30-day challenge, nor have I read a fraction of the books on the book list.  So if I think I'm seeing what Leo is saying, I just remind myself that I haven't really done the hardest shit asked of me beforehand & try to use that as a reminder for what I'm lacking.

If you read all the books & did all the exercises, you're to be commended!  That would be where the rubber meets the road.

[Leo Kaminski]

@Nahm Love what you wrote. This helps a lot. I mean being 2 years in the work is still just the beginning and especially because this year will bring the first psychedelic experiences. But the preparation for them as well as using them properly is something that has to be well prepared through meditation, yoga and other things like breath work. I see this year as the first preparation with those two and the first experiences also just to learn so that I can gain the self awareness to make more constant process next year through more meditation & yoga. I feel the trips will show me in what way I have to improve me practices! 

But stressing the point of acting the stuff Leo talks about is definitely important! I want to focus even more on direct experience as I just recently noticed that conceptual understanding aka believes is not the answer. It feels nice and can even be addicting, but they have to be deeply grounded in direct experience and connection to truth which I feel can only be created by doing the practices.

 

Love your sentences / quotes about knowledge & suffering so much!

[Nahm]

@Leo Kaminski Thanks.  I’m excited for ya! Gonna be an amazing year.    One little point, careful with the thought that the psychedelics will show you what to improve with practices. I mean, they likely will, but quality disciplined daily practices serve you sooooo well going into the trips. There’s no science to it, but you’ll have less ego ripping away / looping, etc, and get a ton more out of th trips. ♥️

[Arthur]

There is one thing I noticed with actualized.org, more specifically, how people interpret this content. I wouldn't call it a trap, but it misleads some people. It especially applies to younger folks, and I've certainly fallen into that myself.

People hear Leo talking about Spirituality, Enlightenment, Nothingness and the Void almost every week. It paints a very sharp image and creates a powerful vision for aspiring actualizers. It really makes you get on board with all this cool Spiritual stuff and forget about everything else. You have ideas and fantasies of increasing consciousness, being Enlightened, becoming a Spiritual teacher, a life coach etc. Everything else in your life fades to the background. All you do is talk, read and discuss spirituality.

This stuff is great. But we have to understand that Leo is coming at it from a different position than some of us. He started dabbling with spirituality when he already built his life and developed himself top of the pyramid. We can't just leapfrog financial success, relationships, self-esteem, work ethic, education and most importantly life purpose. In an extreme case, you can become a monk and renounce typical way of life. Yet for most people, the lower level needs have to be satisfied first. 

I'm not saying stop doing spiritual practices until you are 30-35. Yoga, meditation, and psychedelics can and should be used throughout life. I'm saying to not be obsessed over Enlightenment work and go out there to practically achieve something.  Image how deep your spiritual pursuits can be, when your psyche is matured, your health is excellent, you have an abundance of wealth and all your desires and needs are met.  It makes a world of a difference. I would even argue that it is almost impossible to achieve higher states of consciousness, without first putting the work into mastering traditional personal development (monks might be an exception).

The strive for spiritual ideals early on can leave us bitter. You hear and experience all these cool states, but when you come back, your life is still crappy. This doesn't apply to everyone of course.

[d0ornokey]

This quote from sadhguru applied to me: 

"[Yoga] is not about becoming superhuman. But about realizing being human is super" 

[bejapuskas]

26 minutes ago, Arthur said:

I would even argue that it is almost impossible to achieve higher states of consciousness, without first putting the work into mastering traditional personal development (monks might be an exception).

@Arthur  How come monks are exceptions? They are people like us. I actually feel like you cannot really grow without increasing your consciousness first, these two go hand in hand in my opinion.

[Spiral]

Wasting time on the forum when you don't need to.