Leo Gura is creating a modern Religion - knowingly or unknowingly

[Aakash]

@Anderz lol that maybe abit difficult simply because there's no conventional way (i.e the path to enlightenment) that takes into consideration what leo is talking about. simply pu the average person isn't going to read 10% of what leo has read, or have as quality trips as leo has had without taking 10x the amount of 5meo as he has had. 

i think its now about taking it on trust and good faith

because were not talking about enlightenment here, thats realising your god and who you are, leo is more about connecting the missing links in reality, which aren't on traditional paths, lets take what is the point of life for example 

the best buddist say is "right work" they don't say any more i think 

the best spiritual people say is "your job is to reach enlightenment" 

the best hindu's say is "correct dharma" or "the play of life" 

there's no talk about creativity 

so there is no actual path to were leo is, from what i've understood- i've never heard another enlightened being even talk about it- otherwise i would have picked up on it already 

so were talking about non mainstream areas within the spritual realm, for example non duality would actually be considered mainstream in the spiritual realm and the word enlightenment. 

so there's no mainstream paths to come to this realisation and this is where i think leo's teachings will fall flat. he can say it- but how do you arrive there for proofing and therefore it automatically turns dogmatic and religious for you to "see whether you agree"

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, How to be wise said:

@Leo Gura is it possible that someone who is deeply enlightened reincarnates into a low consciousness person, or is the level of consciousness of reincarnation always increasing?

It tends to be ever-increasing. It doesn't make such sense for Albert Einstein to incarnate into a kangaroo. That would be a step down.

Consider the possibility that there are higher beings than humans that you can incarnate into after you've maxed out being human. Consider the possibility of an entire chain of beings which are not even physical or part of our universe  

[Bill W]

1 hour ago, jbram2002 said:

Ah, I'm a little late to the discussion. Oh well.

Leo's already become a religion. I see that in almost every post I read here (with the exception of a few members). Many people already worship him and his beliefs. He has his own sermons that we are expected to watch and follow, his own communion, his own prayers. People debate over the best way to interpret his words as if they were somehow holy. 

However, I think we need to be careful about it. There's a difference between sharing a belief and making a religion out of something. Religion is what happens when many people who share a belief decide to erect rules and statutes about that belief. It happens when people gatekeep others out of the belief. Currently that's not really being done much here, but if people aren't careful, it definitely could begin to happen. 

Leo is a fallible human who is wrong almost as often as he is right, just like most of us. He has significant flaws, some of which even he is unaware of. If those statements offend you, then you already consider his teachings a religion. Take the religion out of spirituality and open your mind.

I'm new here. I've plucked your post out without reading every single post in this thread. This is a really funny thread for me. Half this post here of mine probably doesn't directly relate to what your saying to be fair, but I feel like letting some stuff out (my humble opinions).

Even though I'm new I thought my perspective might have some validity, even if just a tiny bit! I lurked on this forum for ages. I watched a few "bits" of some of Leo's videos and thought the forum could be useful but that I'd avoid that crazy bald-headed guy in the videos who seems to have gone mad through all the obsessing about self-help books. This was my ignorance. 

I've still not watched a full video of his so I admit I still probably speak with some ignorance. 

However, a lot of the small bits of video's I've seen and posts he has made on here, has him strongly advising to keep an open mind and seek input from other teachers. 

You have used a lot of religious type words in your post but could the following also be true or valid?

"Leo's already become a religion" - Are you speaking for yourself or on behalf of many? Your language seems to indicate you are fairly certain that one man has in fact become a "religion".

"I see that in almost every post I read here (with the exception of a few members)" - Almost every post? This forum? I've not noticed that.

"Many people already worship him and his beliefs" - This can happen with many, many people who run big forums or social media platforms. There might be 50 million more people who worship Justin Bieber than Leo. People want to buy into something, if it wasn't Leo, it would be someone else. Worship him and his beliefs? Or perhaps resonate and are curious? Of course there would be some that buy into his beliefs completely. It's normal. I don't think it's excessive on here for that.

At one point I thought Leo was a complete turd. A joke. A megalomaniac. Looking at some of his video's and posts I don't really see someone like that. He is almost indifferent to the praise and indifferent but mostly responsive to the "groupies" who keep making threads asking him a question. 

"He has his own sermons that we are expected to watch and follow" - Expected? Really? Can you honestly say that? Or encouraged, advised to watch? I would say often Leo is merely making a "suggestion" to watch his videos. 

"Leo is a fallible human who is wrong almost as often as he is right, just like most of us. He has significant flaws, some of which even he is unaware of. If those statements offend you, then you already consider his teachings a religion. Take the religion out of spirituality and open your mind." - This comment seems a definite reach. You sound like his therapist! You are also telling me that if your post offends me (which it doesn't), then I already consider his teachings a religion. Really? My offense to your post = I consider his teachings a religion? 

If people (us) are led up some garden path by someone like Leo on the internet, then that's on us. Some of the posts on this thread make out that Leo has some special powers or something. 

I've never had any dialogue with Leo. I'm hazarding a guess he won't mind if people veered away from this website if they found a better teacher or got bored or sick of his talks, advice and feedback. 

[mandyjw]

Religion is a strange loop. I ended up right back at the religion I was born into. I see it now as an infinite rabbit hole.

Yeah, Leo is a prophet.

Religion is only limiting if you look at it as a stop on the loop and can't see the whole. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by mandyjw

[Aakash]

leo can't be a prophet lol! theres no such person as leo with his unique perception looool its literally god telling himself what hes discovered about himself 

kinda like leos story about the elephants and each of them touching a different part and describing different features of the same thing.

[ahmad ibdah]

@Leo Gura

So this incarnation will happen again . Oh shit . I have been lately afraid of this idea . That I will have to experience all this suffering again ,forgetting who I am , forgetting love again and again ??.

[ajasatya]

nobody can reincarnate. GOD/Spirit reincarnates. spiritual development and the evolution of species are ONE.

thinking along the lines "someone reincarnates" or "when i reincarnate" doesn't quite reach it.

[hundreth]

Just now, ajasatya said:

nobody can reincarnate. GOD/Spirit reincarnates. spiritual development and the evolution of species are ONE.

thinking along the lines "someone reincarnates" or "when i reincarnate" doesn't quite reach it.

The Buddhists have the idea of "Mental Continuum" which isn't a permanent YOU but something as close to a temporary identity as one could come to understand...

https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/lam-rim/impermanence-death/how-mental-continuums-perpetuate-themselves

[ahmad ibdah]

Why are people so afraid of relegion. Relegion is good in general ,it is way better than the current western culture . religious psychopaths and sociopaths are bad.

[Anderz]

1 minute ago, ajasatya said:

nobody can reincarnate.

The Dalai Lama actually said something similar, that there is reincarnation but it's not personal. Something like that. And I have been thinking about several people claiming to having been the same person in the past. In theory that could be possible if they can tap into the collective memory of humanity.

[Aakash]

@Leo Gura i want to know your opinion of my post with anderz, how does one varify your new realisations if enlightenment of the self does not varify it for you? do you have to contemplate the holistic nature of god and therefore arrive at those awakenings? and are these teachings mainstream or not ?

[mandyjw]

5 minutes ago, Aakash said:

leo can't be a prophet lol! theres no such person as leo with his unique perception looool its literally god telling himself what hes discovered about himself 

kinda like leos story about the elephants and each of them touching a different part and describing different features of the same thing.

No features, no thing. No unique perception, no creation. 

So sure, I created Leo to teach me all the stuff I couldn't see on my own. 

You got me. 

[Key Elements]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

The devil will never allow a mountain of truth to sit uncorrupted out in the open.

It looks like the 10 Ox Herding Pics story is uncorrupted. Unless a person has had a true Satori, he/she will not be bothered about the story and will not know what it is. That's why it remains unpopular, esp to the mainstream. When this story passes down through human history, it still remains at the top of the pyramid of Maslow's. Well Leo, you're right. This story is written so that it's not out in the open.

[ajasatya]

if you do something terrible to your family like murdering your wife in front of your kids, the karmic mark of such attitude will be so deep that it will affect your grandchildren and probably your great-grandchildren. such continuity of suffering is already the Spirit reincarnating and gathering its own thorns.

the Spirit is ONE. it's an infinitely complex net that connects EVERYTHING (and, of course, EVERYONE) from "past", "present" and "future".

[Aakash]

@Key Elements but pictures are open to interpretations, unlike abstract texts. 

[Key Elements]

2 minutes ago, Aakash said:

@Key Elements but pictures are open to interpretations, unlike abstract texts. 

Yes, but no one bothers about it. They don't say extreme dogmas like, "you're going to hell if you don't believe in God."

[mandyjw]

1 minute ago, ajasatya said:

if you do something terrible to your family like murdering your wife in front of your kids, the karmic mark of such attitude will be so deep that it will affect your grandchildren and probably your great-grandchildren. such continuity of suffering is already the Spirit reincarnating and gathering its own thorns.

 

No. God's grace is infinite. But it has to be accepted. 

 

[Conrad]

Religion=Ego-mind

Truth=Direct experience

Direct experience=?

?=?

God can only know God. Nothing but you can know you. For there is only you.

[Shin]

Just now, Aakash said:

@Key Elements but pictures are open to interpretations, unlike abstract texts. 

Abstract texts are not open to interpretations ?

?

[Bill W]

4 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

Yeah, I don't believe in God in any way, shape, or form.  To me that's just metaphysical storytelling that some people need to do for whatever reason.  And I support them doing that.  You don't want to hinder people from doing what they need to do.  So, I say, go for it.  See where it leads you.  See what you can learn from it in your life.  I was religious earlier on in my life, so I can't say I'd be where I am now if I didn't go through that religious phase.  For some reason I needed to do that, and I did, and I'm proud of it.  But it's not where I am now on my path.  

I know you do a lot of journals on here. Not looked at them much yet, but whatever you are doing it seems to be working as I have seen a few posts from you that scream high levels of humility and openmindedness. Two things I am chasing. Two things that if I can get right, my life, and those around me, will surely get better.