Did Leo grew up in a religous Home?

[Inliytened1]

@Joseph Maynor

5 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

There's no one-side-fits-all Enlightenment.  There's only your Enlightenment.

5 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

There's no one-side-fits-all Enlightenment.

20 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

This is how people get blocked and locked by the Mind on the Path.  The Mind can help you but it can also lock and block you into your own self-created prison, your own self-created set of limitations.  The Mind is a double-edged sword if you don't know how to put the Mind in its place.

Oh the secret weapon - relativity - well done

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Inliytened1

[mandyjw]

 

6 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

There's no one-size-fits-all Enlightenment.  There's only your Enlightenment.  And there's my Enlightenment.  And there's his Enlightenment.  And there's her Enlightenment.  

It's OUR enlightenment.

When you figure out how to make that work out for us, let me know. 

[mandyjw]

Boys and their weapons. Sigh... 

 

[Leo Gura]

To be more accurate, I just have a different kind of social life than most people consider a social life. My social life is through my work.

For example you might ask if the Buddha or Gandhi had a social life. And the answer is, their social life was everything that revolved around their life's work. The same goes for me, except with the added wrinkle that we now live in the digital age, where the notion of "social" has expanded to include all of the activity happening through digital communication.

If you include digital communication, my social life is quite significant.

The very definition of "social life" is flexible and relative and changes across the ages.

If you mean, do I go to the bar and drink beers with people, or attend dinner parties, or go bowling with friends? Definitely not. Such things are not interesting to me.

[Inliytened1]

9 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

To be more accurate, I just have a different kind of social life than most people consider a social life. My social life is through my work.

For example you might ask if the Buddha or Gandhi had a social life. And the answer is, their social life was everything that revolved around their life's work. The same goes for me, except with the added wrinkle that we now live in the digital age, where the notion of "social" has expanded to include all of the activity happening through digital communication.

If you include digital communication, my social life is quite significant.

The very definition of "social life" is flexible and relative and changes across the ages.

If you mean, do I go to the bar and drink beers with people, or attend dinner parties, or go bowling with friends? Definitely not. Such things are not interesting to me.

Thats what i was referring to as well.  Going to bars for beers and pickup.

After becoming conscious of certain "Absolutes" this becomes meaningless.

Relativity aside you will become more conscious and look for deeper connections to reality.

[SunnyNewDay]

20 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

To be more accurate, I just have a different kind of social life than most people consider a social life. My social life is through my work.

For example you might ask if the Buddha or Gandhi had a social life. And the answer is, their social life was everything that revolved around their life's work. The same goes for me, except with the added wrinkle that we now live in the digital age, where the notion of "social" has expanded to include all of the activity happening through digital communication.

If you include digital communication, my social life is quite significant.

The very definition of "social life" is flexible and relative and changes across the ages.

If you mean, do I go to the bar and drink beers with people, or attend dinner parties, or go bowling with friends? Definitely not. Such things are not interesting to me.

if it's too personal no need to answer but do you still go out to do pick up and meet girls? do plan to get married and start a family?

[Leo Gura]

26 minutes ago, Inliytened1 said:

Going to bars for beers and pickup.

Well, sex and intimacy are still meaningful to me. But the process of chasing after it is not.

[Inliytened1]

21 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

What's wrong with this?  The Ego-Mind is imposing a block and lock.  A self-imposed limitation.

21 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

What's wrong with this?

You would need an awakening to Oneness.  You could still do it but you would be tricking yourself the entire time.

[Leo Gura]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

You gotta re-program yourself to learn to love the process.

That would actually be inauthentic and untruthful for me.

[Aakash]

@Joseph Maynor it’s difficult to explain but it’s not loving it because it exists. It’s loving it as it exists. 

[Aakash]

@Joseph Maynor it’s interesting, I do not know what context to interpret this from. In relative sakes, what would outwin here 

a) giving you an answer that satisfies you 

b) giving an answer that makes you grow 

c) giving you an argument for why your wrong 

D) showing you the error in your answer 

E) telling you you are right, when you are not 

F) picking out certain points in your argument and giving a counter rebuttle to specific parts instead of the whole thing 

H) don’t talk about it because you got it and let the person be

I) don’t talk about it and let the say something to make the person happy 

J) don’t talk about it and say something outrageous 

h) don’t talk but give out some wisdom. 

j) realise their answer is love and say an answer which has more love in it. 

Which is the best one ? 

[RendHeaven]

@Leo Gura There is only one video game that has ever influenced me on a deep existential level.

It is also perhaps the single most conscious piece of art/media that I have ever encountered.

The game is called Shadow of the Colossus, originally released for PS2 back in 2005 but now there is a graphic remake for PS4: https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Colossus-PlayStation-4/dp/B071WPKD5P?th=1

I can not recommend it enough. Though I cannot say much without spoiling the brilliant ending, I will say that it explores devilry (precisely as described in your video: what is the devil?) like no other work of art has.

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

I don't care for most games. It needs to be something original and deep or artistic.

The very fact that Shadow of the Colossus is a video game (where one takes control of a character and is responsible for their actions) allows for its exploration of devilry. The narrative impact would not be anywhere near as powerful if this were a movie, for example.

Furthermore, the game has a rare simplicity and serenity. It consists of 16 back-to-back boss fights (no mobs) and breathtaking scenery.

It's also rather short. You can probably complete it in ~10+ hours.

If you ever play a video game in your life ever again, Leo, remember this! 

[Jj13]

@Leo Gura  Do you have friends? If so, how do you maintain relationships?

Also, does friendship have a role in self-actualization?

[Truthority]

it seems pretty much all homes are religious in today's world even if not explicitly judeo christian muslim

just the way people think and believe all kinds of nonsense headline info just to feel safe and comforted and distracted

the church has been replaced with shopping malls and football stadiums

jesus has been replaced with oprah and ed sheeran 

even science lovers (and practitioners) can be so dogmatic and hostile it's kind of scary 

ultimately nothing has changed much except the gadgets

Quote

I don't have a social life. Never cared to have one. It does not interest me.

it seems that being a very social extroverted person would be quite problematic if one is into such things as spirituality, creativity, art, business, etc

becoming a lone wolf is pretty much essential if you want to succeed in this world
you gotta love your own mind and live a more interesting life than any movie

and turn on the charm when necessary

leaders create out of nothing for the sake of the process itself
followers obey and consume because otherwise they would go mad

side note:
that new show HBO Euphoria is pretty cool
really bold film making and shows what adolescents are probably really going through and how lost they are
how fucking brutal this world can be
identity games and pressures to chase this sick hollywood porn love
the search for external happiness

Edited August 1, 2019 by Truthority

[Commodent]

16 hours ago, Joseph Maynor said:

@Leo Gura I actually break up Community Building into online and offline.  You have a very substantial online Community.   One can work on their online Community Building and their offline Community Building.  This is just how I think about it.  I wanted to share this because indeed you do have a substantial social life: you host a forum of people from all around the world.  I would say you're highly social from an Online Community perspective.  So you do have a huge social life Leo.  For some reason we don't really view online Community as proper social life.  In reality Community Development Work encompasses both online and offline community building work.  I think we tend to think online or offline.  But see this is another example of the Mind imposing Exclusive Or rather than Conjunction.  Instead of this and that we get this or that.  No!  It's this AND that!  It's online community AND offline community.  They're one!

Digital communication has very few to none of the benefits associated to being social. It's like porn vs. actual sex. It's not the real thing. There has been several studies on this, showing that digital communication doesn't really activate the brain regions associated with being social. Real-life interaction is so much more than just an exchange of words.

[Leo Gura]

7 hours ago, Truthority said:

it seems that being a very social extroverted person would be quite problematic if one is into such things as spirituality, creativity, art, business, etc

Careful.

I know extroverts who are awakened and do spiritual practice.

And obviously many extroverts make a killing in creativity, business, art.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

One should only be a lone wolf if that's what one is called to do. It's not necessary for success.

With that said, personally I love lone wolfing life. But that's just me. People here must find whatever kind of lifestyle resonates with them. This is a highly individualized thing.

[Leo Gura]

4 hours ago, Commodent said:

Digital communication has very few to none of the benefits associated to being social. It's like porn vs. actual sex. It's not the real thing. There has been several studies on this, showing that digital communication doesn't really activate the brain regions associated with being social. Real-life interaction is so much more than just an exchange of words.

That is part true and part false.

Ultimately who is to say what is real and what isn't? We make up those definitions.

Of course in person sociaizing is different. But as humanity evolves digital communication will become more and more common and robust. Even digital sex is getting common now.

I've had deeper orgasms through text message than through physical sex. So don't dismiss the digital world as somehow inferior. It has its pros and cons, just like all mediums.

Don't forget, physical reality is just one medium out of many. Digital reality is no less real than physical reality or imagination.

[tedens]

50 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I've had deeper orgasms through text message than through physical sex. 

this is really interesting....

[mandyjw]

You can imagine people are however you want them to be behind written text.

 

[Commodent]

22 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

That is part true and part false.

Ultimately who is to say what is real and what isn't? We make up those definitions.

Of course in person sociaizing is different. But as humanity evolves digital communication will become more and more common and robust. Even digital sex is getting common now.

I've had deeper orgasms through text message than through physical sex. So don't dismiss the digital world as somehow inferior. It has its pros and cons, just like all mediums.

Don't forget, physical reality is just one medium out of many. Digital reality is no less real than physical reality or imagination.

Whenever we interfere with the natural way of doing things we tend to fuck things up, because we are not aware of the consequenses and the intricate ways in which we are connected to nature. Is it coincidental that self-reported feelings of loneliness among teenagers have shot up the roof after the introduction of the iPhone? No, it is not. It is exactly because we are spending so much time in front of our phones, pretending to be socializing, rather than actually socializing. It's a false substitute to a biological need ingrained into our DNA over hundreds of thousands of years.

Just to make it clear, I'm not denying the pros of digital communication. The possibility for us to instantly message each other across the globe is absolutely fantastic. The cons are, however, MASSIVELY underestimated and should definitely be brought into awareness. The addictive nature of phones does not make it better either. That's probably even the worst thing. We are really the first people in human history who are able to go our entire day without any form of solitude (time spent without input from other minds). You wake up, check your phone, go to work listening to a podcast etc. and finally go to bed without any experience of solitude. Our minds get no time to rest, because we're always jumping from one distraction to another. That is, unless you've been watching Actualized.org and meditate every day.